Spark: A Novel by John Twelve Hawks Read Free Book Online Page B

after my stay at the Ettinger Clinic. Dr. Noland had given me the five rules, and now I washed my body every morning and cut my hair once a month. I had gotten used to drinking bottles of ComPlete so my Shell no longer collapsed from lack of food.
    But this attempt to act as if I was alive hadn’t solved any of my long-range problems. In those days, a shopping bag stuffed with unpaid bills was on my kitchen table and my landlord was attempting to evict me. I have no idea what would have happened if I had simply remained in my apartment, but one morning a FedEx man knocked on my door and handed me an envelope. I was expecting another threat from my landlord, but it turned out to be a letter from a New York City law firm:
    NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT
OF CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT
    Dear Mr. Davis:
    If you are a former employee of InterFace Inc., the proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit may affect your rights.
    What Is the Lawsuit About?
    A group of workers sued InterFace Inc. for alleged violations of Section 3 of the Freedom to Work Act.
    Who Is Involved in the Lawsuit ?
    The class encompasses all former employees of InterFace who were fired or quit during the last two years.
    Who Represents the Plaintiffs and the Settlement Class?
    The plaintiffs and the settlement classes have been represented in this case by Caldwell, Leslie & Gatz, LLC.
    What Are the Proposed Settlement Terms?
    The Plaintiffs have recently reached an out of court settlement with InterFace, Inc. InterFace has agreed to pay compensation to all former employees who were fired or quit during the last two years. InterFace does not acknowledge that the company violated any laws.
    Your Legal Rights and Options in Connection with the Settlement.
    Personnel records indicate that you are in the group of former employees covered by the settlement. You have two options:
    • You may exclude yourself from the settlement class and file an individual lawsuit against InterFace. This means that you will not receive compensation from the proposed agreement.
    • You may remain a member of the settlement class. If you do so, you will receive a monetary award determined by your highest salary at InterFace and the length of time you were employed there.
    Please make your decision, and then contact me by e-mail in the next seven days.
    Sincerely yours,
Ellen Larson, Esq.
    The Freedom to Work Act was one of several bills passed in Congress after the Day of Rage. The new law said that companies were free to fire any employee, but a worker replaced by a nubot that “appears or pretends to be human” had to be compensated.
    I sent an e-mail to Miss Larson that said yes, I wanted the money. She told me to show up at her office at 11 a.m. on Tuesday with pay stubs and other proof that I had once worked at InterFace.
    Confident that I was going to pay off all my debts, I showed up at 410 Church Street on Tuesday morning, signed in at the security desk, and took an elevator to the eleventh floor. There was a soft pinging sound and then the door glided open.
    A blond woman wearing a powder-blue suit sat behind a desk in the middle of a large empty room. Perhaps it had once been an office, but the walls, the phones, the carpets, and the busy employees had probably been replaced by computers with reactive intelligence and a few call-center humans in Bangladesh.
    “Jacob Davis?” the woman asked. She had a southern accent—not a strong one, but enough to take the sharp edges off words.
    “That’s right.”
    “Please sit down.” The woman removed her headset and switched off her computer. “I hope this room doesn’t bother you. We just rented it for the day. I wanted a quiet, private location for our little talk.”
    I approached the desk and sat down on a folding chair. Now that I was closer, I could evaluate the woman’s appearance. I’m in my thirties. The woman sitting at the desk had the hands of someone twenty-five years older, but her face was supple and free of