– All calls are monitored for your safety.

And then, its message delivered, the corporate hologram disappeared. After a few seconds – and to his own surprise – Kaz let out a single loud ridiculous laugh. Instinctively, he pulled his hand to his mouth. And a second after he did that, he started to giggle. And the giggling continued. He couldn’t stop it. In a way he didn’t want to stop it because when it stopped, he expected that he would start crying. And as soon as that thought occurred to him, that is exactly what happened.

He hadn’t done anything illegal – he didn’t steal, he didn’t hurt anyone, he didn’t break a real corporate law. If anything, he upheld the law. Corporate Directive 61b states that if you have information that the client would use to make an informed decision in their engagement in the Corporation, they you are obliged to share it. There was a monthly award for it.

Kaz had advised a family to turn down an offer the corporation made them. Not even that really. Their home on Ganymede was being repurposed since they discovered a Dubnia based compound under the surface. Officially, they needed to leave because was unsafe owing to radiation from the Dubnia. Really it was to facilitate the extraction of the ore from far beneath the surface. It was a shame: Ganymede used to be a great place to raise a family.

The family were offered Calisto as an alternative. The advertising for Calisto was great – beautiful apartments, great streets, bigger parks and smaller class sizes. You would think you were going to a cleaner, newer Earth. But the advertising never mentioned the low oxygen content in the air there, or the mortality rate because of that – the real reason that the class sizes were so small. So he mentioned it. Well, he almost did.

Kaz knew he shouldn’t. He was in the Corporation long enough to know better. You don’t second guess the corporate algorithm’s determinations and you definitely do not tell people to say no to it. Everyone knew that the monthly award for helping the clients was bogus – if you paid attention the same winners and the same clients kept getting shuffled and showing up in the promotional materials every few months. It was clearly window dressing, and he knew they would come for him.

He had no intention of doing something this stupid when the holo-conversation started. They looked a little apprehensive about the move but seemed excited about Calisto. He had the deal nearly sealed when he saw their kid playing in the background. A normal happy 8-year-old girl.

It caught his breath a second. He apologized and said he needed to take a drink of water. The couple were unphased, but even after drinking the water, and trying to shut everything out of his head, he couldn’t keep his voice steady. It was like his whole body was strangling the words he was using to avoid telling the truth.

He saw the girl behind them, running around after some holographic housemate. He looked at her and she was nothing like his brother’s kid. Not the last time he saw him. She was smaller and more energetic. Her skin and hair looked vibrant. She was smiling and laughing. She was moving.

Kaz took a longer drink of water and tried to continue. He tried to use the script the corporation gave him, but he couldn’t get words out. The same script he used on his brother’s family, when he still believed it. The thoughts choked him. Eventually, he couldn’t stop what came out of his mouth.

– Don’t.

That’s all he said. Barely a whisper, followed by a silence he also could not control. He saw the couple’s mouths move, but he could hear no words. That one whisper of his devastated the conversation. He stared across the ether at them. Stared deep into their eyes. And their mouths stopped moving and they froze for a moment too. Or maybe it was an hour – the whole concept of everything seemed to leave him. All he said was that one word. And now he repeated it.

– Don’t.

They cracked their freeze and nodded and muttered to each other for a few moments before thanking him. They told him that they would hold out for something better than Calisto, even if they had to wait a month or two more. He nodded and before he could say goodbye, the call was cut off by the corporate tag.

– All calls are monitored for your safety.

Another call with priority was coming in. The hologram at its opening informed him that an important communication was coming for him, and that he needed to wait.

After about fifteen minutes waiting, the corporate mascot appeared, all bubbly delight, and was excitedly telling him it was good news. Corporate never brought bad news.

His good news was that he was promoted to an executive position. It meant a massive pay bump, a corner office, a VP of Marketing title, and a move that Corporate would pay for. A Corporate team had been dispatched to pack his belongings, and he wouldn’t even need to go home.

Kaz kept waiting for the sting in the tail. He knew this was too good to be true.

A fine and spacious apartment suite was being displayed to him. Contacts and community was being prepared for him. As he had no immediate family, his dating profile was being corrected to reflect his new location. And his standing weekly grocery details was being exported to his nearest branch of the Corporation’s food chain to his new home. A place was reserved for him on the next departing shuttle. He was going to enjoy this great new career move. To Calisto.

– All calls are monitored for your safety.