World of Eternia: The Complete Collection (60 page)

“The answer is still
no,” Richard answers flatly.

“Okay, we are at an
impasse,” Alfred interjects. “Let’s backtrack for a moment. Are
you both still committed to merge your companies into a single
entity?” he asks.

“Of course,”
Charles responds right away.

“Not if I end up
losing my ownership interest,” Richard replies. “But I could see
possible synergies between our two companies,” he admits.

The mediator nods. “I
think you need to explore furthermore how the two companies could
work together. You could either merge or stay separate but cooperate
in some way. I think the Hundred Man Tournament offered a glimpse of
the possibilities. And it’s really a separate issue from ownership
interests in the companies, which could be a legal issue to be
resolved in a court of law. I don’t know if I am comfortable in
making one party lose his ownership interest in favor of another, and
have the decision be litigated for years in court. I think the wiser
course would be for the two of you to figure out how to work
together, perhaps by creating a joint venture of some sort with
ownership interests tilted in favor of one side over another,” the
mediator suggests. “With that said, I will now let the two sides
discuss these options without my presence. I’m going to leave the
room and turn off the tape recorder. I will return in one hour.”
The mediator proceeds as announced and exits the conference room,
with tape recorder in hand.

The Chairman of the
Board of Directors for Virtuous Gaming Co. sighs aloud. “This is
turning into a fiasco,” Lewis Richard Whitney remarks.

“Agreed,” says his
counterpart with Eternia Development & Entertainment, Inc. “The
mediator is charging by the hour for his services,” William
Jefferson Freye reminds the people in the room. “We should never
have accepted the challenge,” he continues.

“And it was
foolishness to offer the challenge in the first place,” Mr. Whitney
agrees and shares a knowing look with the other chairman.

The two CEOs share a
bewildered look. Why are the chairmen talking to each other so
publicly? And what is this leading up to? The chairmen clearly have
an agenda.

“In the interests of
minimizing costs of this mediation session, why don’t we cut to the
chase,” Mr. Whitney proposes. “Mr. Dresner, the vice chair of the
board of directors, had previously conveyed the Board’s opposition
to this gauntlet that Charles foolishly offered to his old friend.
Furthermore, Mr. Dresner made it clear that regardless of the result
of the event our business relationship will come to an end. Thus, I
am informing you, Charles, that the Board of Directors has decided to
remove you as CEO of the company, and will not support your action to
overturn the results of the Hundred Man Tournament via mediation. You
lost fair and square, and the Board does not want the VG to be
embarrassed further via a long, costly legal battle with EDE to
negate the results of the match.”

The chairman turns over
to his legal counsel. “Am I right to assume this is a binding
contract?” he asks.

Peter Gowin, Esq.
quickly answers. “Well, the most fundamental elements of a contract
are offer and acceptance. And the facts here seem to satisfy both
requirements. Charles made an offer with his public challenge.
Richard accepted by actually running the requested event. A judge
looking at these facts can easily establish that there is a legally
binding contract between the two men. Of course, whether the results
should be overturned or not is a little bit murkier and less clear
cut. But the court would be unlikely to entertain a decision on the
matter prior to this mediation process being played out first.”

During this monologue,
Charles stares blankly at his Chairman with glassy eyes, still unable
to comprehend that the man actually has the gall to embarrass Charles
publicly, much less in front of the enemy!

“Thank you for your
explanation, Peter. Now with that being said, Charles, we will offer
you a small severance package, as recognition for all the hard work
you put into building Virtuous Gaming Co. from the ground up,” the
Chairman continues. “Furthermore, the board is willing to work with
your secretary and publicist to create a public release to put your
departure from the company in the best possible light.”

As Richard listens to
the old man, his face starts to light up.
This
is like taking candy from a baby,
the EDE executive thinks
smugly as the thorn is finally removed.

Mr. Freye interrupts
Richard’s thoughts and speaks up next. “Since we’re on the
topic of changing company executives, I would like to take this
opportunity to inform Richard that the Board of Director has also
decided a change in direction at the top is needed. Richard, we
regret to inform you that the Board of Directors no longer has
confidence in your leadership for the company and decided to remove
you from the role of CEO,” he says.

“What!” Richard
seethes with anger at the announcement, and balls his hands into
fists.

The chairman
immediately holds up a hand. The old man leans his face to Richard’s
ear and whispers the word, “Liverpool.”

The former executive’s
blood freezes at the word. Liverpool is the official name of a secret
slush fund for Richard’s personal expenses on the company’s dime;
such expenditures include suites to entertain guests at casinos and
even an occasional call girl or two. How the heck did the Chairman
find out about it?

Richard quickly
wrestles control over his emotions and keeps his anger in check with
great effort.
The chairman is
blackmailing me
, the fired executive realizes. “Who’s
going to take over my position?” he asks, resigned to his fate.

The chairman turns and
signals for an assistant to open the door to the conference room.

Richard’s eyes widen
at the face of the man walking into the room: Mark Whitney!

The chairman walks over
to stand next to Mark, with an arm wrapped around the younger man’s
shoulder. “This gentleman has worked closely with you for a number
of years in the development of World of Eternia, the company’s
flagship product. And he happens to be a nephew of the Chairman of
VG’s Board of Directors. Since the two Boards are approving the
merger of both companies, we believe Mark Whitney is the right man to
lead ‘Eternia Gaming, Inc.,’ the name of the new company. We
sincerely hope that you will assist Mark as he works to consolidate
the two companies’ operations. Once the merger is completed, you
will depart from EDE with a generous severance package accounting for
your ownership interest in the company less expenditures,” the
Chairman explains his plans for the future of the company.

“And if I decide to
litigate to keep my role in EDE?” Richard challenges.

“Once certain details
are made public, neither judge nor jury will be sympathetic to your
challenge to stay onboard,” Mr. Freye replies.

Richard looks across
the table at Charles and then back at the chairman. “It is clear
that I have lost the confidence of my venture capitalist backers.
Although it pains me to do so, for the sake of the company I will
agree to step down from my position as CEO of the company. However, I
am doing so only under the condition that our non-compete clauses be
waived, and that we’ll be allowed to remain in the gaming industry.
Running and expanding WoE took so much of my life, and I would like
to consider other endeavors, possibly with my old roommate here. It
could be another online game, or it could be something else. But I
want to explore possibilities without being chained to the
restrictions of a non-compete clause,” he argues.

“I’m not so sure
that I would agree to waive your non-compete clause,” VG’s
Chairman objects.

“How about a strong
non-disclosure clause to prevent Richard from rebuilding the
proprietary game engine at another company and challenge Eternia
Gaming directly?” EDE chair suggests.

“How about we get a
low cost license to use the proprietary virtual reality equipment and
build software around it?” Charles counters.

The two chairmen look
at each other for a moment. This was one of the scenarios the two had
considered in their prior secret meetings.

“It is one of the
possibilities that we have discussed, that is to create a program to
offer licenses to outside companies to build software around our VR
equipment,” EDE chair admits. “With your insider knowledge you
could create a company solely devoted to creating software that
utilizes the VR equipment. In turn, that would create a new revenue
stream for EG.”

“It is a win-win
situation,” VG chair agrees. “I think we could get the VG’s
board to agree to grant a license to Charles and Richard if they wish
to utilize the VR equipment.”

“Likewise,” EDE
chairman replies. He holds out his hand to Richard.

“We have a deal,”
Richard shakes the chairman’s hand firmly.

When his wife finally
sits at the table to eat breakfast, Wesley speaks up in a cautious
voice. “Honey, do you remember my temporary consulting gig?”

Melissa lifts her head
up from her bowl of warm oatmeal and raises her eyebrows. She noticed
his tone of voice, and wonders what he is driving at.

“Well, there have
been changes at the company that I’ve been working with. It is
being merged with a smaller company, and there will be a new person
in charge. This new boss happens to be someone I worked with closely
for my consultancy work, and now he wants me to come in as a
full-time employee,” the husband announces.

“Does this mean that
you won’t be stuck wearing that ridiculous helmet for hours at a
time anymore?” the wife muses aloud with a mischievous smile.

“Well, yes and no,”
Wesley begins. “They want me to become a Vice President of Player
Relations. So I will be spending a significant amount of time talking
to people both online and offline. This includes talking to players
inside the gaming world, and thus I still need to wear that helmet to
communicate with them. I will also be required to travel a lot on the
trade show circuit, here in the United States and also abroad in
Europe and Asia. So I won’t be around the house as much anymore,”
he notes.

“It sounds like your
new boss is a smart guy, since he is obviously going to make you do
most of the traveling in his place,” his wife speculates.

The husband rubs his
chin as he considers her remark. “Mark doesn’t strike me as a guy
who likes to travel,” Wesley agrees.

Melissa puts her hand
on his. “Honey, you have always been a doer, not a watcher. And I
just want you to be happy. If this new job will make you happy, then
go for it. You are loyal, kind, and faithful. I’m not concerned
that you will go cheat behind my back while you’re traveling the
world. Heck, I doubt you’ll have the energy for an affair if you’re
devoting all your focus on work,” she laughs. “When you finally
tired of all that flying overseas, you’ll go back into retirement
and hang out with me.”

“You know me too
well,” Wesley replies as he turns his hand so that their fingers
interlock.

“That’s why I stuck
with you, for better or worse,” Melissa smiles and leans her face
over the table to meet his for a tender kiss.

* * *

Wesley walks into the
building and slowly makes his way to his seat. Inwardly, he savors
each step along the way, as today is probably the last time that
Wesley will walk into The Strangers’ headquarters as an owner of
the building. The other four members of the player alliance are
already seated.

Lucious has a frown on
his face, since he has no idea what the leader wants to discuss so
urgently that it requires a face-to-face meeting inside the World of
Eternia.

Diana puts her hand on
her boyfriend’s forearm. The new virtual reality equipment has arm
sleeves that allow the player to feel a touch on his avatar’s
forearm.

Conrad reads the somber
mood in the air and tries to break the ice by speaking up first.
“What’s going on, Wesley? What do you need to tell us in person
rather than through email?” he asks.

Wesley turns his head
from left to right around the table, making eye contact with every
member of The Strangers. “As you know, along with the merger
between Virtuous Gaming Co. and Eternia Development &
Entertainment, Inc., both chief executives have also been pushed out
by their respective boards,” he begins.

“Yes, it was a big
surprise and a lot of players were speculating on the reason behind
their departures in the forums,” Diana notes.

“They got canned,”
Lucious smirks. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the boards were
opposed to holding the Hundred Man Tournament in the first place, and
decided to push Richard and Charles out regardless of the event’s
outcome,” he speculates.

“Well, technically
it’s a leave of absence,” Conrad replies. “But yeah, it sounds
like a polite way of saying the two men got fired.”

“So what does this
have to do with The Strangers?” Laura speaks up suddenly.

Wesley smiles at the
necromancer.
I can see why you
get along with Conrad so well,
he thinks.
You
are not afraid to speak your mind regardless of the circumstances.
Conrad is lucky to have you around to keep him grounded.
“Mark Whitney got the promotion into the big chair. However, he has
some issues in the self-confidence department,” the man admits.

“So the ex-project
manager wants you around as his warm, security blanket?” Lucious
quickly summarizes the situation.

Diana slaps his hand
for the rude remark, while Conrad laughs.

“Apparently,”
Wesley replies succinctly.