This planet had 17 cities of varying sizes. In the eight largest cities, there were TESO factories. "Large" did not refer to population, but rather to colonial potential; these factories were established in the eight cities with the highest potential for exploitation. This meant they had seized the cities with the largest workforce available for colonial labor. Geographically, they had taken the lands most suitable for building factories and those richest in underground resources. They had established dominance in the settlements where they could command the most obedience. Indeed, TESO no longer held sway on any planet other than this one.
Eight cities were more than enough for TESO. Some even said that if it hadn't been for the promises Orvain Ashengine, the owner of TESO, made to investors to save his own skin during his bankruptcy before coming to this planet, he wouldn't have even deigned to open anything beyond TESO3.
As an enterprise, TESO was focused on mass production. They aimed to snatch up licenses for cheap, trending items in the market and sell them everywhere through mass production; therefore, most of its factories were constantly being revised to keep up with every single trend.
TESO was more like an ancient tribe than a company. It was a tribe constantly in a moment of famine, therefore always in search of a solution and full of initiatives... Small calculations were constantly overlooked. Whenever errors in these small calculations accumulated and caused a major problem, a few responsible parties would be found and hanged, and everyone would feel relieved as if the problem had been solved at its root. This was because those found responsible and hanged were usually the natives of this colonized planet.
Labiba had worked at this company for several lifetimes and knew it quite well. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that this company had long since given up on seeking perfection. Having their vanity stroked or finding someone they could lord over were more important matters for this company and its employees. Therefore, the company never expected flawless production and didn't truly care about production loss. They only seemed to care about production so that someone would fall at their feet with an apology, just so they could look down on people and berate them. This was true for every single TESO factory... it was more of the company's culture. They presented production quotas as a religious belief and took pleasure in extracting the "sins" of those who made mistakes against this faith. Yet, this was a fake religion they didn't believe in themselves... A fabricated religion... A religion that no one cared about...
Hianyan, the manager of TESO2, was watching the production by the window. The Calosians moving around in radiation suits were high-ranking officers. On the production line, the Calosians waiting at the machines wore only respiratory masks.
While chips, memories, and many other things were being dipped in and out of radiation, Hianyan would reflexively close his eyes against the radiation flare, despite the dark glass that fell before his cybernetic eyes. The factory was approximately 34 stories high, but Hianyan's favorite view was the 22nd floor. A young girl named Tita worked on this floor, and if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that Bolver was going to tear this girl apart for pleasure during the holiday break.
A man like Bolver had started to become truly brazen. He ignored rules, gave no account of himself, and had become quite reckless. That was why Hianyan wished for an industrial accident to befall Tita, just so he could give Bolver a warning.
"Where is Calmo?" Hianyan asked. One of those in radiation suits was missing, and this situation had caught his eye. "Did he get sick again? He did two years ago. This... this is unacceptable," he said, twirling the magnetic pen in his fingers.
The secretary in his headset replied, "I can ask Bolver if you wish." Even hearing the name Bolver sparked a desire to kill Tita. Thinking about Bolver was... ah... Bolver was the Trojan horse inside Hianyan. Hianyan couldn't help but think that the man was damaging his company more every day, but he had no better employee at hand. No security officer in international circles would want to work for a company like TESO. The working conditions were disgraceful, the salary was even more disgraceful, but the most disgraceful thing was the respect given to the employee. If Bolver didn't have those perverted impulses and hadn't found such a sequence of opportunities to vent those impulses, he probably wouldn't work in this company or this factory.
"Please connect to him."
A few seconds later, Bolver's voice was heard: "Hello, manager."
"Where is Calmo, Bolver?"
"He had an incident with a tourist."
"What kind of incident..." Hianyan said, gripping the pen tightly. His hand was trembling.
"It's not important. The tourist left satisfied. Calmo has been dealt with!"
"Is that so?" Hianyan suddenly shouted. When he got angry, his voice became quite thin. "You have only one duty there, Bolver. And that is to protect the asses of the few tourists who come... That's it! Whether the Calosians eat each other or kill each other doesn't concern you at all! It doesn't concern this company! All I ask of you is to stop sitting around and work at least a little bit," he said, and the pen he squeezed in anger shattered. As the digital pen broke, he was shocked by electricity and threw the pieces of the pen to the floor. Two cleaning robots arrived with their brooms and quickly began to sweep up the pieces of the pen.
Silence for a while...
"I'm sorry, manager. I will be more careful!"
"So you admit your mistake, Bolver," Hianyan said, smiling inwardly. "When we gave you a raise, we did it sparingly, thinking you would make mistakes... Look... now you won't lose money because of your mistake because it's not in your contract."
"Thank you, manager."
"Yes... you're welcome, Bolver," the manager said in a sarcastic tone. "Your manager thinks of you, but you never think of your manager."
"I will work harder, manager."
"Great, Bolver! Great... keep working. I wish you good work."
"Thanks, manager."
Hianyan brushed his hands to get rid of the pen fragments. Then, with a happy sigh, he continued to watch the production through the window.
At that moment, a small leak occurred in the mask of one of the Calosian workers. After breathing in the radiated air for a while, the man—his skin covered in blisters from radiation and turned green—fell into the machine. A huge hole opened in his head as the press machine's head stepped on him. While moving toward the next machine on the line with his crushed skull, his foot got caught in the conveyor and he fell off the line. His foot was torn apart between the conveyors. The man was shivering on the ground, suffering from a brain hemorrhage.
"Ah... damn it..." Hianyan said. Then he started the stopwatch on his watch. The officers in radiation suits pressed the alarm; two robots came there and melted the man's body completely by pouring a liquid on it. The man was screaming in pain as his body melted. While the robots sweeping up the remains of the melted corpse with brooms disappeared, Tita, who was in a radiation suit, called the boss.
"Manager Hianyan... we lost a staff member. Because there was a leak in the mask..." The woman's voice sounded muffled because of the suit.
"I saw it," Hianyan said, rubbing his temples. The woman looked at the darkened glass several meters high, stretching along the wall. "Is a mask necessary?"
"Yes, manager... I am very sorry to say that the mask has become unusable." The woman scrutinized the mask she picked up for a while; there were still pieces of flesh inside it. "We'll need to replace it."
"Damn it, Tita!" Hianyan shouted angrily, throwing his hands out to the sides. "Lately, you've been nothing but an expense! What good are you to me, huh? Why did we call you an officer? If you can't even save us from a few expenses, what good are you?"
"I'm sorry, sir. If you wish, I can ask to be relieved of my duty..."
"No! If you want to make up for it, you'll work harder! How much were those damn masks?"
"Three SWR credits, sir..."
"Three SWR credits for a Calosian?" Hianyan rubbed his temples. "A huge expense... Whatever. Give them a new mask immediately and let them work."
Meanwhile, the robots brought another Calosian. Tita took a mask from the cabinet in the back and put it on the Calosian. The Calosian immediately began to work hard. "One minute and thirteen seconds..." Hianyan said. "I've deducted it from your salary, Tita..."
"Understood, manager."
At that moment, the massive door opened. The light streaming through the door illuminated Hianyan's luxury suit, as he stood in the semi-darkness. It was Nagara who entered.
"Oh... Mr. Nagara... Human Resources Manager of the TESO factory... Welcome..." Hianyan said, extending his hand to Nagara.
Shaking his hand firmly, Nagara said: "Thank you, Manager Hianyan..."
"What wind blew you here?" Hianyan asked, grinning cunningly.
"I've come to talk business, dear Hianyan... to talk business..."