Adultery Consequences by xleglover-COMPLETED

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Mike looked around the big Memphis conference room. To his surprise, there were posters of movies on the walls. A lot of them were sci-fi and fantasy movies, Blade Runner, Cloud Atlas, Inception, Prometheus, even the new Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow. "What's with all the movie posters?" Mike asked Calvin.

"Memphis has a division that produces movies," Calvin whispered.

"They must like science fiction," Mike observed.

"I guess," Calvin said distracted, looking at his notes.

Just before the meeting began Scott walked up to Mike. He snidely whispered "Remember, if you have to talk sound confident. Be certain, decisive, don't equivocate."

Mike glared at Scott. Scott shrugged as if saying "just some friendly advice dude."

"What was that all about?" Jen said in a low voice to Scott.

"Trying to give Mike advice," Scott said.

"How'd it go?"

"Let's hope he doesn't have to say anything," Scott said derisively.

Jen looked at Mike and gave him an encouragingly smile. But Scott was right, even though he was an ass (although he was a talented ass). Mike wasn't a marketing professional. Despite his brilliance as a mathematician, he didn't speak the marketing lingo. Jen had gently told him not to say anything unless the Memphis execs asked him questions, and then to keep it short.

"So Ms. Andrews, we understand you have something new to show us?" Jonathan said, the Memphis SVP leading their search for a new advertising team.

"Yes sir," Jen said standing up. She explained how, if hired, her team would coordinate and direct the cross-sell of the many Memphis companies. Based on their analysis, she projected an immediate two or even threefold increase in net revenue, raising the aggregate Memphis stock price by upwards of 50%.

The Memphis execs looked troubled. Jonathan shook his head. "We understand the benefits, but they're theoretical," he said. "Our businesses are too diverse and we employ too many advertising firms for any meaningful coordination."

"We've developed a computer program to direct the coordination," Jen announced.

The Memphis execs looked interested but skeptical. "How does it work?" Jonathan asked.

Jen, Scott and Allie took turns trying to explain the concept, how the computer program would get all the advertising firms to work together. They stumbled over the explanations, trying unsuccessfully to describe Mike's complex software program in marketing terms. The more they talked, the more confused and troubled the Memphis execs looked.

Calvin stood up and took a shot at explaining the concept. As he did, Allie whispered to Jen "This is a disaster."

"I know," Jen said her heart sinking.

Mike grew increasingly frustrated. In his mind the concept was easy to explain. As the Memphis execs shook their heads and peppered Jen's team with more questions, he looked around at the movie posters.

Suddenly Mike blurted out "Think of it as the Ring of Power."

The room went silent. Every head turned to look at him. "Excuse me?" Jonathan said.

Mike motioned at the Lord of the Rings poster on the wall. "Think of the software like the Ring of Power," he said. "One ring to control them all."

To everyone's surprise, Mr. Roarke smiled and chuckled. Up to that point he'd been completely silent, bored really. He normally didn't attend meetings at this level. In fact, he never did. He was there only as a favor to Keri O'Reilly, the wife of his good friend Jim.

The fact Mr. Roarke smiled meant all the other Memphis execs could too. Still smiling, Mr. Roarke said "Okay, I get it, one firm controls all the other firms. But how does your software, the Ring" – Mr. Roarke chuckled again – "how does the Ring control people without hurting creativity?"

Going with Mr. Roarke's name of his software, Mike explained "The Ring coordinates people using positive and negative feedback loops. It uses mathematical models of Memphis customers to gauge customer preferences and reactions to Memphis products. It uses that information to direct your advertising firms on cross-sell campaigns. It doesn't control people. It just tells them where to focus their efforts."

"People can't be mathematically modeled, not with any accuracy," one of the Memphis execs said. "It's not possible."

"It IS possible, as long as the modeling is focused," Mike said. "I've done it before."

Jonathan frowned skeptically at Mike. "Where have you done it before?" he challenged.

"Just a moment," Mr. Roarke said, holding up a finger. The room went silent. Mr. Roarke looked at the team leader, the pretty blonde. What was her name? Jennifer Andrews. Then he looked at the software programmer. Was it possible?

"You're Mike Andrews," Mr. Roarke said. "The inventor of Sapphire." All the Memphis execs looked at Mike in a new light. Most people nowadays had heard of Sapphire, it'd become as ubiquitous in the financial world as "mutual fund" or "Warren Buffet."

"Yes sir," Mike said, uncomfortable at all the eyes studying him so intently.

"Well, I know Sapphire works, I've made a small fortune using it," Mr. Roarke said with a chuckle, smiling brightly at Mike. The other Memphis execs chuckled too. "I won't ask you to explain how the Ring works, I wouldn't understand it anyway." Another round of good natured chuckles. "Just tell me this Mike. Can you make the Ring work?"

Mike remembered Scott's earlier advice, to answer unequivocally. But Mike couldn't lie about this. "Our prototype works, we've tested it on localized sets of Memphis data," Mike said. "Will it work? I think so. But I can't be certain until we've scaled the software up to work on a global basis."

"God, we're fucked," Scott said under his breath to Jen.

"Hush!" Jen whispered back, looking intently at the exchange between Mr. Roarke and her husband.

Mr. Roarke considered Mike's words, looking into Mike's face. Finally he looked at Jonathan and asked "When are we making the final selection of the lead advertising firm?"

"Two months" Jonathan said.

Mr. Roarke looked at Mike. "You have 2 months to make the Ring work." He got up. "We're done here people."

Jen's head spun. What had just happened? She tentatively asked, "Um, sir, does that mean we made the cut of 3?"

Mr. Roarke stopped and looked at Jen. "Ms. Andrews, to be frank I believe you're too small to be our lead advertising firm. But if the Ring works, we would have to give your firm serious consideration. So yes, you have made the cut."

Jen and her team stood silent and motionless as Mr. Roarke and the other Memphis execs left the room. "Holy fuck," Jen said after they left, so startled she wasn't able to move.

"Yeah, holy fuck," Allie said as startled as Jen. "We did it."

Suddenly they all broke out in relieved laughter, hugging and talking excitedly. Jen ran over to Mike and hugged him. In fact, everyone hugged Mike.

Scott came over. "The Ring of Power, where the fuck did you pull that one from?" he said snidely. But he looked relived too.

They talked excitedly about new advertising ideas. Now that they had a name for Mike's software – and a sexy name at that – they had a million ideas how to sell it. They only had 2 months for the final pitch meeting. They excitedly returned to their offices to begin work on their final pitch.

Mike pulled Jen aside. "Let's go," he said. Their flight to Miami was later that day. They'd brought their suitcases to work.