#PHEW I uhhh have a few queued

[finrays]

4. Unfair!

HELLO I'M WRITING A LOT TODAY, BUT I SEE YOU ALL. THANKS FOR THE KIND FEEDBACK.

A rewrite of an earlier piece I wasn't satisfied with. It's kiiiiind of a loose interpretation of the prompt but I'd be MAD AS HELL and find it unfair, too.

- By 8:30 PM, she's finally spent her rage.

Dropping a trail of equipment as she makes her way from door to couch, Elisabet flings herself down with a weary sigh, throwing an arm over her eyes and taking a moment to just breathe.

For the first time since the disaster of this morning's press conference, her head is finally, blessedly empty, the anger and hurt mostly expended through the process of thrashing herself to her physical limits.

Mostly; there's still an ember of the earlier heat, pulsing in the depths of her stomach. But that, she thinks, isn't going to go away any time soon.

The Focus buzzes again in the front pocket of her bag, and she grimaces.

I bet I know who that is. And I'm going to have to pick up eventually.

But not right now.

The wherewithal to cook escapes her, so she settles for a protein shake and an apple, eaten absently while leaning against the kitchen counter and staring out the apartment window at the city lights beyond.

It's not until she's showered and stowed all of her gear away that she finally slips the Focus back on, and begins sorting through a list of notifications so long that it makes her head ache just to think of the bottom.

There are five missed calls from Ted, all in increasing flavors of desperate. Three interview requests, all of which are summarily declined. A worried message from her mother ("I heard the news, Bits. Are you all right?") to which she dashes off a quick reply, apologizing for the late response and promising to call in the morning. A slew of angry, sympathetic messages from colleagues in firm agreement with her stance. An equally long, if not longer slew of sheepishly apologetic messages from colleagues who don't.

These, she moves directly into the Trash; she has nothing to say to them.

She's almost to the bottom of the list when the call comes in, and for a moment, she almost lets it ring. But her cooler (sort of) head prevails, in the end, and, with a sigh, she reaches out to accept it; the confrontation is inevitable, and she'd rather have it here than in the office, where so much more could go wrong.

"Ted," she intones, keeping her voice as carefully neutral as possible.

From the other end of the line comes a sigh that's half annoyance and half relief.

"Lis, where the hell have you been?"

"Climbing. In Provo."

His voice goes flat with disbelief.

"Provo."

Swallowing hard, she runs a hand through her hair, keeping her tone as steady as she can manage.

"Yep. And fencing at B Gym after that."

He goes silent for a long time. When he speaks, it's in a soft, almost cajoling voice.

"You just bolted this morning, Lis. I needed you there-"

The spark of anger flares again, and she rises to her feet, beginning to pace the length of the living room.

"Oh. You needed me. But not enough to tell me what was going on."

He's made a mistake, and they both know it.

"Lis-"

Even though it's a voice call, and he can't see the gesture, she makes a sharp, chopping motion with her hand as she cuts him off with a little snarl.

"No! Don't you 'Lis' me, Ted! You reassigned half my team! Cancelled six of our upcoming projects! And I had to hear about it in the middle of a crowded room, in front of the damn press!"

"I... mishandled the situation, yes, but you-"

To her irritation, he hasn't lost the soothing, diplomatic edge to his voice yet.

Does he think that he can salvage this, somehow? Really?

Not about to let him finish, she whirls on her heel, stabbing a finger into the empty air.

"You know how I feel about this, Ted! You know what my stance on military applications is, and you're gutting my department-"

This time, he's the one cutting her off, in a glacial voice that, admittedly, trips her up for a moment, shocking her into silence.

"Enough. It's time to grow up, Lis."

She hates the way her voice comes out as an outraged squeak, at least an octave higher than she'd like it. But the indignity of it!

"Excuse me!?"

Is he trying to patronize me? Me!?

Ted laughs derisively on the other end of the line.

"What? Did you really think that we were going to spend the rest of our damn lives building carbon scrubbers and water filters? Green robotics is a field with an expiration date. One that's fast-approaching. It's time to move on."

For the second time in as many minutes, she finds herself at a momentary loss for words, breathing in ragged little gasps of fury. She has to pinch the bridge of her nose and remind herself to slow down before she finally trusts herself to speak again.

"You really don't know anything about gardening, do you, Ted? It's not enough just to plant the seeds. You have to tend them if you want them to grow."

A scoff. She can almost see the dismissive wave of his hand.

"The forest gets by just fine."

He hasn't learned anything from this.

The thought hits her like the whip-flash blow of a sabre strike during a bout, and she almost laughs out loud.

Ten years, all of those projects, and he hasn't learned a damn thing.

It's a thought that should shock her. Should shake her to her core. But... somehow, it doesn't. Somehow, she's always known that it would end like this.

Ted's always been more interested in the showy blossoms than the roots and trunks. That's always been her purview. It's the reason they've worked so well together, shoring each other up, as business partners. As friends.

And now, it's the reason driving them apart.

"All right. Fine. If this is the direction you're going to take the company in, then..."

She hesitates only for a moment; she knows what she wants to say. Knows what she has to say. But it still takes an effort to force it out.

"Then it's not one I can follow. Consider this my official notice of resignation."

It's Ted's voice that comes out as a squeak, this time, and she allows herself a moment to feel smug.

"Your... what?"

Now that the words are loose in the world between them, her confidence grows. Crossing back to the couch, she takes a seat, crossing her legs beneath her.

"You heard me, Ted."

He's spluttering on the other end of the line, at a loss for words for the first time she can ever remember.

"You... you can't just-"

She cuts him off again, more gently, this time; the decision's been made, and with each passing second, she's more and more at peace with it. More and more convinced that it's the right thing to do.

"I can. And I just did. Effective noon tomorrow, local time. I'll send the paperwork over to HR in the morning. And I can be packed up and gone by Tuesday, at the latest."

For a long time, he's silent. She's just beginning to think that this is it, that he's going to let a partnership, a friendship of nearly a decade go by just hanging up on her. But the icy tone that had so shocked her earlier returns, and she can hear a chair being pushed out as he stands.

"Fine. I'll post a hiring notice. Find a better fit for the position. Someone with more vision."

His parting barb finds no purchase on the glassy surface of her resolve, and she nods to no one in particular.

"Goodbye, Ted."

Thumbing the call off, she curls back into the couch cushions and watches the lights wink off all across campus, and the city beyond. Watches the moon sail over the tops of the Wasatch range, up to its zenith and down the sky again.

Then, finally, she opens her email client, and begins to draft a message. By the time the sun rises over the mountains, it's ready to go.

-- Mon 4/14/2048 8:30 AM From: esobeck@FAS.com To: STAFF_ALL@FAS.com Subject: Happy Trails

Hello All,

I know how quickly the rumor mill in this place works, so I'm just going to come out and say it. Effective today, at 12 PM local time, I am resigning my position as Chief Scientist of Faro Automated Solutions.

While I have greatly enjoyed my time here at FAS, the company's decision to branch out into military applications is not one that I can personally support. It is my firm belief that our focus should remain on the use of technological advancements to improve the lives of our fellow human beings, and to foster stewardship of the natural world, reversing the mistakes of the past, and looking toward the future. The Board does not share this belief. Thus, our parting of the ways.

As humans, we look toward the horizon with every action that we take, seeking to pass what's important to us over its edge to the next generation. I urge you to consider your legacy, what it is that you want to pass over that horizon, and to take steps accordingly.

It has been an honor to work alongside you all these past ten years. When I say that you are some of the best and brightest engineers and scientists of our age, it is with total sincerity. Should you need it, my door will always be open to you.

All my best,

E. Sobeck