I have one. Its my boss. Technically I work for her because I live in the deep tanks. Its sort of a weird situation I know but the deep tanks are weird any way you look at it. We don't have much in the way of permanently assigned people down here. The regular people rotate out every 30 days. You could set your watch by their rotations. The novas are few and far between. The few that stay around are always moving around. I'm the only one around all the time so I guess my "boss" sees me as one of "her" resources. I go along with the deep tanks.

She came up with this diagram of how she wanted an ideal deep tank facility to look. Its garbage. Something straight out of a movie. It's pretty enough if you can look past her doodles to see what she envisioning but its all substance and no form. The layout is wrong, the environments don't have enough space allotted and the command control is at least three hundred times bigger than anything I can see needing. She even has the whole thing covered by a clear dome. That much vitrium would cost more than three deep tanks generate in a year just for the raw materials.

I could make the call to Dr Alinsky or burn some bridges but I actually like the idea this woman has an interest in the deep tanks. So how do I get this white elephant out of my back yard?

Well, bitching and moaning about it on a "public" board while not hiding your identity is a pretty shitty way to go about it. I'm betting your boss knows about it by now and probably would enjoy screwing you over.

You are right except about the part in screwing me over. She's been doing that for the last six months.

I hope the next time you got to get stashed out of sight its a deep tank. If its one of my mine you'll be fine. Safe as houses. But if its got a dome just remember it was designed by a desk jock with a degree in finance.

Oh shit. Is it starting to sink in now why I'm upset enough to bitch about it?

You know what? I apologize Trooper. If its sounds like bitching to you then I'm sorry. Safety in the tanks is my responsibility. I take it seriously. I screw up and people die.

You just gave me an idea.

It might work.

The stock market is opening soon.

I'll be in touch. Just to let you know how it turns out.

Ward, no problem. You're with the Lady so you get cut slack. I know you've got a shit job, but still, chain of command is chain of command.

And I don't do time out of the way. I make my green by making red.

No problems Trooper. And you gave me an idea for dealing with this so I'm grateful.

It's not a shit job either. It probably would be for other people but for me its perfect. I just need to reposition some thing today and then have a talk with my "boss".

Don't be certain you'll never get your feet wet. Some novas see the virtue of underwater sight seeing right about the time there's a lot of activity at the Haag.

Done. You're looking at a new regional director authority over the deep tanks in the Pacific. Same job but now I get the blame if it all goes to shit.

Thanks Trooper. I wouldn't have had the balls to make the play if you hadn't said what you did.

Congrats and good luck on the new job (title).

Thank you. Its really not that big a deal though. One administrative assistant, four dysfunctional engineers and me. That's it for the permanent pool. Everyone else rotates.

Oh! There is a shore office in Preatoria though. Since I'll never be there and don't want my assistant to get ideas, I think I'll budget for some gear. One holodisplay about five meters wide, a fog generator and a pressure switch. And a miniature ter'r generator with hi def spearkers. When someone walks in to scope the place, my image can tower over them as the recording plays.

"Who disturbs the great and powerful OZ!"

Good times. You have to enjoy them.

Glad to see the POWER hasn't gone to your head.

Ah yes. Only moments ago I had to send an op-memo to corporate explaining why so much food has to be ferried down to support baseline and nova appetites. In particular, it was necessary to answer the question of why we can't "...just catch fish or something". On the plus side, I did get my guests as well as assigned personnel an allotment of Pan-European prostitutes of allegedly high skill and enthusiasm.

Needless to say, productivity is up.