The Boss and Tom Hartley

"Any portable units in your possession?"

Tom handed his portable to the interviewer for a quick scan.

"You've got some non-standard software on this unit."

"Sorry, I'll delete it."

The interviewer nodded and handed the unit back to Tom. Everybody had non-standard software on their portables. It was one of those things that corporate usually turned a blind-eye on. But it was the interviewer's responsibility to note it and ask for its removal. The interviewer knew that it would be back on the portable at the next inspection. There was nothing else noteworthy about Tom's portable.

"What was the event?" Tom's nonchalance was natural, not practiced.

"We lost an entire boss. Used to be in charge of your unit. Normally AIs don't just disintegrate like this one did. We think it was an ICP and maybe the AI had some rogue prototype that went volatile. The combination would be the AI equivalent of dousing yourself with gasoline and then lighting a match. Poof. It's all gone."

Tom stared in disbelief. Fortunately, the same response would have been appropriate for someone who hadn't just snuffed out their old boss for stealing a good idea from them.