5

"He found the death he deserved for his scheming and manipulation. Whether here or elsewhere doesn't really matter."

Clarissa shakes her head. "That is our judgment to make. Yes, he acted against MetaHuman. But he was a skilled leader, and you'd do well to study his methods."

Dr. Karl Dockner speaks up again. "The board would like to introduce a couple of documents for consideration. The first is a summary of polls conducted by several market research agencies. They concern the public's perception of MetaHuman: which portions of society applaud and condemn us, that sort of thing. This is hardly the biggest indicator of MetaHuman's success, of course. But for some of us, it matters."

He taps a tablet on the desk before him, transmitting the document to similar devices in front of the other shareholders. They barely glance at it. You have the impression they've seen it before.

"The man on the street likes us," says Dockner. "Approval rating is through the roof in some sectors: the highly educated, the very wealthy. There is still some ambivalence in terms of our transparency policies—almost everybody believes we're hiding something. But that's to be expected; we are. Still, good work, Neah. These things tend to have a knock-on effect in several areas, in the long term."

You manage a small smile at his words.

"Of course, the big indicator of MetaHuman's success this year is our share price," says Dockner. Another tap at his tablet, and again he sends graphics and figures to his counterparts' screens.

You don't get to see them. But then, you don't need to—you've been keeping a close eye on your company's share price throughout the year, and that goes double for these last few weeks.

Dockner consults his screen a few seconds, then looks up at you. "Our share price is bad. Really bad. You've lost us a heap of money, Neah."

"Okay, I think we have all the information we need," Clarissa cuts in. "Please bear with us a short while, Neah."

And then MetaHuman's six shareholders fall to murmuring among themselves. Though they are not seated very far away from you, you cannot seem to distinguish a word they say. You wait, trying to read their expressions for any hint of their feeling, hoping for a good result.

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