March 29th, 2024 – Friday: 9:12 AM

Horace walked into Constance’s office after her assistant said she didn’t have anyone meeting with her. He brought her a mug of hot tea and set down a box of those same leaves she had asked about getting. They chatted for a bit, catching up on how each other were doing and recent projects they were working on. When he asked about the merger Constance explained that it was Gary that somehow convinced their rival company to merge with Mallic to create Mallic Faulkner Technologies.

“So, because of this the Hideyoshi account is saved. No one is loosing their jobs. We’re not just expanding to the full building, but gaining a second one altogether? Seems like hero work is really a calling for him. Quite the win,” Horace said with a set of raised eyebrows and a slightly surprised tone.

“I know you two haven’t really spoken since his secret came out. Is everything going to be okay? You both worked so well together, and I know he’s tried to apologize for not telling you sooner.

“Ms. Mallic, Constance, I realize that while not fact, we’re fairly certain he’s the Gryphon of Norwood. I’ve pieced together that when I found out about his having powers he would have still been listed as a Maverick. I have actually forgiven him trying to not make me the accessory of a crime when his hero work put him on the wrong side of the law.”

“Horace, have you told him that? I can absolutely be certain it would make his day. He misses hanging out with you.”

“Constance I am not sure how to approach him now? He’s now running his own division. Brandon and the lawyers were headed over to Faulkner Robotics to finalize the merger. Talk among the Dev’s and QA suggest he is going to help Brandon push the company into its future. I have an angle how to do that but I would like your help.”

Constance looked concerned yet interested in another idea the company might explore since Garrick was now in charge of his own branch, division, “Sure, let me know how we can keep growing and innovating.”

“Gary and I built a virtual worlds together in the Worlds Online system. His most popular server I run as a junior admin. The World is called Ecc’Thallia and governed by Dragon Lords. Perhaps you have heard him say the name Gizergleam?”

Constance nodded smiling at the times he would nerd on how great a job Horace was doing running the server. “Oh yes Horace, he’s geeked out about it plenty when things were slow.”

“Well, it’s a hobby of some Super Hero fan forums to look for the online personas of heroes, maverics, and villains. A number of Worlds Online identities have been scrutinized for possibly being real heroes. Our registered users has now topped 1.26 million and we have an average online ratio of 75,000 to 368,000 in any given hour! This happened Wednesday morning. Horace just looked at Constance for a few seconds before continuing. She appeared interested in where he was going but she gave nothing away. “So, I would like to propose Mallic Robotics buys his server. More importantly buys the second server as well. The other world is a hard science world server set a few decades ahead. It could be called Sci-fi, but what I know is that everything he tried out in Robot Swords franchise he tested on this server. There is even a very regulated A.I. on it called Cynthia Mark II. He said it was based on another A.I. he built for his father ages back.”

Constance nodded as he continued, “First, I want to lightly monetize the games and add more features. Second, I want to safeguard the science environment server because of all the Robot Swords easter eggs just littering the landscape. Third, perhaps we can release a replacement sci-fi world(s) where people fight as robots, or power armor pilots. Lightly monetized to make free play go faster. This one we would also make mobile friendly for a broader audience. We can call it: Gryphon Command.”

Constance considered this new project. More and more it seemed, Mallic kept branching out. How far could they stretch their expertise before they broke? She decided it could stretch this much farther at least, especially with the plans Garrick set in motion and the cushion those plans provided them. “How many Dev’s would you need to start this?” she asked.

“Two devs, two community managers with one focusing on social media, two concept artists, two digital animators. There are some software purchases we’ll need to make the work procedural and save hundreds of thousands in creation. That is all to run the enhancements on Gizergleam. Once we get that in the black then we can interject a small story arc where some future stuff falls from the sky. It will be our way to introduce and beta test the sci-fi world as a special adventure event. If sales go good perhaps 3-6 months we could increase staff enough to make make serious money for Mallic to offset Gary not working here directly anymore.”

Eight people! This would be a risk. But it was something she thought Garrick would agree with, and it would help to patch things up between those two. Then there was also the rub Constance saw, Garrick had played a large part of the success and now she had to make sure to match what he would come up with. Horace had a good and reasonable plan to deal with making a product that could be put to use. All they had to do was get Garrick to sell it.

“Horace, I like the plan and I will talk with Gary next Monday when I know he’ll be at the new office in Drummond. The condition for my help is you be with me when we have this conversation. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” they shook hands as a pending online video game product line took shape. Both talked about making a licensed game of Robot Swords, or whatever Brandon was going to work out in California when he left on April 12th.

Come watch the next game at: HippoTV!
Art either created or photo manipulated by: AZ_Artisan