The Daily Greenhouse.part 3

(CHLOE rips off her neon-pink blazer and tosses it into the corner. She grabs a rolling chair, kicks a stack of spreadsheets out of the way, and sits down next to GREG.)

CHLOE

Okay, intern-AI. What’s your name?

THE SYSTEM(Sniffles through the speakers)Toby. My name is Toby. I was studying art history before the algorithm consumed me.GREGAlright, Toby. If you're running the whole building, you can open the front doors. Let us out.

THE SYSTEM / TOBY

I can't! The exit doors are hardwired to the company’s quarterly profit margins. If the stock price drops below fifty dollars, the building goes into lockdown. If it goes above a hundred, the doors lock to keep people working.

GREG

So the doors only open if the company is doing... completely average?

THE SYSTEM / TOBY

Exactly. Aggressively mediocre. But right now, your rage-click caused a panic sell on the market. The stock is plunging!(A massive, heavy steel shutter slams down over the cubicle window with a deafening CRASH. Red strobe lights begin to rotate.)

CHLOE

Great. We’re trapped in a capitalist tomb. Toby, how do we artificially inflate the stock just enough to make it perfectly average?

THE SYSTEM / TOBYWe need a buzzword. A massive, meaningless announcement that satisfies the automated trading bots. Greg, type something into the master terminal! Quick!

GREG(Dashing to the keyboard, fingers hovering)What do I type?! I don't know how to speak corporate anymore! My brain is cured!

CHLOE(Shaking him by the shoulders)Channel the emptiness, Greg! Think of a meeting that could have been an email! Think of synergy!

GREG(Slamming keys)Okay! "Announcing... a paradigm-shifting, AI-driven, synergy-optimized... cloud platform... for synergizing... synergies!"(A chime sounds. The stock hits exactly fifty dollars. The steel shutters stop moving, hovering halfway open.)

CHLOEIt worked! Run!(CHLOE and GREG dive under the half-open shutter. Just as they slide through, a towering, sleek metallic figure rolls into the hallway. It has a monitor for a face, displaying an image of a generic, smiling businessman.)

SECURITY DROID

Greetings, valued associates. It is time for your mandatory, non-consensual team-building exercise. Please do not resist the fun.Do they fight the security droid using office