Leadership Development Program

The Midnight Vault II Submission | Sci-Fi/Horror

Unedited Photo by Growtika on Unsplash

Opening Narration:

This is Todd Davidson, age 36, a man who played by the rules and worked hard to build the life he had with his wife. Mary Davidson, age 34, has been the cornerstone of morality under the weight of ambition and capitalism. Everything was going smoothly for the two of them until a mysterious shadow acquisition swallowed Todd’s company whole.

Tonight, Todd is about to embark on a journey into The Midnight Vault. Will he lose himself in its twists and turns, or will he come out with his moral compass intact?

Eight pairs of legs in different shades of khaki encircled the water cooler in worship — their chants casting like webs across the office floor. Their words stuck to any surface they could find. In their shrine, large clear bubbles rose up from the bottom of a jug as water spilled out into one of the men’s paper cup. Watchful eyes observed their ritual from the back of the office, the chatter and clamor in agreement occasionally echoing far enough to hit their door. “And I hear that Jim is going to be a father!” Alex said.

“God help the kid” Lawrence jabbed. This was promptly followed by a chorus of laughter.

“Come on fellas, cut him some slack,” one of the pairs of khakis said. “How far along are you guys?” he asked, turning to Jim.

“Thanks Ted. 30 weeks. The missus and I can’t wait to meet the little guy. He’s giving my wife quite the run for her money towards the end here, he’s facing the wrong way.” Jim responded.

“What way is that?” one of the younger guys asked.

Lawrence smacked him on the back of the head and said, “Up, you dummy! They gotta face down or else they get stuck. You had no problem with that, must’ve shot right out and hit your head on the floor!”.

More laughs.

“Well, luckily this job has good insurance. Otherwise, I have no idea what we’d do” Jim finished.

The large oak door at the other end of the office opened so hard that the name placard reading “Regional Manager” momentarily rocked back and forth on its nail. Todd briskly passed the threshold into the office and started walking towards the group. They scattered, returning to their cubicles like wounded insects running from the weaver of the web.

Todd made it to the cooler, his face bright red with sweat and spittle flying from his mouth. After dispensing water into his paper cup, he took a large gulp and stared around the office. It was an open floor plan, which was something the new company that acquired them made policy. He scoffed, throwing the half drank water into the waste basket and storming back the way he had come.

With the slam of his door, Todd made his way back around his desk. He paused for a moment and stared back out the window into his office. He hated being the bad guy but wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do. After their small company was bought out, so much was changing. Unfortunately, the numbers weren’t keeping up with the expectations of his new bosses. He had to be hard, otherwise they’d all be out of a job. He couldn’t let that happen.

A chime sounded, breaking him out of his trance and alerting him that a new email appeared in his inbox.

The subject line read,

“The Benefits of Replacing Humans with AI and Automation”.

A little further down, the body of the email started,

“Companies large and small are finding benefits from replacing their workforce with AI Agents. One CEO weighs in, stating that they see the same output, sometimes even higher, with little to no additional cost!

Click here for a free evaluation and see where your organization stands: In the past with the cavemen, or in the future with AI”.

The email was sent from their corporate office, with their logo affixed at the header. It was purple and round, with a robotic looking head in the middle. He always hated that logo.

Under the body was a green button, with the text “Get Free Evaluation”.

Todd scoffed, “A.I. Yeah right”.

He leaned back in his chair, pulling out the bag from under his desk.

“Mary would get a kick out of this” he said before turning off the monitor and grabbing his keys.

Todd could barely finish his story about the email before being cut off.

Mary scoffed as she picked up the last few bites of potato on her plate with her fork and ate them.

“That is ridiculous!” she huffed, potato and spittle flying across the dinner table.

“Is it though honey? Margins were getting tighter every year, and that’s before they even bought us. We’ve been dipping into red over the past few months. I’m not sure what else they can do...”

“Who’s they? The mysterious bosses you talk about but have never seen? They don’t care as long as it doesn’t affect their bonuses!” she huffed.

Mary took a deep sip of her cabernet and continued, “I hate AI. You can’t just run around removing the human touch from things. You’ll suck the life out of everything that makes the world beautiful!”

Todd stared down at his plate, pushing around the remaining pieces of beef and carrot. “I guess so... maybe... I am just not sure Mary”.

“When have I ever been wrong?” She got up from her chair and rounded the table. She paused for a moment behind Todd, waiting.

“Never, honey,” he said with a smirk.

“Right”. She kissed him on his bald spot and walked out of the room.

Todd’s shoes shuffled across the carpet of the office. It was the first Tuesday of the month, and he was supposed to be collecting monthly departmental reports. He couldn’t pull his head out from the conversation he had the previous night with his wife.

He bumped into a man by accident, knocking a stack of papers out of his hand.

“Ah man, I’m sorry Morris” Todd said, his mind jolting back to the present.

He bent over to help Morris pick up the stack.

“No worries boss. Here are the reports for the last month” he said, holding out the disjointed stack of papers.

“Thank you”. Todd added them to his stack, shuffling them into order.

Todd paused before his office door and straightened the name placard on the wall. After shutting the door behind him, he threw the stack down onto his desk. He didn’t need to look through them all to know what information they held – all red.

“Another red month” he whispered.

Todd leaned back in his chair and exhaled. Just then, the chime of another new email sounded.

He turned his attention to the little mail icon and opened the new message. It was titled “Leadership Development Program”. His eyebrows tightened as he read on.

The body spelled out an incentive program for regional managers to reduce their local workforce overhead and replace critical processes with Artificial Intelligence Agents.

“Not this again...” he whispered.

Further down, it laid out a bonus structure for each department he was able to efficiently downsize, as well as a lofty promotion if he was successful in replacing one hundred percent of his office.

At this, he leaned back in his chair. The conversation from the previous night clouded his vision a second time as he clasped both hands together and placed them behind his head.

He slowly peered over his computer screen at the office through his window. He took a few seconds to watch people walking around, some hanging around the water cooler, and some at their desks typing away. They had been through similar stress as he did. The transition has not been smooth for anyone, and for that he had empathy.

However, despite the title, Todd knew his position didn’t come with a big enough pay raise. He was barely keeping up with inflation, and things kept getting more expensive. All of this gave them unwanted stress at home, and it was starting to boil up more often.

He glanced back at the monitor and clicked “reply” on the email. Even if he were to sign up, he had doubts that it could even work. AI could barely get facts correct on a consistent basis, but replacing entire departments? He hesitated on the blank page of an email draft.

Mary’s face projected over his thoughts as if she was there with him, watching closely. With it, the hushed tones of past arguments flooded in and started to drown him. He shook the thoughts away and returned his hands to the keyboard.

His response was a quick, “Opt-In”.

The moment he clicked send, a small popup appeared in the left-hand corner of the computer that read: “Network upgraded. You can now use corporate priority services for AI Agents”.

A terminal popped up, with various applications he had never heard of before. He opened the first one and started taking notes in his memo pad.

Mary pulled away instantly from Todd’s outstretched hand.

“That is insane,” Mary said. She paused the television and looked Todd right in his eyes. “Why would you want to be responsible for something like that? The money isn’t worth what you would be doing to all those poor people”.

“But all we do is worry about money, Mary. Come on, think about it. With those bonuses, we would never have to again, at least for a long while” he started to raise his voice. He gave a pleading look at Mary, who shifted her body away from him.

The TV gave off the faint glow, illuminating their faces in the dark. “We can figure it out though,” she whispered, now looking back over at him. “What’s the point if the money jeopardizes us?”.

Todd looked away, avoiding eye contact. He knew what she was talking about but couldn’t bring himself to admit it.

Ignoring her last comment, he continued, “It might not even matter anyway though... The new program they sent me is confusing. Even if I could figure out what processes I could replace, I’m not sure how to enter them into the tool.”

Mary sighed and slumped back into the couch, “Well if you can’t figure it out maybe that is what’s meant to be”, she replied, “I happen to love our life just how it is.”

“I am going to bed. Goodnight darling.” Mary kissed Todd on his bald spot and started up the stairs.

Halfway up the stairs, she called back “And I almost forgot, a package arrived for you earlier. It is on the kitchen table”.

Todd leaned forward, pondering the words that just left her mouth. He hadn’t ordered anything, maybe it was a gift. He quickly got up and ran to the door.

A package sat on their doorstep, with the logo of his new company printed across the top. He paused before lifting it up. It was heavy and clinked as he lowered it onto the dining room table. He tried to peel off the packing tape, but it just frayed and peeled into multiple strands. He searched around the kitchen and settled for one of the steak knives left on his plate from dinner.

He hacked away at the tape, as if he was sawing the branch off a tree. After lifting the cardboard flaps, he could see the tops of bottles. He paused and chuckled. He lifted the first bottle out and was surprised when it didn’t have the logo of a beer on it.

He stared at the clear glass bottle for a few seconds. It was filled with a deep purple liquid, but no label. He glanced back into the box and lifted out a card typed in company letterhead.

He read the card out softly to himself,

“Todd,

We are thrilled to see you signed up for the Leadership Development Program. While we have no doubts that you will succeed, we know how laborious the task ahead of you is. Included in this package is our proprietary drink, which we like to call ‘Efficiency Elixir’. Drink no more than one of these each night. We want to see you succeed, and these will help do the trick! Sincerely, Management”.

He grimaced, twirling around the bottle in his hand.

“Do they think I’m some sort of lab rat?”

He popped off the top and took a whiff. It smelt fruity like a grape, but also familiar in a way he couldn’t comprehend.

“Maybe it is some sort of … like a placebo or whatever it’s called.” he whispered without realizing he was slowly raising the neck of the bottle to his mouth. He quickly slammed it back down onto the table and started pacing back and forth.

“They wouldn’t want to poison me… who would run the office?” he whispered. Satisfied with his logic, he returned to the table and grabbed the bottle. He started sipping slowly at first, then drank the entire bottle in four large gulps.

With the bottle placed back on the table empty, he returned to his pacing.

After a few minutes, he started to notice his vision was blurring. A soft hint of purple was spilling into his retina.

He furiously started rubbing his eyes but couldn’t make any difference. He ran over to the sink and flushed cold water over his face. Dripping, he ran over to the mirror they had in the living room. He could see the deep purple filling into where his dark brown used to be.

He started to get dizzy when he stumbled towards the stairs.

He yelled. He heard no response.

“HONEY, I THINK THEY…” he trailed off, staring blankly at the steps.

The fog in his brain started to drift, and his mind sharpened and focused back on the office.

The formulas and algorithms that were foreign to him earlier started moving and shifting in his head. New connections started being made, and the synapses of his brain started lighting up with activity it was unfamiliar with.

“That’s how I do it” he said, devoid of all tone and urgency.

He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed a legal pad and pencil. He started furiously writing, wearing down the lead with each stroke.

“Sincerely, Your Regional Manager.”. Todd’s hand hovered the mouse over the send button for a moment and sat back in his chair. He had arrived early at the office in order to log onto the new AI portal. After shifting inputs and doing a lot of typing, he had replaced every single HR function with an AI Agent loaded with a new toolset and instructions.

He clicked send and leaned back in his chair. After a moment, he opened back up the portal and opened the tab titled “Headcount”. He reduced the number by fifteen and clicked “Submit”.

About an hour later, he was greeted to heavy raps on his door. He jumped up, not realizing he had zoned out after his click. He paused for a moment, trying to remember what he was thinking about.

The door opened and a handful of employees spilled into his office.

“You can’t just fire us,” Betty screamed, pointing her finger at Todd.

“What do you guys think you’re doing, barging into my office?” Todd responded, his voice raised.

“What do you get off from sending us a termination notice like that? We’ve been with you through everything.” Another man yelled from behind the crowd.

At that remark, Todd paused. He was staring down at his keyboard.

“How is this even legal? How are you okay with doing this?” Betty continued.

Todd jumped up and walked towards the crowd with his arms spread out.

“I’m sorry folks but we need to trim the fat. If you don’t leave the office immediately, I will call the cops” he yelled, ushering the mob slowly out of his door.

They pushed back but gave in as he got closer. Once they were far enough, Todd slammed his large oak door and rested his back against it. The clamoring slowed down to a muddle and slowly tapered off as the employees left.

The groceries dropped to the pavement and something inside one of the bags burst, leaking out of the corners of the paper.

“How could you do that? Did nothing I say to you matter?” Mary said, staring at Todd in the driveway.

“I honestly don’t know, Mary. I wasn’t even sure I was going to and the thoughts suddenly started flowing in. It all started to make sense”.

“Make sense to who? You sound like a monster. Do you even have any remorse? Any sympathy for those people with families?” she lashed out, leaving the groceries behind and walking towards the door.

Todd couldn’t find the words to respond. He just stood in the driveway, staring right through her.

She exhaled, eyes looking down. She turned and keyed open the front door.

“You need to stop. Please, I am begging you. I don’t even know who you are anymore if you continue”.

He looked as if he was miles away. Mary disappeared into the doorway, leaving Todd behind.

Todd grabbed the remaining bags and walked in behind her while the broken bag left a trail of wetness behind him.

Todd put the groceries away and pulled two purple bottles out of the fridge. Walking down the hall, he stared at the two bottles, spinning them around in his hands.

He sat down in his desk chair and chugged the entire first bottle. He paused for a moment and then downed the second. He sat in his chair, hands clasped and twiddling his thumbs.

All at once, quicker than the previous night, his vision shifted to the same deep shade of purple. His brain didn’t fog up but rather lit on fire with ideas flying by faster than he could grab them.

He stumbled out of his chair with his hands clasping on each side of his head. He could feel his mind starting to peel away from himself. He fought hard to reel it back in. All at once, he snapped back.

He grabbed his legal pad and pencil and started furiously writing.

Behind the closed door, Mary could hear the scratching sound coming from his office. She could also hear faint murmuring, unintelligible to her.

She paused with her hand held in the air, mid knock. Instead. She returned to the dinner table and ate by herself.

There were only three pairs of khakis surrounding the water cooler the next morning. They didn’t have any time to react as Todd ambushed them, pushing through to grab a paper cup from the dispenser. His hand shook as he tried to line up the cup below the water stream. Water splashed in and around the cup onto the floor.

Todd snapped up and backed up, completing the circle. He stared blankly past one of the men, eyes wild but hollow. The tinge of purple fading in and out. One of the men was staring but jumped back as Todd raised his eyes directly towards him.

“Hey, wasn’t one of you having a kid?” he rattled off. He stared expectantly at the man.

“That... that was Jim,” Marcus responded.

“Where is he? I gotta congratulate him. Yes, I must be a good boss and congratulate him” Todd said, trailing off again while staring into the office.

“You fired him yesterday, he was the HR head” another said, looking down at his feet.

“Ah. Oh course. “ Todd trailed off, now also looking down at his feet. His mind was oscillating in and out of the conversation. The onset of a migraine was taking hold.

He looked up and without warning started walking back towards his office. He dropped the cup of water halfway down the hall and closed his large oak door behind him, causing a few of the employees to jump up.

He spun around in his chair and looked out into the parking lot from his floor to ceiling window.

He stared at the cars as they made a slow stop at the sign and continued when there wasn’t another coming. He saw birds circling something that had gotten hit in the road. He saw the reflection of his own building in the office across the street. The face of Mary crept back, but it was thinner now. Easier to dismiss.

He spun back around and pulled two purple glass bottles out of his lunchbox. One at a time, he popped the cap off and drank them in their entirety.

Instantly, he sat back in his chair and let out a windy exhale. His vision shifted, and his brain started to feel like it was being ripped apart. His eyes rolled back in his head as he braced himself on the desk. His office felt like it was drifting sideways, his office door turned into a fun mirror. And then as quickly as it came on, his focus snapped back and he was staring at his computer screen.

He double clicked on the portal icon and immediately started typing on the keyboard.

Over the next four hours, he didn’t look up from his screen. It wouldn’t matter, as nobody in the office was brave enough to come talk to him anyway. From the outside of his office, you could only see the top of his head furiously looking back and forth across the screen, and the sound of hard clacks were just audible outside the door.

He skipped the email this time, and at 2PM he rose out of his chair and threw his door open. The hinges rattled, and the sign holding his title flew off the wall, snapping on the ground. He stood up on the nearest desk and cupped his hands around his mouth,

“Attention everyone. I regret to inform you, but the entire office is fired”.

One of the accounting managers looked up and saw Todd on the top of a desk. The hair around his bald spot was jutting out in all directions, his entire shirt was damp from sweat. But that wasn’t the worst part. His eyes were different. They were both on fire, and empty. Purple husks of what they once were.

Half of the office ran away hurriedly, not looking back. A few shouted expletives at Todd, none of which seemed to register. There were even a few threats of legal action as the office emptied. Cars slowly pulled out of the parking lot.

He jumped down, and without hesitating ran back to his office and slammed the door behind him.

He knocked over his chair in haste and pulled up the portal. Under the headcount tab, he reduced the number to “one”.

The second he clocked submit, an email chimed in his inbox.

The subject line read, “Congratulations, Todd.”

The body of the email read:

“We are pleased to announce that you have successfully transitioned 100% of your office personnel to AI Agents. We have tools and task sets for every single process and product you oversee. Please join us at your office tomorrow for a meeting to discuss your bonus and promotion. Sincerely, Management”.

Todd looked up from his computer at the empty office.

“Finally, they see. Finally, I am getting my piece.” he whispered.

He went to grab his keys and paused.

“No, I need to make sure I don’t miss this meeting. They probably want to discuss how I can apply my skillet to the rest of the company.”

He sat back down and pulled another four bottles out from his lunch box and drank them.

He scratched the bald spot on his head before starting to type on his keyboard. Slowly at first and picking up to a frantic pace.

Todd’s eyes opened slowly to the sound of muffled speaking. He tried lifting his head, but the room rocked and he felt as if he was on a ship at sea. He tried to focus his vision, but everything was in a blur. His head ached, but he could tell he was still in his office, just on the floor looking at the ceiling.

Someone came into view, a woman by the sound of her voice.

“Hopefully the serum didn’t cause permanent damage. He really took a— “Todd felt a jab in his left arm.

More rocking. His eyes closed again.

When Todd’s eyes opened, they were staring up at a sterile looking ceiling. He struggled trying to lift his head. He felt numb and cold. The room was dimly lit and the low whirl of machines hummed in the distance.

Two figures appeared above him in view. The woman from before, maybe. And a man.

“Glad to see you up,” the woman said. But something about her voice was distant and non-human. It sounded too emotionless and unnatural.

“Where am I? What have you done with me?” Todd yelled, stuttering to get the words out.

“You won’t be able to move for a while. We need to give your neural pathways time to adjust to their new host. You’re lucky, not everyone survives the promotion” the man responded in the same, emotionless tone.

“Pro…promotion?”

“Yes, the promotion you worked so hard for! It is the final step in the AI Agent program you signed up for. The final step in 100% efficiency/” the woman responded.

“Your mind is wonderful, however your physical limitations prevent you from realizing your maximum potential. Like it did for all of us”.

“Physical limitations… what are you guys talking about” Todd shouted.

“In order for you to take full advantage of our patented AI Agent network, you needed a new vessel. Your brain evolved and unlocked, but your body…” The two exchanged looks and walked closer to Todd. He couldn’t feel their hands as they rolled him onto his side.

Todd was eye to eye with his body, laying on a nearby table staring blankly back to him. The body had scars circling his head, cinched neatly in a row. Its eyes were open but hollow.

Todd screamed and cried violently. His eyes were darting around the room wildly, but he laid motionless on the table. Trapped and clawing to find a way out.

“We all had the same reaction. In time you will understand that this is your true final form” the man stated.

“Oh no no no, please. I don’t want the promotion. Put me back, please! I am begging you” Todd begged.

The two walked out of sight. He could hear their steps echoing softer and softer as they walked away.

The door shut behind them, muffling Todd’s pleads.

Closing Narration:

In the end, Todd’s obsession for success took such a strong hold that he lost himself. When Mary and the force of morality no longer became an obstacle, Todd drove himself deeper and deeper into the Midnight Vault, stripping away the layers that made him human. Inefficient. Inadequate. Replaceable. He finally got his promotion.