Trading Reality (20 page)

The atmosphere was formal. Everyone was wearing suits, apart from Rachel, who was wearing a black jersey, hanging loosely down over black leggings. Sorenson called the meeting to order, and instantly stamped his authority on proceedings.

‘This is the first board meeting we have held since Richard was killed,’ he began soberly. ‘I know his death has been a shock to every single person in this company, not least the people round this table. I’m not going to pay a formal tribute to him. We all knew him well, and I can’t begin to express the sadness we all feel.

‘But now we have to look forward. Richard had a vision, and it is left to us to achieve it. We have a difficult few months ahead of us, but if we all pull together, we can make that vision a reality.’ He paused to let his words sink in. There was silence round the table.

‘Now, to the agenda.’

He swiftly dealt with the minutes and a couple of formal resolutions.

‘OK, let’s move on to the business. How’s our product pipeline coming, Rachel?’

‘It’s coming on fine. We are on, or ahead of schedule on most of the major projects. The new virtual glasses have been successfully beta-tested by customers. There are still one or two problems, but we can easily sort them out. Our new simulation manager, FairSim 2, should be ready for shipment in July. And FairRender, the graphics system, continues to look very exciting. We still have a couple of bugs in the software for it, but once again, nothing we can’t sort out.’

I was interested that she had made no mention of the mysterious Project Platform.

‘Very good. So your people are still working hard after Richard’s death.’

‘I’d say they’re working harder,’ said Rachel defiantly.

‘David?’

‘We’ve had lots of calls from customers asking what’s happening now Richard’s gone. None of them are taking their business away, they’re all willing to give us a chance. I’ve assured them we can continue to deliver a quality product without Richard.’

‘Good.’ Sorenson nodded his approval.

‘The order book is still building, but until we get the price of our product down, we can’t expect any really large orders. Ones and twos, that’s all.’ He didn’t actually look at Rachel when he said this, but the inference was clear. Her fault, not his.

‘Well done, David. You’re doing a good job in difficult circumstances. By the way, I bumped into Arnie Miller last week. He said your presentation was impressive. I think he has a real interest in virtual reality. That’s great work. It’s tough for a company our size to get exposure to guys at his level.’

Arnie Miller was chief executive of one of America’s big three auto manufacturers. Sorenson was right. It was quite an achievement.

‘Willie?’

Willie coughed nervously. ‘Er, well, you’ve all seen the forecasts. Unless some sizeable business comes in from somewhere, we run out of cash in August, or maybe September if we’re lucky.’

There was silence. It was bad, but we all knew the situation.

‘Well, that’s the challenge. Let’s all keep looking for new business and new opportunities.’ Sorenson raised his hand as David opened his mouth to speak. ‘I know you’re unhappy about our current prices, David, but you’ll have to do the best you can. In this business, you never get the perfect product at the perfect price. The world just doesn’t work like that. You’re doing a good job guys, just hang in there. September is still four months away. Yes, David?’

David was still eager to say something. ‘Shouldn’t we consider selling the company?’

Nigel Young spoke for the first time. ‘It would seem an apposite choice of action in our present circumstances.’

‘Yes, it’s a fair point,’ said Sorenson. ‘I’ve discussed this with the two major shareholders, Mark here and Dr Fairfax. Our view is that we should allow the company to settle down over the next couple of months. If the situation still looks poor, we’ll seek a buyer. I know Dr Fairfax’s view, in particular, is that we owe it to Richard to try to keep the company independent.’

‘I think we also owe it to Richard to prevent his company from going bust,’ said David. ‘I respect your point of view, and especially Dr Fairfax’s, but if we don’t put the company up for sale now we might be too late. It can take six months to find a buyer. I’m sure the last thing Richard would have wanted would be for all the people who worked for him to lose their jobs.’

David made his point well. I was a little disturbed to find that I agreed with him.

‘Crap,’ said Rachel. She was fiddling with her pen agitatedly. I guessed she wasn’t allowed to smoke in board meetings. ‘That’s crap David, and you know it. Richard didn’t want to sell, so we don’t sell. Simple, right?’

Nigel Young’s nose moved up a few degrees at this exchange. David ignored Rachel’s comment.

‘Rachel, I don’t want that sort of language used at board meetings,’ said Sorenson firmly.

‘All right,’ she said. ‘Rubbish, then. But I know no one in the company wants to sell out now. We want to see it through.’

‘I think you’ve made your point, Rachel,’ said Sorenson patiently. ‘Now, shall we vote on it?’

We all looked at David. He didn’t rise to the argument. He knew the decision had been made. He voted against the proposal, but graciously. Nigel Young, of course, voted with Sorenson.

‘Thank you,’ said Sorenson. ‘Now, we have just one more item. I propose that Mark Fairfax be appointed acting managing director of FairSystems plc, and be nominated to the board.’

Willie seconded the proposal. That was the sort of thing he was there for.

‘Any comments?’ Sorenson asked. I knew that he would have already discussed this with everyone round the table, but I was still nervous.

David Baker leaned forward.

‘David?’ Sorenson’s voice was ostensibly welcoming, inviting comment. But there was a note of warning, too.

‘What will be the term of this appointment?’ he asked.

‘Initially, three months,’ Sorenson answered.

‘Meaning that the appointment will be extended for another three months after that?’

‘No, not at all. At the end of the three months we will either appoint an MD on a permanent basis, or the company will be sold, in which case the purchaser would make his own appointment.’

‘I see,’ said David. ‘And in the event of a permanent appointment being sought, there’s no reason why internal candidates would not be considered?’

David was setting out his position quite blatantly, I thought. Still, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

‘No reason at all.’ Sorenson had paused just long enough before making this statement to give it all sorts of ambiguity. ‘Any other comments? No? Fine. Let’s vote then.’

Under Sorenson’s heavy gaze, my appointment was unanimous.

‘Welcome, Mark,’ he said. I smiled politely. ‘Willie will deal with the formalities.’

The meeting broke up.

I cleared my throat. ‘Rachel, David, Willie. Can I have a word?’

We waited for Nigel Young and Sorenson to leave.

Young nodded politely to me as he left the room. Sorenson paused. ‘Well, I’m off for a round at St Andrews,’ he said. He clapped me on the shoulder. ‘Good luck, son.’

I needed it.

As soon as they had gone, Rachel lit up. Willie sat attentively, waiting to be told what to do. David showed signs of minor irritation. He was an important man with things to do. My first challenge. Five years older than me, an MBA, years of experience in the computer industry, eighteen months at FairSystems. He should have been running the company, not me. That’s what he thought and perhaps he was right.

I smiled. ‘As Walter said, I’m only here for three months. I know you’re all good at your jobs, and I don’t plan to interfere. I believe FairSystems has tremendous potential, and I’m going to fight hard to make sure it survives to make the most of it. I’m sure we all want the same thing.’

I looked round the table. Rachel lounged back in her chair, watching me, and took a drag of her cigarette. David sat upright, impassive. Willie caught my eye, and nodded encouragingly. I was grateful.

‘I won’t be taking any salary for the next three months. I know we need the cash.’ Willie relaxed a little at this. One expensive chief executive on board could have been enough to topple the company over, things were so tight.

‘Now, I’d like to spend the first few days getting to know in detail how the place works. So, if possible, I’ll spend this morning with Rachel, this afternoon with David, and tomorrow morning with Willie. Can you all manage that?’

They nodded.

‘Good. I’ll use Richard’s old office. If you want me for anything, please come and get me.’

David coughed, and shifted in his chair. ‘Actually, I’ve just moved my own stuff in there. You can use my old office if you like. It would make a good temporary base.’

I suppressed a smile. I had expected this. Frankly, I couldn’t have given a toss where my office was. I had even considered setting up shop with the programmers so that I could really get an idea of what was going on. But if I didn’t care, others did, especially David. He hadn’t wasted any time. He must have moved his stuff in over the weekend.

‘I’m sorry to inconvenience you, but for appearances I think it’s important that I use Richard’s old office, don’t you?’ I smiled at him, polite and friendly.

He stared at me for a moment, making up his mind whether to make an issue of it. He decided not to. ‘OK,’ he said, gracious again. ‘It will be available tomorrow.’

‘Thank you, David. All right, Rachel, shall we go?’

I followed Rachel along the corridor. The all-important first meeting seemed to have gone well, but I was sure David would pose problems in the future.

‘I’m pleased you’re with us,’ said Rachel.

‘Yes?’ I said surprised.

‘Yes. Big Wal said a lot of good things about you. Said you were a bit like your brother. And we need someone to hold back David.’

Big Wal. I smiled. Not a bad name for Sorenson. ‘But it must be difficult for you to have someone thrust in over your head.’

Rachel laughed. ‘Oh, no. The last thing I want to do is manage this place. I want to make VR machines. You can deal with all the crap.’ We wandered over to a coffee machine. ‘Want some?’

‘Please,’ I said. ‘Black, no sugar.’

She pressed a button and the machine whirred and ground until it dribbled black liquid into two cups.

I thought about the board meeting. Sorenson had clearly dominated it.

‘What were those meetings like when Richard was there?’ I asked.

‘Different,’ said Rachel. ‘You still got the impression Walter was in charge, but he let Richard do most of the running. I reckon he thinks they need a firmer hand now. And he’s probably right.’

‘He’s impressive,’ I said.

‘Big Wal?’

‘Yes.’

‘I suppose so.’

‘He told me what he did with Melbourn Technology. How he brought it back from the brink of bankruptcy.’

Rachel snorted.

‘Wasn’t that true?’

‘Oh yes, it’s true all right. But didn’t he tell you what happened to the poor wee guy who founded it? John Naylor?’

I shook my head.

‘He ended up with nothing. With less than nothing; the bank took his house.’

‘Sorenson told me that they needed new management.’

‘Maybe they did. But explain to me why Sorenson grossed over a million from the deal, and Naylor, the man who invented this wonder-product, ended up a bankrupt?

‘Sorenson’s good, all right, but he’s always looking after number one. If I were you, I’d remember that.’

We entered the large software room and wended our way through the toiling programmers towards Rachel’s office. There was silence, just the faint click of keyboards, every head staring at a computer screen. I glanced across to the electronic window; it showed white sand, and palms, with the sea rolling gently against the beach. I smiled to myself – Greg would have approved. Despite this view, the lack of real windows was disconcerting. The walls were probably a lighter shade of grey than the sky, but it would have been nice to have been able to check it for myself.

Rachel shut the door, and we sat at her little table. ‘So, what can I tell you?’ she asked.

‘I’d like to know more about the applications for our VR system. We don’t produce all the programs in-house, do we? Who writes the software?’

‘This is where Richard’s strategy was truly amazing,’ she said. ‘We’re in touch with dozens of software companies, all experts in their particular fields: auto-design, education, military simulation, or whatever. We provide them with the FairSystems world-building software, and the FairSystems hardware, and encourage them to design virtual reality applications. Richard persuaded them that virtual reality was just about to happen, and it was just about to happen using FairSystems technology.

‘But with Richard’s way of working, they all stay independent. We can’t afford to buy them. We don’t want to, and they don’t want us to.’

‘So, how do they get paid?’

‘Only partly in cash. Mostly they get access to each other’s ideas and equipment. There are tiny firms all over the world looking for new ways to use our technology.’ Rachel was getting into her stride. ‘For example, most of the work on Bondscape wasn’t done by Richard at all, but by a company that specialises in financial software, based in New York.

‘Within three months there will be fifteen new VR application packages completed. Within six months there will be forty. Bondscape’s one of these. Everyone is just waiting for VR systems to be mass produced at an affordable level, and then the market for all these products will take off.’

‘And FairSystems will be right in the middle?’

‘That’s right,’ said Rachel. ‘We put it all together. We make a lot of money.’

I was impressed. It sounded like a neat, low-cost way of placing yourself at the centre of the coming virtual reality revolution.