Statue

The newsreader’s voice echoed from the small TV in the office.

“A statue has appeared in the middle of town, and no one knows how it got there…”

“The boss isn’t going to like this,” Adam groaned with his head in his hands. “I messed up big time!”

Brian smirked at his distress. “That’s the understatement of the century.”

Lauren brought her desk chair closer to Adam. She glanced through the information on his computer screen. “Did you double check that the coordinates would teleport the statue to the museum’s loading bay?”

Adam gave Lauren a sharp look through his fingers. “Ask an obvious question, of course I did. I triple checked, quadruple checked.”

Lauren shook her head and read through the details of the delivery order. “Then how do you explain being a couple hundred metres off? The statue is in the middle of the city centre near the fountain – oh and look, it’s now got a hashtag that’s gone viral.”

Adam groaned. Would the humiliation never end?

The company hadn’t had the teleportation pad for long. Their team had gone through several trial runs before the company announced it to the public.

Brian was clearly loving every minute. He was hovering behind Adam and Lauren, waiting to tease Adam even more.

“Don’t worry, we can sort this,” Lauren tried to reassure Adam.

Adam shook his head. “It’s too late. As soon as the boss finds out I was the one responsible…” he gestured his head being chopped off, “I’m done.”

He then took an intake of breath.

He slumped into his chair. “Just pick me up and throw me into the trash to rot.”

Brian grabbed the back of his chair and pushed it away. “Off you go then,” he smiled wickedly.

“Hey!” Adam stomped his feet onto the floor to stop the chair from rolling any further.

He got to his feet and glared at Brian.

Lauren interjected before the two had their usual stand-off. “Adam, there’s no need for the melodramatics, we can fix this.”

Brian stared him down and then did a loud, fake yawn, before walking away to his desk.

“Really? I don’t see how…” Adam turned to Lauren. “Not only will our boss find out, but Ted-Tech and the museum will too. They’ll think the technology failed, and once they start asking questions, they’ll realise it wasn’t the machine.”

He pointed at himself dramatically. “It was me!”

Lauren smiled and patted his shoulder. “We just need to think of a way to spin this error into a positive thing for the company and museum. If we can somehow make people think this was a publicity stunt for the museum, and generate a buzz for it, then maybe you won’t endure the full wrath of our boss.”

Adam mustered a small smile. “I wish I had your optimism.”

Lauren pointed to the television.

The statue’s hashtag was already trending nationwide.

She grinned. “This’ll be easy. Trust me. Just follow my lead…”