Power Trip (a Wandering Koala tale)

By Jeff Thomason

René thinks he’s hit the jackpot!

After six months of no luck following college, he finds the perfect job with excellent benefits at The Power Company doing what he graduated in.

But a newly hired manager has a mysterious agenda. Employees disappear with no warning, and René is caught in a massive explosion that leaves the city of 8 million without power during a record-breaking heat wave. Riots rage and fires burn as the city plunges into chaos, and René finds himself framed for sabotage.

Only the intervention of a silent wanderer can save him and the rest of the city from a deadly power trip.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Thomason
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466121072

Jeff Thomason

Jeff is the creator of the Cully Koala comic strip and author of the Wandering Koala tales. Jeff's dream has always been to be a rock star. Unfortunately, he can't sing, he can't dance, and he doesn't look good in tight leather pants. So he decided to pursue his second dream and become a writer and artist.When he isn't working on his own creations, he also provides graphic design, web development, and illustrations for companies all over the country including Community Care; Southwest Specialty Foods, Inc.; World Prayer Room; Le Ritz Hotel & Suites; Big H Products, Inc; Galaxy Southwest; Mega Corporation; Members' Auto Center; The Arizona Group; Jefferson School District 251; Double Your Decompression; the American Back Pain Association; the American Academy of Pediatrics; Playground Hound, LLC; and many others.

Book preview

Power Trip

(a Wandering Koala tale)

by Jeff Thomason

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Jeff Thomason

All names, characters, and places are fictional. Any resemblance to real people—either living or dead—or places is purely coincidental. Wandering Koala, Kyle, Brent Jakes, René Daniels, Tom Blumenhead, Kim Vitch, Professor Kuso, Senator Boar, Pat Morgan, the Secret Society Scientifica, The Dean, Professor Louis, Jeremiah, Jon Choi, Professor Gerry, the Lab Assistants, Senior Management, Rodo Viaria, Firebird City, and other prominent characters, names, and places are trademarks of Jeff Thomason. All rights reserved.

www.WanderingKoala.com

Table of Contents

Prologue: Monopoly—It’s Not Just A Game

Chapter 1: First Week on the Job

Chapter 2: Senior Management

Chapter 3: It All Pays the Same

Chapter 4: The Interview

Chapter 5: The New Boss

Chapter 6: Co-workers

Chapter 7: The Wandering Koala

Chapter 8: Blackout

Chapter 9: The Long Ride

Chapter 10: Ray of Light

Chapter 11: Responsibility

Chapter 12: Betrayal

Chapter 13: René meets the Wandering Koala

Chapter 14: Dark Night

Chapter 15: Bright Day

Chapter 16: The Professor

Chapter 17: The Calm Before

Chapter 18: Games and Power Plays

Chapter 19: The Blame Game

Chapter 20: Mystery of the Generator

Chapter 21: I Need Your Help. Again

Chapter 22: Fighting to the End

Chapter 23: Victory—Sort Of

Epilogue

About the Author

Prologue

Monopoly—It’s Not Just A Game

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President

Do not pass go; do not collect $200 is a phrase from Monopoly known to almost everyone who has ever played a board game. The object of the game is to gain control of everything—land, utilities, and railroads. Some people enjoy the game so much as youngsters that when they grow up they continue playing it but use real money and real property.

What is a Monopoly?

To understand monopolies, one has to understand market price and market power. Market price is the point where the supply of a given product or service is equal to the demand for it. Market power means that a firm can affect the market price by itself. For example, if it raises the price of its product, say of a banana, the price of all bananas increases. For most products and services, a single firm does not have market power—when they raise their price, everyone else’s price remains unchanged. A monopoly is a firm that not only has market power but is also the single provider of a product or service in the market.

There is a myth that a monopoly can charge whatever price they want. This is NOT true. A monopoly can only charge what the market will bear, although that price tends to be much higher than most consumers prefer to pay.

Like any firm, a monopoly will try to maximize profits. Profit = (number of items sold x price of each item) - costs. The point where number of items sold times price is greatest is usually higher than market price would be if there were other firms in the market.

There are many ways a firm can become a monopoly, but the one most people are familiar with is the local monopoly.

Local Monopolies

Governments grant certain industries a local monopoly (usually utilities), because they believe it is more cost efficient for only one firm to provide a service. For example, utilities require large up-front costs in assets such as a pipe down a street for water or power lines for electricity. To have several firms lay multiple lines or multiple pipes is inefficient. These local monopolies, also called natural monopolies, are regulated by the government to theoretically maintain the price at cost plus a reasonable profit.

Many have argued that this structure creates little incentive to provide good customer service or to innovate. Also, the information to set prices comes mainly from the utilities themselves, another reason rates may be higher than they would be in a competitive market.

Deregulation

Because of these concerns, many have pushed for deregulation and opening up markets to competition. The results have been mixed.

For example, in 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act. Power to set ticket prices was moved from the Civic Aeronautics Board to the airlines themselves. Fares on average decreased, but fares from smaller airports and on shorter flights increased. Smaller communities also saw a decrease in service. Safety levels remained unchanged.

When the telephone industry was deregulated, many worried that rural customers would be hurt, because those in the city were charged higher rates to subsidize them, with deregulation companies could choose to provide service only to the more profitable city dwellers. They also worried that without the government controlling rates, they would skyrocket out of control. Others believed rates would plummet. The reality was little changed. Rates increased but so did service levels and rural residents were not left without service.

Technology vs. Legislation

What seems to have had the greatest effect on prices and monopolies is technology. For example, in 2011 a phone bill for an elderly resident in the US was over $65 a month from the local phone company (not including long distance calls). By switching to a new technology, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), her phone bill dropped to less than $15 per month including long distance calls.

Technology has also had much more success breaking up monopolies such as Microsoft. Several governments spent years and countless funds trying to break up or otherwise punish Microsoft for their monopoly on operating systems and Internet browsers with little success. Technology—specifically the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers—finally cut Microsoft’s market share of browsers in half, and the move to mobile operating systems looks like it will end their dominance in computer operating systems as well.

Technology has yet to provide this kind of benefit for other utilities such as electricity or cable, both of which continue to increase at a much greater rate than inflation, but with the success of entertainment services such as Netflix and the rise of on demand video, we may not be far from an alternative to cable and satellite that can do as much for one’s entertainment bill as it did for the elderly resident’s phone bill. Regulation certainly isn’t helping.

Chapter One

First Week on the Job

"The problem of power is how to achieve its responsible use rather than its irresponsible and indulgent use—of how to get men of power to live for the public rather than off the public." ~ Robert F. Kennedy, politician

René held his hand above his eyes, shielding them from the morning sun. Firebird City was aptly named with its fierce heat and blindingly bright sky. He squinted to see what would now be his home away from home nine hours a day, five days a week. On any other day this building would be an eyesore, looking like something out of the nineteenth century with its faded brown brick, tiny windows, and massive black smoke stacks. But today it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and that was saying a lot considering the girls he dated. More than once they had attracted the glance of a passing male that was quickly rewarded with a slap from his female companion.

Six months ago René graduated from college in public relations and assumed employers would line up at his door with offers of employment. And they did—for his classmates. Every time he ran across one, they told him about their fabulous new job and how wonderful it was to have money coming in again instead of only going out. Then they asked him what he was doing. Their response to his answer was always the same: Keep trying; I’m sure you’ll find something. That didn’t make him feel better.

He had literally spent hundreds of hours sending out thousands of resumés resulting in a few interviews that always ended with ‘sorry, but we wish you the best of luck.’ He didn’t need luck; he needed a job!

Then someone suggested he try The Power Company. He’d never considered working there—did a utility even have a public relations department? But at that point he was willing to try anything. And two weeks and three interviews later, he no longer sat on the sidelines of the rat race and couldn’t be more grateful.

Today was Monday, the first day of the week and the first day of his career. While walking up the steps he noticed an empty bottle lying next to the trash can. He picked it up and put it in its place. He just didn’t understand some people. Didn’t they realize they were part of a larger society? Didn’t that mean anything? Other people didn’t want to clean up after them. Was it asking too much to at least consider how their actions affected others? He took a deep breath. Getting mad at litterbugs would not help him make a good first impression.

He stepped thru the front door. To the right was a familiar sight: Latoya admiring a fresh manicure while her stool struggled to support her. To the left another familiar sight: customers—two college students—clenching their fists and grinding their teeth.

I can send someone tomorrow, she said without looking up.

I’m sorry. Maybe I wasn’t clear before, but I moved out of the apartment yesterday, and James here, one student pointed to the other, is moving in this morning with three other guys and all their electronics and appliances—energy-hogging appliances. If you could send someone to read the meter today, preferably before lunch, then neither of us will have to pay for the other’s electricity. He smiled. We’d really appreciate it.

She glanced out the corner of her eye. I can send someone tomorrow.

But not today?

I can send someone tomorrow. Her words were evenly metered.

How about early this afternoon? It’s not even eight yet. We came super early hoping—

Tomorrow. She stared straight down at him.

James spoke up. Is there any reason why one of your men couldn’t swing by today while he's out making his rounds? I’m sure at least one meter he’s reading will be in our neighborhood.

Can’t. Policy.

He raised an eyebrow. Oh? And what policy would that be?

The one clearly stated on the back of every monthly bill. She pursed her lips and adjusted her glasses. All requests for reading a meter must be made at least 24 hours in advance, but no more than 48.

But I’ve already moved out, the first student threw his hands in the air, and four new guys are on their way in with all of their electronics and power-sucking appliances. Can you see my dilemma here?

She leaned forward and peered over her granny glasses. Look, son, the schedule has already been made for today. I can’t change it.

But why not? Why can’t you just add my apartment? It’s so early, I bet all of your meter readers are still here.

In order to keep YOUR rates low, we must utilize our resources in the most efficient manner possible. That means adhering to a carefully laid out schedule. If we make an exception and deviate from that schedule for one customer, then we have to do it for every customer, and soon our employees are running from one corner of the city to the other like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. Their time is too valuable for that.

René looked across the lobby thru an open door into the break room. Inside, three meter readers sipped their morning caffeine, two others played cards, while the last one perused the paper. It would be a shame to interrupt all of that productivity, he thought.

The first student clenched his fist even more tightly. James saw it and stepped forward. Tomorrow will be fine. He put one hand on the other student’s back and the other on his left arm. Let’s go, Josh. He nudged him towards the door. René quickly stepped aside. As they passed by he heard Josh whisper to James, Can you say power trip?

James nodded. Yep, but look at her: she was obviously a quota hire. This job is probably the only thing she has going for her. No doubt it’s the most authority she’s ever had or will ever have.

And so the rest of us have to suffer. That bites.

René walked over and picked up her nameplate: Latoya, Customer Service Specialist. She was special all right. Another satisfied customer I see, he smiled, leaning on her desk.

What are you doing here? She snatched the nameplate back. Can’t be for another interview.

Nope. Today is my first day on the job.

You’re joking, right? What idiot would hire you?

The same one that hired you. He cocked his head to the side.

She scowled. Well, you’re late. Not a good impression to make on the first day. She took out a cloth from her pocket and wiped his fingerprints off her name and title.

Late? He checked his watch. I’ve still got seven minutes to clock in. I’m early.

She leaned back on her stool. Boss says if you’re not ten minutes early, then you’re already five minutes late.

He raised an eyebrow. That doesn’t even make sense. He pushed himself up from the desk. And as much fun and as intellectually stimulating as a discussion with you is, I have to go, even though I am early and still have several minutes to chew the fat. He looked down at her waistline, then turned and walked to the elevator. Some of us have other things to do than admire our fake nails. He pushed the button for up, and the doors opened.

You’d better watch that smart mouth of yours, buster, or one of these days it’ll get you into more trouble than even you can talk your way out o— The doors closed, cutting her off.

* * * *

Mr. Daniels, so good to see you again. His new boss, Tom Blumenhead, stood just outside the elevator with his hand extended. Let me be the first to officially welcome you to The Power Company.

Thank you, Mr. Blumenhead.

They shook hands. Had Latoya been right about being ten minutes early? There was a first time for everything. I’m glad to be here, sir. I’m so excited to be part of such an august firm. I can’t wait to get to work.

We’re very excited to have you as well. You should be an excellent fit for our team. Can I get you a cup of something? The break room is right here, centrally located for everyone’s convenience.

No thank you, sir. I stopped for breakfast on the way. I’m ready to hit the ground running.

Excellent! That’s the kind of attitude we like to hear. Let’s begin with a tour of our facility. I’ll introduce you to your co-workers on the way. They are the finest employees a firm could have. He put one hand on René’s shoulder and gestured with the other down the hall. This way, please.

They walked along a stretch of cubicles. "First a little history. Three separate firms used to supply power to Firebird City and the surrounding valley, but it wasn’t a good situation for