Have You Tried the Mountain?

By Nicholas Stillman

Welcome to a dystopia where every office has become overmedicalized. Staff enjoy mandatory drug-induced naps, pampering by office nurses, and “emergency” servicemen who ensure the coffee gets served at ideal temperature. In this ergonomic heaven, Mundle, a new accountant used to the rugged country life, feels the scruples from his company’s sinister scheme. On the upcoming Friday, Carelife Core will launch pernicious software which will make all its rehab clients relapse into cyclic addiction. Profits will rise, and secretly, so will deaths.

Mundle must whip up a heist which will shatter the secrecy of the corporate murder machine. To save thousands of clients, he will have to escape the stultifying cubicles and slip past his overcaffeinated coworkers, Mike the bawdy geek and Angela the ravishing blond bombshell. But can one man really stop an ever-bloating system, or will Mundle become just another murderous corporate cog?

Get “Have You Tried the Mountain?” now, and join the ride down to the rock bottom of healthcare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stillman Sci-Fi
• Release date: Sep 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386153863

Nicholas Stillman

Nicholas Stillman writes dark but entertaining science fiction. His weekly short stories and collections aim for variety and novelty with fun and thought-provoking twists. They often branch into dystopia, crime, horror, medical fiction, black comedy, romance, adventure, adult, and the completely new. Some of Stillman’s themes include civilizational collapse, addictions of the future, medicine in space, dark psychology, and the terrifying fate of our healthcare. Stillman offers monthly free short stories at StillmanSciFi.com. Get yourself free, easily accessible short stories for life--the perfect way for any science fiction fan to spend time on commutes or at home.

Book preview

Mundle took a break from committing evil. Lunch hour would arrive soon anyway, and he could only do so much accounting for a project so sinister. He sat in his cushy office chair and wished that Mike, that scrawny loudmouth, had kept the company secret to himself. Mundle glanced at him typing away one desk over and instantly forgave him. Better to know. Knowing the secret meant the team respected the new guy who double-checked the decimals on their paychecks.

Mike wore a gray suit which could have used some padding to thicken his bony shoulders. Angela, seated across from Mundle, wore gray too. She had a barely feminine, flat suit faking it as a skirt. She could fit too many things on her wide lapel, yet had nothing there but her ID. The walls of their shared cubicle: gray. Their desks: gray too. It all made great camouflage for lint and the dust from the team’s evil labors.

Mundle looked at Angela’s blond bun, the parts he could spot around her number-processing head. He wondered how it looked when loosened and let down.

Mundle-baby, Mike said with his gap-toothed smile, still thinking about Big Friday?

No, Mundle lied. He couldn’t get away with a glance in this mouse cage. Hm. But now that you mention it, why would the CEO tell you what you told me yesterday?

Eh. Mike shrugged. Everyone will figure it out anyway, what with Angie doing so much talking around here, eh Angie-baby?

Angela suppressed an eye-roll and pushed her focus into her monitor. Surely, Mike called everyone baby just to say it to her. Men liked to dream in here, and Angela could cook the ocean if she fell in. The cubicle walls looked like carpets men wanted to roll around on with Angela. The actual carpet resembled gray clouds. Sadly, they never sailed away. Workers had to dream.

Besides, Mike added, even if the whole staff spoke up, the company would replace us like the lunchroom toaster. They’ve got this health system bloated enough to grow a military branch if needed. They can do whatever they want now.

Mundle stared at the doldrum ceiling as he spoke. "So we take our paying clients, drug addicts