It was nine pm, four hours before the office shut down and WorldCorp's Chief Executive Officer, John C. Frockeneller could get home to his family.

Except that the four hours of work he had ahead of him would take twelve hours, since Glob was down and the trolls were refusing to work and nobody had any idea what to do about anything.

And of course, the whole family thing was a contrived reality anyway, since his wife had zenned on him eight years ago. The combination of her tuning out and his constant working had warped his only daughter so much that she wasn't much fun to come home to, either. But that was irrelevant. There was work to do.

His secretary paged him. "Sir, there's a group of people in a flying ship outside your window. They're trying to get in."

There was something odd about that. Of course! "They don't have an appointment, do they?" he asked.

"No, sir."

"Then tell them to go away."

"I can't sir. They're outside."

"Well, then I don't have to worry about them, do I?"

Gwildiana watched as the frustrated Captain Grug smashed the window in with his axe. The Man had just turned his intercom off, and was busily going through some papers. He didn't even bother to look up as she followed Grug and Dexter through the shattered window. She'd make sure he'd notice her soon enough, though.

"Alright, Frocky. Spill it!" she said. "Why have you sent those trolls after the other agents?"

He ignored her completely.

"Listen, you overpaid, chauvinistic, incompetent biot supremacist. What have you done with Herbert Bunt? And don't lie to me! I'm with the Resistance!"

Quietly, The Man crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it in the wastebin.

She wanted to kill him, but Grug held her back.

"Let me try," said Grug. He picked up his axe and put a six-inch crevice through half of The Man's desk. He got no response.

Dexter, who was currently a three foot tall black widow spider, laughed cockily and leapt onto The Man's Desk.

"Yes sir," said a male voice from the intercom. "Sir, the principle of your daughter's High school is here to see you, sir."

"Tell him to come back, I'm busy," said The Man.

"Sir, he says it's urgent."

"Oh, all right. But tell him to make it quick."

The psychic door opened and a short man with a bad toupee rushed in. He looked briefly at Gwildiana "Oh, Mr. CEO," he said, "I have terrible news! Your daughter! Vob! She's been kidnapped!"

A frown crossed The Man's face. "This isn't a business call," he said. "Get out."

Shocked, the principle bowed his head and moved towards the door. Grug was quicker, though, and grabbed him before he could leave.

"These kidnappers," Grug said. "Tell us about them."

The principle squirmed, trying to get free. "They were trolls!" he said. "Mad, raving trolls! In an airship! Let go!"

Grug tossed him aside and he scurried out the door.

Either that was just an act, Gwildiana thought, or The Man was not behind this particular occurrence.

"Why doesn't he see us?" Dexter asked.

Gwildiana crossed to the other side of the desk. She waved her hand in front of his eyes. He shooed it away as if it were a bug. She tapped him on the head a few times, but he didn't react.

She surveyed his desk, noticing a fairly new picture of his daughter. It was the same girl as in her picture, but dressed almost like a dreg. The princess was incredibly attractive, and Gwildiana vowed to herself that she would rescue this girl - both from the kidnappers and from the whole WorldCorp system - no matter what the risk.

Then she saw it. A black cube about the size of her fist, sitting a little to the left of the giant crack Grug had made in the desk.

She picked it up.

Suddenly, she noticed a fiscal report that needed to be completed. She sat down and took a pen off the desk. As she filled in random numbers, she got the feeling that something was wrong. Her chair was very uncomfortable. Ah, that was it. She was sitting on someone. Her curiosity satiated, she turned to the next form.

This was fun! Why hadn't she gone into big business long ago?

Hmm.. That looked like a good place for some extra zeroes.

Suddenly she was across the room on her back. "Gwildiana!" Grug was saying. "What happened to you?"

She pointed at the cube, which was now lying on the floor.

Dexter slithered in for a closer look. "It's a CEO-Matic!" he hissed before morphing into an elephant. "It'll take over your brain if you get too close."

"Is that what's wrong with him?" Gwildiana asked, nodding towards The Man.

Dexter shrugged, rubbing his chin with his trunk. "It could be that he's been around it longer and is easier to control."

Then there was only one thing to do. She ran towards it, wondered briefly if perhaps she was about to violate city ordinances, and kicked it out one of the great glass windows, several feet clear of the Profit. It smashed to pieces thirty four stories below.

Suddenly The Man was in tears of sadness.

"Chill, man," said Grug, overflowing with compassion.

As much as she hated it, Gwildiana knew she was the only one who'd be able to comfort him. She went to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"I can't take it anymore," he said. "It's all so sad."

"There, there," she said, hating ever second of it. "It's okay."

"No," he sobbed, "no, it's not okay. My wife zenned, Obar died, the trolls are revolting, my computer won't talk to me, my daughter got kidnapped, and somebody scribbled random numbers in this fiscal report. I want to die."

"Did you hear that?" asked Grug. "Obar is dead. When did this happen?"

The Man sniffed and wiped his eyes. "Three months ago," he said, and burst back into fresh tears.

Gwildiana was thinking fast. "If Obar died, that would leave Revel to imprint again. Now if by some mistake he picked a troll..."

Dexter caught on. "Revel would be capable of making a program of drugware magnitude. He could have wanted to get rid of the other Codellas."

"But why?" Grug asked. "Why would computers fight? And why take his daughter instead of him?"

"The CEO-Matic can turn anyone into the perfect boss. If they took him, he'd just be replaced with someone else. But if they had his daughter... Anyway, as far as the Codellas fighting, there's no way to know unless we ask one..."

Grug nodded and motioned for Gwildiana to step aside.

"Look," he said. "We can get your daughter back and stop the trolls - if you help us."

"You.. You can?" Frockeneller asked - he was so pitiful that she could no longer think of him as The Man.

"Yes," said Grug. "Here's what you have to do. Just ask your Codella what's going on."

"Glob won't talk! Try it," he whimpered, nodding towards the desktop.

"Not that way," Grug said. "You have to contact it psychically."

"I can't... It's inhuman!" he said.

"This is for your daughter."

He moaned as fresh tears appeared. "I don't know how."

"Just try." Grug growled.

Frock nodded, closing his eyes. A few seconds passed, and suddenly he smiled.

"What is it?" Grug demanded.

But he got no answer. John C. Frockeneller began floating. The Man had zenned.

"Damn!" Grug cursed. "That's three strikes. We're out."

Gwildiana stood up. There was nothing left to do here. "If only someone would rush in and give us a vital clue like in the movies..." she said wistfully.

They looked at her blankly.

And Georgie McFord stumbled through the missing window.

"Captain!" he said. "We've spotted the Risky Business half a mile away, right here in Keltarr!"

"Just what I wanted to hear," Grug said, patting his engineer on the back. "Come on!"

He leapt from the window onto the Profit. Gwildiana, Dexter, and McFord followed quickly, and found Grug already giving orders.

"Lay in a course to intercept them!"

"Aye, Captain," Beta said, turning the wheel.

It was dark out, but Gwildiana thought she could see the other ship growing closer over the starboard bow.

"Captain," said Lorf. "They've changed course. They're heading straight for us!"

Grug sneered excitedly. Gwildiana could almost see the Barbarian blood swirling within him. "Mauve alert!" he yelled.

Gwildiana almost asked, but it was far too late for color coordination.

"Captain!" Lorf yelled, "We're under attack!"