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Episode #4: "Francesca Cicci-Lorenz, Queen of the Internet"  The following week, in C*E*A headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, atop the high-rise office building to which Francesca commuted via jet helicopter, the world's second-richest woman called Sneena into her office.Sneena, Cathie's valued assistant, had been spending far too much company time in the C*E*A chat room. Her in-person meetings with men that she had met online always seemed to produce disastrous results, but she was hopelessly addicted nonetheless. In the chat room, the lovely, efficient, strait-laced Sneena could transform herself into a seducting temptress like her boss.As Sneena entered the luxurious office, Francesca was just finishing a telephone conversation."Just a second," said Francesca into the receiver as she handed Sneena a fresh copy of the Daily Dirt, the enormously popular supermarket tabloid that seemed to be devoted to destroying Ms. Cicci-Lorenz and her Internet empire. Sneena took the tabloid and looked at the cover as Francesca went back to her phone conversation. "Listen to me, Dick," she said icily. "I'm going to sue your sorry ass, take that filthy rag of a tabloid you publish, and you'll find yourself slinging hash in some greasy spoon in Oxnard where you belong!" Francesca slammed down the phone with a loud bang.As her boss was speaking, Sneena inspected the tabloid's cover. The cover photo was nothing unusual, Francesca looking elegant in an evening gown at some social event, but the headlines blared out: "The Naked Truth Behind the C*E*A -- Staff Member Corrupts Reverend in Hotel Love Nest!!"Sneena had met the Reverend Gregory in the chat room where he logged on as 'Hobo'. Francesca's stern reprimand could be heard outside the office, where employees were listening silently with ears bent toward the door, evil smiles on their faces.Known around town as the "Happiest Employees on Earth", the C*E*A staffers had whatever they wanted -- videogames, toys, even their own slurpee machine, as well as dozens of trainees to carry out their every whim. Five times a year Francesca took them all on junkets to fabulous resorts all over the world. The first job new employees had was to turn away the hundreds of applicants for jobs each day.Richard O'Brien laughed his bizarre, maniacal laugh after hearing the phone line disconnect at his end. Insanely jealous of Francesca's success and vast fortune, he lived only to destroy her reputation and her empire. And in all the world, only he and Francesca knew the true reason why.Next Episode: "The Paparazzi" |
