Chapter 20: Nedry's Finances.
As Harding and Muldoon were busy dealing with the contained raptor, Hammond left the Control Room and with the steady click clack of the bottom of his cane, made his way down the hallway. The entire building was nice and cool, the central air conditioning making sure that every room maintained a constant, specifically set temperature. The air conditioners made the electric bill skyrocket, but the tropical temperatures of the island made it almost necessary.
Hammond took out a long, brass key and turned it in the lock, hearing the familiar click from the door and swung the wooden frame open, stepping into his office. Compared to the rest of the island, this office was very simple. Hammond did not like spending time in here, and that feeling was reflected in the lack of personal items and objects, specifically pictures or mementos. He shuffled over to the desk and sat down, leaning the cane against one of the desk drawers. He turned the computer on, and noticed a file folder was sitting on his desk. He opened the folder and started to investigate it's contents when a knock came at the door. Not looking up from the papers, he called out for the person to enter.
The door opened slowly, as if the person entering was trying to be courteous.
"Hello Mr. Hammond," came a familiar, if not slightly annoying voice. "Do you have a minute, there is something I would like to talk to you about," finished Nedry, his voice quivering a bit, as if what he wanted to ask was either very important, or unlikely to get granted.
"Sure, Dennis, what would you like to talk about?" he asked, finally looking up from the folder that was sitting in front of him, now wide open.
Someone with a quick eye would notice that it was a series of administrative paperwork, including lease tariffs, safety code guidelines, worker contracts, and various other documents of similar nature.
Nedry smiled, and sat down in one of the chairs that was on the opposite side of Hammond's desk, a comfortable looking chair with a seat pad tied onto the wooden frames. It was obviously a chair for comfort, and placed there because when you have a job like Hammond's, you find yourself in a lot of meetings.
"Well sir, I have been working hard on the computer systems here, and I just can't but feel that my compensation for my work expertise and dedication is not where it should be. I feel that I should be making at least as much as Ray. Sure, he programmed the tour program, but it is my job to make sure it is debugged and working properly, and I have done that to the best of my ability," he stopped, letting Hammond take in what he had said so far.
Hammond frowned slightly at the portly technician.
"I'm sorry Dennis, but every expense we have has been budgeted very carefully. We cannot just add more money into the employee salary category and expect everything to still work correctly. The amount that we offered you, which you accepted, mind you, is the highest amount that we could offer to you. This park has not even opened yet. We have no source of income. The money we draw from has been provided by the investors, and they have all received detailed budget sheets, so the extra money would not be in the plans. I'm sorry."
Hammond took a second to take a drink from a glass of water that was sitting on his desk, forming a water ring around the base due to the heat, even though the air conditioning was on.
Nedry's demeanor quickly changed, as he was starting to get upset, and started to sound more serious.
"Than give me a cash advance. Please, John, I need this extra money. I ran into some debt problems recently, and without this extra money I can't get over them. Please, help me here," he said, slamming his fist down on the desk in front of Hammond.
John just looked up at Nedry, with the eyes of a somber old man.
"Well, these outbursts certainly are not helping your case. The answer is no, Dennis, you will not receive any more compensation for the work you do here. Now please, leave my office if you are quite finished, I have things that I need to take care of."
Nedry stood up, turned and opened the wooden door, before letting it close rather violently.
He waddled down the hallway back towards the Control Room, a look of pure anger on his face, cursing under his breath at Hammond and his poor excuses.
He stopped at the vending machine and put some money in, settling on a Butterfinger and continued on his way.
Dennis's right hand was in his pocket and was moving it around as he walked and his hand brushed across something. Curious, he took his hand out and a piece of paper came out with it. On the paper, was a name, Lewis Dodgson, and a phone number. Nedry tried to think back about what the name meant, when he suddenly remembered. When he was waiting for his plane to reach California, he met this Lewis man. Said he was the CEO of another genetics company, and was looking for good technicians and scientists. Nedry regrettably told him that he was already employed, and heading for that job now. Lewis told him that if he was ever unhappy in that job, to give him a call. Dodgson seemed to know where he was going, which was odd, but Nedry just shrugged it off.
Now, standing there eating his Butterfinger, Dodgson's number seemed that much more inviting to the now unhappy Nedry, unhappy at Hammond's attitude, and to the fact that he was working his butt off, and was really not being paid fairly. Sticking the piece of paper in his shirt pocket, he would remember to give Dodgson a call when he was done here. He finished the candy bar and threw the wrapper onto his desk, before turning to the screen and logging back in.
He typed furiously, widening the back door he himself implanted to allow for maintenance, but this time, he was doing more than just fixing the system.