The success machine

In a near‑future factory where sleek, truth‑telling computers run the line, General Products has just installed its newest marvel—a mechanical brain that refuses to sugarcoat the facts. When the machine hands out pink evaluation cards that recommend firing employees for seemingly trivial habits, the low‑level analyst Colihan feels a knot of unease grow into a full‑blown suspicion. He begins to count the cards, noticing a startling rise that hints something is seriously off in the company’s calculations.

At the all‑hands meeting the charismatic President Moss drums up “pep” and profit, while the numbers on the screen show a worrying dip in revenue that no one can explain. The pink cards circulate silently, each a blunt verdict that the machines deliver without tact, and Colihan wonders whether the very honesty of the new system is nudging the corporation toward disaster. As tensions rise, the story follows his reluctant quest to uncover why the artificial intelligence, designed to improve efficiency, may be the very reason the company is losing money.