I Chose Conversion While The Payroll Clock Kept Running

The wire request had a red stamp across its face: COMPLETED.

It covered two payments, both made the week before. Together they came to $186,400 for field tests and reserve crew work.

The vendor was North Draw Technical Services.

"That's routine operations," Dorian said.

"Then you'll have the work records," I said.

"You handled calendars. You didn't handle every supplier."

He was right about the suppliers. I had never claimed otherwise.

But every test that moved a dish required a window. Every outside crew needed a gate entry. I could not think of a single North Draw job.

Leena tapped the cash report.

"These came with last night's lender report," she told Mara. "We asked for support for that payment this morning. We haven't received it."

Dorian stood.

"I need to speak to Salma alone."

"I didn't," I said.

He sat down again.

For a moment, I pictured taking the repayment option. A demand for $2,592,000 would be simple to print. It would also make the buyers walk and leave our staff waiting beside silent dishes.

I had lent the money because a good station deserved to live. I still believed that.

"Conversion," I told Leena.

She took out the election notice. We had prepared both choices after the sale announcement, three days before Dorian brought his empty box.

I read the number again. Then I signed as manager of Cedar Interval Holdings LLC.

Leena delivered the notice to Dorian, the corporate secretary, and buyer's counsel. Her assistant sent matching electronic copies with delivery receipts.

No speech followed. A printer hummed in the next room.

That small sound pleased me more than I expected.

Dorian called the other two directors. One joined by video. The other drove over from his office downtown. Both had signed the financing approval sixteen months before.

"We didn't expect a conversion," one said.

"You approved one," Leena replied.

The finance officer, Ellis, brought in the stock ledger and the share reserve. He looked as if he had slept in his car.

"There are enough authorized shares," he said. "The reserve was set aside when the loan funded."

"Don't issue them," Dorian said.

Ellis put his hands flat on the table.

"The note says issuance follows delivery. I need counsel to tell me there's a lawful reason to refuse."

Nobody supplied one.

Company counsel reviewed the documents on the screen. Then she told Ellis to record the conversion and the canceled debt.

At 12:18, Cedar Interval became the majority shareholder.

My stomach did not feel like a majority stomach. It felt like the stomach of a woman who had forgotten breakfast.

Beth slipped a cheese sandwich onto my folder.

"Eat," she whispered.

I did.

"Does this make you my boss's boss?" Beth asked under her breath.

"It makes me responsible for a large investment. The board still needs people who can tell me no."

She considered that, then took the empty plate.

I had heard too many bad schedules defended because the person who wrote them could not bear a correction. I wanted a different rule in this room.

Leena had already found two independent directors willing to serve if conversion became necessary. We had begun that search when the sale notice arrived. One had run a regional equipment company. The other was a retired credit officer with no ties to us or the buyers.

They joined a call while company counsel worked through the board changes.

The two existing outside directors agreed to leave. Their departures and the successor appointments were recorded in sequence. Dorian objected at every step, but the other votes carried them.

The new directors' first motion put him on paid leave as chief executive while an outside accountant reviewed the vendor payments.

His face went still.

"You can't run the station without me."

From the hall came Trent's voice.

"I need an authorized schedule change. We have a drive limit conflict."

Everyone looked toward the door.

The new board named Ellis acting chief executive for financial matters and asked me to resume control of scheduling that afternoon. My employment terms would get a separate written review.

I stepped into the hall.

Trent showed me two green boxes touching on his tablet.

"It's only ninety seconds," he said.

"Antenna Four needs three minutes to swing back. Move the second pass to Two."

He made the change. The day settled into a fifth again.

By three, I was back at my desk. The empty box stood beneath it, holding scrap paper.

The board approved a $350,000 short-term bridge from Cedar Interval, with spending controls and no conversion feature. Leena required both new directors to approve the terms after a review without me in the room. Payroll would clear.

At 4:26, Beth brought me an envelope from the mail tray.

Inside was a North Draw invoice for tests on Antenna Three.

The dates fell during the eleven days when its drive motor had been out of state for repair.