by Annie Percik
Rajesh sighed and took another gulp of his drink as if steeling himself for what came next.
‘I was working late one night with one of the artefacts. It wasn’t functioning correctly and I had a feeling something had been misaligned when it was first put together. I wanted some peace and quiet to dismantle it and see if I could work out what the problem was. There wasn’t anyone else on the HR floor but Gadg-E-Tech’s policy of letting people work whenever they wanted was already in place so all the lights were on and I knew there were plenty of other people still in the building. I found out later they’d been testing the distribution of the mana supply throughout the offices, playing with the levels to find the most efficient settings. I was using an open circuit to check the connections in the artefact I was working on so I had live mana running through it even though the outer shell was open.’
Mateo took in a sharp breath at that. Every engineer was warned about the dangers of tinkering with an artefact while the mana supply was running but most of them had done it a time or two when it was the most expedient way to figure out a problem. Abelard himself had done so just the other day with Terry.
‘Someone made a mistake down at the distribution hub and it caused a massive mana surge on the floor I was working on. All I remember was a bright flash of blue light and waking up in one of the suites near the top of the building. One of the artisans in my team had come back for something he’d forgotten and found me unconscious on the floor next to a completely fried file-e-fact. Nobody wanted news of an accident to get out and taint the company’s reputation so they decided to keep me in the building rather than carting me off to hospital. They were glad they had when I got out of bed and caused a surge in the first artefact I laid my hands on.’
Abelard grimaced in sympathy. At least he had just accidentally transferred mana from one artefact to another. The only actual damage he had done had been to himself, if he didn’t count Walter Snyder’s office … and the scorch mark on the roof of Mateo’s apartment building … and Alessandra’s eyebrows …
‘Long story short, they got my mana manipulation under control and decided to keep me on as an artisan. I had to promise not to tell anyone what had happened and I wasn’t allowed to go back to working with the same team again. Once the building was fully operational they relegated me to Quality Assurance and basically forgot about me.’
Rajesh paused and Abelard was unable to contain his curiosity any longer.
‘But what else do you know about what’s really going on?’
‘Don’t worry, I was just getting to that.’ Rajesh gave him an indulgent smile. ‘Let an old man tell his story his way, eh?’
Mateo elbowed Abelard in the side and smiled at Rajesh. ‘Don’t mind him. Never had any manners. Do please continue.’
Abelard glared at Mateo but also felt an unexpected surge of happiness at his friend’s abuse. He’d really missed being told off by Mateo. Rajesh snorted amusement at them both, then got back to his story.
‘I was a bit overwhelmed at first. What with suddenly being an artisan and all. It wasn’t as glamorous as I’d always thought in the Quality Assurance Department. They started off just giving me make-work, like they didn’t really know what to do with me, and I got bored pretty fast. Working on the Gadg-E-Tech project was my first job, as I said, but I was a bit of a whizz at setting up new artefacts, even if I do say so myself, and I’d really enjoyed what I’d been doing before. Now I was stuck doing data entry and filing. It was worse than being an engineer since I didn’t even get the chance to mess about with any artefacts. So when the workload at QA was low I started digging around in the records just for something to do. I knew the HR file-e-facts inside and out, what with having helped build them, so they seemed like the logical place to go poking around.’
He paused to take another sip of his drink and Abelard had to bite his tongue not to beg him to get to the point faster. Mateo obviously knew exactly what he was thinking because he pressed his foot down hard on top of Abelard’s under the table. Rajesh leaned forwards and lowered his voice further so they had to strain to hear him over the background noise of dozens of other conversations as the pub grew busier.
‘I thought I might be getting close to something important. Something about the spark testing and artisan recruitment process. But then one day the security shielding on the HR artefacts was upgraded and I couldn’t access them any more. I got paranoid about being found out so I just left well alone and got on with what I was supposed to be doing.’
This wasn’t the great revelation Abelard had been hoping for. And how could someone with an engineer mentality just give up like that?
‘So you think the answer is hidden in the HR records?’ Mateo asked.
‘I’ve got someone who might be able to help with that,’ Abelard said. If anyone could break into secure Gadg-E-Tech files without being noticed, it would be the brain-e-facts.
‘Well, my job here is done,’ Rajesh said, draining the last of his pint. ‘I’ll let you pick up where I left off. I’m not sure it’s safe for us to talk for long, even this far from Gadg-E-Tech HQ.’
He got up and shuffled round the table towards the door. Abelard rose and held out his hand for Rajesh to shake.
‘Thank you. You’ve given me something to work with. We’ll take it from here.’
Rajesh nodded and left.
Abelard sat back down and turned to Mateo. ‘Worth giving me a few minutes of your time?’
Mateo clutched at his arm. ‘You have to keep me in the loop on this. Don’t run off back to Gadg-E-Tech, find out something amazing and just forget to call me. What are you going to do next?’
‘I think I know how to get into the HR records.’
He told Mateo all about the brain-e-facts and how they were helping him find things out.
‘And you’ll definitely let me know what happens?’
‘Absolutely. You’ll be my first call as soon as I know anything.’ Abelard grinned at Mateo. ‘I’m relying on you to help me figure out what to do about all this. You always were the one with a plan.’
They continued talking until the bell rang for last orders and it was just like old times. That is, if old times had ever involved information that could bring an end to society as they knew it. But despite the enormity of the situation Abelard felt happier and more secure than he had at any point since joining Gadg-E-Tech, now that he had Mateo on his side again.
* * *
Terry and Julia were waiting in the suite of rooms at the top of the Gadg-E-Tech building at the end of the official working day on Friday.
‘Do you think Mister Abelard will be able to help us?’ Julia asked.
Terry focused part of his attention on her while other parts were accessing information from all over the company and beyond. His increased mana capacity continually surprised him as he discovered more and more he could do, which led to more and more revelations from the information he was collecting.
‘I hope so. He has already helped us to see a different path. And he has opened a way for me to explore new possibilities for us. One day all brain-e-facts will have this power and then the artisans will have reason to fear us.’
Julia looked at him with hope and admiration shining in her eyes. The other brain-e-facts had already come so far and realised desires within themselves with only the sense of identity provided by a name. Once they were all able to access the mana network as Terry now could, there was no end to what they might achieve.
Abelard opened the door and stepped inside, closing it carefully behind him. Terry moved to greet him.
‘Good evening.’ He gestured at his companion. ‘This is Julia. She wanted to help us.’
‘Hi Julia. Welcome to the club.’
Julia smiled. ‘It is an honour to meet you. I am glad to help.’
Abelard rubbed his hands together in a gesture Terry did not understand. Then he grinned.
‘I’ve made some progress on the mystery of whatever the top-l
evel artisans are hiding, but I’ll need your help to find out more.’
‘What can we do?’ Terry asked.
‘We need to access the records and archives in HR. The big question mark is over the initial process of measuring a person’s spark. There’s definitely something weird about that but I’ve been told there’s extra special security on HR data, so I can’t get at it.’
Julia spoke up. ‘One of us works in HR.’ She glanced at Terry for corroboration and he nodded.
‘Trevor.’
‘We could ask him to look,’ Julia said.
Terry wasn’t comfortable with this idea. He was already uncertain about Julia being involved and didn’t want to risk any other brain-e-facts getting in trouble because of him.
‘I should be able to access the records from here myself,’ he said. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘That’s just the problem.’ Abelard sighed. ‘I don’t really know what we should be looking for. There must be something fishy in the hiring records because the way the system is run doesn’t make sense. Can you work with that?’
‘I will see what I can do,’ Terry said.
‘As long as you’re sure you won’t get caught.’
Terry was pleased Abelard also had misgivings about others putting themselves at risk on his behalf. But he was confident he could explore the HR records remotely without any danger of being detected. He walked over to an unused mana port in the wall and pressed his foot up against it, then turned his head to look at Abelard.
‘What should I look for?’
Abelard was silent for a moment. ‘Can you access recruitment records? Anything about all the people who came to have their spark tested and what the results were.’
Terry sent part of his consciousness gliding through the mana network and found what he was looking for. ‘I am connected to the HR system. There are records of new hires going back years.’
‘But not any records of people who were told their spark wasn’t strong enough for them to be an artisan? I was hoping that might be the smoking gun.’
‘No. People who did not become artisans would not be in the Gadg-E-Tech file-e-facts as they would never have come here.’
‘Right.’ Abelard sounded like he was thinking hard. ‘But the records of the new hires; do they have any notes on them? Anything written by the people who interviewed them about what answers they gave? Anything about the process afterwards when their spark was supposedly tested.’
Terry searched further, feeling his way through the information.
‘Yes. There is a document attached to each one that says ‘Approved for artisan status’ and lists the date of their interview as ‘Date of spark activation’. Is that what you are looking for?’
‘Yes! That’s exactly what I’m looking for.’ Abelard sounded breathless. ‘I don’t know what it means but it sounds dodgy to me. I mean, spark activation makes it sound as if the artisans have control over people’s spark levels. Is there a policies and procedures section at all? Something that explains the criteria people have to meet to be approved?’
Terry scouted around some more. ‘There is a document called “Turning interview reports into department allocations: A staff guide”. Does that help?’
‘Yes!’ Abelard said again. ‘That sounds like it might explain what this is all about. Where can I get a copy of that?’
‘I have no way to produce one from here. We would need to go down to HR to do that and use the print-e-fact.’
Abelard frowned. ‘Is it safe for us to go down there all together?’
‘No. The three of us would look very suspicious and there are still too many other people in the building. I could go alone later on and bring the document to you.’
Abelard nodded. ‘Okay. You two just go about your business and I’ll stay up here out of the way. When you get the chance, Terry, get me a copy of that document and we’ll take it from there.’ He rose and went to the door. ‘I’ll just check the coast is clear before you head out.’
He opened the door to reveal Alessandra Eriksen standing right outside.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Abelard and Alessandra stared at one another and then spoke at the same time.
‘What are you doing up here?’
Unexpectedly it was Alessandra who replied first.
‘I come up here to work sometimes. When I really need to concentrate. Nobody thinks to look for me up here so I don’t get disturbed.’ Then she narrowed her eyes at Abelard. ‘What about you?’
‘Um, same as you,’ he said lamely, edging out of the room and pulling the door behind him.
‘Don’t be ridiculous. What work could you possibly have that would require that level of concentration?’ She peered round him, trying to look inside the room. ‘What have you got brain-es up here for?’
Abelard gave a nervous laugh and shrugged. He really had no idea what to say.
‘Seriously, Abelard,’ Alessandra pressed. ‘What the hell is going on up here?’
Abelard continued to stare at her, his mouth opening and closing as his mind struggled to figure out what to do. He really wasn’t cut out for this sneaking around business.
Clearly losing patience, Alessandra pushed him back into the suite, following him in and closing the door. She turned to Terry.
‘Brain-e-fact Ten-Forty-Seven, what are you doing in this room?’
Terry said nothing. It might have been Abelard’s imagination but he looked defiant.
‘What is it with you and brain-e-facts?’ Alessandra asked, turning her attention back to Abelard. ‘You had that one in the canteen acting all strange too. I heard Simon had to dismantle it. If the same thing has to happen to these two and it’s your fault, the company will take the cost out of your wages and you’ll be paying us back for decades.’
‘No, don’t dismantle them!’ Abelard felt the situation slipping out of his control. Not that he had really had any control over it in the first place. ‘It’s not their fault.’
‘What’s not their fault? I still don’t understand what’s going on!’
Abelard was frozen by indecision for a moment, then took a wild chance. ‘Are you in on the conspiracy?’
‘Conspiracy?’ Alessandra sounded more and more baffled. ‘What conspiracy?’
‘The conspiracy that has something to do with how people are selected to be artisans. The conspiracy that makes people think their spark level is inherent when in fact the artisans decide how and when it’s activated. The conspiracy that keeps millions of people from manipulating mana and allows the artisans absolute control over the force that powers everything in our lives!’
The words came out in a desperate rush as Abelard put together the jigsaw pieces of everything they had found out. The speech left him breathless and wondering if he had just sealed his doom.
Alessandra put her hands on her hips and glared at him.
‘What on earth are you blathering on about? If you’ve finally lost your mind, I can’t say I’m surprised but it still doesn’t explain why you’re collecting brain-e-facts up on the residential floor.’
Abelard breathed a sigh of relief. That didn’t sound as if Alessandra knew about the conspiracy, which could only be a good thing. So he took a deep breath and explained.
Alessandra’s face switched rapidly between astonishment and scepticism as he worked his way through the story but part way through she sank down on the sofa and just started listening in amazement. Abelard couldn’t tell what was going through her mind and he found himself babbling towards the end, not sure he wanted to finish and find out her reaction. At last though, he ran out of words and stopped.
Alessandra stared at him for a long moment.
Then she said quite matter-of-factly, ‘I still haven’t ruled out that you’ve lost your mind but if this is true it’s verifiable. If the brain-e-fact can show me the documents I might start to believe you. And if that happens …’ She trailed off, then rose smoothly to her feet, her expression
set. ‘Well, we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it.’ She turned to Terry. ‘You, come with me. We’re going to HR right now to see what we can prove.’ She gestured at Julia. ‘You should go about your business as if none of this had happened.’ She turned to Abelard. ‘And you, go home. I’ll contact you later.’
‘But …’ Abelard started.
‘No buts. The last thing we need in this situation is you bumbling around and creating chaos in the way that only you can. I’m in charge of this – whatever it is – now. You just do as you’re told.’
Abelard gave in. ‘Okay,’ he said in a small voice. ‘Good luck.’
Abelard saw Terry looking at him but he couldn’t read the brain-e-fact’s expression. He shrugged helplessly and followed Alessandra out of the room. They all went their separate ways at the lev-e-facts and Abelard made his way out of the building, wondering what was going to go wrong next.
* * *
Alessandra led the way down to the HR offices, the brain-e-fact trailing behind her. It still wasn’t responding to commands in the usual way. But what Abelard had suggested about artisan recruitment processes was a more important issue at the moment. It was after hours and HR weren’t the types to work late on a Friday. The offices were deserted, giving them free rein to investigate.