by Taj McCoy El
“You act like poison resistance training was better. My liver still has that poison debuff for another 20 minutes,” Mephi growled. “Who knew skunks were allergic to daffodils.”
“I’m just trying to stay on the positive side of things, Meph. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, and I’ll take all the help I can get.”
“beep- I liked breakfast. -boop”
“You would, ya robot trashcan,” Mephi said taking an easy swipe at the ‘obelisk de robotica’ who easily floated out of the way. “But what do you do with the food? All I see is a door open one of your panels and a tray comes out to hold the food, and then disappears back inside. Like, where do the bowls and silverware go?” Mephi looked at Ziggs with puzzlement.
“Better question, why do robot trash cans need to eat anyway?” Mo answered Mephi’s question with a question.
Ziggs said nothing floating beside them. The speedster and the skunkman stared at the floating block of circuits waiting for an answer. Finally, Ziggs responded.
“beep- I process the food into fuels, energies, building materials and lubricants. I also digest very small portions of it. -boop”
“Digest?” Mephi seemed intrigued. “You got some biological components? Cyborging it up out behind our backs?” he continued to grill Ziggs, its circuitry slowly reddening. “Wait, are you like a Dalek in there? All fleshy tendrils and circuits? That seems a bit extreme to me, but some players like to be ‘real immersive’ if you catch my drift.”
Instead of rocking, Ziggs seemed to vibrate in place throwing off a whine reminiscent of hearing a tea kettle whistling through a few walls. All of Ziggs' circuits were pulsing with a crackling red energy.
“Goes to show ya, ya can’t judge a trashcan by its lid,” Mephi mocked, placing a hand onto Ziggs where it sizzled, and he quickly yanked it off. “Owww… ! What’s going on with you.” He studied his fingers for damage. “You shouldn’t get so upset.”
“beep- What are you implying? -boop”
“Implying? Nothing… nothing at all. But your reaction sure is strange. Just calm down.” With that Mephi turned to wink at Mo with a sly smile and walked ahead of the group.
“beep- Just you wait. I’ll show you what a trashcan can do. -boop”
“Are you guys really gonna start arguing again? I thought we worked that all out,” Mo scolded.
“beep- We did, until someone broke the truce. -boop”
“How did Mephi break the truce?” Mo asked truly wanting to know the answer. Ziggs just rotated forty-five degrees away from Mo and sped up. The colors on its circuits went from red to a pinkish color as it floated forward leaving the trio in a spaced out single file line with Mephi at the front and Mo in the back.
“You know… this method of communication sucks!!!” Mo hollered at the backs of his teammates, and then began following them down the road while kicking rocks.
10.3 Walk of Shame
Bob Stultus was sitting in front of the conference room waiting to be called in. Luckily—or unluckily, he had gotten a cup of the acrid office coffee before he seated himself. The taste of it lingered in his mouth like a rotten tooth, making even his saliva taste bitter and coppery. He looked around the room to stem the tide of fear that was slowly constricting his chest. A trickle of sweat rolled down his spine and made him squirm in his seat anxiously. Hand dabbing at his forehead with his handkerchief, all he could do was wait for the voices inside to call for him.
On his wrist, his MemCrystal vibed the hour rolling over. Slightly startled by the vibratory interruption to his anxiety, he quickly ran through his pre-meeting checklist again. He quickly readjusted his glasses and smoothed what little hair he had left. Sitting tall for a moment he fixed his tie, and then tried to relax.
A corporate chime from his wrist let him know it was time to enter the lion’s den. He muttered under his breath—a prayer of course. With a nervous breath he rocked his paunch forward twice to gain momentum and stood up from the chair. An assistant nearby heard his nervous breath across the quiet office, but the prayers went unheard.
He forced his feet to take the steps towards the door. Some of the panels surrounding the conference room weren’t opaqued as he walked warily forward. Each footstep became heavier as he saw the faces of the people sitting on the other side of the table. Most notably Professor Carelton Magineaux, One of Majesta’s progenitors and Gamma Farm’s second in command. Professor Magineux sat at the table hunched over his data pad and seemed a bit haggard.
That’s who I have to impress to keep this job—seeing as how I ruined his game implementations.
He paused as his hand touched the doorknob allowing the security sensors to validate his MemCrystal. He took a deep breath, heard the unlock chime and turned the handle.
“Good morning, Mr. Stultus,” Bob’s supervisor Regan Mitchell said with disinterest. “If you could have a seat we can we can wrap this up fairly quick.”
Bob’s heart sank. The words, “get this over quick,” echoed through his now very fragile psyche. He meekly moved into the chair that had been pulled back from the table so that he wouldn’t be sitting at the table with them. He was in tribunal, accused and more than likely to be found wanting. His soul deflated even further as he sat down in the chair and felt the floor of his soul begin to crumble.
“You do know that you have a right to counsel?” Regan asked with a raised eyebrow.
Bob thought over what to say,
What can I say? I screwed up, royally, and they’re gonna let me go and try to cut everything I have to ribbons.
What he wound up saying is, "I thought it best not to bring in any third parties before discussing the secrecy around the hack. It hasn’t been on the news so I’m guessing someone is working really hard to keep it that way.”
Carelton raised his eyes from what he was reading on his CrysPad and glared at Bob like a hawk. Bob didn’t like that he could see the vein rising up Carelton’s neck like a rapidly growing tree planted in his collar. His tired eyes lasered into Bob’s forehead.
Bob replayed his last words through his mind and heard how the words could be misconstrued—a damnable miscommunication. He quickly held his hands out in front of him realizing that Carelton had taken his words as a threat of blackmail.
“Wait that came out wrong! I was saying that because Attactus is pretty much the only thing I have left—not because I want to use it as leverage. I don’t want to use it as leverage. I hadn’t even thought about that until now. I mean I still don’t want to use it. I’m rambling… sorry.” He bowed his head and supported it with fingers for a moment as he slumped back into his chair shriveling inside even more. "I know I messed up and I’m definitely not trying to hang anything over anyone’s head. I’ve been kicked enough that I know when I’m beat.”
Regan blankly offered, “Mr Stultus, we are recording everything that happens here today.”
“Yeah that’s fine.” Bob acquiesced. He leaned forward and gathered the courage to say what he wanted. He finally settled on the bit that stung the most.
"I know this is going to end badly for me. Honestly, I just wish I didn’t have to leave Attactus.” He slowly looked around the room, at all the walls and finally the ceiling. With a hearty sniff he looked at the individuals across the table. "I actually helped wire the CrysNet in this building when it was first built. Before I worked for Attactus I used to run a small Crystal programming business on the side of my construction gig. Crystal-fiber won over the copper infrastructure and I got accepted into Attactus university. Learned enough to get a position here. And then,” He paused and realized the hangman’s noose was already around his neck. “And then I made a mistake.
“I’m pretty sure that what I’ve done is horrible and it’s disrupted people’s lives and some people’s wallets, and someone has to be the sacrifice. Not only am I ready to be that but I believe that with the level of secrets that are flying around I really must deserve it. For instance. the fact that Professor Magineaux is h
ere means that there is something serious happening over at Gamma farm.”
Bob felt the lasers of Carelton’s vision pierce his soul, but he powered through with his somewhat limited thoughts and some might say unwise words
"I just wanna say I had a great time working here and I hope that doesn’t have to end.” He gave each person at the table a meaningful look, shrinking slightly from Carelton’s eyes. He resigned himself to his fate and mustered the courage to utter, “Now Just lay out the charges in front of me. I’m ready to give my pound of flesh.” With that, Bob Stultus’s Spine grew a bit stiffer and his shoulders felt a bit broader as he sat waiting his punishment like a condemned man. But a condemned man who’d had his say and put all his affairs in order.
Regan read off the list of mistakes that Bob had made. Not checking the incoming ticket against the compliance register, not confirming the level of the ticket before accepting the boot code, not yadda yadda, not blah blah blah… there were about thirty things he had done wrong with that one decision and here they were shoving them all down his throat. Bob could only swallow because they were his prideful mistakes.
After a brief pause that signaled the end of the charges Carelton opened his mouth.
“Have you seen the violations that were made and had time to look them over?” Carelton asked further dotting the legal I’s and crossing the final T’s.
“Yes, I have.” Bob went numb to the weight on his shoulders.
“Do you feel that any of the accusations are unwarranted or would you like to make any explanations as to your actions two days ago at 7:03pm Eastern standard time?”
“Just the usual being swamped on release week excuses—nothing that would absolve me of my transgressions.”
“Then,” Carelton paused thoughtfully, “the board’s recommendations is to terminate you immediately without any unemployment benefits or severance. We will not force you to divest the stock options that you have earned or your 401k benefits.”
Bob felt the dropping sensation again, but this time he found he could stand almost steady in the tempest of his soul. Using this strength before it failed him, he rose to his feet and approached the table and offered his hand to Carelton, Regan and the others.
“It was a pleasure working with you all.” He shook all their hands, popped the Attactus ID sliver out of his MemCrystal, placed all on the table, and made it halfway to the door before Carelton spoke again.
“Mr Stultus, if you could stay at Attactus, what position would you want?”
“In all honesty sir, I’m not above cleaning toilets or sorting mail. I just really love what this company is doing for the world— what it’s done for me. Without the university I don’t think,” He cut off the words that flew out uninhibited and with a brief thought he found that they were true, and then continued on. “Without the university and the options it afforded me, I would’ve done a lot worse than I am now.” A small flicker of hope passed through his heart, and he pushed it down in case this was nothing or went sideways.
Carelton’s head tilted to the right slightly in a pensive second of thought. “Could you wait outside for a few moments Mr. Stultus?”
"I most certainly can Professor Magineaux.” He leapt at this shred of a chance. And whether it was janitorial work or not, it would be better than finding a job without a reference from his employer of the last twelve years.
Carelton nodded at him and Bob walked out of the conference room and found his seat still warm from his earlier bout of sitting. He was bursting with hope and hoped he wasn’t a moth around a flame.
Ten minutes later everyone exited the conference room and his ex-supervisor walked over to him.
“Bob, I'm not gonna sugar coat this turd nugget but it’s better than being buried in the no-hire graveyard.”
Bob just nodded his head silently waiting to hear what Regan had to say.
“For now, you will be keeping your duties, if not your position. You ‘WILL’ train the next supervisor to come in as soon as we find one. Until then you have a say but no power. Tomorrow I’ll be assigning you a partner who will have the necessary clearances to do the job as your clearances have already been revoked. This is a temporary position and you will either be terminated or transferred after this. As for the rest of the day, I’m already set up to oversee the compliance team. Go get yourself together and we’ll see you first thing Monday morning.”
Bob’s body deflated as his heart leapt out of his chest. It quickly reinflated with the deep and satisfying breath of a drowning man breaking the surface. “Thank you, sir. I won’t let you down again.”
“Don’t thank me, you sap. Thank professor Magineaux. Your heartfelt honesty and lack of pandering pulled him back from signing the termination papers. He had to talk all us on board this crazy bus. Way too much liability. I’m sure you understand. But since you’ve got this chance don’t mess it up.”
“Yes, sir—I mean no sir I won’t mess it up.”
“Well, enjoy your day off. And here.” He tossed Bob the ID sliver. “Now get out of here before I find some toilets that need to be cleaned.” Regan raised his voice loudly shooing Bob out of the office with a small smile on his face.
……
The figure-eight crack was hard at first but Mayah persevered and got the hang of it. She practiced switching her target at will. With the stiletto on the tip she practiced attacking on the pull, slicing branches off the tree, and sadly, learning to untangle her whip. And on the crack, she practiced piercing, wrapping, or pulling her targets—which earned her a few levels in ‘rage because my whip is tangled up again.’ After a few injuries which included impaling her arm with the stiletto, her speed and accuracy had increased to the point where she almost looked dangerous to an opponent, and not just herself. The whip swirled around her head faster and faster becoming a blur under her ministrations. She activated the runes and light pulsed around the stiletto with every crack. Leaving spots in her vision.
“Okay, who’s ready to go fight some duskrass?” she asked the rötten in the distance. The rötten stared at her as she coiled her whip. “Okay, I know it’s not a lot of XP but it will help me figure out how to use this thing.”
They continued to stare at her.
Oh…
“It’s safe to come back over you rötten scaredy cats.”
Riker began crossing the distance, Deanna folded her paws and seemed to huff.
“Fine then…scaredy mice. Better?” she asked the huffy rötten
Deanna begrudgingly squeaked and made her way back to Mayah.
“Okay, it’s lunchtime and we skipped breakfast, so, I’m going to introduce you to my friend, Tom Deet.” Mayah clapped her hands in an overt display of eagerness to do the introductions. She reached into her bag and pulled out six of her lower quality rations and opened them up and spread them out. Deanna and Riker attempted to jump into their food until Mayah stopped them.
“Vergie’s not here yet, hold on a sec and do not eat until she’s settled. She’s so food centric geez.”
Mayah summoned Vergie, letting her form in the circle of her arms. This quickly turned into a hug that Mayah relished for a few moments. Okay girl, time for introductions. Vergie looked around, and then her eyes rested on the rötten.
“No, not them. You’ve already met them. Everybody grab a plate. Three for you Vergie.”
Vergie pulled three rations over to her and waited impatiently.
“Okay, now for introductions.” Mayah switched to a deep southern drawl, called out, “Tom Deet!!!” and began to eat her food.
Vergie and the rötten look around expectantly for this tom Deet character.
With a mouth full of food Mayah garbled, “Tom Deet? Tom Duh Eet?”
The trio of animal companions didn’t get the joke at all and stared at her blankly.
“You know what? Just… Time to eat…”
And food was et.
✽✽✽
“Driskel sure was happy we came back.�
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“beep- Looks like not many people come back to finish this quest. -boop”
It’s a simple round up quest. Time consuming but much better than an escort mission.”
“Agreed.”
“beep- Thirded. -boop”
“No one seconded it trashbot.”
“beep- It was implied. Oh, these pesky implications. Some people just can’t seem to get it. -beep”
“What are you implying?”
“beep- Imply? Why would I imply anything? I am a highly advanced techno-organic life form and have no need for dissimulation or bandying about with words. -beep.”
“Then why do you make so many jokes?” Mo groaned.
“beep- I have learned that it helps to create camaraderie and helps to alleviate stress. -boop”
“When done correctly—which you most certainly do not.” Mephi accused.
Ziggs made a sound like someone blowing a raspberry inside of a tin can and Mephi chuckled.
“So, after that argument yesterday, you two had some kind of truce. What was it about?”
Mephi chuckled again. “I’m not remembering making a truce.” He looked at Ziggs pointedly and his chuckle turning into a full-throated laugh. “Nope don’t remember making a truce at all.” He wiped a tear and winked at Mo again.
Ziggs just vibrated in place again.
Mo looked back and forth at them trying to garner some info about what was happening. This was an itch he couldn’t scratch and these two weren’t going to clue him in. He suddenly defaulted to his former opinion on the matter.
“Whatevs…” he said turning and walking ahead of his teammates towards the clearing where they found the chickens yesterday. “Let’s get these chickens and go. I want to do something besides this tomorrow.”
Ziggs and Mephi followed after him until they reached the clearing and only saw three chickens.
“Where are the other ten chickens?” Mo asked.
“Doesn’t matter. Let’s just start with those three.”