by Anthea Sharp
Add tip? the readout blinked.
Fine. Marny keyed in an extra half-cred.
“I need a hardcopy receipt,” she said.
The driver let out a gusty sigh, but hit a button and the scanner spat out a slip of paper. She took it and her pack, then got out of the car.
“Thanks,” she said as the door slid closed behind her.
“Have a good day!” He grinned, then swerved suddenly back into traffic, accompanied by another blare of horns.
Marny slung her pack over her shoulder. She’d survived her first taxi ride, and was a little wiser for it.
She turned to face the gleaming expanse of the building. It towered over its neighbors, an edifice of angles and hard surfaces. The company logo, a blue circle with a stylized feather through it, was suspended over the main entryway.
Intertech—at last.
***
CHAPTER TWO
The Intertech building took up the entire block, with a restaurant on the bottom floor at one end and some upscale retail stores at the other. The big front doors were shaded by a blue awning where a uniformed doorman stood guard, like at a fancy hotel or something. Marny didn’t suppose she could simply walk into the building.
“Hi,” she said to the guard. “Could you ping Brenna Dalton? She’s supposed to meet me in the lobby.”
“Your name?” the guard said, his voice disinterested.
“Marny Fanalua.”
He put a hand up to his earpiece. “Miss Fanalua,” he said to whoever was on the other end.
After a moment he nodded and stepped forward, flashing a key card at the door sensors. They whooshed open.
“You may wait inside,” he said. “Miss Dalton will arrive shortly.”
“Thanks.”
She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to tip him, or how to even do that without any spare change, so instead she just walked into the building. Warm air rushed over her, and she relaxed a little as she surveyed the lobby.
It was at least two stories tall and all done up in gold and cream and brown. To her right were acres of couches and chairs grouped together in small seating arrangements. Beyond that was a bar with a long polished wood counter and dozens of glass bottles of varying shapes and colors. Beside it was an espresso bar, the sound of the coffee grinder a low grumble in the air. A line of people waited for coffee, which surprised her until she remembered that many of the Intertech employees lived in the building. She and the other interns were going to be housed there, too.
On Marny’s left was a tall counter staffed by two women wearing blue blazers with the Intertech logo embroidered over the heart. Another uniformed guard stood beyond the counter, his hands clasped behind his back.
“Miss Fanalua?” one of the women said.
“That’s me.” Marny stepped up to the counter.
“Why don’t you have a seat.” She gestured to a nearby cluster of couches. “Miss Dalton will be down soon.”
“All right.”
Marny headed past the hefty marble table in the center of the lobby. Bigger than a bed, it bore a huge golden vase of flowers. She thought they were fake until she walked by and smelled the lilies and some spicy scent that made her nose wrinkle. Eucalyptus, maybe?
Behind the couch arrangements stood shiny banks of elevators—a half-dozen doors all pinched shut in the middle, like lips closed tight on secrets they would never tell.
She settled on one of the couches, surprised at how comfortable it was, and pulled her messager out of her backpack.
:I’m downstairs by the elevators,: she sent to Brenna.
:Yep. brt: was the reply.
After a moment, Marny keyed in a message to her family, copying the text to her Uncle Zeg, and Tam.
:Arrived safely. The city is big, but not too scary. Will vidchat later, once I’m settled.:
True, she hadn’t yet met her Intertech contact or seen her room, but Marny felt like she’d been working on an epic questline called “Arrival in Newpoint” since she’d gotten on the bus yesterday. Now it was nearly complete.
On cue, the elevator doors dinged open. A woman in her thirties with dark, curly hair stepped out. She wore jeans and a gray T-shirt, Checkswing Comics & Games emblazoned across the front above stylized representations of superhero logos. Her left ear was studded with piercings, and the edge of a flower tattoo showed above the neckline of her shirt. A silver streak ran through her hair, beside her face, and Marny wondered if it was natural, and if her own hair would ever do anything that cool. The woman scanned the lobby, then made eye contact with Marny.
“Are you Marny Fanalua?” she asked.
“Yep.” Marny stood and grabbed her backpack. “Brenna Dalton?”
“Yes.” Brenna strode forward and offered her hand. “I’m sorry I wasn’t at the station this morning. I’m a complete night owl, and it never even occurred to me you’d be arriving this early. For me, there’s only one six in a day, and that’s p.m.” She gave Marny a rueful smile.
“It’s okay—I got to see some of the city,” Marny said. And got to prove to herself that she could handle unexpected mishaps, even in the big streets of Newpoint.
“Still, I owe you. Do you like sushi? There’s a great spot around the corner. I’ll treat you to lunch later today.” Brenna glanced around at the couches. “Where’s your bags?”
“Lost, apparently.”
“That’s tweaked. How do you lose luggage on a bus?”
Marny lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “They said they’d contact me as soon as they found it.”
“We can swing by one of the department stores after lunch,” Brenna said, “grab you anything essential in case your bag doesn’t show up ’till tomorrow. But first, let’s get you settled.”
“Sounds good.” Weariness tugged at Marny, hanging off her like a whiny little kid who wanted attention. A nap was definitely in order.
“Since you don’t have any bags to lug, we’ll make a quick stop to get your ID.” Brenna flashed her key card at the elevator. “Hold still. The scan only takes a second.”
A laser flicked on above the door and thin blue light traveled over Marny. She didn’t feel a thing, but it was weird to be inspected so thoroughly.
“Miss Brenna Dalton and visitor,” a metallic voice said. “You may enter.”
The metal doors slid open. Marny glanced up at the cameras overhead, tracking their movements. Intertech took their security seriously.
“Since I’m a mid-level employee, I can bring extra people in without clearing them at the desk,” Brenna said. “Your visitors will need to get checked out—they won’t be able to just come up the elevators, so don’t imagine bringing boyfriends home after hours.”
“Wasn’t in my plans.”
“Good.” Brenna gave her a grim smile. “You won’t have much time to socialize, anyway. The pace here is grueling.”
At least it was only for nine weeks. No matter how bad things got—and Marny was certainly expecting some horrors—she could take it for that long.
“How many interns are there?” Marny asked as she followed Brenna into the brightly lit elevator. Her shoes squeaked faintly on the polished floor.
“This year there’s three of you. A big crop. Usually we get one or two. Once, nobody, if you can believe it.”
An Intertech internship was a golden ticket. Half the people who interned were offered full-ride scholarships to the colleges of their choice, and the rest went straight into high-paying jobs with the company as soon as they graduated from high school. At her Uncle Zeg’s urging, Marny had applied, but she really hadn’t thought she’d land one of the coveted spots. When the acceptance notice came, she’d been sure it was an elaborate prank.
“Of course they want you,” her uncle had said. “You’re a smart coder and a creative thinker who clearly has a clue about what people want. That’s exactly what Intertech is looking for.”
Once the truth had sunk in, she’d been elated, in her own quiet way.
Still, she couldn’t have been the only applicant that fit the politically correct criteria. And Newpoint seemed to contain a huge variety of peoples and cultures. Maybe she really had gotten the internship on her own merits.
The elevator whooshed smoothly up, numbers flashing by on the readout over the door.
“The business offices are on floor fifteen through thirty-eight. Dining’s on thirty-nine,” Brenna said. “The top floor—level seventy-six—is the CEO’s domain. You’ll never go there. Under that is middle-management apartments—that’s me—and forty through fifty are the apartments for the cubicle workers. And you interns. All told, around seven hundred people live in the Intertech building.”
It felt a little claustrophobic, like Intertech was its own hive. Which would make Marny a worker drone, she supposed. She took a deep breath to dispel the feeling.
“Are the other interns here yet?”
Brenna nodded. “You’re the last to arrive. You’ll be sharing a triple. Nice thing about living in the building is that it’s easy to get to work.”
“So about my new roommates—”
The elevator stopped and the doors dinged open.
“Soon as we’re done here, I’ll take you up to meet them,” Brenna said, setting a brisk pace down the hallway.
Marny followed her into a large office that, despite the fact it was Sunday morning, was full of busy people.
Her surprise must have been clear on her face, because Brenna gave her another quick smile.
“Intertech has branches all over the world,” she said. “There’s always somebody here, day and night. This is the office command central—the international heartbeat of the company.”
“You make it sound like a living organism,” Marny said.
“It kind of is.” Brenna snagged a tablet off the pile on the receptionist’s desk. “Hey, Shawn,” she said. “Checking in a new intern.”
“Good, good,” the redheaded man said. “I’ll get the fingerprint scanner primed.”
Marny blinked. “Do you want a DNA sample, too?” She couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm from her voice. Intertech was really over the top.
“Nah—you won’t be here long enough for that,” Brenna said, in all seriousness. She handed the tablet to Marny. “Fill everything out, we’ll get your prints and picture, and you’ll be in the system.”
“Great.” Meaning the opposite, of course.
Marny had spent her entire life living on the edge—of poverty, of social acceptance, of being a large, strong girl in a culture that didn’t really honor that model. So she’d embraced everything that made her different. She was comfortable with edges. This being assimilated thing made her feel itchy under her skin.
But it was part of the package. She could hardly work here if she couldn’t even get the elevators to open, now could she?
It was like playing any other game. Follow the rules, learn the patterns and expectations. Then, later, break them as necessary.
For a bureaucracy, it took surprisingly little time for Marny to finish getting registered. Processed. Whatever they called it.
The machine spat out her new badge, and Brenna glanced at it before handing it over.
“Not bad,” she said. “Most people look scared out of their wits or like severe criminals.”
“Good thing I’m not either,” Marny said.
The liaison gave her an approving nod. “I like you, Fanalua. Okay, time to see your new home.”
Before clipping on her badge, Marny glanced at the photo. Her unsmiling face looked back at her. Not frightened. Not a felon. Just a broad-faced Samoan girl with kinked brown hair, serious eyes, and a determined expression.
Yep, that was pretty much her.
Brenna waved goodbye to the receptionist, then led Marny back down the hall.
“What should I know about being here?” Marny asked.
“Oh, God.” Brenna let out a humorless laugh. “Everything. At least you three interns can learn the ropes together. It’s good to have a support system.”
Marny wasn’t going to count on that until she met the others. Could be they’d bond into one happy group. Or conversely, become one another’s worst enemies.
“Tell me about them,” she said.
“Anjah Lee is a brilliant mathematician, and Wil Cutter’s an engineering genius.”
“Okay.” A spurt of anxiety jumped up in her stomach, and Marny pushed it back down.
She wasn’t a genius at anything. Sure, her app had gone viral, but what if had all been luck?
She made herself take a deep breath. No need to get all tweaked. Intertech had picked her for a reason. She’d just have to believe they’d made the right choice.
Brenna paused before the elevators, and the blue light scanned them both. This time the system identified Marny by name. It was a little freaky, but no stranger than the networked house AIs that her rich friends had.
“Floor forty,” Brenna said.
The elevator hurtled upward, and pressure built in Marny’s ears. She opened her mouth, trying to ease the sensation.
“Yeah,” Brenna said, noticing her discomfort. “Try yawning.”
Marny did, and with a soft pop, her hearing returned. The display above the door showed they’d gone up thirty floors in less than a minute—but the elevator was slowing. Thirty-six. Thirty-nine.
With a ding, the doors opened, and Brenna tipped her head. “After you.”
Marny adjusted the straps of her backpack and stepped into a brightly lit hallway. The tan carpet underfoot had a subtle pattern that probably hid dirt well, and the walls were painted a warm shade of yellow. Pictures of fields of flowers lined the far wall, which was ironic, considering they were in a skyscraper thousands of feet above the ground.
Beside the elevator hung a photograph of a stern, silver-haired man. The ornate gilt frame surrounding it made his face seem even more austere in contrast.
“Our esteemed founder and president,” Brenna said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “Dettwiler von Coburg.”
“Okay.” He didn’t look particularly friendly. “Is there a picture of him on every floor?”
“Of course. Wouldn’t want the proletariat to forget who’s in charge, now would we?” The edge in Brenna’s voice was more pronounced.
Marny didn’t voice her opinion that the man clearly had a huge ego. She glanced at the white ceiling. Though she couldn’t see any cameras, she assumed the entire building was wired for surveillance. The company certainly seemed paranoid enough.
As her uncle always said—assume the worst until proven otherwise. Especially where corporations were concerned.
“So, this is the dorm?” Marny asked, as Brenna led her down the hallway.
It seemed more like a fancy hotel, with art on the walls and even a few tables with actual potted plants. She’d imagined a big white room with metal beds and shared dressers.
“Yep. Not what you thought it would be, is it?” Brenna shot her a knowing smile. “We just call it the dorm—it’s really more apartments. You’re down here at the end of the hall. Number 4027.”
They reached the door and Brenna waved her ID card at it. The plasmetal slid open to reveal a tiled entry area leading into a large living room, with plush beige carpet in a nicer pattern than the utilitarian one in the hall. A bank of windows looked out at the tops of nearby buildings, and Marny caught a hazy glimpse of mountains on the far horizon. Mostly, though, the view was all city. She bet it looked prime at night.
A big open room with a large screen took up one side of the living area. A sim system was installed there, and a couple of console devices. Next to the living room was a kitchen larger than Marny’s bedroom at home. A hallway led off to the left, presumably going to the bedrooms and bath. She made herself say nothing, although pa
rt of her wanted to ask if this was the right place. The apartment seemed way too nice to house lowly student interns.
A pair of large black athletic shoes lay in the entryway, laces tangled. The open coat closet showed a colorful array of jackets and matching purses. She’d be living with a slightly slobby guy and a girl who took her fashion way seriously. This would be interesting.
“I’m sure your roommates will be out to greet you in a moment,” Brenna said. “I pinged them while you were filling out forms.”
Right on cue, a tall, lanky guy sauntered into the living room. His blond hair was messy and overlong, but at least it didn’t flop over his eyes and remind her of Tam.
“Hey there,” he said, coming over to shake Marny’s hand. “I’m Wil. Welcome to our humble abode. Whoa, you’re tall.”
Clearly he wasn’t used to meeting girls over six feet in height. Not that the world was necessarily full of them.
“Thanks,” she said, taking it as a compliment.
He grinned at her, and she thought maybe sharing a space with Wil wouldn’t be too bad.
“Anjah?” Brenna called. “You here?”
“Yeah, she is.” Wil waved his hand toward the hallway. “Had to put on her makeup or something.”
“Coming!” a high voice called, and a moment later a beautiful, petite girl with exotically tilted eyes and perfect lips emerged from the hall.
Marny swallowed back her stab of jealousy. When people talked about gorgeous Asian women, they meant girls who looked exactly like Anjah. Not robust Samoan gals with full mouths, wide cheekbones, and even wider shoulders.
Damn. Marny thought she’d gotten over that particular issue. She’d worked through hanging around cute white girls like Jennet, but clearly had some issues with mixed-race beauties. She let out a quiet breath.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m Marny.”
“Anjah.” Her roomie strutted forward on what had to be three-inch heels and extended a perfectly manicured hand. “Pleased to meet you.”