I registered all of that in a single glance.
“Oh... fuck.”
Jessie caught my tone and looked at me, then followed my gaze.
“Fhuuuuuuuuckk...” she said it with dread, putting a lot of emphasis in. We both understood what that meant. Then someone noticed us.
“DeWisr, get to your desk! Reven, get out of here, you’re not cleared.”
Jessie mutely nodded, turned, and left. I sat dumbly at my desk.
Jessie quit by the end of the day. I went home and drank myself to sleep. That became a habit, knowing exactly what I was doing. Even worse, knowing I couldn’t talk to anybody, even Jessie, about what I had seen.
She later told me she started the separation paperwork the moment she sat at her desk. She encouraged me to follow suit. She had backing from some major organization and was starting her own company on the West Coast. Said she couldn’t handle doing intel for the military any more.
I really should have followed her, but I stuck out that last year. It was miserable. Without her around, people kept piling work on my plate.
She would regularly call to bother me about taking a job with her. Told me to file for voluntary separation due to hardship. I always told her I would finish up my term. She always ended the call by saying the job was waiting for me.
By the end of my term, I had six different projects I was doing analysis for. I felt some malicious glee when I turned in my paperwork to my CO, and he realized he had six major projects ongoing solely through me.
The scramble was amazing to watch as I gathered my things before processing out. I called up Jessie and told her I was taking the job. Her response was simple.
“Finally.”
She had a plane ticket waiting in my email before I even got back to my house on base. She had movers there an hour after me. I was shocked by the speed. Then I was packed up and moving to Washington State a few hours later.
When I started my new job, I was dumbfounded. I did literally the exact same job—staring at images of deserts that were beamed down from satellite. It was mind-numbing, grueling work. She had opened a private sector business doing the exact same thing we had done in the military.
However, there was one big difference. Not only was Jessie there as my boss, but the whole crew I worked with were kind, caring people. Work stopped being something I dreaded and became something I started to enjoy, because I was finally around something like family again.
3
June 13, 2033
Seattle, Washington, USA
5th Ave
98°F
0824 Hours
Someone honked. I looked up, and realized the accident had been partially cleared. The injured cop had been replaced by a different one. He had a look of bored indifference on as he waved me through the cleared lane. I fired the car back up and set it going to work again. It eased through the cleared accident, and moved the two blocks down the street to the underground parking garage.
My car stopped at the gate that was in place. I swiped my badge, and the gate raised. The car burbled through. It took some time, but eventually found a parking spot on the fifth underground floor.
I opened the door and stood, stretching for a moment. I was already late, no need to rush. I leaned back into the car to grab my laptop bag and a few other small necessities.
The elevators were at each corner of the garage, which meant it was pretty much always a long walk to them. The spots nearest the elevators were always taken before I got to work.
I had arrived over an hour early one time, to find the spots already taken. That had been the shortest walk, but it was still almost four minutes from car to elevator bank. The building took up an entire city block, meaning in was over a thousand yards to a side.
So, parking in the middle was the worst, and often the only places available by the time I arrived.
The laptop bag slapped my side with each step, and I made mental checklists of what I needed done for the day. I had the HOPS project from Nevada—too much water was needed. Didn’t even make sense, they couldn’t grow good hops for shit. Most hops still came from Washington state, as they had been for decades.
However, with the ever-increasing temperatures, a lot of crops had moved farther and farther north. Canada now had more farmland than cities.
Then there was the RHINO project out of the Middle East. An experimental new vehicle. Seemed it was extremely capable. I still only had one shot of the vehicle, and it was blurry. Moving insanely fast across broken terrain.
Checklist said I needed more focus there. I had volunteered to take on another project, but Jessie wouldn’t let me. Said I was stretched too thin anyway.
I arrived at the elevator bank and knuckled the upward arrow. Rumbling sounded from deep within the elevator shafts. Shortly afterwards, the elevator arrived. ‘B5’ flashed on the display above.
The doors slid open and I stepped inside. I was the only occupant. It was well appointed, with walnut wood paneling and chromed mirror surfaces. The buttons were standard poly-carbonate of some kind, worn down by thousands of hands.
The elevator started at ‘B10’ and went all the way through Ground floor to the security lobby on the 4th. I knuckled the ‘4’ button and settled in at the back to wait. The elevator started with a small lurch, and smoothly climbed to the security lobby. I had to exit the elevator there and transfer to the other bank that allowed access to the rest of the building. While I waited, I pulled my phone out and made a note about my parking spot so I wouldn’t forget it.
The panel dinged, and the doors slid open. It was relatively quiet by this point, since most people were already hard at work. The four elevator banks fed into a large open format floor space, with two massive elevator banks in the middle.
The fourth floor was checkpoint, since most businesses above had top secret information of some sort. In the middle stood the two banks with an opening all the way through. At each end of the opening was a security cordon.
Each had a line set up, much like security at the airport. My heels clicked on the marble as I walked to the middle, where two bored security guards stood by. Sunlight streamed in through the floor to ceiling windows all around the floor. They were twenty feet high and had a fantastic view of the city around.
Small clusters of couches and chairs sat around near the windows, to allow people to have meetings with a view. The security officer behind the metal detector nodded in recognition, but still asked to see my badge. He inspected it quickly, then asked me to empty my pockets into a bowl for the x-ray machine and step through the metal detector.
I emptied my pockets then stepped through. As usual, the detector remained quiet. He looked at the loose items I’d had in my pockets.
“Sir, what is this?”
“Travis, you ask me that every day. That’s my Holo Micro, and you know it.”
“Sir, I’m just doing my job. Can you please turn it on for me?”
“Yeah, Travis, I can,” I said, only slightly peeved. So I took the small device from the bowl he held out to me and powered it on. A small chime was just audible from the device, and it started flashing colors an inch from the band that went on my forehead.
He nodded and I powered it back off. He allowed me to gather the rest of my stuff from the bowl.
“Thank you, sir, have a good day.”
“Yeah, you too Travis.”
He nodded and I walked to the center of the banks. Someone was coming through the security area on the opposite side. I leaned over, swiped my badge, and used a knuckle to hit the up arrow. The button lit up, though I couldn’t hear anything from the elevator shafts.
I turned when I heard a whiny voice come from the other cordon. I was surprised to see Linda, my friend and coworker, standing just on the other side of the cordon. I had never known her to be late to work. She caught my gaze and gave me a tired smile, accompanied by a little wave.
Linda walked through the detector and waited until she was cleared by
the guard. He had his back to me, and clearly said something to Linda. She nodded. Voices were raised, then quieted again. I couldn't glean anything despite the relative hush. A moment later, the x-ray machine belched out a small bowl and a boy walked out of the detector.
Just then, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. I turned my attention back and stepped in.
“Hold the doors!”
I stuck my hand over the doors to keep them from closing. They surged, then settled back. A vaguely female mechanical voice spoke above. “Please clear the doorway. Please clear the doorway.”
I ignored the voice and held the doors open. I was the only one in the elevator, so it didn’t matter. A moment later, Linda entered the elevator. She was huffing lightly, and holding on to the hand of the boy I had seen earlier. She flashed me an apologetic smile, then said, “Thanks.”
Her perfume was faintly floral. I said, “No problem,” and let the doors close. Then I swiped my badge again and used the knuckle on my index finger to hit the ‘70’ button.
The elevators were fast, but we still had a solid two-to-three minute ride ahead of us. I looked at Linda as I settled against the back wall. She smiled back at me, evidently a little tired already.
“This is my son, Eddie,” she said. She had him squared up in front of her, fussing over his hair. I smiled and offered my hand to shake. “Hey Eddie, I’m your mom’s friend, Dante.”
He nodded mutely and shook my hand. Linda looked down him and said, “Honey, what do you say?”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Dante.” His voice was quiet, but strong. He was shy, but not nervous. An unusual combination.
“How old are you, Eddie? And you can just call me Dante, no need for the Mister.” He nodded but said nothing. Linda shook her head in evident exasperation.
“We’ve had a bit of a rough morning. Eddie had trouble waking up, and then there was the accident down the street. You must have been caught in that too, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah, otherwise I would have been just about on time. Hey, Eddie, do you like video games?”
His eyes lit up when he heard the magic words. “Yes sir, I do!”
I winked at him and pulled the gaming device from my pocket. “Check this out, have you seen one before?”
Eddie’s eyes grew large, as he took in the high-end device. “Wow! You have a Holo Micro!”
“Well, go ahead, give it a try.”
He nodded eagerly, and stuck his hand out to grab it. Then he paused, an inch from my own hand. He turned and looked at his mom, the question evident.
She nodded, and he grabbed the machine. He put it over his head and the straps tightened themselves. A moment later, lights could be seen dancing across his face. Linda continued to play with his hair.
“He’s turning ten next week.” Then she slid her hands over his ears, not that he noticed with the game going. “You look like the kind of shit even dogs won’t eat. What’s up with you today?”
I looked down at myself. My clothes were rumpled, but more from the drive and the heat than lack of care. I did feel haggard, but that was the hangover. Then it clicked, and I grinned sheepishly.
“Went out with the guys last night. You kept bugging me to be more social. So, I did. Except we got a bit riled up, I guess. I had a few too many. Thankfully the car got me home safely. This morning has been a bit rough. Thanks though, you look beautiful as always.”
She blushed, then reached over and slugged my arm lightly. What’s up with the women around me? They always do that.
She went back to straightening Eddie’s hair. It didn’t really need it, since his hair was just over an inch long. She looked back at me and said, “still having the nightmares?”
I nodded.
“I had the really weird dream about being a giant again. Went on longer than normal though.”
“You’re probably just stressed out.”
“Probably. Just makes me feel like something is happening, or going to happen. It's weird.”
I nodded in agreement, and felt the elevator slow. With a small lurch, it stopped.
The doors slid open, showing the opposite elevator bank. The elevators were closed off on either end with doors. We turned left and headed for the door marked ‘Envisionment Intelligence, LLC’. It stood next to a metal fire door that led to the emergency stairs.
I cracked the office door open. People talked quietly, fans whirred, and a printer was spitting out paper. We had half the floor up here, the other half was abandoned.
The office was in a ‘U’ shape, with the majority of the office in the open floor at the base of the ‘U’. The two arms that shared the space with the elevator banks and stairs were split off.
One space was now a server room with a solid airlock. The other was Jessie’s office, though it looked smaller than it should have.
I had asked about that and Jessie looked sour when she told me it was given to the abandoned office to make up for the extra room the servers had taken up.
At the far end of the open office area were restrooms on either side of a kitchen and break area.
I stepped into the office with Linda close behind me. People were milling around, and there were a handful of children running around in between the low cubicles. I turned to Linda in confusion.
“Uh, why are there so many kids here? Actually, why did you bring Eddie?”
“Do you not remember Jessie telling us to bring our kids to work?” she answered. “She wanted to have our kids see the kind of work we do—which always struck me as strange. Most of what we do is top secret. I have no idea how she got the clearance for this.”
“Yeah, that’s weird. Then again, most of what we do is look at satellite imagery anyway, so it’s probably easiest to say ‘look, there’s nothing happening here.’ Who knows?” I shrugged to punctuate the last sentence.
I sat in my cubicle, which was still sterile after two years. Linda's cube was next to mine, covered in pictures of Eddie. She had taken down the last picture of her late husband six months before.
An e-mail popped up on my computer.
It read: ‘OFFICE. NOW.’ Signed by Jessie Reven.
“Fuck me running,” I grumbled. Linda shot me a glare through the glass at the top of the partition. I mouthed ‘sorry’ to her, then stood.
I looked over, and sure enough, visible through her door was Jessie. She looked pissed. She always looked pissed, but she looked even angrier than usual.
“Time to get reamed. I’ll be back in a minute.”
She nodded, and went back to her report. Eddie sat in the corner of her cube, still playing on the Holo Micro. I hustled over to Jessie. She glared up at me, then opened the door and ordered me in.
I walked in, and she closed the door. Then she sat at her desk, eyeing me all the while. She was so small, she almost looked like a teenager sitting at her dad’s desk.
Of course, I knew she wasn’t a teenager, because her sharp look put daggers to shame. I glanced out the window in her office at the street beyond. The clouds must have continued rolling in, because the sky looked even darker up on the 70th floor.
I sat in her guest chair and prepared for the worst.
“You have no kids, right?”
I was not prepared for that. I froze up, looking at her in confusion.
“Hey, Earth to Dante! Kids?”
“Uh... no, and you know I don’t have any family anymore, Jessie. Why?”
She sighed, rubbing her temples with her hands. “Because, Dante, today is ‘Bring your Child to Work Day’. I’ve told you just about every day for the last two weeks. Do you seriously not remember that?”
“Well, no. But that’s because it wasn’t relevant to me. What’s going on? I mean, I was expecting you to chew me out for being late.”
“Well, you’re here. That’s the really important part. Listen, I’ve got a major announcement for this afternoon. I’ve sent an email out, but nobody seems to read their email around here. Just let people know
that there’s an office meeting just after lunch.”
“Uh... sure. You okay? You look way more stressed than usual.”
“Shut it, Dante. Just go do your job for a bit. I’ll figure this out and let you know during the meeting.”
I nodded, stood, and left her office. Before the door closed, I caught one more look at her. She was staring into the distance, rubbing temples like she had a bad headache.
I went to grab coffee for myself. Two of our co-workers, Brandon and Tracy, stood to one side talking.
“And why again did we have to deal with that construction bullshit for the last month? I swear, all that banging and hammering up until last week, I was going to lose my mind!” Brandon said.
I poured a cup off for myself, then another for Linda.
Tracy clucked at him, “Watch your language, Brandon. After that weird server fire two months ago, we had to get an entirely new farm. While we were getting the new servers, Jessie apparently wanted much better climate control. Then she wanted some other thing added on. Anyway, at the end, it cost a fortune, but apparently the server room now doubles as a disaster shelter. I don’t know what kind of disaster we could have seventy floors up and still be alive though. So that’s why it has that double airlock. What I don't understand is why the bathrooms were remodeled. But, I am glad the construction is done. The noise made it very difficult to focus. Speaking of, did I spot little Angelica with you?”
Brandon obviously caught both of her digs, but nodded. “The bathrooms are easy. You already have crews in here all the time remodeling two other spaces. Save money and remodel the bathrooms while you're at it. They were kind of... outdated. Anyway, that ‘Bring your Child to Work Day’ thing. I thought we worked on classified material, but Jessie just says it’s not a problem. Kids must not count.” He sighed at that point.
“It’s going to be a long day. I’ve got to juggle both of my projects and somehow keep Angel occupied.”
I wound back through the cubes to our desks, handing off Linda’s coffee. She thanked me quietly. I walked around the divider and sat at my desk.
Winds of Darkness Page 2
