An hour and forty-five minutes later, the door opened for what Markus hoped would be the last time today. He was tired and the last two souls had rubbed him wrong.

Oddly enough, both souls came from the same incident. One of them had been drunk and had killed the other in an auto accident. The victim was more than a little irritated with the whole affair. Understandably so. He had been assigned to Purgatory for a time, and was expected to make a full recovery fairly quickly.

The driver, however, was an unrepentant drunk who had a troublesome predilection for some rather unsavory practices in the bedroom. Markus wasn’t one to yuck another’s yum, but when it came to consent, he had an ironclad rule. ‘No means no, and the word ‘No’ was a complete sentence.’ This man didn’t see it that way, and as a result, had been sent to the Seventh Level.

He was in for a world of hurt.

The soul that entered was small. Markus had to stand to see it, and even then, it was almost missed. The small, lithe creature scampered to the wall, investigating the plants there. Finding nothing of interest, it scurried across the floor to the opposite wall to have a look at those plants. It hopped into the planter and scanned its surroundings.

Markus looked at the file. A weasel? Kentucky had weasels? He shrugged and called its name. “Bertram?”

The weasel’s head whipped around to face Markus. Hopping down, it slowly approached the desk. “You know my name. How curious,” A tiny, high-pitched voice called out.

“Would you please come up here, so we may better communicate? I cannot hear you too well, Bertram.”

Bertram dug his tiny claws into the stony desk and made his way up the leg and onto the tabletop. “Who are you, two-leg?”

“I’m sorry. I’m Markus, and this is Greg.” He indicated his trainer. “I’ve got some news for you that you may not like, Bertram.”

“I’m dead. I know. I was snatched up by a big cat. I don’t think she even chewed.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, Bertram. The good news is you get to pick where you’re going from here.”

“Oh? Say more.”

“You get the option of going to a Paradise, a Rebirth into the world of the living, or Oblivion.”

“What’s Oblivion?”

“You die permanently. You cease to exist on any level of Reality.”

“Oh! I don’t like the sound of that. What’s Paradise like?”

Markus shrugged and opened his mouth, but Greg spoke first. “Wide fields. Tall grass to hunt in. Ample prey. Not needed, but available. You can sleep in peace there. Nothing to hunt you.”

“Oh, that sounds amazing, Two-leg! Send me there?”

Greg nodded. “Out. Left. Third left. First right. Speak to deer.”

“Thank you, Two-leg! Thank you, Markus!” Bertram bounded off the desk with a soft thump and ran to the open door, which shut behind him and locked.

“That’s the end of the shift, I suppose. I need to head to my office, Greg. I’ll talk to you a little later, okay bud?”

Greg nodded. “Be happy, Markus.”

Markus smiled at the shorter man. “You too, Greg. You too.” He walked over to the door, and opened it up to the hallway, his own office door in front of him. A leather office chair was sitting beside his door, with a note on it.

Markus,

Sorry about this morning. Here’s the chair I promised!

Enjoy,

Andy

He wheeled the chair inside behind his desk, then shut the door, and sent a message to Lucifer, letting him know he was available. Almost immediately, a knock sounded at his door. He sat down and cleared his throat.

“Come in!”

The door opened, revealing Lucifer, Greg, Dmitri, Cecily, Andy and Jenny. Markus looked up in shock. “Wha? Why’s everyone here, Lucifer?”

“My boy, you’ve had an emotional morning, have you not?” Markus nodded, and Lucifer continued. “I felt it prudent to arrange a small meeting with the colleagues you’ve already met and worked with. Maybe swap some tales? Show off your interface to your friends? I know you’re rather proud of that.”

Markus shrank inward a bit. “Yeah. I guess I kinda am.”

Dmitri and Greg walked over to the desk together. “So? You gonna show me this whiz kid desk or not, dude?”

“Alright, alright. If you wanna see my interface, come on over here. Greg, hop up onto the chair, so you can see better.” Jenny hung back with Lucifer as the rest of the group walked over behind the desk.

While Markus showed off his interface to his coworkers, Jenny crossed her arms, a slight smile on her face.

“Penny for your thoughts, Miss Aduana?”

“You know me well, Asase Ya. I like this guy. I don’t want to see him run off or turned into something he’s not. Not like the last one.”

Lucifer sighed and his smile dropped a bit. “Not my best choice, was she? I couldn’t know that she would be overwhelmed in just a few short months. I do, most sincerely, apologize for that.”

Jenny chuckled softly. “No, friend. No need to apologize. You made the best decision you could at the time. Not everyone has their soul laid out for all to see.”

The pair stood there awhile watching Markus show everyone the things he could do with his interface.

“You have strong feelings towards him, don’t you?” Jenny murmured.

“Is it that obvious?”

“To me it is. I doubt the others have picked up on it.”

Lucifer sighed softly. “I do, Miss Aduana. He attracted my attention as a teen, and I’ve been watching since.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“So long?”

Lucifer nodded. “It’s unusual, but yes. He was possessed of a most stalwart will even then, and it has only matured along with him.”

Jenny smiled. “And there he stands, smiling, laughing and showing off to his new coworkers and friends, even after the upset he’s had today. I won’t pretend to know what it was, nor will I pry, but he seems to bounce back rather quickly.”

“He is most exceptional in that regard. Not to mention the imagination he had to have had to come up with that design.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Don’t remind me. I’m over four hundred years old, and my imagination isn’t that powerful.”

“Neither is Greg’s, Miss Aduana. Remember that he is well over a million. Remarkable that he is still going strong after all this time. Yet, of the lot of you, I think he may be the most adaptable.”

They watched for a bit longer as Markus showed them how to pull an image from a file, then took some requests for names.

“Man. I’ve not seen Tata in almost a hundred years. Thanks, Markus.”

“You’re welcome, Dmitri. Anyone else? Greg? Do you have any family you’d like to see again?”

The short man froze and looked fearfully at Markus. “Uhm…”

“It’s fine if not, Greg. I just thought I’d offer. Even a pet! I’m sure there was something in your past that you loved.”

Greg’s hand reached hesitantly toward the interface, then fell. “I’m… not sure, friend.”

The group went silent as they watched the short man’s shoulders droop. Lucifer took a step, but was halted by Jenny. He gave her a quizzical look.

Her soft voice reached his ears. “I think you may wish to see this, Asase Ya.”

“Greg, you’re among friends. If there’s someone or something in your past that you want to see, I’d love to help you. I’m pretty confident that my interface will help with that.”

“I… um. It’s not that. I don’t… can’t… remember.”

“Can’t remember? I thought we had better memories than most.” Markus glanced over at Lucifer, who nodded slightly.

“Do you know my age, Markus?”

“Your age? Well, I don’t know. We never discussed it.”

“I have seen too many summers, Markus. I remember when the lake called “Superior” wasn’t there, and I was already extremely old then.”

Markus stared at the small man. “Wait. You mean you’re that old?”

Greg nodded sadly and made to get down from the chair. Markus stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“No wonder. Everything makes more sense, now. I had no idea. Hang on, man. I have an idea.” Markus took out his phone and typed a few words into his browser. After a moment, he pulled up an entry on his interface.

It resembled a wolf, if you made it taller, heavier and shortened its snout a bit. Greg’s eyes lit up and he breathed a word: “Keek’la…”

“Keek’la? Was that the name of your wolf, Greg?” With a nod from the short man, Markus pulled a clip of Greg speaking the name. He made some quick swipes and searches, and after a few minutes, he pulled an image from a file.

A wolf-like creature spun slowly on his desk, and Greg nearly fell off his chair getting to it. “It’s her!”

Markus enlarged the image, letting her details come to light. “Is this how big she was, Greg?”

“No. She was much bigger. Missed.”

Markus scrolled through the file and smiled. “She’s here, Greg. Would you like to say hi?”

Greg’s face split into a wide smile. “I can see her?”

“Sure can. It says that she is right out of here, third left, eighth right.”

“I go. Now.” Greg shuffled down out of the chair and sped off out the door. Lucifer watched him leave, and gave Markus a calculating look.

Markus wiped the desktop clean of data, and sighed softly. “I hope it’s a good reunion.” He caught Lucifer’s eye, seeing a small smile on his face.

Dmitry watched the short man as he ran out of the office with a grin. “I’ve never seen him so excited. How did you know?”

Markus shrugged. “I didn’t know. I played to a guess, though. Greg may be incredibly old, and not quite the same ‘Human’ as the rest of us, but he’s not too dissimilar for all that. Near as I can tell, the man’s autistic, or at least shares those traits. I figured there was at least one person or creature he had bonded with in life and he’d want to see them. After that, it was simply a matter of finding out what kind and then a name. The system would do the rest. Looks like I was right.” He checked his phone. “I need to go see my mom. Rai will probably be worried after my phone call from earlier today. If that’s okay with you, Lucifer?”

Lucifer smiled broadly. “But of course, my boy! I just wanted to hopefully put you at ease after this morning.”

“Well, you did that. I’m sorry guys, but I really must go see her. She’s not got too much longer to live, I don’t think, and I’d really like to spend as much time with her as I can.” Markus gave an apologetic smile.

“Get the Hell out of here, Markus! Go see your mother. Your friend will be all the happier for it, too.” Andy’s loud voice echoed throughout the office as he began to usher his coworkers out.

“Thanks, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

His coworkers bid him farewell and shut the door behind them, leaving Markus alone with Death.

“I really must go, Lucifer.”

“Of course, my boy. Once more, you’ve exceeded my expectations. Have a good night, and we will see you in the morning.” Lucifer nodded and opened the door to his office.

**********

“And once more, Amun, he shows himself to be precisely what I’d looked for. For a human, anyway.” Death sighed as he took a seat in his chair.

“I see. We just spoke about him earlier today. What could he have done in such a short time?” Amun took a seat across from Death, a cheeseburger in his hand.

“He may have just cracked the shell of the Ancient One.”

“Greg? Seriously? How did he manage that?” Amun chewed contemplatively.

“He figured out that he had some sort of pet all those millennia ago.”

“That’s hardly a surprise. The Neanderthals were in the process of domesticating the local canids, as I recall. It would have been a distinct advantage.”

Death nodded. “True. Markus not only deduced that Greg had someone he missed, but he also found out that it was one of those wolves. And Greg remembered!” Death shook his head, a smile on his face. “Markus used that interface of his to record the name that Greg spoke, and just…found her. His interface is a fair bit more sophisticated than the others I’ve seen. The amount of data it pulls is simply incredible. He took an imagined interface from a movie and turned it into reality just because he figured that it had been done before. And rightly so, I may add. However, his interface not only pulls data, but it learns.”

“It learns? That’s impressive. It could put you out of a job.”

Death scoffed. “Hardly, sir. The amount of processing power it would take to handle the entirety of Reality is more than an entire universe can put forth. No, this interface of his will need to be restricted somewhat. I’d like for it to be limited to his region and speciality alone.”

“I can do that. He won’t even notice the change, I’m sure. However, if he does do as you suspect he will, what then? Would you hamstring him? Or allow him to utilize the tools he has developed?”

“I think it best to cross that bridge if and when we come to it, sir.”

“Very well. I shall trust your instincts in this matter.” Amun finished the cheeseburger, then wiped his hands on his pants. “I must go, old friend. Parvati has an evening planned, and I don’t want to upset her.”

“Hmm? Oh. Yes. Enjoy your evening, sir. I’ve still got work to take care of.” Death smiled as he pulled a sheaf of papers from the air, and readied his pen.

“Gotta get you a partner, Death. All this work will kill you one day.” Amun smiled at his old partner.

“Not a chance in Hell, sir.” Death smirked as he began reviewing the paperwork before him.