“Good morning, Ed.”

Hearing Buddie’s voice, Ed wakes up, tossing the blankets off himself. “Morning Buddie. How long until I need to be at the office?” Stepping out of bed, he does some stretches to loosen himself up for the day.

“You have an hour until today’s file is sent to you.”

Okay, I’ve still got a while. Ed sits down at the dining table, ordering some scrambled eggs and bacon. For the entire internship period, my focus was on surviving and getting the job. Now that I’m here, I need to figure out what my new goals are. The possibility of death is no longer imminent, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe. I feel like I was trapped in a box beforehand, not knowing what was around me. But now I’ve escaped the box, only to find myself surrounded by danger on all sides. The workers seem normal at a glance, but there’s something seriously wrong with them.

I’ve seen what the company can do to people, the power it holds over all of us. I need to find a way out, or at least a way to maintain my sanity. I don’t want to go around hurting innocent people just because the company told me to.

I thought that the other employees from Earth would be struggling to survive here just like me, but Zara seems to have been born for this. I don’t know if she’s too far gone, but she’s the closest to a normal person as I’ll be able to find here, and I need to have someone to talk to so that I’m not alone.

Finishing up his breakfast he goes into the bathroom. Turning on the shower, he puts his hand under the water, adjusting it until it reaches his liking. Tossing his clothes off, he steps into the shower. I can finally shower after nearly two weeks being stuck in that room. If it wasn’t for the company keeping me clean during that time, I would’ve smelt absolutely awful. I’m glad they had someone on hand to take care of my hygiene and general health, otherwise I don’t know how I would’ve been able to make it through that mess.” Lathering himself up with soap, he pauses, a disturbing thought entering his mind. Avery told me that there was an invisible person taking care of me the entire time, does that mean... Ed frantically looks around the bathroom, his hands dropping down to cover himself. Are they still watching me? Ed starts breathing heavily, searching for a hidden figure in the room. No. That can’t be right. Roger said the rooms were private. Unless they managed to sneak past me the second I opened the door like Zara did, then nobody should be in here... I’ll have to ask Buddie about it.

Finishing his shower, he wraps himself in a towel and walks back to the bedroom. “Buddie, is there anybody else in my apartment right now?”

“You are currently alone in your apartment Ed. Might I assume you are asking this because of the invisible healers we had on hand for you at all times during your internship?”

“Yeah.” Ed says, opening up the closet to see an assortment of clothes identical to what he was wearing before. Guess they don’t want to bother giving us any variety. Fine by me.

“As this is a private space, nobody can enter this area without your permission, unless there is an emergency. However, you don’t have to worry about your safety, as every room is enchanted with the ability to heal you of any injuries.”

Getting dressed, Ed says the first thing that comes to mind. “Then why did you need to have healers there in the first place if the rooms can heal me and keep me alive?”

“Because it is cheaper and more efficient to have a healer on hand. That’s why healers are stationed in every public area at all times. The enchantments will usually only be used if an injury occurs in a private area.”

“Thanks Buddie. That clears everything up for me. How long do I have left?”

“You have half an hour until the file arrives.”

Making sure that he’s ready, Ed decides to head to the office early. Walking into the office, Ed sees that a decent number of coworkers have already shown up and are already busy working. Maybe their files came in earlier? Getting to his desk he notices that Zara hasn’t shown up yet. I thought she would be the first person here. Sitting down, he takes in the conversations happening around him, trying to gain some useful information. Some time passes before Zara makes it to her desk.

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“Good morning, Ed.” Zara calls out to him as she jumps into her chair, spinning to face him

“Morning Zara. Are you ready for work?”

“Absolutely, I’ve been thinking about it all morning. I have so many ideas for what I want the actors to do. I can’t wait.”

“Well, we’ve still got a while to wait before today’s files come in. How did you find your apartment? Did you get the kitchen you wanted?”

“No, it costs too much. Buddie said it would cost me two hundred credits to get a kitchen. Who knows how long it’ll take me to save up that much. But at least I was finally able to have a shower.”

“I agree with you there.”

They continue to chat, passing away the time until their files arrive.

Name: Richard Wright

Age:47

Occupation: CEO of a major water company

Biography: Born to parents Norman and Clara Wright, Richard grew up under the care of his family’s many servants. Following in his father’s footsteps, Richard graduated Summe Cum Laude from the top University in the country with a bachelor's in business administration. After graduating, he quickly went to work in his father’s company... after Norman’s passing, Richard became the CEO of the company. When he took up the position, he pledged publicly that he would be more responsible for the environment and would ensure that the company would become greener under his lead. However, the company secretly dumped raw sewage into rivers and seas, causing the population of coastal marine species to plummet, and the quality of the water to drastically decrease.

-End of Document-

What a dick. Hmm, what should I do? Ed rereads throw the file, an idea forming in his mind. He stops himself before speaking out. I’m no longer in the privacy of my own room, how do I tell Buddie what I want without disturbing anyone?

“You got an idea yet?” Upon hearing Zara speak, Ed turns his head, only to see that she’s wheeled her chair over to right next to him, peering at his screen.

“Yeah, I’ve got an idea. Shouldn’t you be working on your own one right now? There’s no way you’ve already finished yours?”

“Oh yeah, I just finished reading her file, but I wanted to see what you were up to. Come on, tell me your idea. I promise no one here will know.” She mimes zipping her mouth shut.

“Zara is correct. Each desk has different levels of privacy settings. Currently any sounds you make will not leave the range of this desk, meaning only the two of you can hear each other. If you want to, you can also change it so that it’s completely private, if that’s what you prefer.”

Ed looks at Zara for a moment, noticing her puppy dog eyes. “No, the current settings are fine.”

“Yay” She cheers.

Ed turns back to the screen and opens the Create a room function. “I’m going to keep this one pretty simple. I want a small room that is slowly filling up with water throughout the course of the trap.” A room appears on screen, with an animation of the room slowly filling up with water. That’s new. “Put the model of Richard on one end with a locked door on the other. The room will eventually completely fill with water, causing him to drown, unless he can find the key to unlock the door. The key will come in from the pipes the water is coming from at some point in time. However, it won’t be the only thing coming through those pipes. Because he dumped raw sewage into the ocean, I want raw sewage, plastic and other pollutants to come flowing through the pipes, starting off in small amounts compared to the clean water, before eventually being the only thing coming out of the pipes.” The animation changes on screen, the water turning brown and filling up with garbage, leading to the model drowning on screen.

“Is there anything you would like to add?” Buddie asks.

“No, you can go ahead and get started on making it now.” Ed says, turning his attention to Zara. I wonder what she has planned?

“That’s so disgusting, I love it. The guy talked a lot of shit, imagine if he dies literally choking on it. It will be amazing” Zara says, giggling.

Please don’t make me think of that. “Let’s not think about that, shall we. Now that you’ve seen my idea, I want to know what you have planned.”

Zara excitedly lays out her plan. “Well, my sinner was a nurse who stole jewellery from hospital patients, so I really want to have her cut off her hands...” Zara gets to work on her plan, designing a trap that requires the lady to saw through her own hands in order to escape. She spends the next little while building and perfecting it in the app, trying to make it as painful as possible. “I wish I could use actors, but I just don’t know how to add them into this. It only really works if she is sawing through her hands herself. It’s less fun if other people do it.”

“Well, you don’t have to make them directly involved in the trap. You could have them play the role of a dying patient that she’s stolen from before, or into someone that looks like her typical target, and have that set off the trap.”

Zara’s eyes shine. “Ed you are a genius.” She hugs him excitedly before getting back to her work, transforming the room into a medical ward. “This is going to be great!” She mutters while placing the trap into the bedside drawers. “Okay, so now she will try and steal some of the patient's belongings, putting her hand into the drawer. The trap will spring, and wires will tighten onto her wrist, eventually cutting through them. If she is too loud, hospital staff will come in and catch her in the act.”

"Is there anything you would like to add?” Buddie asks.

“Ooh, I’ve got one more thing.” She turns to Ed with a smile. “Quickly look away, I want it to be a surprise. I promise you're going to love this. Just think of it as a reward for helping me.” Going along with it, Ed turns around waiting for her to finish her work. A few minutes later, she finishes with the work, allowing the construction of it to start.

She turns to Ed. “Thanks for helping me there. I can’t wait for you to see what will happen.”

“You’re welcome. I think we’ve still got a bit of time until the traps are made. Isn’t that right Buddie?”

“That is correct, they should be ready in an hour. Based off my calculations, your trap should be ready first, then it will be Zara’s.”

“It looks like we have some time to kill, let’s go grab something to eat.” Zara says, looking at Ed.

“Sounds good to me.” The two of them head to the canteen, grabbing a bite to eat while chatting casually, filling in the time until the traps are ready.