Everybody in the meeting practically trailed behind him after that. Logan had gone on to explain further about their plan to help humanity.

However, Mr. Gambetti was less inclined to hear about the Inter-Galactic GG-20. Most probably because he'd spent about five and a half hours listening to his employees update him about it. Logan refused to believe that he'd managed to bore the only executive that cared about what he'd come to say. But the small wins were important too. Mr. Gambetti had listened, quite intently, about his ramble about the earth's crises. At least there was that.

All his subordinates remained in the room even after their boss and his bodyguards left the room. Excitement was written all over their faces, as though they'd just met a relevant celebrity. To be fair, Giovanni Gambetti was a celebrity. He was stinkingly rich, partied a lot and was always in the news. The emphasis was on "relevant". He was no Stephen Hawking.

"Dr. Foxxman," Yaya Bello, one of his fellow scientists, exclaimed. She was one of (to his knowledge) the two Nigerian employees they had, and according to her, her Hausa culture was to blame for the heavy accent. She was so hard to understand at times.

The other one was Blessing Oyediran, a data analyst at the Control Room, who always felt a pressing need to speak her native language to him before translating back to English. He was friendly with both of them. He just didn't like how his name sounded like "Poxxman" whenever Bello said it.

"That was quite something, eh?" she continued. "The famous Giovanni Gambetti! The week is opp to a great start."

He could not even muster up a smile for her. The entire place was in chaos. Every single person was smiling and muttering something to the next person, in the boardroom and the hallway. Far off into the Control Room, he could even see someone do a happy dance.

Logan massaged his head. You'd never find this kind of shit at NASA. Despite the gnawing irritation, he caught sight of a grey sweatshirt at the other side of the room. It rested on the back of a revolving chair. Mr. Gambetti's sweatshirt.

Logan wasted no time in doing the needful, if only to escape the loud murmurs in the room. No such luck. It was just worse in the hallway; he could see clearly who was dancing around now. Prancing around an aeronautical agency. His own friend, Blessing Oyediran.

Logan shook his head. Every employee was whispering starstruck nothings. Even the data analyst, the biggest geeks here – because they never took breaks – were distracted. Most were just staring, but still.

It was disgraceful.

He caught up with Mr. Gambetti at the elevator. "Excuse me, Mr. Gambetti!" The personal assistant bodyguard stopped it as it was about to close.

They all stepped out. "My favorite genius. What's up?"

"Your sweatshirt. You forgot it."

"Oh," he monotoned, with his hands still in his pockets. He made no move to take it off his outstretched palm. The tag, which read Gambetti-Gambetta flapped gently in the wind.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Silly me." It was the personal assistant buff who finally collected it. Does this man do anything besides smile?

Logan pocketed his hands as well.

"So, what do you do here?"

"Excuse me?"

He took off his sunglasses. "What do you do? Your job."

"You did not deduce that from the five-hour presentation you just sat through?"

It was hard to take the man seriously with the ridiculous ring in his nose, even more so with the ones in his fingers. He looked rich and poor at the same time.

His pendant of his necklace was swung across his shoulder and Logan saw that it read "GG". Mysterious.

He fidgeted with one of his hold rings now as he thought about the question.

"Well, I figured you're like an engineer or lab guy. Or something. There's no doubt about the genius part, that's for sure," he replied with a deep chuckle. "I just don't know your official position."

"If I was an engineer, it would be Engineer Foxxman, don't you think?" Logan tilted his head. “Not Dr."

"Really?"

Logan could not stop himself from chuckling too. Of course, engineer was a title. "It's kind of common knowledge."

If the five bodyguards were not acting like humanized robots, they would have laughed too. They were all at least one foot taller than their employer. Like earlier in the meeting, they stood still, devoid of all emotion. None of them even blinked.

It was then that Logan noticed one of them was African-American. His grey suit was not exactly his size. It was probably best that they paid no attention to the conversation anyway. It would not be a good look to laugh at your own boss.

Gambetti crossed his arms with a satisfying sigh. "See? Genius."

"Hardly. I am the Chief Scientist here. I am the principal advisor to the GSA Administrator and other senior officials on agency science programs, strategic planning, and the evaluation of related investments. I have two degrees in physics and astrophysics. I also have a PhD in astronomy."

Someone squealed from behind him, and Logan turned. Blessing was standing with a hand covering her mouth.

He heard her ask, "Why does Logan get to speak to him? I want to speak to him."

Logan's palms fisted. She was still starstruck?

Mr. Gambetti looked dumbfounded. "My job is to supervise and coordinate stuff. I am the boss of all the nerds around here." That he could understand.

"Right. Leader of the nerds."

Blessing laughed at that. And not quietly either.

"Precisely."

"Cool."

Logan bit the inside of his cheek. "So, what did you think of my presentation?"

Through the hustle and bustle his presence had inspired after the status reports, Logan had completely forgotten to ask. Naturally, Mr. Gambetti was supposed to give his two cents without being asked. It was a meeting after all.

"It was good. Really nice."

Logan bit into his cheek again. This time to hide his laughter more than anything.

Nice. Good. His vocabulary was not wide.

"Yeah. I'm sure they would agree too." He gestured around him.

"Your… bodyguards?"

"Hmm hmm." That was all he said. With a straight face.

Logan could have burst out laughing. He had just talked for nine hours straight about his company, yet all he could offer was 'nice'. Nice?

Logan should be annoyed, but he was amused. Such glaring ignorance.

"I'm sure they do. It was nice. I would know, considering I spent five hours telling you about it."

"Yeah. I understood every word."

"Sure, you did."

He beamed again. Logan smiled back. He had to. It was all he could do from laughing right in his face.

Ten seconds later, the exchange became awkward, so Logan took a step back. "Alright then. I'm glad you listened at least."

"And understood."

He threw him a coy smile. "Sure."

The minute Logan turned to leave the room, he had to stiffen in puzzlement.

Mr. Gambetti chose that exact moment to scream "see you at the UN!" directly into his ear.