Prospective interns slowly filed out of the auditorium. The room buzzed with whispered conversations. Kaden was not particularly in a hurry. He caught sight of Bill also making his way into the line, and held back a bit so he would meet Bill as the line moved forward.
Like Kaden, Bill was clearly not from the same class as most of the other people in the room. While dressed nicely, Bill stood out in his rolled up white shirt sleeves, loosely tied pencil-thin black tie, skinny black jeans and glossy black boots. Bill might have been twice the age of everyone else in the room, but he didn’t seem to care.
“Hey Bill,” Kaden said in greeting.
“Kaden, what’s up, bro. How ya feeling? Interesting speech from the big boss man,” Bill replied.
A couple heads turned and frowned at them but Kaden just shrugged. “I guess we’ll see what he means shortly enough.”
Bill nodded. “Like, they call it the Tower of Power for a reason, right? ‘Only the strong survive’ seems totally on-brand.” Kaden shrugged.
“I was assigned to the Marketing group,” Bill continued. “How about you?”
Kaden paused and thought for a moment. Bill seemed like a nice guy and potentially a good connection to have. He was loath to trust anyone at the Company, even a new intern, but he also knew he would have to develop allies if he wanted to accomplish his goals. Kaden decided a straight-forward, trust-but-verify style approach would probably be best.
“Mailroom,” Kaden said with a smile.
Bill raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Right on, right on.”
“So Bill,” Kaden said, “Hope you don’t mind me asking, but you seem like a non-traditional intern. What brought you to this program?”
Bill chuckled. “Yeah man, you know, one day I just saw this ad for an online test to take for this opportunity. Looking into it, it seemed like a good change of pace for me. Opportunity to learn something new, you know? New challenge, feed the growth mindset and all that, you feel me?”
Kaden raised an eyebrow. “Interesting… I also got in with the online test. If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do before this?”
Bill mimed an air guitar. “Rockstar, bro,” he replied with a wink.
Kaden laughed.
He felt fortunate to meet someone else who had been accepted through the online exam. It had taken him almost 16 hours to complete all of the tests, and he had finished with only 30 minutes to spare. It was a little strange how the assessments had been so much like the classic RPG video games he used to enjoy as a young teenager, but hey, it was about time all those hours deep in gaming tactics started to pay off.
They exited the room. Following the flow of traffic, Kaden found himself directed to an empty cubicle where there was a paper document and a pen. He sat down and started reading the document.
From working summers at his father’s small business, he had a passing familiarity with some standard business documents – contracts, NDAs, supply agreements, etc. This document was surprisingly easy to read, without too much legal jargon, but it had some very interesting and unexpected clauses in it.
Never tell anyone anything about the inner workings of the company? Consent to monitoring and tracking of all communications, inside and outside Company grounds for compliance with the confidentiality terms of this agreement? Indemnify the Company and its affiliates from any and all personal harm? Consent to receive any and all medical implants required for your assigned job role? Agree to have your memory wiped if you ever decide to leave the Company?
Who would accept any medical implant the Company wanted you to have? And how would they wipe your memory? Kaden was unaware of such technology. He glanced around and saw more than one person getting up to ask questions from floating HR staff. Part of Kaden was tempted to get up and leave. Anyone with an ounce of sense in their head would never sign such a document.
Kaden stood up to look around and he saw Bill leaving a nearby cubicle. He handed a signed copy of the NDA to a nearby staff person and walked by Kaden on the way out. Bill gave him a wink.
“See you on the other side, bro,” Bill said.
Kaden sat back down and reviewed his options. Sure, there were risks, and not just the legal issues raised by this lawyer’s wet dream of an NDA. Alexander’s final piece of advice still rang in Kaden’s ears… only the strong survive… For some reason, Kaden felt more was at stake here than just participation in an internship program. He may have been reading in-between the lines a bit, but the whole experience thus far pointed to much higher stakes. His life might even be on the line.
Kaden thought back to last year, when he was stationed halfway around the world in Korea, serving his mandatory selective service requirement in the Army. Forced to do logistics paperwork day in and day out while he waited for an update on the buy-out of his family’s business. At first things seemed really good; lots of money, perhaps even early retirement for his parents. But when the Company took over control of the business, they fired everyone and closed the business down with no warning and no severance pay. Out of a feeling of guilt or compassion or perhaps both, his father then shared most of his own payout with the staff. His family was left with very little.
And then.. After a meeting at Company headquarters, his father had supposedly died in a bus accident. Body mangled beyond recognition. Kaden never got to say goodbye in person.
In for a penny, in for a pound, as Dad used to say, Kaden thought darkly. He gritted his teeth and scratched out a furious signature. He had to know about this Company and what happened here. He had to know what happened to his father and their business. He would do anything to find out.
A staff member appeared next to him. “I’ll take the signed copy please, and if you could head in that direction,” pointing to the right. Kaden started walking, making his way past a crowd of angry-looking would-be interns talking animatedly with another Company staff member. They were trying to talk their way through striking or revising some of the terms, but the staff was making it very clear that the only way forward was to sign the document as-is. He pushed his way through the others. He received quite a bit of side eye and even openly hostile looks as he made his way forward. He didn’t care.
Leaving the open office area, Kaden walked into an adjacent hallway which led to another large auditorium, a mirror image of the first. While the first had finished with warm red tones and felt somewhat inviting, this room felt somehow harsh and cold. Cool gray carpet with blue-accented seats gave off a completely different vibe. Finding an empty row, Kaden sat down. He was surprised to see the room less than half full. A few more folks trickled in, but the group in this auditorium was much, much smaller than the group in the first meeting. Clearly a large number of people had not yet signed the NDA.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Alexander Wolfe was again at the center stage of the room. He appeared to be counting the number of people in the room. Looking satisfied, he gestured to the back of the room, and a group of security guards dressed in form-fitting black suits and dark glasses closed the doors and then took positions in front of the stage.
All eyes were toward the front as Alexander spoke.
“OK – now that we have thinned the herd, the fun can begin,” he said. “Little did you know, but that was your first test. Congrats on passing! Those who could not accept the terms of the NDA within a set time limit have been disqualified from further participation. But all the better for your chances – we’re now down to just over one hundred potential interns.”
Alexander took a moment to gather his thoughts and look around the room.
“Does anyone know how it all works, how we create and power our products?” Alexander looked around the room questioningly. “Have any of you successfully reverse-engineered any of our products?” Alexander asked, letting the question hang in the air.
Kaden almost rolled his eyes. Of course not, he thought. It was common knowledge that no one knew exactly how the Company’s products were powered. Any attempt at reverse engineering the power source in any of their devices always failed. Tampering with a Company product always resulted in a damaged or useless product.
“This will come as a shock to most of you, but I assure you that what I’m about to tell you is both the absolute truth and the most shocking secret of your life.”
Alexander paused for effect, looking around the room and making pointed eye contact. He leaned forward, eyes gleaming. “It’s magic!” he whispered in a hushed tone.
This time, Kaden did roll his eyes, frustrated. Come on, man, get serious. What’s really going on here?
Clearing his throat, Alexander stood up and adopted a more serious tone. “But seriously, that’s the truth. It’s not ‘like’ magic; for all intents and purposes, it is magic. And the Company controls all of it.”
Kaden frowned. What did he mean, magic? Sure, a lot of the Company’s technology seemed like magic. But so does a lot of technology if you are unfamiliar with it. Where’s he going with this?
“Now, I know what you’re thinking. Once upon a time, not too long ago, I was just like you, listening to a Company manager give me this same speech.
“I could talk to you for an hour about the history of the Company and how it all works blah blah blah, but I think that misses the point, which is this – “ Alexander paused for effect. “The point … is power. Overwhelming power. More power than you can imagine. That’s magic. And I’m going to show you.”
Heads in the room turned in confusion and shock. What was the guy talking about? No one knew. Kaden was floored. This was why he was here. He wanted to see this magical power.
“Allow me to complete a small demonstration.” Alexander’s grin widened with devilish glee.
“Oh! I almost forgot,” he paused and sighed. “Before the show, HR and legal need me to remind you of a few things: one, for your safety, stay in your seat during the demonstration, we won’t be responsible for your death or injury if you can’t comply with that directive; second, you can exit the program and this Company after the demonstration, per the terms of your NDA, which will wipe your memory of this event and all knowledge of the secrets you’re about to witness. Understood?” Alexander looked around the room.
Feelings of confusion, skepticism and flitted across the faces of the crowd. Already, it was clear that this was not a normal internship program. Should they be worried for their safety? Concerned for their memories? Even so, it was one thing to claim to be able to adjust someone’s memory… it was quite another to actually do it.
Alexander took his mobile out of his pocket and swiped some controls. A curtain at the back of the auditorium started to open. Then Alexander took a second device out of his pocket: an emerald-green crystalline structure in the shape of a small handle.
Kaden’s eyes went wide as he recognized the geometry of the crystalline form in Alexander’s hand. It looked exactly like one of Dad’s research projects! Kaden craned his neck to get a better look. Two tetrahedra – like pyramids with a triangular base – were embedded within each other, with the wider bases of the pyramids on the outside. It looked like there were attachments on the ends of the emerald crystal, but he couldn’t see clearly.
Kaden’s attention was redirected to the back of the auditorium stage as gasps filled the room. A large cage sat at the rear of the stage. Inside, a large feline shape stood up and began to growl.
Lights over the seats went dark, and spotlights lit up the stage. Kaden could now see that what he thought had been a lion was, in fact, a lion in the front, hippo in the back, but with the head of a crocodile. Burning, beady eyes of an unnaturally red color focused intently on Alexander.
For his part, Alexander calmly stepped toward the creature, gripping the emerald crystal in his right hand. The cage door opened, and quicker than thought, the beast leaped forward, crocodilian maw open wide.
Time froze in Kaden’s mind as he watched with fascination and heart-pounding horror as the beast’s rows of flashing teeth reached for Alexander’s head. Alexander raised his right hand, almost lazily, as a liquid green light flowed out of the emerald into a rope reaching to the floor.
At the last moment, Alexander flicked his right wrist and the emerald green light whipped through the monster. A crack sounded, and an explosion of fur, bone, flesh and teeth flew through the room. In a flash, it was over. A pile of monster gore flailed around the stage, as the hippo-shaped legs pushed the destroyed front half of the monster around in a couple circles before finally getting the signal its front half was well and truly dead. The dead body of the monster shimmered and gradually disappeared in waves of iridescent smoke.
Kaden glanced to his left where a crocodile tooth had landed on the floor next to him. He picked it up. The tip was razor sharp and very, very real. Slowly he took out his wallet and carefully folded the large tooth into the billfold so he could keep it in his pocket without poking himself or tearing his clothes.
Alexander turned slowly to survey the crowd. The devilish grin was in full force and matched an unmistakable green glint in his eyes. The magic whip disappeared back into the crystal, which Alexander calmly pocketed in his suit pocket. He slowly walked back to the front of the stage, surveying the shocked crowd.
“Freakin’ awesome, am I right?” Alexander couldn’t seem to help himself.
Kaden’s thoughts raced as he grappled with what he was watching. Such intense violence… magical creatures… Was my dad mixed up in this stuff? Did he learn something he shouldn’t have?
“Here’s the deal,” Alexander continued. “Monsters are real. Monsters are magical. Monsters give us mana, which is the energy that powers the Company. This mana is a very precious and extremely limited resource. With all of its amazing applications, it’s the most valuable commodity in the world. And not to mention, R&D continues to make groundbreaking discoveries with real world applications that would blow your mind.
“Also – you should know, we don’t just do this for fun or for the money, even though we have a ton of fun making a lot of money – the Company also plays a crucial role in protecting the normal world from monsters like the one you saw today. If we were not here to protect the world from knowledge of such beasts, the world would devolve into chaos. It’s a win-win.”
Kaden nodded to himself slowly, a resolution forming in the pit of his stomach. If it was magic that had taken his dad’s life, then magic was what he would learn. This was the right path. He would find the answers he was looking for; that’s all he cared about.
Alexander continued. “So here’s what you have to do. You have a choice. If you want to help the Company fight monsters and – quite literally – save the world on a daily basis, please proceed to the right and join Carol. She’ll take you to your next orientation activity.
“If you decide you do not like what you’ve seen today, you can exit to your left. Regrettably, if you exit to the left, you will not remember any of this. The choice is up to you.” Without another word, Alexander turned to go.
In for a penny, in for a pound, Kaden thought, as he led the way through the door on the right.