Day 8
Monday, June 13, 2045
It was 7am in the morning. Kaden sat on a bench near a water feature in front of the Tower. The quiet burble of the fountain hid the sounds of the City waking up around him.
He yawned and tried to shake the sleep from his eyes. He needed some coffee. It had been a late night going through the records in the basement. As time went on, Kaden’s excitement at discovering anything useful had waned. So far, almost all of the records he had seen were individual patient records from over five years ago. Nothing useful.
He had arrived at the Tower at 4:30am this morning to do two hours of mana meditation before taking up watch outside the Tower entrance for the past half hour. He had yet to see the person he was waiting for arrive. He was guessing she came in early, because he had yet to see her arrive except for the first day, but had no idea exactly when. He wanted to have this conversation before the workday began, and he didn’t want to search for her in the Tower.
As he waited, he pulled up the app on his mobile that showed his current status. It was refreshed weekly, every Monday morning at 12:01am. He was glad to see his hard work over the weekend already paying off.
* Name: Kaden Chen
* Job Title: Intern
* Grade: 1 / 15
* Role: Mailroom Clerk
* Aura Affinity: Amber
* Ward Rating: E
* Individual Rank Percentile: 47%
* Team Rank Percentile: 33%
* Key Objective Completion: 1%
He now had an aura affinity. The amber aura affinity came from his extensive time in the Company meditation chambers, where he had focused on the ‘S’ aura almost exclusively. He had experimented with other auras as part of the initial Company introductory training, but he definitely felt the closest connection to the ‘S’ aura. It was difficult to describe but felt right.
Having a ward rating of “E” wasn’t too exciting, but at least he had a rating now. “A” was the highest rating possible, and “E” was the lowest rating. He had learned that the Company measured and awarded different ratings based on passing specific requirements for each rating, including competency exams.
No longer ranked last, he was now ranked middle of the pack. His team was now ranked better than two-thirds of the other teams. He did wonder a little about why it wasn’t even higher, considering he hadn’t seen any other interns in the office over the weekend.
He expected he and his team’s rapid jump forward would turn some heads this morning. If the other interns were as ambitious and driven as they claimed to be, Team Kill Bill’s new rank and progress would be a shot across the bow and a clear signal not to ignore them.
If they didn’t already have a target painted on their backs, they would now, Kaden thought.
Across the courtyard, Kaden finally saw who he was looking for. Jumping up, he moved to intersect her before she reached the front door.
“Mariko!” Kaden called. She didn’t look his way or break her stride.
“Hey! I’d like to talk to you for a minute.” She continued to ignore him until he literally jumped in front of her, forcing her to slow down and stop.
Only then did she look at him, a stony expression on her face. She waited, saying nothing.
Kaden took a deep breath. Hands on his hips, he tried to keep his voice neutral.
“Listen, I don’t really understand why, but I know it was you that messed with my gunsword settings during the training. Were you trying to make sure I failed?”
Mariko sighed. “What do you want from me?”
“How about an apology to start. And maybe an explanation if you’ve got one.”
“You don’t belong here, Kaden. And I’m not going to apologize for trying to protect you.”
Mariko moved to walk around Kaden, but he stepped in front of her and jabbed a finger in her face.
He could feel his pulse skyrocketing, blood boiling as it rushed to his face.
“You had no right,” he hissed.
“I don’t need your protection. You think I’m still a little kid that needs protection from bullies outside the bodega? Huh? Is that it?”
Kaden paused, glaring at Mariko, who stood still, expressionless.
“You know, I used to look up to you. You and your family were good neighbors. I thought we were friends. But I’m warning you. I’m not that little kid anymore.”
“You have no idea what you’re doing, Kaden.”
“And you have no idea who I am or what I’m capable of doing.”
He raised his finger, pointing directly at her face.
“Stay out of my way.”
With that, he turned on his heels and stomped into the Tower.
—-
The cold water felt good on his face. Patting himself dry, Kaden put his glasses back on and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.
Bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep. Tousled hair too long to be fashionable. A lopsided tie knot and a sports coat smelling of stale sweat.
And yet, all Kaden saw was his own determination. He was not going to let Mariko or anyone else get in his way.
As he made his way to the Mailroom, he brought his thoughts under control. It was time to focus on what he needed to do today. There were things he needed to learn from Peter this morning, and he hoped to make it to the Marketing department today. He expected to complete Carol’s Plus assignment this evening, so he and the team needed to find more side quests.
Peter had arrived just moments before Kaden.
“Good morning, young intern,” Peter said. “Are you ready for another exciting day working at the Company and promoting the greater good?” He smiled sardonically.
“Ha! It’s a little early in the morning for the Company propaganda, Peter. At least let me have a cup of coffee first.”
“Fair enough! If you’re going to get some coffee, mind getting me a latte with oat milk?”
“Sure! I’ll be right back,” Kaden said, heading upstairs. Honestly, he looked forward to his time with the imported Italian espresso machines. If this job with the Company didn’t work out, he wouldn’t mind a gig as a barista for a while.
A little while later, he returned with two cups. He handed Peter a steaming latte with a solid heart shape, and he took a sip appreciatively.
“Wow, did you make this yourself?”
“Yes I did. You like it?”
Peter chuckled. “Be careful who you make coffee for around here. Word gets out you’re good at making lattes, that’s all you’ll be doing.”
“Ok! Duly noted. I guess I should ask you to keep my secret.”
“Just keep bringing me one of these every now and then and you’re secret’s safe with me.” Peter winked.
The two set to work sorting the mail into the delivery tubes. After a week of practice and help from Peter, Kaden was starting to get the hang of how to do it quickly. Peter had let him borrow a pair of older custom wards so that he could toss and slot each letter into the proper tube.
He wore one of the ward rings on his right hand index finger, and the other on his thumb. The thumb ring compressed the air into a cylindrical pipe aimed at the far wall, and the other ring allowed him to blow air down the pipe, effectively forcing the envelope in his hand down the pipe of air and into a receptacle on the far wall.
Combined with the AI-assisted targeting in his glasses, he could take an envelope in his hand, point at the highlighted target on the wall, activate the ring wards and release the envelope to flow down the pipe of compressed air and into the proper tube.
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He wasn’t nearly as fast as Peter yet, but he was getting the hang of how the wards worked. Of course he made a mistake every now and then, sending an envelope fluttering across the room, but that happened less and less.
“Getting pretty good at this,” Peter said. “Any ideas on how you might use this technique in a battle situation?”
Kaden cocked his head to the side, thinking. “To be honest, I hadn’t given it any thought yet. But now that you mention it, I can see how it might be useful to send caps or other resources back and forth between your team members on the battlefield.”
“Sure,” Peter said. “That’s a good application. I also use it on the attack. Imagine multiple small monsters spread out all around you, scurrying to overwhelm your party.” Peter took an aggressive stance, flashing his hands out dramatically.
“You can deliver any payload in your possession to a host of enemies in quick succession,” he said, miming firing off a flurry of projectiles. He stood up and shrugged.
“At least, that’s how I pitched it to the R&D guys. They weren’t too impressed, though.”
“Really? It seems like a good idea to me.”
“Yeah,” Peter sighed, “They said it had a major limitation. You see, they prefer rechargeable or handheld weapons like the gunsword. They don’t like having to produce projectiles, because that can get expensive very quickly.”
“Oh – because the gunswords don’t have ammo per se. They use mana in bursts instead of a bullet.”
“Exactly,” Peter nodded, while returning to tossing more envelopes. “It only works if you have a source of ammunition that’s more effective than the blast of a gunsword. But hey, it helps us get the job done here in the Mailroom!”
As they finished the last of the morning’s sorting, Kaden asked a question that had been on his mind for a few days.
“So Peter, do you know what happened on Friday? Why it was so hot inside the Tower? Did the AC break down or something?”
Peter paused, taking a moment to look at him a little askance. “Hmmm, I wonder. You would think with all the wards embedded into the Tower something like that couldn’t happen, right?” His eyes twinkled mischievously.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was wondering. There must be multiple redundancies for all of the building systems. But somehow they were overwhelmed on Friday.”
Peter nodded, tapping his forehead. “Good logical thinking.”
He leaned forward, motioning for Kaden to come closer. “Here’s the thing. I heard about it from one of my friends in the Facilities department. It’s not technically a secret, but it’s also not something we’re supposed to talk about.”
Kaden leaned in, waiting for Peter to continue. “And?”
“And I can’t tell you,” Peter said, laughing.
“Ah c’mon man. Tell me something.”
“OK – but you didn’t hear this from me – but I heard there was a breach at the dungeon on basement sublevel five. Some sort of fire monster broke out. It took a very big part of the system’s cooling capacity to contain the heat to that level. I also heard they had to send in a squad of Black Widows to deal with it.”
“Dungeon? Black Widows? What are you talking about?”
Peter just laughed. “See? I told you. You didn’t hear it from me,” he said with a wink.
With that, Peter grabbed a handful of packages and headed for the door, signaling an end to their conversation.
“Catch you later, Kaden!” he called.
“Oh one other thing, real quick.”
Peter turned back, eyebrow raised.
“You know about the internship side quests, right?”
“Side quests? You mean the Plus initiatives for interns that managers can create and assign?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I like that term – side quests. I think I’ll use it,” Peter chuckled good naturedly. “I think I know where you’re going with this. I’ll give it some thought. I don’t have anything at the moment, but I’ll try to think of a good ‘side quest’ for you and your team.”
“Awesome! Thanks, Peter,” Kaden said as Peter went out the door.
He took a moment to collect his thoughts. Dungeon on the fifth floor? Fire monster? Black Widows? More questions that needed answering. Clearly there were equal parts new mysteries and new dangers waiting to be discovered on other levels of the Tower.
Next, Kaden decided to head over to Marketing to check-in on Bill and investigate the conference rooms being used as de facto private training gyms. He didn’t know if he could do anything about it, but he didn’t like other interns having an unfair advantage in the competition. Rummaging around for a delivery to the Marketing department, he found one and headed upstairs to the second floor.
As he made his way to the Marketing department, he passed by the auditorium where the interns had gathered on the first day. It was only a week ago, but it seemed like a lifetime. So much new information had changed Kaden’s life and perspective on the world. At the same time, he was still waiting to find answers to the questions most important to him.
The Marketing Department had a different style and feel than the rest of the Tower. Fewer walls, more glass, and lots of small and medium-sized collaborative meetings spaces. While most of the offices Kaden had visited thus far had a more muted color scheme, the Marketing office had lots of vibrant colors on the floors, walls, and furniture.
At the main admin desk, Kaden delivered his package and asked where he might find Bill. The admin wasn’t particularly helpful, but eventually they figured out that Bill was probably in a conference room at the rear of the space.
As he made his way through the open office layout, he kept an eye out for other interns. Sure enough, he spotted a team of three filing into a large conference room, gunswords in hand and accompanied by an older manager. The door locked, and they drew the shades as he walked by.
He kept walking, shaking his head. Inside, he was seething. He wondered how he could get his own private training facility, or take this one away from this group. At the moment, he and his team were severely limited in what time they had available to them in training rooms on the fourth floor. He had to do something about this.
Kaden could hear music being played somewhere in the office. As he walked along, the sound grew louder. He recognized the tune; it was a popular rock song that had topped the charts a few years back. As he rounded a corner, he found the source of the music in a open area common space.
Bill stood in the corner with an electric guitar in his hands, just diving into a solo riff. There was an old guy with a white beard behind a full drum kit, as well as a huge mountain of a man with a neck beard playing rhythm guitar. Kaden just stopped and watched, soaking it in. It was quite impressive to see Bill in his element.
They finished the song with a strong flourish, and Bill set his guitar down to greet Kaden.
“Hey bro! Glad you could make it, man! Come meet the rest of the band.”
“Kaden, this is George,” he introduced him to the big guitar player, who nodded his head.
“And on the drums we have the inimitable Emmett,” who promptly mimed tipping his hat and punctuating the moment with a short flourish.
“These are guys I was telling you about in R&D who invented the mana-powered instruments. We were just doing a prep session ahead of our next meeting with the consultants in an hour or so. Your timing is perfect.”
“Timing?” Kaden asked, as Bill went and fetched a bass guitar off the floor behind a couch.
“Here you go, bro,” Bill said, handing Kaden the instrument.
“Oh man, I don’t know about that,” Kaden protested, raising his hands.
“C’mon man, trust me, it’ll be fun.”
“Sorry, Bill, but I’ve got other work to do.”
“Dude – no worries, I’ve got you covered. My man Emmett here has assured us that this gig will be worth it. And there’s a place in the band for you, Kaden – we need a bassist. Here – just try it out,” Bill said, holding out the instrument.
Kaden took the sleek black instrument in his hands. It looked just like a normal bass guitar, except he could spot mana crystals in the tuning forks and under the strings, where the mouth of a normal guitar would be. It was a little lighter than he expected, but otherwise felt the same as a typical electric bass.
“I saw the other Marketing interns in the conference room,” Kaden said in a quieter voice directed just at Bill. “I need to do something about it this morning.”
Bill paused, pulling a pick out of his pocket and handing it to Kaden. “So… I hear where you’re coming from, but I think you should take a beat and think this through. I can tell you’re frustrated, and that is warranted. But think about what’s the best use of your time. Spinning your wheels trying to think of a way to sabotage the other team? I don’t think that’s you, man.
“Take a breather, play some tunes, and earn a boatload of points for the team. All you have to do is spend a couple hours playing with me and Emmett, and we’ll earn over 10,000 points. Yeah?”
Kaden sighed, taking the pick. Bill made sense. Besides, what was he going to do anyway? Instead of focusing on holding the other teams back, he needed to focus on pushing himself and his team forward.
Besides, it might be fun to loosen up for a little while.
“Alright,” he said, plucking the strings in a simple chord progression. Sounded in tune.
“Let’s do this!”
—
After goofing around for a bit and then practicing for about half an hour, the group was ready.
Kaden had to admit he felt pretty good. It had been a while since he last played, but he got back in the swing of things pretty quickly. Bill and the other guys were great to play with. No one was too hung up on a perfect performance. Instead, Bill made sure everyone was having a good time.
He was surprised, however, to find out that the “gig” they were being rewarded for doing was actually being filmed. Apparently, the outside marketing consultants were putting together a social media campaign promoting the new inventions. Most of the focus was on Bill, of course, given his former stardom. Kaden wasn’t sure how to deal with the cameras, but he decided the best course of action was to ignore them and try to enjoy himself.
At first Kaden tried to straighten his shirt and redo his tie, but Bill hurried over and stopped him.
“Nah man, too late for that. Let’s lean the other way…” he said absently as he loosened the tie knot a little, unbuttoned the top button of Kaden’s shirt, and had him roll up the sleeves of his sports jacket.
“Really?” Kaden said, not sure if this was the look he was going for.
“What do you think, Theresa?” Bill said, calling over the lead consultant for a quick calibration on Kaden’s appearance. “A little grunge, the lived-in office look, yeah?” Bill put a hand on his shoulder.
“This guy – he’s been up all night, just pulled an all-nighter finishing an assignment for the boss man. What does he do? Roll into bed? Nah dude, he rolls up his sleeves and rocks on. Am I right?”
“I like it,” Theresa agreed firmly.
Bill gave Kaden the thumbs up and snatched up his guitar.
“Let’s rawk!”