Day 12

Friday, June 17, 2045

Kaden handed Peter a double-shot, oat milk latte with a perfect rosetta on top. He was starting to really enjoy his time with the espresso machines upstairs.

Peter accepted the cup graciously. “Keep this up and you will be truly indispensable.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kaden replied. “By the way, any deliveries to the 19th floor today?”

Peter raised an eyebrow as he raised the latte to his mouth for a sip. “Um, that’s really good,” he said appreciatively.

“I’ve got a Plus assignment as part of the band playing for the manager gig tonight,” Kaden explained. “Couple of the other guys in the band are in R&D. Was hoping to talk to them a few minutes this morning about the performance tonight.”

While technically not false, he was only telling half the truth. What he was really after was a David Olson sighting. Anything he could to maximize his chances of a casual encounter would be worth it, in Kaden’s mind.

“Actually, yes, there is one. You can take it up there for me, I suppose. Technically, I’m supposed to handle this one myself, but if you’re headed there anyway, two birds with one stone, right?”

Peter went into the backroom and came out with a small, waxy brown paper box and the Mailroom’s counterward for the 19th floor. He handed it to Kaden, who peaked at the addressee, which was none other than David Olson.

Kaden’s heart skipped a beat.

“Go ahead and get that done right away. Supposed to have it delivered in person before 8am today.”

“Alright! Will do!” Kaden couldn’t believe his luck. As he turned to go, he realized he really wanted to know what was inside this package. A desperate idea came into his head. Quickly he palmed a boxcutter off the counter and headed out the door.

Moving quickly, he went straight to the restrooms on the 1st floor. Finding an empty stall, he locked the door and got out the boxcutter. He removed the razor blade and as carefully as he could, slowly slid the blade between the box and the tape sealing it shut. If he cut through the box or the tape, it would be obvious someone had tampered with the package. But if he could get the tape pulled open without ripping the paper, he could reseal it without anyone noticing.

As he gently pulled the tape back, most of it came off without tearing or ripping the paper. One corner of the tape, however, split apart. Kaden cursed under his breath, but kept going.

Finally he got the box open. Inside, a packing slip sat on top of a small object wrapped in paper and nestled in a bunch of peanuts.

He examined the paper. It didn’t say much except a brief description of the contents – “Partial Dungeon Seed Core – Item #AF1290356” and where it came from – “R&D Unit 17, Salt Lake City UT.”

Carefully unwrapping the contents, he found a piece of porous, brown rock. He turned it over in his hands, but he didn’t see any identifying features. For a moment, as he stared at it, he thought he felt something on the edge of consciousness. Something akin to his time deep in meditation. A slight pull on his thoughts. It was there for a moment, and then gone.

Quickly, he wrapped it all back up and carefully re-applied the tape. One corner was torn a little bit, but he figured it could be explained away as damage during transit. He only had a few minutes before 8am.

He hurried out of the stall, heading for the exit.

“Hey,” a voice called. “Where are you going?”

Kaden froze, turning in his tracks. A face he didn’t recognize was at the sink, drying his hands.

“Forget something? Do us all a favor and wash your hands.”

Kaden smiled sheepishly and mumbled something. He washed his hands as the other man left, shaking his head. “Kids these days…” he muttered.

Without any more delays, Kaden made his way up to the 19th floor. He felt a little nauseous from the butterflies in his stomach, but he clamped down hard on those feelings. He needed to focus. He ran through the script of how he expected the meeting with David to go.

As he stepped off the elevator, he greeted the admin behind the desk. It was the same woman as the last time he was here with Sandy.

“Aww, no Sandy today?” she asked.

“Sorry, not today. I have a package for David Olson. I’m supposed to deliver it in person by 8am.”

“Hmmm. He’s already in a meeting. You’re too late,” she said, tilting her head to the conference room off to her left. “They all just went in there. Probably best if you leave it here with me.”

He struggled with what to say. This was not what he expected. “Uh actually I’m supposed to deliver this in person.”

“That’s a pretty high profile meeting in there,” she said, pointing to the full conference room. “SVPs and the head of the entire R&D department. It’s both of our heads if you interrupt that meeting.”

Kaden sighed.

“But hey, look, I understand you’re on the hook for making the delivery,” the admin continued. She pulled up an electronic form on her display and turned it so Kaden could see. “I’ll take delivery of the package. Just sign here, and I’ll make sure you get a copy.”

Having no choice, Kaden signed the screen and started to leave.

“Tell Sandy I said hi!” the woman called as he left.

Kaden had a few minutes to kill before he and the team were due to meet with Mark Hernandez on the 2nd Floor. He decided to head over to Jill’s desk first and then walk together to the conference room they had booked for the meeting with Mark.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but feel a little out of place and disappointed. Still, all was not lost. He had another opportunity tonight to make the connection with David Olson. Honestly he was hoping he would get some sympathy points. After all, he and his father had been business partners once upon a time. That had to be worth something, right?

He found Jill sitting at her desk, plugging away at reviewing purchase orders on her workstation. He noticed her desk now had a few decorations, including a family photo with Jill, her parents and an older sister. He realized he really didn’t know anything about Jill outside of work, besides the fact that she had an aunt in the Company’s San Francisco office.

“Hi Jill! I bet it’s a lot quieter around here without Icky and Sticky. Am I right?” Kaden asked.

Jill looked up, pausing what she was doing. “Oh hey Kaden. Yeah! Much better.” She smiled.

“Is that a photo of your family?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Yeah, that’s me and my parents, with my sister.”

“Is everyone close by? Do you get to see them often?”

Jill hesitated. “It’s gotten, uh, kinda complicated recently,” she said. “I guess one thing that’s happened is that my sister’s getting married pretty soon.”

“Oh! Congratulations to your sister, I guess. When’s the wedding?”

“In a few weeks. July 2nd.”

“Cool. Are you looking forward to it?”

Jill smiled an awkward smile. “It should be a good time. Shall we go to the meeting?”

As the two walked the short distance to the conference room, Kaden couldn’t help but wonder that there was something there he didn’t fully understand. He wasn’t always the best at picking up subtle clues in conversation, especially with introverted young women like Jill, but he did know there was something bothering her.

Mark and Bill were already in the room, waiting for them, even though it was still five minutes early. The room had a hard floor and tall ceiling, and didn’t have any furniture nor any windows. It almost seemed more like a storage room than a conference room.

“Kaden. Jill” Mark said, nodding his head to each in turn.

“Good morning,” Kaden replied. “Thanks for meeting with us and agreeing to be a mentor for our team.

Mark waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, looking pretty relaxed in his bright yellow Hawaiian shirt. “No problem. Don’t mention it.”

Mark continued. “So what did you want to cover today? Anything in particular?”

Bill and Jill looked to Kaden.

“Well, there’s a few things I think we could use your help on. Obviously, we want to do as well as we can in this internship. I’m a little unsure of how best to focus our efforts and time to maximize our chances for success.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “And for you, success means…?”

“A full-time offer at the end of the internship. So finishing in the top ten.”

“Ok, ok. Anything else?”

“It would be nice to know what to expect going forward,” Bill added. “Kaden told us that you used to run the program before.”

“Is that what he told you…” Mark said, looking over at Kaden. “Phase 1 is pretty much the same every year. And you’re almost through that. Phases 2 and 3 vary from year to year, depending on a bunch of factors including the relative strength of the cohort itself, leadership in charge, the broader economic situation of the Company itself, etc etc.” He shrugged.

“Sometimes Phase 2 is a battle royale-style tournament, either teams versus teams or individual versus individual. Sometimes they group the three-man squads into six or nine-man squads for platoon-type exercises; that’s usually what the Ops people do if they’re in charge, because that’s all they know. One time, I remember I got a lot pressure from upstairs to have each of the interns do a month-long product development challenge, with the results presented directly to the Board.” Mark shook his head. “That was a disaster.”

“What about Alexander Wolfe?” Kaden asked. “How does he typically structure the later phases of the internship?”

Mark paused for a moment, inspecting the palm of his hand before responding. “Alexander Wolfe… That asshole will probably choose the most violent scenario possible. Thinks he’s got a flare for the dramatic. But really all he has are illusions of grandeur. Thinks he’s a real operator. But he’s not.”

Mark flexed his forearms. As he did so, Kaden noticed a small tattoo on the underside of Mark’s right wrist, something he hadn’t noticed before. It was a small, red hourglass, just like the shape on the underside of the black widow spider.

“Were you a member of the Black Spiders?” Kaden asked.

A ghost of a smile crossed Mark’s face as he nodded.

“Let’s do this,” Mark said, his tone returning to a clipped business cadence. “I’d like to observe each of you in an individual 1:1 exercise with an opponent I’ll choose for you. I don’t quite have a complete baseline yet for what each of you can do. As an official mentor for the team, I have been able to access and review most of your battle data. But I always like to observe some things directly in-person. Sound good?”

They all nodded.

“Alright. Go ahead and equip yourselves out of the closet here. Kaden, you’re up first.”

“Wait, so this room can be used for training, like the gym rooms on the 4th floor?” Kaden asked.

Mark nodded as he opened an equipment cabinet mounted flush into the wall beside the door. Inside, Kaden could see a small assortment of standard-issue Company equipment, including a few gunswords. He took them and passed them out to his teammates.

Meanwhile, Mark pulled up the commands on his mobile. “Going forward, just let me know if you need an extra space for some practice. Ok – here it comes. Let’s see how you do with two kitsune-3s.”

Mark, Bill and Jill retreated to a corner of the room, and Mark activated a strong null ward in front of the group so that Kaden could use the rest of the room to face off against the monsters.

Two purple foxes with three tails each appeared on the far side of the room.

* Name: Kitsune-3

* Level: 4

* Attacks: Physical (teeth, claws, tail)

* Aural Affinity: T

The last time Kaden had faced this particular monster, he only had to face one. And it had only been level 2. This time he had to face two Level 3 monsters. He gritted his teeth and prepared his air-shield ward. He figured he would use the same approach as before to trap the speedy creatures.

The two kitsune’s floated along the ground, licking their giant maws and angling to circle around behind him. He followed them with his eyes as they sped up. His air-shield was active, ready to block a head-on strike.

There was a flash on the edge of his vision, and a streak of purple ricocheted off the air-shield. Now he could only see one of the creatures, the other had disappeared. Looking behind him, he spun to intercept the second creature trying to push its way under his air-shield.

He lunged with the sword, but the creature scurried away before he struck it.

The second kitsune-3 took that moment to attack the shield. On the periphery of his vision, he saw the fox pinwheeling toward him in the air, its three tails a blur as they struck and then pierced through the shield. Like teeth on a sawblade, each of the tails forced the opening in his shield wider as the fox continued to spin against his ward.

Breaking through, the fox landed adroitly on the ground in front of him, fangs bared and tensing for a strike.

Kaden dropped the ward, which was now almost spent of energy and useless. He brought the gunsword up in a defensive stance, blade activated and extended in front of him. He slowly back away a couple steps. He was tracking the other fox, who was circling.

When both of the creatures were in front of him, he lunged forward in a feint, pretending to strike low, as if he were overextending himself. Both foxes took the bait, leaping forward and attempting to jump over the blade.

In a clean upward cut, he cut through both of the fox creatures. Black ichor sprayed the room as the bodies fell to the ground, each cloven in two. The smell of burnt hair and iron filled the space, as the creatures slowly dissolved into mana and dissipated.

Deactivating his blade and holstering the weapon, Kaden stood up straight and breathed a sigh of relief. Facing two of those monsters at once had been difficult. The tactics he had used previously to take down one did not work well facing two at the same time.

“Not bad, taking down both with one strike. But I wouldn’t count on your enemies always lining up themselves up for you every time,” Mark said.

“No kidding,” Kaden replied. “Any recommendations? Perhaps your ‘Death by Thousand Cuts?’”

“Ha! Not as easy it looks,” Mark said, flexing his fingers. “To start off with, have you considered a shield or even another weapon? Maybe two gunswords? To be honest, that’s how I got started on the path to techniques for multiple simultaneous strikes. Early on in my career, I adopted a dual-wield approach. My defense was more offense. Doesn’t work in every situation, obviously, and depends on the team your with, but it could suit you. You might give it a try..”

“I think I will! Any suggestion on technique? I’m not exactly a swordsman, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah…” Mark pulled up his mobile for a moment. “Just sent you some material. Also sent an introduction to one of the gunsword training groups. Tell Adrian, the instructor, I suggested you focus on dual-wield skills.”

“Great! Thanks!” On the one hand, Kaden felt the burden of yet one more thing to add to his schedule. But on the other hand, he was excited to connect with gunsword experts and improve his skills. He would find a way to add the training to his schedule somehow.