“Congratulations,” Mrs. Green said, though her frown only slightly lessened for him. “We will have you fill out some paperwork in a bit to finalize procedures. Before then, please follow me.” She hopped down from the chair after packing her briefcase and walked over to the door, Jack following behind. She waited for him to exit before closing the door, then led Jack down the hall back to the lobby.
As they reached the receptionist desk, Jack couldn’t help but wonder how the short woman was going to be able to reach the counter top to ring the bell. To his surprise, Mrs. Green marched over, pushed a false panel aside Jack had failed to notice, and pressed a button. Three steps suddenly emerged from the front of the desk, which Mrs. Green used to climb up and hit the bell with practiced ease.
“How may we be of service, Mrs. Green,” the two receptionists said in unison as they looked up.
“I need one visitor badge for Mr. Smith,” the woman said sharply. “White tag only.”
“Understood Mrs. Green,” the man on the left perked up and said as his female counterpart looked back down at whatever she’d been doing. “Congrats to you, Mr. Smith, for receiving this opportunity.”
Mrs. Green and Jack waited for a few moments as the man did something and reached under the desk. He arose a moment later with a simple rectangular ID badge that simply said, ‘Mr. Smith, Visitor’, and had a vertical white band on its left side. The receptionist handed over the badge to Jack with a smile before returning to his work.
The short woman hopped down from the steps, pressed the button the hide them once more, and moved the false panel back over the button. “Follow me Mr. Smith, and do not take off that badge while you are here. It would be, inconvenient.”
Jack hurriedly put on the badge and followed her down the left hallway, which looked like a mirror version of the right hallway as far as he could tell. The conference room doors were in all the same location, though on the opposite side. They quickly passed what the young man had seen, and after taking a corner came out into a large lobby area covered in the rustic matte yellow fabric and red circles below, and gleaming blue and grey metal above. The lampshades from before still illuminated most of the room, but a large stylized metallic diamond-shape light fixture dominated the middle of the room. It seemed to highlight the more modern architecture on the ceiling and upper floors, of which Jack counted two floor’s worth of railings above. He also saw that the right hallway also seemed to connect to this central room, and that an elevator sat in the wall between both hallways.
“Keep up Mr. Smith,” Mrs. Green called as she continued walking without slowing down, forcing Jack to keep up with her. There were a few other people in this center space, all on computers or in deep conversation with other people in suits. None of them looked over at Jack.
“Will I need to get a suit for this job?” Jack couldn’t help but ask as they walked the edge of the room.
“Two sets will be provided to you later,” Mrs. Green answered. “However, you will not be required to where them everyday for work. You will be expected to wear at least business casual while within the premises, though tennis shoes are acceptable outside certain areas.”
“Like?”
“Need to know,” she brushed off his question. “As of yet, you do not need to know.”
Mrs. Green led Jack around the room to another hallway eerily identical to others he’d seen. Jack had the distinct feeling that all halls would look exactly the same, and that getting lost here was not a rare occurrence. At the end of the hall, the professionally dressed woman opened the last door on the right and led Jack inside.
The room was an ordinary office space, with cubicles, computers, and rolling chairs. The impression was so unoriginally normal at first glance, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d walked into the set for a modern version of ‘The Office’. Mrs. Green took Jack over to the farthest desk from the door.
“This is your station,” she explained. “Whenever you have paperwork, communications to write, or a need for system access, you will come here and get it done. You will not be here consistently however, as your duties may require you to be outside or in the library.”
“This place has a library?” Jack asked curiously.
“Yes, that’s what I said,” Mrs. Green frowned at him. “Please pay attention.”
Jack made the motion of zipping his mouth.
“Now, some ground rules,” Mrs. Green continued. “You currently are wearing a visitor ID. You will receive a proper ID in your mail within a few days. Do not return without your ID. Do not enter the building past the lobby without your ID. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Jack said, fiddling with the plastic square on his chest. “Is this for security?”
“Partly,” Mrs. Green agreed. “We do our best to ensure our security is well hidden. The badges also act to both identify you to others and to act as a beacon in case you find yourself lost on the premises.”
‘Knew it.’ Jack thought. “Is there anything else special about them?”
“Yes, the stripes,” Mrs. Green said, adjusting her suit to show her ID to him. “As you can see, I have three white stripes. The color of the stripe refers to your department, and the number of stripes refer to seniority. White is the administration department, which oversees the other departments and financials. You will learn about the other departments later.”
“How many stripes is the max?” Jack asked curiously.
“As far as you’re concerned, four,” Mrs. Green clicked her tongue, “which is typically reserved for department heads. You do not need to know about any others for now. One stripe is for newcomers, two stripes are for professionals, and three stripes are for managers. You will receive a second stripe after a year of work in your department. Acquiring a third stripe will only occur after a sign off from a group of managers or someone higher combined with a record of excellent work. Any more questions regarding IDs?”
Jack shook his head.
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“Good,” she said. “Today will just be a brief introduction tour. I have some forms for you to sign here at your station. I-” Mrs. Green paused suddenly, reached in her briefcase and pulled out a tablet Jack hadn’t seen before. She frowned as she read something. “I have to leave you alone for a while,” she explained to Jack with a tinge of annoyance. “Something has come up that requires my intervention. I will leave the paperwork here for you to read and sign. Don’t go anywhere.” With a huff, she took out several sheets of paper and a pen, gave them to Jack, walked swiftly out of the room.
When the door closed, Jack couldn’t help but look around the room curiously. “Never thought I’d end up in an office cubical,” he reflected as he sat down at his new desk. His cubical, like all the others he’d seen so far, came equipped with a computer set up, a comfy rolling chair, a lockable cabinet, space to pin things on the wall, and enough leg room and arm room to ensure he’d never feel claustrophobic. If anything, this looked better than the few cubicles he’d seen on TV and real life.
He shifted the top sheet over and began to read through it, finding it was about the simplest employee contract he’d ever seen. To be more accurate, it was a list of ‘Do not’ rules, some of which confused Jack as he read through them.
‘1. Do not enter company property without an ID badge.’
‘2. Do not attempt to hack bureau files. If you require access to an inaccessible file, ask a superior.’
‘3. Do not discuss your job with anyone outside the bureau.’
‘4. Do not purposely enter areas of the bureau off limits to you without an escort.’
-‘4.5. Do not explore the bureau on your own, especially after the 24th hour.’
‘5. Do not attempt to remove items, relics, or reliquaries from the bureau without express permission.’
‘6. Do not discuss bureau business with non-peoples, things, or entities unless part of an investigation.’
‘7. Do not read at a 45-degree angle in the library, stay for exactly 15 minutes, or reenter after exactly 30 minutes.’
‘8. Take as many safety precautions as possible upon entering section M.E. Do not interfere with ongoing projects.’
‘9. Do not take janitorial corridors without a guide. Construction detours will be plainly marked out.’
’10. Do not follow faint light sources in the hallways if all other lights are off. Turn around, and walk away.’
’11. Do not ignore janitorial staff. Do not attempt to engage janitorial staff in conversation.’
’12. Always have at least one piece of candy on person at all times while within the bureau.’
’13. Do not bring unprocessed meat into the bureau for food. Avoid entering the bureau after eating barbeque.’
’14. If you enter the wrong room when it should be the right room, back out, close the door, and notify security.’
’15. The right receptionist is always right. The left receptionist never lies.’
-’15.5’. Do not engage receptionists during atypical celestial events. Reverse rule 15 under a red moon.’
’16. Ignore rule 10.’
’17. Ignore rule 16 if a sound is also heard from the light.’
’18. Rules 16 and 17 are false unless atypical celestial event is underway. See codex ‘C.E.’ in app for full list.’
’19. Do not bother the board.’
’20. Do not forget the rules. Do not forget yourself. Do not forget the mission. Forget bureau incurred losses.’
Jack grimaced as he read through the rules again. He was definitely going to need a copy of them for the foreseeable future. The mention of the app reminded him of the mysterious application that had been downloaded onto his phone without his permission the last time he’d been here. He hadn’t bothered to open it yet, having been concerned about his phone’s security. He’d have to look in it later now, especially for these ‘atypical celestial events’.
He signed the bottom of the list where it asked and moved on to the next paper. This one was more straight forward, and outlined the various benefits he’d receive as part of the job. Jack’s eyes bulged as he read through the sweeping paragraphs that clearly and without question explained how he was to be paid and when, alongside his new health insurance benefits, and many other minor things like qualifying for certain military benefits while under certain investigations. There were a lot of reference numbers in between the lines of text Jack would have to look into, but the bottom line was that he was going to be paid a good amount more than his job as a cook. The twitch in Mrs. Green’s frown when he asked about it made a lot more sense now. He signed the bottom of this one too and moved on.
The few papers were standard forms for taxes and other government interests. Jack soon became bored trying to read through them, his eyes felt like they were glazing over in fact, and signing them felt more like he’d done a mental marathon than a simple move with his pen. He pinched his eyes to reduce the feeling of strain he’d placed on them, and paused to try to see the veil world.
As before, the grey hazy world of the veil appeared to be deadened while he was inside the building. It wasn’t that it was missing, exactly, but it was a lot harder to see. Jack felt something odd in his left eye as he squinted, like the effort required to see was more than normal. In fact, he started to get the same headache he usually only got after overlapping his vision after a couple of minutes. Two minutes of the veil inside seemed to equal ten five+ minutes of overlapped vision outside; he wondered why.
Shaking the pain away, Jack returned to the last form. It was the shortest one, consisting of a single question in the middle of the page above the line for him to sign on.
“Do you verify that you are the original owner of your body, and that neither mind, body, or spirit have been replaced, borrowed, taken, or manipulated?”
‘Well, that’s an odd question.’ Jack thought. Shrugging, he moved his pen and began to sign his name. Oddly enough, as he was about to finish, he felt the dullest of pain in his left eye, and suddenly the pen began to feel a lot harder to move. Grimacing, Jack ignored his eye and forced the pen to finish the signature. He didn’t notice the pain vanish once the signature was done, but he did notice then pen had returned to its previous weight. Jack eyed the pen curiously, but didn’t see anything odd about it.
He then looked down at the paper. The ink from the pen had bled ever so slightly at the point where he’d paused, and that was bothering him. Jack took pride in his penmanship, having taken several calligraphy classes in high school, though it had admittedly been a long time since he’d had to use it. Thankfully, the mistake was incredibly difficult to see, and even could easily be explained by the change in stroke.
Having finishing signing everything, Jack looked over at the door. Reading through all the text had taken him a good while, but Mrs. Green had yet to return, nor had anyone else walked into the room. To Jack’s annoyance and embarrassment, he was starting to feel an urge to use the bathroom. Unfortunately, Mrs. Green had failed to point out any earlier, nor had Jack seen an obvious signage for them.
Jack grimaced as he considered his options. It certainly wasn’t an issue now, he could hold it in, but knowing his body he wouldn’t be able to do so for long. Mrs. Green had told him to stay put, and the rules had made it clear he shouldn’t be on his own. He was already wet, that part wasn’t a concern, but he didn’t exactly wish to smell of ammonia until he got home. Making a mess before the first of work seemed like a terrible way to make a first impression too.
Groaning, Jack got up and walked over to the door. Taking a deep breath, he opened it up slightly and peeked his head out to look around.
To his surprise, the dead end to his right was no longer a dead end, nor could he see the central room he’d come from down the left side. However, there was a bathroom directly in front of him. Had he missed it before?
‘Not likely,’ Jack thought grimly. ‘I see the rule talking about the right room being the wrong room also refers to hallways, it would seem.’
Still, there was a bathroom, and he needed to go. Making a mess or preventing one; it was obvious which would get him into less trouble. Still, Jack did move his rolling chair over to keep the door open before he walked out, making sure it would be obvious which door he’d come from. With that done, he briskly walked across the hall into the bathroom and relieved himself happily in the clean porcelain.
The sound of water covered up the sound of a chair being moved, and a door closing.