Time after time companies lose productivity when employees who are untrained and non-specialized are asked to perform tasks that are outside of their assigned role. In the past this was called ‘showing willingness’ or ‘being a team player’ but ultimately it meant that two jobs were being half-assed and employees were being overloaded.
Ad Astra’s policy dictates that no employee is required to step outside their assigned role, and if they are asked to do so they will be both compensated appropriately and in no way penalized if they refuse.
Policy also dictates that if employees willfully perform work that is outside of their area without an official request being placed first they are also penalized.
-Chairwoman Nina Ellory, Ad Astra Space Shipping, Passenger, Mining, Acquisitions, Exploration and Exploitation Corporation.
The first thing that Adjunct Artificial Intelligence Nine/Harmony made Alex do was sit in the chair - which was quite uncomfortable considering the contoured seat was designed for an alien backside - and watch a short orientation video. It was similar to some he’d watched in the past, extolling the virtues of Ad Astra Space Shipping, Passenger, Mining, Acquisitions, Exploration and Exploitation Corporation as well as not-so-subtly suggesting that all new hires are expected to become the model employee at all times - including when off the clock.
Nothing at all other than the company name indicated what Ad Astra actually did, but there were a number of talking heads (carefully selected for inclusivity with a variety of species represented) with named labels such as ‘happy employee 776113’ who read from an off-screen prompt in stilted tones how the company changed their lives. Alex was glad to find the familiarity of awkwardness being universal.
Patina crunched on a small, hard disc that was apparently food and gave the same sort of attention to the video as someone who had watched it a thousand times over. When tacky synthesizer music played over the company logo at the end, the little goblin read aloud the company motto along with the video. Her tone was more than a shade mocking.
“Ad Astra pro Aurum et Potentia, “ she quoted, adding “It means ‘Making fat stacks of cash from space’.”
“That, “ cut in Harmony, “is a very broad and not entirely accurate translation. It means-”
“To the stars for gold and power.” Alex murmured. There was a moment of silence, and then both Harmony and Patina exclaimed in unison.
““You can understand that?!””
Alex blinked. “Well, yeah. Sort of. It’s just Latin.”
“Alex, this is the Ancient Tongue, devised by the gods to talk to one another.” Harmony groused, “It’s not ‘just’ anything.”
“I’m not sure what to tell you. On my world we call it Latin. I don’t know a lot of it, but everyone picks up some words here and there. Legal terms, old sayings, pop culture, books and all that.” He’d seen ‘ad astra’ used on Star Trek. ‘pro’ was obvious from the context, ‘et’ he’d yanked from reading Julius Caesar, and AU was the two letter thingy for gold.
I guess it’s more of a big deal out here? How does Latin get out into space anyway?
>Incoming Message: Linguistics, much like species templates, are cut-and-pasted across all the realities of the multiverse. It sounds lazy, but there’s only so much you can fill in when you have infinity as your sketchbook. -Pez
I think I just prefer calling you Peri, if that’s okay.
“I’m far from fluent, “ Alex said aloud, “it’s pretty much a dead language on Earth.”
After a lengthy silence, Harmony got an intense look. “Updating employee file.” she said shortly. Patina smirked.
“She likes you, “ the goblin said in a teasing tone.
“What?”
Patina grinned her unnerving grin and nudged Alex in the thigh with a sharp elbow. “She’s taking notes.” she teased.
“Ahem. Place your hand flat on the scanner, Alex.” Harmony commanded. A light began to blink next to a small flat panel on the wall. Alex did as he was asked. “Do you give Ad Astra the consent to scan your physical and metaphysical self?”
“Sure.” he shrugged. What was the worst that could happen?
“Scan commencing.” Harmony intoned. Alex felt a tingle across his palm. In front of him a wider panel blinked to life. It was a dark background with bright golden text much like the words in his vision.
“Accessing your Interface…”
The panel flowed with golden text.
Name: Alex Orz
Age: 33
Species: Human
Level:1
PP: 0/100
HP: 15/20
MP: N/A
~
Path: [Mender]
Way: [Way of Reason]
Additional Tracks: N/A
~
Ailments and Effects
1) Severe Soul Calcification
~
Languages Known
English 50/100 (Proficient)
The Ancient Tongue 5/100 (Abysmal)
~
“Okay, so that’s sort of neat.” Alex said aloud. There’s my Path and Way. I need to figure out exactly what the Way does to benefit me. The ‘Ancient Tongue’ must be Latin. Only 50/100 in English? Alex felt a little offended at that. And come to that, how is it that everyone here is speaking English? Or is there some science fiction-y type of universal translator?
“What’s a-” Patina began.
“Accessing stat blocks…” Harmony pushed forward, an eagerness in her tone now.
~ATTRIBUTES~
STRENGTH (0)
Physical Strength (0)
Physical Adaptability (0)
Physical Presence (0)
~
AGILITY (0)
Dexterity (0)
Reaction (0)
Precision (0)
~
ENDURANCE (0)
Physical Constitution (0)
Mental Fortitude (0)
Emotional Strength (0)
~
WISDOM (0)
Insight (0)
Instinct (0)
Understanding (0)
~
INTELLIGENCE (0)
Logic (0)
Reason (0)
Learning Ability (0)
~
CHARISMA (0)
Wit/Charm (0)
Personal Presence (0)
Deception (0)
~
PERCEPTION (0)
Situational Awareness (0)
Pattern Recognition (0)
Acuity (0)
~
MAGICAL POTENCY (0)
Magical Power (0)
Mana Pool (0)
Mana Regeneration (0)
~
This part of the display was vaguely familiar to Alex - at least, versions of it. Role playing games all had attribute sheets measuring how strong or wise or quick a character was. It seemed as if Sparkles had been accurate about the Interface, but there were a lot of entries here that he’d definitely need to ask for clarification on.
Some of these seem redundant? Unless my understanding of the words is a bit off. I’ll have to ask later. Everything is set to zero…I’m guessing that’s the baseline for someone who’s never used the Interface before?
“Oof, “ Patina muttered, “The big old pile of zeroes of the newly integrated. But you’re a [Mender]. Why are you a [Mender]? What even is that Path?”
Well that confirmed that. Zeroes are normal.
“Accessing skills, talents, abilities, spells, and additional bonuses…”
ACTIVE SKILLS
Evaluate (1)
Jury Rig (1)
Repurpose (1)
~
PASSIVE SKILLS
N/A
~
SPELLS
N/A
~
KARMIC BONUS/MALUS
None
~
SOUL UPGRADES
[Unflappable]
[Interesting Times]
~
And there’s my troublemaking ‘soul upgrades’. That’s still an incredibly weird concept. Spells…Not Applicable? Does that mean I can’t use magic? Sparkles said I needed to, in order to save my life. Another thing to ask about later.
“...you can fix stuff.” Patina murmured.
“Scan complete.” Harmony intoned. “Analyzing available starting positions…”
>Incoming Message: All you had to do was think STATUS really hard. This information is available to you at all times, Alex. We’re your helpers - let us help you! -Peri
Sorry. It’s been one distraction after another.
“Job assignment…already selected? Fine. Alex Orz, congratulations! Your offered starting position with Ad Astra is: Junior Technician, Grade Four. This comes with a daily (thirty hour cycle) wage of thirty six glim, one free meal per day, and a personal berth in
The silence after the AI asked her question in tones laced with almost hunger-like eagerness was broken when Patina hissed an intake of breath. The little goblin shook herself and looked up at Alex with a fire-eyed expression.
“Take me with you.” she said.
“What?”
“I’ll be, like, your helper, guide, mentor, and assistant. I’ll tell you what’s what around here, keep you out of trouble, be your gopher, clean your fucking shoes, whatever you need - just take me with you.”
Taken aback by the sudden intensity in the goblin’s words and face, Alex didn’t reply right away. Patina’s expression started to shift from eagerness to desperation.
“I can be useful to you. Trust me.”
“I’m not sure where you want me to take you.”
“Wherever you end up. Trust me, it won’t be here!” Patina’s eyes grew distant for a moment. “Carriage 9997 isn’t my home. I was born here, I’ve lived here all my life, but it’s not home. It’s not where I want to be. Most everyone else here is…well, not content, but resigned to never seeing any other walls than these ones. But you…”
With a stab of her long finger, Patina poked Alex’s side gently. “You’ve been tapped as someone with potential. You’re not a [Cleaner]. You’re not being assigned to the sanitation worker jobs. You’ve been given an authority level above zero - that’s big, Alex. Back me up here, Adjunct.”
“The potential usefulness of Alex is reflected in his offered starting position.” Harmony hedged. “The Authority level given is simply to carry out his duties.”
“I want more than I have, Alex. Call me selfish, call me greedy - I don’t care! But I want to move up and on. I don’t want to be a [Cleaner] forever, but I can’t change my Path on my own. I need an opportunity.”
She’s certainly passionate about it, Alex mused, but I don’t know if I can just drag her along with me in whatever it is that’s happening for this event. This company seems very specific about assigned roles.
“You’re still considering - good. Thank you for not saying no right away.” Patina took a step back and absently brushed off her bulky protective uniform. “You don’t know what a big deal it is to have someone with the kind of Path you seem to have on board; You can fix things!”
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“Not…really?” Alex pulled a face. “These skills aren’t really all that good it seems.”
Patina waved a hand dismissively. “Skills at rank one are always bilge. You’ll grow. All I can do on my Path is keep cleaning stuff that continues to get dirtier and more messed up as time goes on. With you, that can change! We haven’t had a maintenance engineer or technician down here in…bilge, I don’t even know how long now.”
“Twelve years, eight months, eleven days.” Harmony interjected. “Rounded down. There have been some minor communication and accessibility issues due to…” The AI frowned, “Due to environmental factors that are not at all the fault or responsibility of Ad Astra in any way…”
“She sounds troubled, “ Alex said to Patina, who nodded.
“The Adjunct is limited here. She’s trying though, I’m sure. Just…all the company programming, like I said on our way here.” Patina sighed. “Look, the point is, people like me can jam stuff back together when it breaks. Tape and glue and rope and whatever. Just enough to keep things from killing us too quickly. But we can’t fix things.”
“That sounds an awful lot like my [Jury Rig] skill, which sort of isn't that great.”
>Incoming Message: It really isn’t. Syntropy-based skills start at a higher base of competency and perform better overall. While it’s true that a non-syntropic practitioner of something can become very good at it with practice and time, the Interface and Syntropy will eventually outclass the most dedicated layman even if by local standards they are a ‘master’. It sounds unfair, but that’s one of the many benefits of being integrated - you just get better. -Peri
Why is it 'syntropy', anyway? I know it's sometimes used as an antonym of entropy, but it's used more often elsewhere. Wouldn't a better name be 'negentropy'?
>Incoming Message: Everything you hear and read is translated. It won't always make best-fit sense to your localized definitions. Just let it lie, Alex. -Peri
“That’s your path skill, and it’s a start.” Patina said. Alex felt he was trying to juggle multiple conversations at once, but tried to pay attention to the earnest little green-skinned woman appealing to him. “You’ll grow - you’ll get more Path related skills. And I can help you.”
“I’m not sure what you want me to do though.” Alex confessed, “From what I’m given to understand, you’re not allowed to stop being a sanitation worker, right?”
“Accept the position, “ Patina urged, “Mend stuff. Fix things. And don’t leave me behind when you move forward.”
I don’t really know this woman. I don’t even know anything about goblins in general, outside of fiction where they aren’t exactly painted in a good light. But that doesn’t mean that reality is like that. She seems okay. I won’t tempt fate by asking what could possibly go wrong though. It would be nice to have a person beside me to walk me through this place.
“And as for my own position…Adjunct, can an employee with an Authority of 1.0 request additional staff?” Patina glanced slyly at the screen, where Harmony eyed her with a touch of asperity.
“Your job is a vital and necessary one, Patina.”
“I know, I know, but how many sanitation workers are in carriage 9997?”
“One thousand, nine hundred and seventy one.”
“And we still can't keep up. How many technicians?” pressed the goblin.
“One pending.” Harmony glanced at Alex, who looked amused by the exchange.
“Given the current ongoing minor issues, who do you think needs more help?”
The AI gave a little huff of annoyance, but her fixed smile remained in place. “Your argument is logical. If Alex accepts the position, he may have one additional assistant on his team.”
“Thank you, Adjunct.” Patina smirked. “So…Alex?”
“Just out of curiosity, what happens if I don’t accept the position?” Alex joked. He was pretty sure that the event wouldn’t let him do otherwise but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to ask.
“We always need more sanitation workers.” Harmony replied. It wasn’t delivered in a threatening way, but Alex took it for the warning it was. Go with the flow, Alex. He looked at Patina, who winked and stuck out her hand toward him.
“Deal,” Alex gripped Patina’s long-fingered hand and shook it. The goblin grinned again, exposing more of her very white, large flat teeth in that unnervingly wide mouth. “Harmony, I accept the position.”
>Syntropy Task: Event #1283 - Updated
From all around the room a fanfare played. Alex jumped, looking around warily as whatever instrument was being played sounded a fair amount like a hippopotamus being treated for constipation. Yes, he’d had to witness that once and no, he’d rather not witness it a second time. With a rush of air, dust and flecks of ash billowed from a vent in the ceiling. As it settled on Alex and Patina, Harmony apologized.
“Sorry. It used to be streamers but it’s been a while.”
“That’s fine.” Alex smiled.
“Please place your hand back on the panel.” Harmony requested. Alex did so. “Installing Ad Astra addition to your interface…now.” Alex yelped in pain as he felt the jab of a needle in his palm. “Done. Addition to your interface testing…now.”
Both in golden text in his vision, and on the display near the panel, more data appeared.
~Ad Astra Proprietary Interface Addition v9286.1b~
~
Interface Addition: Active
Employment Status: Active
Position: Junior Technician Grade Four (Temp)
Pay Rate: 36 Glim/Day*
Perks: Personal Berth, One free meal/day*
*Pay and perks are on a 30 hour cycle, and are dependent on meeting job performance minimums.
~
Corporate Scrip
Glim: 0
Duty Credits: 0
Debt Load: 0
~
Duty List
Pending tasks: 0
(Focus on Duty List for task details)
Automated Promotion in: 8000 Duty Credits
~
AUTHORITY LEVEL: 1.0
~
“Congratulations, Junior Technician Grade Four Alex Orz! Your temporary employment begins immediately.”
>Incoming Message: I can’t even begin to go into why it’s a bad idea to let outside entities mess with the Interface, but apparently it’s allowed so yaaaay? Hit me up when you have a moment, I can see multiple areas of opportunity for education here. -Peri.
“Can you go into detail about duty credits and debt load?”
“Duty credits are awarded after completing assigned tasks, “ Harmony replied, “A non-transferable corporate currency used for automated promotion tracking.”
“Except the Adjunct here hasn’t promoted anyone in decades.” Patina chimed in.
“Without communication from Adjunct Artificial Intelligence Three/Symphony, no permanent budgetary changes can be made.” explained the AI.
“You hired me, “ Alex reminded the AI. Harmony pulled a face.
“I did not. Authorization for your collection and hiring was approved by
“Yeah, there seems to be a lot of that going around, “ Alex muttered, “But whatever. Debt load.”
“It’s the cost of living.” Patina shrugged.
“Corporate debt load is a calculation based on the current market value of all necessities to feed, house, and provide livable conditions to each employee. Galactic law states that Ad Astra cannot be held responsible for bearing all the costs of their employees day-to-day survival. That would be unreasonable. The amount owed per person is calculated daily and charged equally to all living employees.”
“So it fluctuates. “ Harmony continued, “It’s been increasing over the years, and there hasn’t been budgetary approval for promotions or wage increases, employees accrue debt to the company. Retirement or job abandonment is impossible with a debt load.”
This sounds like a problem that will never go away. Ugh. Aloud Alex asked “What’s the current daily cost of living?”
“Uncalculated. Current damage to-” Harmony paused and emitted a soft whine, “Current variables are still being assessed.”
“Yesterday it was twenty four glim, “ Patina offered.
“Oh, so I’ll be fine.” Alex smiled. “You said the Junior Technician Grade Four paid thirty six glim.”
“Correct.”
“As a counterpoint, let me tell you that a Sanitation Worker Grade Four - that's me and most of the others - get a daily wage of nine glim. You understand why I leapt at the chance to save your life.” Patina advised in a flat tone. Alex winced.
“Wages are also dependent on actually performing your assigned duties. That being said, we will now issue you with a technician's omnitool of which, it seems, we are out of stock.” Harmony grumbled. “Scanning…found. Functional omnitools within carriage 9997 - one. The location has been marked on your employee map within the Interface. Once received, tasks will be assigned to you. Please hurry, your employment has already begun.”
“Wait up though, “ Alex held up a hand, “This place was practically exploding when I arrived. Are we still in danger?”
“Of course not.” Harmony said just as Patina answered “Always.” The two looked at each other. Harmony’s smile dropped a little.
“The Relentless Exploitation is not currently in immediate danger of being destroyed. At least, not this carriage. I am still attempting to re-establish communication linkages to both the other carriages under my oversight and beyond but the issue we were having on your arrival has resolved itself as best it can. Of course, some time is needed to, uh, tidy up.”
“I think that’s all you’re gonna get on that one, boss.” Patina shrugged.
“Boss? Oh, right. Harmony, you said I could have an assistant.”
“Fine.” Harmony groused, “But your pay rate and benefits remain the same at this time. Temporary position change from Sanitation Worker to Personal Assistant processed.”
“Hot damn.” Patina grinned. “Thanks, Adjunct. And you too, boss.”
Alex just nodded. “So where’s this omnitool thing? I have some tools in my backpack, but I don’t think they will do much for a broken space train.”
“It’s not broken!” both Patina and Harmony said together. The AI sounded adamant, whereas the goblin was definitely mocking.
I’m not sure how I’m expected to fix things if the person assigning tasks is in denial but…go with the flow, right?
“The omnitool is in lower compartment B, section four, level alpha, berth green-one.”
“Alright, I can take you there Al…wait. Lower-B-Four-Alpha-Green-One?”
“Yes.”
“Well, bilge.”
“Let me guess, “ Alex said, “We can’t reach the area due to not broken things?”
“Oh, no, we can reach it. It’s where the overseer lives.”
“That boss guy you said was crazy?”
“Psychotic. I said he was psychotic.” corrected the goblin
“Fabian Vod is not an overseer.” Harmony stated firmly. “I’m an overseer. It’s literally in my title. Vod was assigned a lower level management position and an Authority of zero point five based on suspected leadership potential that has since been proven false.”
“We all make mistakes, “ Alex said to the AI gently.
“This one will be corrected. Vod has squandered his opportunity and is no longer suitable for his role. This error needs to be rectified. Unfortunately I lack the current access to have him removed from his position. Multiple requests have been sent on the matter.” Harmony spat the word ‘multiple’ like it was rotten.
“Yeah, a bad manager can be a hassle. Been there.” Alex said, “Since he’s a lower Authority level than me, did you want me to have a talk with him?”
Not that I think it would help, or even if it’s in my ‘duties’, but it never hurts to offer.
“Talk with him? No. At this point, Fabian Vod needs to be terminated.”
Alex’s brow furrowed. “You said you couldn’t fire him. If you can’t, I don't imagine I could either.”
“No, Alex. I don’t need you to fire him. I need you to terminate him.”
“Is this semantics? Is the company trying to have a more positive image by not using the word ‘fired’?”
“We talked about this when we were walking, Alex…” Patina looked up at Alex with a hint of pity in her eyes. Harmony was under no such empathic influence.
“I need you to kill him, “ she stated flatly, her small and polite smile more suitable for a casual coffee with acquaintances than a command to commit murder.
>Incoming Message: Oooooh! We should totally insert a dramatic musical note there! -Peri
Alex closed his eyes for a moment and let out a long breath. When he was ready, he opened them again and looked hard at the screen displaying the AI. “I know what you said, and I know what I heard, so I won’t be all like ‘whaaaaat?’, but I have serious moral concerns about killing someone.”
“Ah. You’re one of those. Rest assured, there will be no legal liability or blame assigned to you for-”
“I didn’t say ‘legal’. I said ‘moral’.” Alex replied coldly. A mote of anger rose up within but he held it in check. “I’m trying to be as chill about being abducted and basically forced into employment as I can, but I absolutely will not kill someone.”
>Incoming Message: As a heads-up, killing Entropic entities awards Path Points, which are synonymous with ‘experience points’ from your world’s games. Non-entropic entities such as integrated sapients and regular animals award zero Path Points. -Peri
I don’t care about path points, I just don’t want to kill. I’m not sure I even could.
>Incoming Message: That’s a valid, if shortsighted choice. Entropic entities are not true sapient beings, or even technically ‘alive’. Other ways to advance include completing tasks or missions assigned by Syntropy. Good luck! -P
“Don’t worry boss, you’ve got me!” Patina declared, “I’ve had my mop up the ass of dozens of bilge rats. You distract him, and I’ll clean up.”
“I don't want you killing anyone either.”
“Boooo, “ Patina chuckled darkly, “Boooo I say. But this is life, boss. Sometimes we have to, you know-” The goblin ran her finger across her throat and pulled a goofy death-face.
“I can’t believe that a corporation is encouraging its employees to murder each other.” Alex muttered. “Are you two being serious?”
“In more regular times we would have at least four security officers escort the ex-employee to the closest airlock, “ Harmony went on as if there was nothing distressing about the casual killing of employees, “But since we don’t have any security officers on carriage 9997, access to the security booth in this carriage is currently problematic, and all of the airlocks are sealed-”
“And you can’t actually fire someone.” reminded Patina helpfully.
“And that, yes. Because of these factors, an eager and rising star freshly hired and willing to achieve great things will have to get a little blood on their hands.” Harmony declared. “And since this duty is certainly outside of your purview as a Junior Technician Grade Four, compensation of nine hundred glim is being offered for your timely intervention in this staffing matter.”
“NINE HUNDRED GLIM!” Patina practically shrieked, lunging at the screen displaying the AI hungrily. “Accepted! Done! We’ll do it!”
“Wait a minute, Patina! I said I don’t-”
“Nine hundred glim, Alex! That’s an insane amount for such a simple thing!” The little goblin turned to Alex, her eyes wide and full of tears. “Please!”
>Corporate Add-on: Duties List updated.
>Incoming Message: Hey, is this a good time to talk about how to access your Tasks lists? There’s all sorts of neat stuff in there, even without that janky aftermarket addition Ad Astra installed. -P
Put a pin in that, please. I need to handle these two before things get out of hand.
In the short time that Alex had been distracted, Patina and Harmony had apparently bonded. Both were chanting “Kill! Kill! Kill!” in a disturbingly enthusiastic fashion. Alex put his hand over his face.
This is definitely not going with the flow, Alex sighed.