Chapter 5 – Floor 0: Part 5

Mathew found himself in a large office with dozens of cubicles. Each had a workspace with a computer and chair, seemingly mundane and boring. Personal effects were scattered across the desks, giving the impression of a functional office.

There was music playing, some kind of pop song that he hadn’t heard before. Streamers were hanging from the ceiling tiles, each reading ‘Happy Birthday John!’ on them in multicolored, shimmering paper.

It was an office party. Mathew had seen dozens of similar ones before. Despite how much you decorate and provide food and alcohol, they all had the same dreary feel to them. There were people gathered in groups, wearing business casual clothing, and Mathew could see the New York skyline outside the windows.

It wouldn’t have been strange to see anywhere in America except for a single fact about the partygoers. They were marionettes. Mathew could see the strings guiding their limbs as they stretched up into a black void above them.

“What the hell is going on?!” Mathew hissed, terrified at what he was seeing. Was this a test? The puppets were lifelike, but the strings combined with their awkward movements made it clear they were not real people.

They were speaking to each other, and Mathew could make out their conversations' ordinary and dull content. They even repeated their lines, like they were programmed only to have a set amount of responses. He seemed to be the only actual person in the entire area.

Burning words appeared on a wall beside him, explaining the nature of the test. No one except Mathew seemed taken aback by their appearance.

Test 1/3

‘John’ has a secret. Find out what it is by any means necessary.

Mathew read through the message quickly, and it faded away as soon as he did so, leaving black soot marks on the walls in its wake.

“A secret? That’s it?” Mathew muttered.

He ran a hand down his jacket to wipe away the sweat on his palms when he noticed his clothing had changed. He was wearing a cheap, polyester suit with a tan colour and a black shirt. His Rolex was gone, replaced with a digital, plastic wristwatch.

“When did…” Mathew muttered, confused, before he recalled that nothing could be brought into the Tower from the outside.

“Right. Focus. Get this done and find Emily.” Mathew whispered. Preparing himself, he strode toward the closest Marionettea, a man and a woman who were talking near a window.

“Hello. I’m looking for John.” Mathew stated. He didn’t expect them to answer because they were puppets, but they turned and looked at him, their expressions uncanny as their strings moved their limbs.

“Ah, Mathew! Enjoying the party? I was just saying to Stef that you’ve been doing a fantastic job the last few weeks. Really carried the team!” The male puppet said, and Mathew was taken aback by how it knew his name.

“Uh, thanks. Listen, I need to speak to John. Do you know where he is?” Mathew asked, looking around the party at the dozens of other marionettes. He had no idea which one he was looking for.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Sure! He’s speaking with Margery right now in the conference room. But they didn’t want to be disturbed. They even locked the door. They’re probably talking about our bonuses!” The female puppet replied, and Mathew smiled at the answer.

“Thanks, I’ll just…head over there.” He said, already walking away. Christ, this was weird!

Passing the offices that occupied the center of the floor behind the cubicles, he searched the doorplates for the ‘conference room,’ only to stop when he saw one that said ‘John.’

“Maybe the secret is just in his office?” Mathew said, stepping forward and opening the door. The interior was a standard, sparsely decorated middle management office with a few pictures of a puppet man that Mathew could only assume was John and his family.

Looking around for anything that could hold a secret, the only thing he could find was the powered-on computer. Clicking the mouse, he was greeted by a password screen.

“Password. Great. What is it? Puppet? Marionette?” Mathew muttered as he typed into the keyboard. Locked.

“What would this John use as a password? Do I need to speak with him first?” Mathew idly sat in front of the computer, looking around, when he saw a post-it note stuck to the desktop case of the computer.

‘Reminder: the password is your favourite hobby!’

“I’m honestly not surprised,” Mathew said, plucking the post-it note off the case. IT had given his Firm multiple talks about cyber security, but there were still many people whose password was ‘password’ or had it written on a note.

“Favorite hobby…” Mathew looked around for a hint. ‘John’ had a lot of pictures of a boat in his office, with several showing him holding a massive fish made of paper, funnily enough.

“Boating? Fishing?” His second guess got him access to the computer. There was a single opened email on his desktop. Clicking it, he found a short message.

‘Meet me in the conference room, lover. Don’t tell anyone, especially your wife. M.’

“John is having an affair? That’s the secret?” Mathew looked around the office, waiting for more burning text to appear, but nothing happened.

“Not good enough? Do you need a name or something? M…John is meeting Margery in the conference room…. John is having an affair with Margery?” Mathew said, and to his relief, burning letters appeared on the wall.

Congratulations. Would you like to proceed to the next test?

“Yes?” Mathew said, unsure of if he should just say it. The room faded into bright light, leaving Mathew alone once more before it disappeared, and he was in a new location.

He was standing on the side of a dirt road, surrounded by forest. The road bent, preventing him from seeing far down either side. The sky above him was clear of clouds and blue, with a yellow sun hanging directly overhead.

It was warm, and the air had a scent of woodsmoke. Mathew was utterly alone but could hear running water in the distance and what sounded like shouting.

“What the hell? How did I get out?” Mathew wondered. The rules were clear. There was only one exit to the tower. Was he kicked out? How would he find Emily if the Tower tossed him out into the middle of nowhere?

Looking around, he realized his clothing had changed again. He was wearing a rough woollen shirt in off-colour white and durable, coarse pants in a dark grey.

More burning letters appeared on the dirt road in front of him, glowing brightly in the sunlight.

Test 2/3

You have barely managed to escape the ravages of war. The only safety lies across the river, where you will find sanctuary.

“Alright…I’m still in the tower. Cross the river, got it.” Mathew said. The tests were insane, first puppets, and now he was in the woods. Was there no limit to what the Tower could do?

With no choice, Mathew picked a direction that seemed to be where the sounds of shouting and water were coming from. His leather boots sent up puffs of dust with each step as he walked down the road.

Page Break

“You bastards! You have no right to keep us here!” Someone shouted as Mathew came upon a chaotic scene. More Marionettes were stationed in front of, and on, a bridge that divided a wide, raging river. He could see there was a village on the far side, a small hamlet with stone buildings.

The bridge was narrow, barely enough to drive a single car down, and made of wood. There were hundreds of Marionettes in front of it, all dressed similarly to Mathew. The dozen or so Puppets keeping them from crossing looked like bandits or street toughs. They were even holding wooden clubs menacingly.

Cautiously approaching a Puppet on the edge of the crowd, Mathew asked what was happening.

“They want a gold coin for each person to cross.” An older male Marionette said, spitting on the ground in disgust.

“A gold coin? Where the hell am I going to get a gold coin?” Mathew wondered.