|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 7:11 pm
"If I see Stryphe again, I'll let him know. You didn't luck out either, eh? I noticed the note of lockdown in my message history. Is everything under control now?"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 7:20 pm
"Yeah, building's unlocked now," He looked around at the mess, "Floor 26 and 27 are trashed though. Plus I need to have the techies run a diagnostics scan to find any long-term damage the EMP did to the mainframe."
"Yeah," He realised all he just said, "It was a pretty bad situation."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 7:45 pm
A blip appeared on Joseph's PDA, then a sound warning him, and when he looked at the security screen his jaw dropped.
"Well ******** me gently Charlie," He blurted out before The Chauffeur could talk, "I've got to get the ******** to the basement."
He hung up and began to run to the VIP elevator. He made it just in time to wave hello to the two technicians that had responded to Parasite uploading it's battle data.
Well, now to take care of the visitor.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 7:49 pm
"Right then. I'll drop these people off, give 'em a business card, and get back. I'll come see you right away so you can go over what's to happen next. Until then."
*Click*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:12 pm
Well... it could have been worse, right? Right. For instance, somebody could have coated the walls with oozing gunk. The walls were just sort of... charred. Well-done. You know, if you were the type of person to eat plaster, drywall, all that fun stuff.
... Wait, there was some oozing gunk on the walls. Scratch that. Toasty and moldy at the same time. Yum.
What was it with the eating-wall metaphor?
Elysia picked her way over rubble and shattered glass, approaching the gigantic hole in the ground gingerly.
"... Big. Very big." She peered over the edge. "Damn. Floor 26 was cleared. Would've been fun to drop plaster on the worker-ants in their cubicles." She laughed a little, feeling herself relax slightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:22 pm
An engineer, clipboard in hand, was surveying the damage.
"Excuse me miss," He said in his business voice, "I can't guarantee the safety of this floor. But since you could actually get here, that means you have clearance."
"Just watch out for the holes and the mould." He went back to checking off items, "Seems to have a taste for blood. Anyway, since Mr. Brown probably sent you, I'll answer any questions you have. Of course, I would have thought that I'd be able to file my report before it was questioned."
"Damn impatient..." He mumbled.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:25 pm
Startled, Elysia wheeled around, small ice spears forming by her head reflexiely. Seeing the relatively inoffensive looking engineer, she let them fade back into water vapor.
"Ah... thanks for the warning," she murmured, glancing at the mold. "I'll be careful of that."
She pursed her lips. "I'm not here to question you, actually. Was just getting some air and checking the damage out for myself. What is it with men and explosives...?" The last bit was more muttered under her breath than anything else.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:32 pm
"Believe it or not there wasn't any explosives." He said as he took out a tape measure.
"There was a robot that shot fire, a guy with the power of a construction team, a helicopter, a lot of this moss and some toy planes." He gave a half wave, there were defiantly pieces of model sized plane in the wall.
"Guess there was a sort of bomb, EMP wave." He shrugged, "Not my problem unless it messes with the automatic doors or something. Securities checking over that now. My buddy Carl said so far all they could find was a few minor irregularities in the underground parking's auto defences."
He hooked the end of the tape into any available ledge and began to measure the distances between the damage.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:36 pm
"Well. Men and their... toy... planes, then," she ammended, "and blood-sucking mold." Elysia tugged at a curl, absently, walking around the edge of the hole (though staying a good distance from the actual edge, as bits of floor were still breaking and crumbling away at semi-regular intervals).
"Any chance that the defense system problems might cause people trouble?" she asked, absently, bending down to prod at an odd shaped piece of glass.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:43 pm
"Not unless the file that identified them was corrupted." He was making notes on his clipboard now, "The security systems know who's ok and who isn't. It's usually not a problem, but it could be down there."
He pointed to a broken turret with his pen.
"Unlike these systems that did jack s**t, the basement is pretty heavily guarded." He went back to his measurements, "Though it's really only the members of "the team" that can get to the worse levels of the garage. I figure they can take care of themselves."
The engineer was obviously pretty high up, he knew about Joseph's team. Probably didn't know the details of what they did, but knowing their general speciality meant he had some authority.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:47 pm
"Good point," she conceeded, nodding. She plucked the warped glass from the ground and stood, holding it up to the light. It cast some pretty funky shadows and rainbow hues.
"Huh." Sticking it in her pocket, she resumed her little adventure about the hole.
"How long do you think it'll take to fix all of this? I'd think you'd have to replace the entire floor... but there are floors above this. Will that get in the way?"
Talking and finding shiny objects really did take her mind off of things. And maybe after this, she'd get drunk. Maybe then, even the paperwork would seem fun.
...
Nah.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:53 pm
"The two floors above this are still under construction," He was making notes about damages to the roof now, "So that really doesn't factor in."
"What does is the time it will take to redesigning the damn floor," If she would have looked closely at the crushed peices of metal, she would have made out the remains of high tech lab equipment. "You can't exactly hide something when people know it's there. This floor will probably become pure paper-pusher paradise."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 9:57 pm
"So we build higher and hide whatever was hidden somewhere else. Would probably be better to hide it lower, where it wouldn't make any sense to hide something, but it'd probably be easier to build up." She smiled a little, stretching. "Still. Paper-pushers are fun to torment..."
Elysia took out her new shiny object all of a sudden, holding it up to the sun again. Still looked good, still looked shiny. But it looked a bit odd...
"This glass doesn't look like normal window glass. Something warped it and... it looks much too thick. Much, much too thick. What was hidden up here?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 11:03 pm
"Joseph must be getting more paranoid than usual." He had moved on once again, "We do hide things underground."
"Just, really, really important things." He was taking tabs on the broken equipment, "You must have wondered where the fruits of your missions went? But anyway, these hidden labs are where we keep the cocks with egos the size of their brain. They think they're the hidden projects, work harder because of it."
"But you can't trust them as far as you can throw em'." He was making new marks on the page now, "So only the trustworthy ones get the promotions. Generally it's a lifelong appointment."
"You'll probably need to know that when we open up those floors again, Elysia." He said it so casually too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 5:59 am
"Aaaah... well, if they're not the hidden projects, are you relocating this lab to appease the guy who works there? Or just because it's standard proceedure?
"And probably. I've been here for over a month or two, but it's been taking me a while to get adjusted and... learn what exactly it's like here. It's also been taking me a while to get used to people I've never met knowing and addressing me by my name." One eyebrow quriked, she glanced at him.
"My meager reputation somehow proceeds me?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
