The great copper dome gleamed, the harsh sun reflecting off the gentle curve in such a way as to set the very air afire, a great golden halo around a building of pure white. The green blue waters of the bay rolled and crashed along the gentle beach front east of the grand building. Along the beach tiny specks, seen at this distance moving like ants, were people enjoying the fine spring day, before the sun became too much to bear in the later summer months.
"Truly beautiful, isn't it?"
The voice snapped Tom from his reverie, and he broke his gaze with the tableau in front of him to look at the speaker. An elderly man in a well tailored business suit gazed bemusedly at him past small oval glasses perched on his nose, his face showing he expected a response.
"Err, yes, yes it is. Very stunning. That's a sight I never expect to get used to, honestly. "
Caught by surprise, Tom stammered in response, hoping he wasn't making a fool of himself in front of someone important.
The elderly gentleman smiled at Tom, his friendly manner quickly putting Tom at ease. "Ohh, you won't, trust me on that young man. I take it this is your first time to the capitol building?"
"Yes, well, no. First time since I was a child. I'm actually just back in Arizona. It's been just under 20 years for me. "
Both men reached for handles set in the roof, Tom with a start, the old man with a practiced ease, as the cable car jostled and bumped. It swung around a tall building along its gear and pulley driven line. As the car settled itself on its new direction, the elderly gentleman settled his glasses back firmly on his nose, and looked back up at Tom, as if seeing him again for the first time.
"20 years? Parents moved your family away after the quake, I take it?"
Tom gave a half smile. "Something like that. The government home I was living in was destroyed in it. I was moved out to an orphanage in New York. I've been trying to get back here ever since. I love the desert. “
The old man snorted. “Well, there's precious little desert left now, and its shrinking all the time." He stuck out his hand. "Ed, Ed Marrow, by the way.”
Tom took the offered hand and pumped it briefly. "Tom Harlan. Wait. Edward Marrow... Director of Planning and Revising?" Tom took a second look at the inquisitive old man. The suit was obviously expensive, but not inordinately so. His hair, gray going on white, was a rather non conservative cut, a ponytail coming down past his shoulders, something that had been out of style in men for over a decade. But if the man's claim was true, then he was looking at the 12th wealthiest man in the state. Considered a Barry Goldwater of the day, Edward Marrow was a man who worked in public service, it was said, for the mere enjoyment of it.
Ed's face brightened further, if such a thing was possible.
"Indeed! You've caught me out! Tom, eh? You must be Felicity's new assistant, then, fresh from Abrahim Tech? Well, at the very least I'll be seeing you at the bi-weekly status meetings. You must let me know sometime what you think of our fair state these days. “
He turned back towards the window they were standing in front of and gazed out, almost longingly, Tom thought.
"It is a gorgeous place. So much lost, yes, but so much gained."
"Indeed sir, I've been thinking the same. But... if you don't mind my asking, why are you taking the cable car? Surely you can afford a private landing, or at least a parking spot?"
"Afford? I can afford many things young man. But if I took a car to the capitol, I'd be stuck in that." Ed pointed to a bridge coming up quickly underneath them, their cable heading for one its supports. Traffic crawled slowly in both directions, a bumper to bumper sea of red lights over a river of brown mud. "As for a private landing, I don't trust aircars, and besides, if I didn't take the cable car every morning, which I do, I'd miss out on this!"
With those words, the man grasped Tom by the shoulders; he turned Tom around and pulled him next to himself at the window, looking outwards. As the car bumped and jostled at another turn around the supporting tower of the bridge, now under their feet, Tom gasped in wonder.
The sun was just rising over the top of the twisted black Encanto Peaks, a solid beam of sunlight streaming through the shattered mountain top towards the dome of the capitol building. Still two miles away, the air that had already been afire nearly exploded with shining light, a rainbow of color as reflected beams from part of the dome facing away from the car stretched out for a mile further to strike the spray from the North Bay Rim, shimmering and glittering. The lights strengthened, most people on the car instinctively looking away from the window, as Tom and Ed stared at the sight, as did one or two others. Then, suddenly, the car was rounding another turn, and the light faded, leaving Tim blinking away the bright purple blotches across his sight. Stumbling again as the car made its final course correction, now heading down a slight slope towards the ground, Tom realized that Ed was staring at his face, the bemused look back on his face.
"Yes, you'll do.”
"I'll do? What do you mean?"
"Well,” Ed began, "I just find that one doesn't last long in Planning and Revising if they aren't able to see the natural beauty around them. Like those dolts, shielding their eyes from that sight." Ed motioned to the occupants of the car around them. "Blind fools, all of them."
Ed turned and continued to look out the window, seemingly done with conversation. Tom stood, looking first out the window, then at the people around, until the car shuddered to a halt on the pier, and people began filing out the doors. As he passed Tom, Ed clapped him on the shoulders.
"Well, I shall be seeing you around."
With that, he left Tom, disappearing into the crowd, as Tom began following signs that pointed to the entrance to the capitol building.
Last edited by alexander on Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:03 am; edited 11 times in total
Following signs leading to the Capitol Building while trying to avoid the crush of humanity on main thoroughfares soon led Tom in circles. The capitol was in full swing already, early on a Monday morning. Following along the same official walkways were groups of lawyers, tourists, and those coming to the capitol for court hearings. Trying to press between the almost unmoving walls of people became simply impossible when he came upon two separate school groups, children in lines marching towards the dome. Realizing that he would be late, he looked left and right, looking for a side passage that would get him around the blockage. Passing through a small garden, he turned in the direction he thought led towards his goal. Coming through a covered walkway, however he found himself right back into the central square where the cable cars loaded and disbursed.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he loaded up the map that had been sent to him, and followed it instead of the signs. Finding a locked metal door marked “Maintenance” that was shown on his map as his start; he tried his thumb on the lock pad. The lock clicked open.
“Good”, he thought to himself. “That means they’ve already coded me in. That should make things easier”
The room past the door was lined with padlocked cabinets, and a concrete tunnel slowly wound its way down. He started down the corridor, lined with cables and pipes running along the tops of the walls and the ceiling. Step by step he followed the instructions on his screen, moving from walkway to walkway. He headed down a tight access corridor, up a flight of steps painted an old red, and through a wooden door. Two feet in front of him was a staircase back down, this one painted military green. Taking an elevator back to the service, and ducking through a small restaurant and out its back door, he realized he had no clue where in the capitol he was. He had heard that during reconstruction of Phoenix, the area around the new Capitol Building had become a maze, but academic knowledge of a fact meant nothing when you were stuck in it. Turning a corner, he ran smack into a guardrail blocking a small maintenance tunnel that was the next step on his map. Standing there cursing silently to himself, he examined the map, scrolling in and out to try and find another way.
As he stood there, a door he hadn't noticed, a mere outline in the steel wall next to him, popped open and slammed into his elbow, sending the phone skittering across the ground. A young girl, 14 or 15 at the most, looked out around the edge of the door.
"Sorry about that! Are you okay?"
Tom bent to retrieve his phone, and, verifying that his phone was undamaged, looked up at the girl.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to figure out how to get past that.” he said, gesturing at the barricade. She looked in the direction he pointed, and banged her fist on the door.
"Damn. They must be ahead of schedule on cleaning out the main lines. Where are you trying to go?"
"Um, Planning and Revising, next to the Dome. I've got a map, but it just tells me where to go, not where I actually am. “He held his phone out to her, showing the map.
Looking at the map and scrolling through the directions, the girl nodded to herself. "Whoever drew this up knows this place almost as well as me. P and R, hunh?“ She looked up at Tom, appraising his face. "This looks like Deborah's work, and that makes you Tom, right?"
Tom eyed her sideways, a little wary. "It does. Does everyone here already know me?"
"Well, Deborah and I chat a lot, and she's been telling me about the new guy. Us admin types around here tend to gossip a bunch, so yeah, everyone's already going to know who you are. “Sticking out her hand, she continued on. “I’m Daneel, by the way."
"Pleasure is mine, Daniele.", he said, shaking her hand, and then taking his phone back as she offered it to him and holstering it on his belt.
"No no, Daneel. Dah-kneel."
Tom stared at her dumbly for a moment, thinking. "You mean, like the robot?"
Daneel smiled broadly at him. "Natch. My parents had a thing for the classics. Most people don't catch the reference. Those that do complain that it’s a guy’s name. "
Tom chuckled. "That’s silly. He was a robot. Gender was just a way of humanizing them, he wasn't actually male, and so that makes it a gender neutral name, right?"
Daneel giggled along with him. "Exactly. Nice to see someone else gets it. C'mon, I was heading to blueprints, right next to P and R. Follow me. “
With that, Daneel led Tom back through the door she had first popped out of. Every so often checking a dog-eared notebook she pulled from a messenger bag strapped securely around her shoulders, she went through a mystifying series of tunnels, elevators, ladders, and staircases. Some were disused and dusty, others looked as if they had just finished painting them yesterday. As they went, she explained.
"You see, they added on top of the old streets and such that were there, and then added layers on top of that. We are just under the Dome here, but a good 6 stories down. As they rebuilt, they added as they needed, and a lot of rooms and such got filled in to provide support, but corridors and stairs remained. Its amazing how cluttered it got in the ten odd years they spent actually building. They got the surface level in order, but down here, you could get lost for days. “
Coming up out of a staircase, Tom blinked as sunlight suddenly shone on his face again, and sneezed.
"Bless you. That’s P and R across the square there." She said, pointing across a small park. "Tell Deborah I said hi." With that, Daneel skipped off in the other direction from where she had pointed, leaving Tom again alone without a guide, but this time, with a destination in sight.
Watching Daneel walking away towards a small unmarked door set in a squat concrete building, Tom felt a vibration on his hip. Pulling his phone out, he saw that the alarm he had set was going off, meaning he was now officially late for his first day. Hurrying across the square towards a copper framed glass building, he took the steps up towards the entrance three at a time. Eschewing the large ornate double doors intended for visitors, he turned to a side door marked “Employee’s Only”, and again his thumb instantly released the internal lock. Opening the door, he walked into a simply appointed hallway right as a woman walked around the corner towards the door. She looked up from her watch, and the look of irritation that was plainly plastered across her face melted away. She ran an appraising eye over Tom, and strode purposefully towards him.
The long hallway gave him time to do some appraising of his own as he stood just inside the door, waiting. The first thing anyone would notice was red hair of such a color that the phrase “flaming” could do no justice to. It fell down just below her shoulders in gentle waves and curls, framing an oval face dusted across the cheeks in freckles. Emerald green eyes dominated her face, and quickly drew all attention to themselves. Of medium height, she possessed the gentle curves of a woman who exercised regular, but didn’t starve herself, a fashion that had been making a come back lately.
“Hi, you must be Tom. I was starting to get worried about you.”
“Hi, yes, I’m Tom. Sorry about that, there was a detour. I still would be not here if I hadn't run into a precocious young lady that knows this place like the back of her hand. Since Ms. Craven's picture on her profile looks nothing like yourself , I would assume you are Ms. Stryker?” At this, he held out his hand in the traditional greeting.
Taking his hand and shaking it, the redheaded woman nodded in the positive. “Indeed. And Deborah, please.” She clasped her other hand over Tom’s, now holding it with both hands. “We tend to be rather, informal, here.”
As she took his hand, Tom felt a tingle at the point of contact. Shaking hands with her, the tingle spread up his arm, a warming sensation much like sunlight on his skin. When her other hand clasped over his, the warmth spread, growing stronger, and suffusing his body inside and out. As the heat grew, strongest at the point of contact, his hand felt as if it were about to burst into flames. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, in fact, some part of the heat felt very good, but that part fled as it intensified. Just as the sensation started to become truly painful, Deborah released his hand, and motioned towards the hallway she had just come from. The feeling of heat instantly fled, but the tingle remained, pulsing in waves across his body, slowly back and forth. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck lift and bend one way then the other, as if the wave was some form of static electricity.
“Well, no sense dawdling. Let me give you the five buck tour, and we'll get you to work!” As they headed down the hallway, Deborah watched Tom cautiously waving his hand at his side, and now and again run his fingers through his hair and across his neck. "So, by precocious young woman, I assume you met Daneel?"
" I did. She says hello by the way."
Deborah smiled broadly, and Tom felt momentarily weak in the knees. "Well, I expect we'll be seeing her later, after shes done informing the whole of the island about our new boy. She does gopher work for pretty much everyone, so that also means shes the main source of gossip for just as many people."
Turning a corner, the hallway opened up into a wide room lined with steel filing cabinets that stretched ten feet up to the ceiling. Wheeled ladders ran along tracks mounted at the top of the cabinets, and several small desks were scattered about the room.
"Well, here we are. P and R central. This will be your desk here," she said, sitting on a mostly empty desk in the middle of the room, and tapping the pine top appreciatively legs folded and swinging. "And there across the room are the bathrooms. I would assume that after the cable car ride in and getting lost, you'd like the opportunity to freshen up before I introduce you to every one else?
"Thank you, I would indeed." Tom turned towards the direction Deborah was pointing and started towards the door as she hopped off the desk. While doing so, her fingers brushed his shoulder, and he jumped as a new wave of fire raced across his skin.
Watching him walk towards the bathroom, rubbing his shoulder, Deborah chuckled softly to herself. Rubbing her own fingers against themselves to get rid of the tingling sensation, she pulled out her phone. She typed out on the small keyboard, “We have a winner”, and sent off the text message.
Walking through the bathroom door, Tom immediately slumped against the wall. His entire body still pulsed, and he couldn't be sure if he was burning with fever, about to freeze solid, or both.
Staggering to the sink, he waved his hands under the spigot, and water began to flow. The water sizzled slightly and steam rose off his hands, but Tom didn't notice this. He splashed the cold liquid on his face, and this time could feel the water boiling as it hit his skin.
The first couple of splashes cooled him down, and further water on his hands and face reacted normally. He stared at himself in the mirror, wondering if he had imagined it.
"What the hell is wrong with me?” The words, spoken aloud to himself, helped to center him. He closed his eyes, breathing deep and slow. He pictured Deborah sitting on the desk waiting for him to come back, knowing he had to keep his cool the first day on the job. If he caught some strange bug on the trip into town, it would have to wait until tomorrow.
Picturing her sitting there, he found himself imagining Deborah beckoning him towards her as he came through the door. As the Tom in his mind watched, Deborah loosened the collar on her top, drawing it down over her shoulders. She toyed with the strap of her bra, grabbing his hand and guiding it under the thick fabric as she leaned forward to kiss him.
Leaning down over the sink, he splashed more water in his face, the daydream evaporating. Tom worried about himself. It wasn’t normal for him to think that way. At least, not that soon after meeting a woman. But something about her was slowly worming its way through his thoughts. No matter how much he disciplined his mind, he found himself wondering if she tasted like she smelled, or if her skin would be as smooth as he imagined it would be underneath his hands.
Walking to the urinal, he found a physical representation of his inner turmoil made relieving the pressure on his bladder difficult. Eventually he managed, pale yellow flowing across polished porcelain and into a waterless drain. Tom smiled at that, a holdover from times when water had been a precious commodity in Phoenix, such water saving fixtures required by law. He washed his hands again. No steam rose this time, and the pulsing across his skin had managed to calm down.
Patting his hands with a paper towel, he walked out of the bathroom. Deborah was still sitting on his desk, and try as he might, Tom could not resist envying the desk, and her curved bottom resting against it. Trying to be as nonchalant as possible, he threw the wadded up paper towel in the trash basket at his feet.
“So, time for that tour?”, He asked.
Grinning at him, Deborah swung her legs up and hopped gracefully to the floor.
“Indeed it is. This now empty room of desks will be full other times. Most everyone in this room is engineers, architects and the like. Everyone is out on the field. They’ll come in one at a time as they need. I’m sure they’ll introduce themselves to you. This way,” She said, leading him towards a door opposite the room from the bathroom, “lies the dark recesses of Accounting.”
Following her through the double doors, Tom half expected a dark corridor with her words. While the next room certainly wasn’t as brightly lit as the main room they left, it was far from dark. Three cubicles filled an offset of the hallway. The occupants thereof were introduced in turn as Mary Ann, Jane, and Janet. They spent a bit of time chatting with the ladies. Janet seemed a bit of a tech person herself, and it quickly became Tom and her talking shop while Deborah small talked with the other ladies.
“Please, feel free, by the way. “ Janet suddenly interjected into the conversation.
“Umm, sorry?”
“The candy bowl, I noticed you eyeing it.” Janet gave him a quick wink. “Feel free to have one.”
“Thanks.” Tom reached out and took a small butterscotch disk, popping it in his mouth. Janet was pushing sixty, but had an early twenties gleam in her eye. Red hair was obviously chemically enhanced, but not out of place on her. Dressed smartly in recent fashion, she wore a small amount of makeup and a decent amount of jewelry. Laugh lines crowed her eyes and crowned her forehead, but few of any other kind of wrinkle.
“Now then, you and Deb had better keep going on the tour. I know everyone will want to talk to you. Since they decentralized fascist a few years back, most all real computer fixing has been done by those that can, like yours truly. People will be glad to see we have a dedicated man now in the department now, and will leave poor old me alone." With that, her eyes twinkled again.
"That said," She continued, "if you’ve any questions on odd software or hardware set ups, I’m your best bet for the woman that set it up, so let me know.”
“Fascist?” Tom asked. “I thought, “ He said jokingly, “that we lived in a democracy, of sorts.”
Janet giggled, and pointed to the lid of a cabinet behind her, where several nameplates hung in a line downwards, her name on each, and a different position. One stated FACS, and the next below it IST.
“Every new department head that came in would change the name. One year we were File Automation and Computer Specialists. The next, we were Information Systems and Technology. For a while, both names were printed on all the stationary, so everything was labeled FACS slash IST. Fascist. The name stuck even once the letters were gone.”
Tom giggled along. “So, you were in IT yourself Janet? How’d you end up, you know..” He trailed off, looking around the small corner office section.
“An over glorified bean counter? Well, they decentralized, claiming that such things were common enough now it was like having a department just to run photocopiers. Heh. There will always be people afraid of computers. Anyways, I wanted to stay with the state. I retire in a few years, and it’s a big drop in retirement pay if I didn’t. Honestly, I choose a position with P and R because I get to chat with Ed every now and then. He mentioned running into you on the cable car. Seemed impressed. “ She eyed him top to bottom from over her desk, and looked at him with a knowing eye. “It takes a lot to impress that man. Anyway, off with you two!”
Tom said his goodbyes to the ladys, and he and Deborah continued walking along the hallway.
Muted earth tone walls, spotted here and there with the occasional painting or picture of a building, curved to the right, coming back towards the main room they had started in. Tom was introduced, praised, questioned, stared at, and fawned over in the mailroom, secretary pool, and call center. Having curved a full half circle, they stood on the other side of double doors that Tom had seen at the far end of the communal office shared by all the architects and himself. Directly opposite was a large open desk in front of a glass fronted office, and a hallway leading back further. Karen sat down at the desk, spinning lazily around in her chair.
“And this expanse of filing cabinets and blueprint bins is my own desk. Felicity’s office is directly behind me.”
“Must be a bit much, having the boss looking over your shoulder all the time.” Tom mused aloud. “Speaking of, where is Ms. Craven?”
Deborah chuckled. “It’s not so bad, actually. She doesn’t micro manage, which is always a plus. And she’s still in Philadelphia, actually. Conference ran a day longer than expected, and then I’m sure you heard about the earthquake yesterday shutting the airport down.” Tom nodded as Deborah continued. “Felicity ended up taking a train to New York, to handle some other business she had there, and is flying back in tonight. She sends her regrets, and looks forward to meeting you tomorrow.
Deborah stood, grabbing a small case from on top of her desk. She ushered Tom down the hallway behind her desk. “Here we have various conference rooms and drafting studios.” Pointing at a rather imposing door, covered in sound proofing and with a large, old fashioned number pad lock, Deborah turned to Tom in a conspiratorial manner. “And that is the old man’s private studio. When the red light is on, it means do not disturb, or else!”
Two small led lights were mounted above the door. One was lit, a bright green. “And when it’s green?” Tom asked.
“Then you can press the page button here for his attention, but only when it’s important. Right in here, now.” Saying this, Deborah unlocked a conference room door, and ushered Tom inside. As he walked past the entrance, lights flicked on, revealing a rather standard large oval table with seats around it, and a white wall at the far end, obviously for use with a projector hidden somewhere in the ceiling. Closing the door behind her, Deborah leaned back against the wood, and smiled broadly.
“Now,” She said throatily, “We can have some real fun.“
All of Tom’s early uncontrolled fantasies came screaming back to the front of his mind. He could feel sweat break out on his forehead. “Umm, Deborah, what exactly…”
Grinning even broader, Deborah brought up the hand with the black case in front of her. “Movie time!”
“Ohh” was all Tom said, relief evident on his face. “Classics? Comedy? Adventure? A good sci fi maybe?”
Deborah laughed, unzipping the case and taking from it small plastic cubes, holding each up to the light for a moment before moving to the next one. “Nope, I wish. Good old fashioned training films. Mr. Marrow’s idea. He says that anyone that can stomach a one hour training film can stomach working with architects all day. It’s a little dry, in a middle of the desert at high noon in July kind of way.“ Finding the cube she was looking for, she pressed on the table top and a small window appeared in the wood grain. Pushing the cube into a small slot on the edge of the table, she dragged a finger along the glass window and stabbed at it twice. The white wall lit up blue.
“She looked up at Ttom, a mischievous grin on her face. “Why Tom, if I didn’t know any better I’d think that was your way of asking me out to a movie. I’m flattered, but I barely know you. Ask me again next week.” Tom flustered and stammered, turning red. Obviously enjoying the reaction, Deborah’s eyes twinkled as she leaned in close to Tom. She whispered directly into his ear “Or perhaps you had hoped I brought you in here for some ”alone” time?”
The twitch of her lips nearly brushing his ear brought the feeling of heat back as strong as ever. His skin thrummed and vibrated as if flames danced across it. He gave up even trying to formulate a reply, and stood there, silent, bottom lip pressed firmly against his top teeth.
Deborah stood back up and laughed. “You’re embarrassed? My my, how refreshing. I’m sorry, I’ll not tease you any longer. Enjoy the movie, and I’ll be back in an hour.“
With that, she stabbed at the window on the desk top again, and the blue wall began shifting. She let herself out, and, after she had gone, Tom took several deep breaths, and sat down to watch as the audio started.
The lights dimmed automatically as canned music rose while the screen displayed the state seal of Arizona. Small text on the bottom of the screen warned of unspeakable things that would be done to people who copied or distributed the film, although Tom thought to himself that having a job that required bootlegging stuffy training films was probably punishment enough.
A title scrolled across the screen to an accompanied rise in the volume and intensity of the music. “Planning, Revising, And YOU!”
The view changed to a rather non descript office, and a much younger Edward Morrow walked onto the set and sat down.
Looking out at the screen, he said, “Hello, my name is Ed Morrow. Congratulations, and welcome to Panning and Revising, or P and R, as we like to call it. P and R has, since its creation in 2104, been responsible for the creation, upkeep, and implementation of city planning for the entire combined Phoenix metropolitan area, and later Maricopa county as a whole. After the rampant destruction of the big one in 2100, and the change of climate from suddenly becoming a beach front city, a tight controlled approach to rebuilding and to new growth was essential.”
The image changed to an overhead view of the valley, taken shortly after the monster earthquake and mountain building caused by it. Smoke still billowed from the new Estella Peaks’ central crater, and Tom looked at the south face, black and featureless from this height. He found himself imagining the steel girders sticking up out of slowly cooling rock, an image he’d seen on the news shortly after arriving with a bus full of fellow wards of the state in New York. A wave of emotion hit him sideways, sadness and loss coming to the forefront. Tom shook off the melancholy, wondering at the weak control he had over all his emotions that day. The scene changed to one of construction, on the new state capitol building it appeared. He realized he had missed a few minutes of Ed’s voiceover in his recollection.
“And after the completion of the new Copper Dome by the Office of Reconstruction, and after the existing urban planning offices had failed in trying to properly rebuild the rest of the capitol, they were all merged into Planning and Revising. So enthralled with the architect who designed the Copper Dome, one Edward Morrow, they asked him to head up this new governmental department. That would be me, in case you weren’t paying attention earlier.“ Tom chuckled softly at the joke. “Lucky for everyone involved, I accepted. Planning and Revising has grown by leaps and bounds since those days, and we now control every aspect of business zoning, home inspection, road planning, and of course, design of government buildings. We currently employ nearly six thousand people state wide, several hundred of whom work in this building.”
Tom started for a moment. Those were current numbers. But this film was obviously a decade old. Had they recorded multiple videos then for growth? That made no sense, he thought.
The younger Ed Morrow continued speaking, back on camera directly. “And you make us one step closer to six thousand mark, Tom. By keeping our databases running smoothly, and all equipment and software up to date, you will help ensure that our people can do their work in keeping Arizona growing at a healthy rate.” The onscreen Ed Morrow’s eyes seemed to zoom directly into Tom’s. The voice continued to speak, but again in general terms. For a moment, Tom thought perhaps he had imagined it, that the ten year old video was speaking directly to him. Then he caught it. Ed was blinking in sequence. It was a long pattern, but it repeated. “Clever.” He muttered to himself.
The video moved to maps of the building, showing the area he had already explored, as well as two basements full of records and computer equipment, someplace he would probably spend more time than at his desk.
The movie soon drawled its way to the end, after disgorging more history and facts about the department and the capitol in general. The ending music swelled up, the lights went back on, and the door popped open. Deborah slipped into the room.
“One hour on the dot. So, what did you think?”
Tom rubbed his eyes and stood up. “Well, for one thing, that’s a bang up computer model of Mr. Morrow. Took me a few minutes to catch on. “
Deborah threw her head back and laughed. Her laugh was rather infectious, and Tom found himself giggling.
“Ah, I lost the bet. Yeah, Janet actually ran the modeler back in the day when Ed first came up with the idea. I figured having him talk directly to you was overkill, but that you’d still be mystified. Guess I was wrong. Well, it looks like lunchtime to me. What’s your pleasure, Mexican or Oriental?”
Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 12:18 am Post subject: 6: The three margarita lunch
True to Deborah's word, the main room had taken on a semblance of life, desks occupied, and people moving in and out. The desk next to Tom's was occupied by a man that seemed large from the back. As they approached, he stood up, and moved from merely large to very large.
"Rocky!", Deborah called out. The large man turned, and a smile split his face. Bleached white teeth shone, made all the whiter by dark brown skin. Tight black ringlets crowded each other, barely half an inch of covering on his head. Dressed in jeans and polo, a tool belt buckled around his waist, he seemed like a common worker to Tom.
"Tom, this is Rocky, Rocky Jones. He's the lead of the Priors and Progression committee, which means he's the biggest user of our older archives. So you and he will be working together a lot. Rocky, this is our new computer jockey, Tom Harlan."
Deborah finished the introductions, and the pair reached out to shake hands. At the point of contact, Tom's hand and arm shook again, but with a cool, moist feeling, rather than the fire given by Deborah. Shaking out his fingers, and trying to ignore the pulsing across his flesh, Tom struggled to think of something to say.
"Rocky? Your parents a big fan of the Italian Stallion?"
"Ooo, a fan of the classics, I see. No, its actually short for Cirroco. Its a bit of a mouthful, so it gets shortened."
"I see... wait." Tom looked up at the large man, questioningly. " Cirroco Jones. You aren't named for the captain of the DSV Ringmaster, by any chance?"
Rocky shook his head. "Nope, its a name for the winds off the desert. My parents met in Morocco when stuck in a small lodge for a few days because of a storm. I've never heard of him or it. "
"Her, actually." Tom replied. "Character in an old novel. I've already met the living robot, I was started to wonder if there was a glut of people named after fictional characters here."
Rocky laughed. "Well, we have a Mack Blaze in Pipelines, but he's a guy."
"There's also a Bobby Roman in security, used to be a private eye, as well."
When Tom and Rocky both stared at her blankly, Deborah shrugged her shoulders. "Old mystery novel."
"Anyways, I was about to take Tom here to lunch. Taberna Macayo's. Care to tag along, or are you busy with something?"
A quick ten minute walk, again dodging in and out of small passageways, took the trio to a small avenue of restaurants just off the main capitol square. Taberna Macayo's, the newest opening on the street, was relatively busy despite the early hour at which Tom found himself having lunch. A synth band was set up on the patio, nodding to themselves in their helmets as something resembling mariachi music blasted from speakers, and living wall panels blazed with twisting, churning patterns of light, moving in time with the music.
Rocky motioned towards the band. "Damn synths. Call me old fashioned, but if you're going to make music, you should learn instruments to let the music out of your head, not plug in and download it."
"Could you do better?", Tom asked.
"Hell yes, I can. And I can prove it too! We're playing at a club in Fountain Valley Saturday night. You should come."
"Wait, you really are in a band? Nice. What kind?"
"Fresh rock, mostly, though we do a lot of oldies at request. I play drums. Any excuse to hit things. "
As they walked through the door, a slim woman at the bar shouted and came hurrying towards them, dodging through tables and waiters. Making it without spilling a drop of the drink in her hand, she reached out and hugged Deborah and Rocky in turn, then stuck her hand out at Tom.
"Hey, I'm Katarina. You?"
Tom reached out and took her hand. For the third time that day, he felt his skin and muscles go insane. But instead of burning or a feeling of sweat and moist, he found himself feeling lighter, and imagining a breeze from behind hitting him. "I'm, uhh, I'm Tom. New guy at P and R."
Katarina nodded, and dropped her hand from his. "Cool Cool. I'm with Senator Thomas' office myself. Interning. "
Deborah spoke up. "Hey, Kat, how's about you entertain Tom here for a minute. Tom, Rocky and I will go grab some grub and drinks. Be right back"
Deborah and Rocky sidestepped their way past tables and chairs to a counter marked with a big sign; "Order Aqui".
"So," Rocky said sideways, "He's our boy, isn't he?"
Deborah chuckled. "I believe so. You get a feel off him as well I take it?"
"Ohh yeah. Talk about powerful. If that's who we've been looking for, she is going to be VERY happy."
"Tell me about it" As they reached the counter, Deborah grabbed an order menu and started checking off items. "He shook my hand for a second time earlier, and I thought he'd explode in a ball of fire then and there. I'm betting he wears cotton undies, he would have melted anything else. "
Rocky gave Deborah an odd glance. "Ball of fire? You mean he's a bird?"
"Of course he is. What else would he be? Wait, you'd didn't get heat when he touched you?"
Rocky shook his head. "Nope. Tom was as wet behind the ears as I am. Think he's a double?"
It was Deborah's turn for odd glances, this time back towards where Tom and Katarina were standing, laughing at some shared Joke. "If he is, she will be even happier. I tell you though, that boy was so fired up, I barely managed to keep my cool. I came this close to throwing him down on the conference room table. Only the fact that its not insulated in there..." Deborah mused to herself, chewing on the pen. "That, and if he is the one we want, or just one of us, and I Ignite him before she gets to his ass, she'll kill me. But damn..."
Rocky grinned evily at her as she handed the paper menu to a cashier. He traced his finger in loops across the bar, and brought it up, wet with an impossibly large drop of water hanging from a finger tip. "Really now? All, hot and bothered are we? Need a hand, cooling down, later?" With this, he flicked his finger, sending the large drop sailing through the air, where it landed with a hiss on Deborah's neck. She smiled as steam rose across her face, the large drop quickly boiling away before it had a chance to run down her neck and into her shirt.
"Hmmm. Well, I am always up for a good sauna, and since Felicity wont be coming in until tommorow, I have the keys to her penthouse. Meet me there tonight?"
Rockey grinned wide enough to nearly split his face in two. "Well now, I have practice tonight, but we should be done about midnight. I could be at Felicity's 'bout 12:30. If that isn't too late for you?"
"Well, I DO need my beauty sleep, but if you make it worth my while to stay up, I think that can work." At this, the cashier came back with several bags and a tray of bottles. "Here, you're the big strapping man. Get those would you?" Walking back towards Tom and Katarina, Deborah looked over her shoulder back at Rocky as he juggled the food. "Lets see how Tom has fared with the airhead, shall we?"
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