This choice: Warn other coworkers at the office about the virus. • Go Back...Chapter #5Warn other coworkers at the office about the vi... by: Clockworange   You try not to feel overwhelmed by the strange, new sensations coming from Cassie's body. How cold the air-conditioned office feels on her hairless arms. How her long black hair bounces and tickles your neck and shoulders. How her B-cup breasts press outward into her bra, or the smooth emptiness between her legs.
Snapping out of it, you decide to explore Cassie's body some other time. For now, you and everyone else in this office are in danger. Although you assumed the virus' role for only a short time, you know that it won't achieve its objectives by stealing just one person's life. It will try to take over as many people as possible.
But the virus has two disadvantages. One: it destroyed its only copy of code (not counting Cassie currently stored in her own thumb drive) and would need to duplicate it from scratch. Two: while the virus probably knows how to do this, it would take time to manually type in everything using human hands. You're not sure how long that would take, but it gives you enough time to make a strategy.
So what to do, exactly? Taking stock of your options, you rule out the first ideas that come to mind. Running away would look suspicious, since Cassie just got here; also, it wouldn't solve your problem of how to get your old life back. And what would confronting the new 'Brett Wilson' solve? The virus is physically much bigger and stronger than you now... and even if you somehow managed to subdue him, you'd only be hurting your own body.
That leaves another option, one that doesn't solve every problem but at least buys more time.
You push yourself up from Cassie's desk, feeling her boobs lightly bounce within her blouse, and wobble on her heels over to Claire Lisowski's cubicle.
"Good morning, Claire!" You chirp, bracing yourself against the cubicle wall and smiling at the pink-faced, overweight woman in her mid-forties. Claire, who had been eating a bowl of oatmeal at her desk, wipes her mouth and spins around in her chair to greet you.
"Mornin' Cassie!" Her sunny disposition seems to always make her eyes twinkle. She tucked her blonde hair in a bun this morning, and she's wearing a hot pink blazer that might have fit her better twenty years ago. At least it made her gigantic breasts look ready to burst out at any second.
Shaking off those thoughts for a moment, you reply, "It's been a while since we've caught up. How are the kids?"
"Amy's in her final year of university. She's still looking for a job once she graduates, but the market is pretty tough right now given the economy." She prattles on and on. You keep up the small talk, buttering her up until...
"Claire, can I ask you for a teensy favour?" You ask, clasping your hands together.
She blinks. "Of course, Cassie, anything for you girl!"
You sigh. "Good. Because I promised Brett I wouldn't tell anyone and keeping this to myself is just killing me."
Claire's ears perk up. Gossip involving coworkers is her specialty, and any story with the slightest hint of intrigue passes by her cubicle at some point. Claire is the focal point for office drama and everyone knows it. Which is why you approached her first with this plan.
"Brett Wilson?" She echoes, and you nod silently. She stands up, darts her eyes left and right, and leans forward. "So you have something juicy about him? Because plenty of us would love to know what's going on beneath that smouldering exterior of his, woof!"
She giggles, giving you a knowing look. Wait a minute... is she (and possibly other women in the office) interested in you?
Licking your lips, you ignore the thought and push on. "Well, he didn't tell me too much. This morning he mentioned something about signing up for a professional certification course."
Claire raises her eyebrows. "So is he, like, looking for a new job? How long has he been here, around five years right? If he wants it to be a secret then I can't imagine Gene taking the news too well if he finds out."
"That's right," You lie. "I tried to persuade him to tell others, but he wanted to be left alone to study. So don't tell anyone about this, and try to keep your space so he can study at work. Like I said, I'm not sure if he found another job yet, but he really stressed being left alone."
Knowing your lie is practically an open secret now with Claire's chatter mouth, you add one more thing. "Also, Brett told me he's in charge of administering the social engineering test this week. So if you get any e-mails from him — any at all — don't click on the attachment. Okay?"
Claire rests her hands in her lap and winks at you. "M'kay! Leave Brett alone and be on the lookout for suspicious e-mails from him? Thanks for the info, Cassie. Your secret is safe with me."
You turn away and, rolling your eyes, mince over toward Jessica Chastain and Ted Jung's cubicles and tell them the same thing for good measure. If you can isolate the virus and prevent anyone from opening its e-mails, maybe you can prevent anyone from being taken over.
Jessica is around your age, very cute and practically a genius. Ted is older, in his early fifties, but is an avid marathoner and keeps himself in pretty good shape.
Returning to Cassie's cubicle, you plug in the thumb drive and tell Cassie what you've done. She agrees that it's a good idea, but you can tell more of her mind has become clouded by the virus' built-in programming.
Over the next few hours, you perform Cassie's work in Quality Control so she doesn't fall behind. Occasionally glancing over to your old cube, you see the virus typing away furiously on the keyboard. What could he be up to? If the so-called primary objective was to take over a human body, then what's the next objective?
Cassie is much smarter than you, admittedly, which is one reason why you have a crush on her. If she were here, it would be easier to put two heads together and figure out what to do next. Because time is definitely not on your side.
That can only mean one thing, however: Giving the thumb drive containing Cassie's mind to someone else and getting them to download her onto their computer, allowing her to take over their body. That way she could help rather than be stuck on a thumb drive.
The question: Whose life should you make Cassie take over?
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