Technology in Shadows

Title: Technology in Shadows

Author: Haru Saito (RainbowKitsune)
Warning: Another daily prompt gone horribly crazy. Hehehe...

Summary: Short Story. Shou Li gets a voicemail from his boss with a cryptic message, and he needs to come in right away, even though it’s his day off. This message is actually a side-job in disguise – it’s probably dangerous, so why does Shou keeping taking these jobs?

[Writer’s Digest] Daily Prompt: You get into work and find that your boss has left a voicemail message on your phone. The message is urgent. Though, what’s peculiar is that the message is not work related. Write this scene.

Post your response (500 words or less) in the comments below. (…or in 2,604 words)

*****

"Our work is never over.” The beep on the answering machine echoed solemnly in the small, sparsely furnished apartment. The beep was quickly followed by loud crashing sounds from the bedroom, since not only was it 5 a.m., but the small Asian teen had a very late Friday night at work. Late, as in 1 a.m. late. This little wake-up call from his boss wasn’t that appreciated on his day off. More so on the morning of his day off. Supposed day off, it seemed.

Shou Li heaved a sigh, his bangs falling gracefully over his right eye, covering it almost completely. Straight, medium length hair in a layered cut to his neck; this style was popular among teens, which was proof how young he had been hired. The giant corporation, Networked Cyberfrontier, was in desperate need of specially skilled security guards, and while he was still eighteen, his skills in various forms of Chinese martial arts was an automatic in. Shou’s skills were a few levels below master rank; no thanks to his parents enrolling him from the time he could walk.

That, and his uncle was head of security at Networked Cyberfrontier, a corporation that had their hands in every field of electronics possible, from telecommunications research, medical supplies, toys and games, security software, kitchen appliances – and the list goes on.

Shou’s motorcycle reached Cyberfrontier’s building in just under ten minutes. Traffic wasn’t heavy on a Saturday morning, anyways. He pulled up to the main building, two rows away from the entrance. After locking his helmet to his bike, he scrambled through the pockets of his leather jacket for his pass, thankful that it was still in his jacket pocket, seeing as how he suddenly remembered he never actually looked for it before leaving his apartment.

As he walked into the main lobby, his eyes darted directly to the unusually long line of security guards signing out from the night shift. As far as Shou could tell, overnight security never had that many employees scheduled; almost fifty were crammed in the doublewide hallway leading out.

Shou was thankful for the second time today that the employee entrance was on the opposite side of the receptionist counter, in a different hallway too. Then, he spotted someone he knew, someone that brought a smile to his face.

"Hey Uncle Kin!” Shou shouted across the room. The noise from the guards slowly started to echo in the giant lobby; the giant lobby with the large domed, glass paneled ceiling.

Sliding his badge through the slot, Shou stepped past the metal detector, which granted him access to the rest of the off-limits section of the building. The line to go in was relativity short in compared to the "exit” line. As it was Saturday, only a select few, mostly scientists or research employees (and a few guards) even needed to come in. The Boss was surprisingly accepting about granting weekends off.

Normally, Shou was part of the "weekends off” crowd, since his five-star employee status granted the ability to choose his own work hours (which never include Saturdays, Sundays or Mondays) but his boss had left Shou a special message on his machine that morning. It wasn’t a normal request, either.

Uncle Kin waved to Shou, a giant smile sweeping across his face. "I never expected you to be back until Tuesday! You never work weekends, although I can’t really blame you.”

Shou smiled. "The boss woke me up this morning with another request. He can’t go one week without giving me one of his special side jobs. Usually he’s considerate enough to at least wait until Tuesday before making me work overtime - off the clock, might I add.”

"Figures, right? You’re a favorite, what can I say? I would be at home right now if I had the choice. You’re lucky.” Kin’s smile gave way to a momentary sigh, a tired look creeping over his face. Yet, as quickly as it left, his smile was back in place, and Kin was as cheerful as ever.

This didn’t escape Shou’s notice, and had the distinct feeling that whatever was keeping Kin here today was because of whatever mission the boss wanted to drop in Shou’s lap.

While it wasn’t unusual for Kin to be here on the occasional Saturday and Sunday, but today – today was distinctly different.

"Is everything okay, Uncle Kin? Don’t tell me you had what looks like the entire overnight staff, plus forty surprise guards meet you when you came in to work last night?”

Kin laughed, "Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. I’m not the only security manager on duty, remember. But, it wasn’t normal. I can’t say anything about it, though. Top Secret, and all that. This area isn’t secure.” He looked around quickly, in a shifty manner, as if he knew someone had overheard them talking. Shou tried to get more information out of his uncle, but he wouldn’t say anymore.

‘Whatever is going on,’ Shou thought to himself. ‘I’ll probably find out once I see the big Boss.’

With a few parting words, Shou waved goodbye to his Uncle and started towards the back stairwell. Shou had a policy of using the emergency stairs over the elevators, as the exercise and slight change of scenery helped take his mind off some of the mind numbing security work he had to put up with in a large corporate building like this one. Even if the Boss did have strange tastes in décor, the majority of the building looked drearily like any other.

The stairwells in this particular building were a favorite of his, however, as each landing floor of the stairs held a small, open, barred window that let in fresh air.

Stale, recycled, corporate air had nothing on the fresh air that flowed inside these stairwells. Most of them, anyways.

A brisk jog up fifteen floors, and Shou had just barely started to breath slightly heavier than normal. That was another thing that had (eventually) come to scare the living daylights out of his fellow employees: Shou’s crazy endurance and fighting skills. It didn’t take long for the entire security staff (and everyone else) to stop picking on the short Asian security guard. His prowess seemed to outmatch the entire building, with the possible exception of the big Boss…

Pushing open the heavy door, he found the wonderfully stale air hit him first in a small whoosh. Then the cream-colored walls, the long hallways with dull nature paintings and, in the distance, rows upon rows of cubicles. Shou turned left, away from the cubicles.

From here, he had to take the elevator to the, yes, 50th floor. He could only take the stairs up to floor 16, as only one elevator in the entire building went directly to the big Boss’s office. One would have thought the stairs would go up to the top floor in an emergency, not, apparently, in this building.

As Shou walked towards the elevators, he couldn’t help but admire the Boss’s office. He had to hand it to his Boss, as the guy really knew what an office should be.

In fact, the entire 50th floor was his office. Fountains and waterfalls, a pool, hot tub, sauna and spa section, a garden and nature section, and his office section – all surrounded by 360 degrees of floor to very high ceiling windows. Did he mention the rock-climbing wall? That was awesome. Being one of the Boss’s favorites had its advantages.

The elevators, however, were another matter. The main reason he avoided them like the black plague was the crazy speed. They shot you directly to the floor you needed to go with what could only be a turbo powered elevator engine. This was probably a one-of-a-kind elevator in existence. Proof: It would take a total of ten seconds from the time Shou stepped in, waited for the doors to close, and open again on the 50th floor. In addition, half that time was spent waiting for the doors to slide open and closed. Not fun.

It didn’t matter how in shape he was, this ride made Shou’s stomach throw itself up into his neck every single time. Shou didn’t know how his Boss did this every day. He bet the Boss lived in his "office”. That or he had a secret helicopter pad or plane landing strip on the roof. It would totally make much more sense - unless his Boss was just immune to extreme, sudden changes in pressure (or gravity itself).

If only the boss had approved his request for a personal stairway leading up to the 50th floor. Sure, it would take longer, it would tire him out like nothing else, but he never ate his stomach on his trips up and down the stairs. He could happily live his entire life without that feeling.

How the employees did it every day astounded him too – but then again, most are out of shape desk workers. That said it all.

"Ding. 50th Floor.” The elevator voice announced. The elevators in these buildings actually said the word "ding” instead of making the sound. This was further evidence of the big Bosses strange tastes. Normal elevators played a "bell” sound that dinged, but these elevators were, apparently, too good for the "normal” ding.

"Boss, I’m home!” He called out jokingly. The elevator opened to the same cream wall color, but the atmosphere here was classy, upscale and rich feeling. Everything from the pictures, sofas and multitude of potted plants all the way down to the wall trim, floor tile, carpet (in some places) and small things you wouldn’t normally notice upon first inspection just shouted "money” and "power”.

If intimidation by material possession was a popular tactic in winning over accounts and other business ventures, the Boss probably didn’t have to do much at the meeting itself.

"Hey Shou, the Boss is expectin’ you.” Rita said, with her soft southern accent. She absently stroked the wavy, strawberry blond hair that fell over her right shoulder. "I do declare, he really must have a soft spot for you, you know. The way he goes on and on… Just watch out for yourself this time. I think he means some serious business for you.”

Rita was the Boss’s personal secretary; her (large) office looked and felt more the size of a small condo then a place of business. Yet she was extremely serious when it came to work. The Boss didn’t pay her an outrageous salary because of her beautiful face or elegant sense of fashion. Shou had seen her once show down an entire room of twitchy business managers from other companies when the Boss was late. In a sense, Rita was more dangerous than any martial art moves Shou could dish out; Rita didn’t have to lift a finger to get an entire room of unruly people in line. A glare would work just as well.

Regardless, Shou thanked her and continued down past her office to the set of doors leading to the biggest office in the entire building. His office was also the only one in the building to have a giant set of medieval styled double doors: heavy and elegant, with every detail carved or crafted by hand.

This hallway had three doors (four if you count the double doors): Rita’s office, the big boss’s office and a single door on Shou’s left which lead to the giant menagerie of differently themed rooms as described earlier. The rainforest room most likely behind door number three, as Shou could feel humidity seeping out through the cracks in the door. Of course, the two giant windows beside on each side of the door told him the same thing: a rainforest with, interestingly enough, stuffed rainforest animals to match.

A doorknocker. The big Boss uses an old-fashioned (gargoyle shaped) doorknocker; he was lucky his office, albeit big, looked very modern and professional. Otherwise, his business meetings would be… interesting. He could imagine what the meetings would be like the big Boss had decided to decorate with armored knights and large, sharp swords for décor. At least the Boss was one of the only people around to have an actual round table for his business meetings. From what Shou gathered, everyone else in the city seemed to use the clichéd rectangular table for their meetings. Efficient? Sure. Awesome? Not so much.

Hearing the Boss call him in, Shou stepped inside and headed directly past the large round table in room one of the Boss’s office. Room two’s door was open, showing off the biggest corner office in the city. The view always caught his breath from up here, although today he wasn’t in the mood to admire it like usual. Rita’s warning unknowingly caught him off guard, plus whatever was worrying Uncle Kin – all this seemed more immediate now that he was face to face with the big Boss.

Although everyone seemed to be taller than Shou who was 5’2”, the Boss was definitely up there in the giant section: Caucasian, short brown hair, 6’7”, and 210 lbs of mostly muscle - probably a jock in high school.

The Boss had a name, but no one knew it except Shou. Sworn to secrecy, even on one-to-one meetings like this, the fact remained his name was a forbidden subject. Even quietly in passing. Although, in certain circumstances…

The Boss looked over Shou once, before twitching his lips into an evilly delicious smile. Motioning him to move closer, Shou braced himself for what was to come. He felt a giant hand ruffle his hair, and winced in anticipation – it took only a second. The Boss took a firm grip on Shou’s hair, pulling his head back in a sudden jerk until Shou’s eyes were gazing straight up into dark brown eyes. His neck strained under the pressure, but he didn’t dare make a sound. Dark eyes continued to study him; boring into him as if they were searching for something hidden. For a secret, only the Boss would find.

Seemingly satisfied with what he found, the boss released his grip and turned back to the windows. Shou let out a silent breath of relief, which the Boss (thankfully) didn’t seem to notice. He motioned for Shou to come join him and pointed out the second tallest building in the city. "Do you see that building, Shou? Geneticorp Telecommunications.”

Shou watched as the Boss grinned happily to himself, like he was studying a prized animal or trophy within his grasp. "I need another business incorporated into my Empire. Geneticorp’s researching into telecommunications is leading the way into a new direction of communication for the world. Their technology is also at the forefront of cellular technology, and soon will surpass even my company, Networked Cyberfrontier.”

Turning to Shou, the Boss’s gracefully swept the hair out of the smaller teen’s face, as he continued talking. "As you might have gathered, they are resistant to my normal methods. To any methods I’ve tried so far.”

Shou nodded, thinking of Rita’s warning and of his Uncle Kin, the brief yet worried look on his face. The Boss’s hand never left Shou’s face. "They are totally independent and very strong. Geneticorp also has… skills, similar to yours. Protection. Power, similar to mine.”

A nod in response, Shou followed each word. "Do whatever is necessary, but get them to bow down and sell out. As usual, I will reward you… personally, with a job well done. Whatever reward you wish is yours.”

Shou leaned gently into the caress, "Then, what I wish for is…”