South Dakota Jewish Autonomous Zone Ch.0

Prologue: A Genesis.
The ticking of the clock on the brutalist gray walls dictated the pace of workers as they toiled away in their cubicles. Lifeless paintings of flowers and kittens with motivations nothings underneath littered the wall around the clock. Everything was as normal as an office could be. The watercooler bubbled away as workers desperately searched for a break and to occupy its space to appear busy to their boss, who sat in his corner office, just diagonal to the bubbler, he too pretending to be busy lest his boss come down to ask about some progress report or whether or not the various spreadsheets are done.
The floor plan of the office was nothing to write home about. Cubicles stood in a grid, four per quadrant, four quadrants per floor. Gapped enough for meager footpaths. Footpaths often frequented by the floor managers. A position different from the boss, they existed outside of the business hierarchy and were there to increase worker morale. Dressed in a long black robe, black dress shoes with a golden buckle, a circular velvet cap, and a long white and black striped scarf, with long dangling fringes, wrapped around the shoulders. As they walked up and down the isles, they sang chants in foreign tongues. The long and bushy beards of these men slowly accumulated with sweat as the day went on. Their intricately braided and uncut side hairs glistened as they jostled and jangled to the beat of the steps.
In the ground floor lobby, stacked beneath an endless spiring mass of copy and pasted floors. On the far left wall of this entrance space lays an intricately masoned stone mantelpiece upon which sits a nine-pronged candelabra, fancily decorated with golds and blues and reds, it is the soul that breathed life into the otherwise dull lobby space. The stone hood wrapped itself around an electric heater in the form of a fireplace with wood crackling and burning inside an LCD-screen. Like a silk scarf woven around the neck of a socialite; a thing of beauty wrapping a husk of its proper form.
A constant and boring stream of people flow in and out of this central space. Some relax on the couches placed near the warmth box, some funnel towards the vending machines in the back, others converse. No matter the changing of scenery, people or decor, one constant remained: the soulless greetings of the receptionist at the front desk, positioned just a healthy distance from the entrance yet with plenty of open space in the back. Her desk was stocked with pamphlets, brochures, floor maps, and other general information sheets about the business which she would attempt to hand out to the equally unwilling participant of the interaction. Just as the people and their purposes rotate throughout the day, so too does the receptionist herself. A position replaceable as a bullet fired from a gun.
The sides of the lobby led into various hallways filled with technologies of indescribably complexity. Lights flash, sounds beep, buttons pressed, cables plugged and unplugged, plug-and-play system cards swapped out with identical ones, and entire racks of these unknown and intricate pieces of machinery are rolled around the hallways. All seemingly random actions to an unknowing observer. The hallways led to other hallways, an infinite maze of offices and useless rooms, yet all who walk this brutalist jungle find their way with direct purpose and knowledge of their surroundings. Like a colony of ants, they filter themselves into their required places of being all while, seemingly, lacking omniscient direction and guidance.
The elevators scattered around the building are wide, very wide and numerous. Large enough to carry the various individuals who find business within this building and whatever pieces of luggage they must bring with them. All climbing up to a single point, the apex of the building and its business. At the very top floor lay the boss's office.
The boss was rarely ever seen or heard from directly by any of the mass majority of the people who work in this building. His office sat unoccupied for most of the year. Only on rare occasions did he pop into the office for a meeting or even rarer, to mingle with his employees. It was quite the special thing to see him let alone for him to speak to you. He was quite honored at this business.
His office was quite small, just enough for his desk, two chairs, a singular double wide filing cabinet, and footpaths surrounding either side of the wooden work space. His desk was a rich mahogany red, the wood fibers colored a deep black, and a shiny glaze coating the top which reflected the dull orange glow of the lantern he insisted on lighting his office with. The back wall of the small room was an entire window with a wooden sill at its base which extended up and out enough for the purpose of a back counter. Here he places a eucalyptus scented candle filled the room with a relaxing smoke and a hazy fog the boss enjoyed working in, and a record player which received seldom use except for certain, very punctually observed, days of celebration.

On a completely average day, a Wednesday, a building tech engineer, clearly denoted by his clothing, walked in through the large rotating glass doors on the left side of the large expanse of glass doors which made up the entrance..
“Welcome to Smith Co.,” she said, twirling her hair with her fingers. “Anything I can do to help you today?” Her eyes gleamed in the light as he caught her infatuated glare. His eyes were hard and rough, his face sharp. He stood there in silence looking everywhere but at her for what felt like an eternity.
“M-may I help you?” She began again.
The man seemed startled and surprised, as if he forgot she was there at all. He looked down at her, noticed her shirt, the stain on the left breast pocket against the striking blue of the uniform. A special pin was pressed against the stained pocket, gold and blue it glimmered. “Colors of the smiths”, he thought.
Upon realizing how long he had been staring at this woman, he lifted his blank expression into a smile, and happily peered into her eyes. A chill dropped down her spine, ghostly and horrific, yet exactly what she's been yearning for. Her heart fluttered and her face hid nothing, betraying her most private feelings to this stranger of infatuation. The man chuckled at the obvious advance she wanted to make, the way his lip curled into a smile made her fall even further in love. His soft, short, curly hair jostled as he turned his head side to side, his eyes showing a need, a purpose, for being there at that desk.
With another awkward chuckle, the man rubbed the back of his head and said, “hello there, i'm not sure if this is the right place for me–i looked around and it seems surely this is the right place–um, let me just cut to the chase, i have an appointment with your Abba and i was wondering just how one could find his office, im sure theres a flier somewhere here in this pile that tells me,” he shifted down and leaned against his elbows on the desk, “but why would i do that when there's a lovely beautiful lady here who could tell me such a piece of information.”
Her eyes widened, not just because this man called her beautiful but because he had a meeting with the boss. Last time she could recall someone having a meeting with the boss was the day of her job interview…eight years ago.
“Oh sure! it's just down the lobby, it's the only eye-catching piece in this whole place.”
The man looked over towards the elevator doors and widened his expression when he realized the symbol glazing the doors outer exterior.
“might i just ask, and shut me down if this isn't my place to be asking, but what brings you up to the bosses office?”
“There's gonna be some…changes taking place here, and he's contracted a company I work for and I'm here to discuss those…changes.”
“Oh boy, I can't wait. This place has been the exact same since I started working here. some new decor and furniture will really brighten this place up”
“yes indeed”, he thanked the receptionist and he went his way towards the elevator.



A few weeks passed and everything remained as boring and average as it ever could have. She did her shifts, she left, and returned the next day.
“B’’H” said a deep, gravely voice, almost metallic.
Her concentration snapped away from the clock, her heart rate spiking, and in a state of shock, yelped just a little.
Standing before her was a tall, tall man. Clad in a long gray trench coat, and an equally shaded trillbly on his head, tilted down to hide his face in shadow.
Her heart dropped, but her soul was elevated,, “B’’H, welcome to Smith Co. How may I help you today?”
In an awkward and choppy rate of speech, the man responded, “yes…uh i have a meeting with one Abba?.” Maintaining strong eye contact. She thought his eyes were glowing, they were incredibly bright.
“Well,” the receptionist said, reciprocating his awkwardness .“The elevator is back there,” she pointed to the massive gold doors just diagonal to her
He robotically nodded his head and for a moment hesitated. He looked around the lobby, just now noticing how crowded it was. Every seat filled, every walkway a river of people. Quickly, quietly, and as awkward as ever he said, “toda”. Quickly walking to the elevator and heading up to the boss's office.
THe man had left before she could even ask if he was related to the company doing renovations. That was her assumption and she was rather excited to see some change come to fruition.

The sun set and rose before she prepared herself for the next day of work. After brushing her teeth and saying her morning prayers, she got dressed for yet another day of work. She brewed a pot of decaf coffee, downed three whole cups, and had to replace her blue button up dress shirt for at least one of those cups was now fully saturated throughout the front of her original shirt.
On her walk she picked up a bagel with salmon and cream cheese at the deli conveniently attached to her apartment building's lobby. She enjoyed the cultured melodies of street performers wafting through the valley of neon light shop signs and highrise apartments. The accordion player she recognized as her cute neighbor from across the hall, she wanted to say hi but was always too nervous. She stood awkwardly staring at him eating her bagel, spilling a little on her shirt.. When the accordionist returned the gaze she swiftly turned the other way and started walking. Her cheeks flushed a hot red, but she hid her shame in the delicious savory flavor of the mighty bagel. She realized this would be the most interesting part of her day.
Taking a deep breath to exhaust the shame and turning the corner she was just a street-cross away from her job. She turned to press the walk-signal and gasped. The front of the building was flooded with armed guards, flags hung over windows and at the left and right ends of the glass expanse of entrances. They were red flags with a white circle, in the center was a blazing heron and the Hebrew character of Gimel adorned atop. She was deeply confused, but not too worried, strangely enough.
In a moment of curious bravery, she crossed the street to approach the guards. She placed herself next to guards who seemed unoccupied and somewhat friendly and said, “Hello?some renovations huh?.” She only noticed as she was upon the men but they were each very very tall..
The giant guards looked towards each other, their eyes glistening in the late morning sun, and back at the girl.
In a bizarre accent with slow methodic drawls to their words, one of the guards said, “Sorry missy, this aint no longer The Smiths.”
Her eyes widened and she quickly said, “wh-what do you mean?”
Before she could speak again, the other guard said, “If I were you, I'd get out of dodge, it ain't safe here no more.”
She stuttered, “b-b-but, how could this be? The boss would never…sell this place.”
“Don't start getting loud on us lass”
“and who ever said anything about a sale”
“We’re giving you a good chance to flee while you can, big things are happening, it's not safe for such a fragile and innocent young girl as you.”
“I just…i just don't understand”, she was clearly distraught. “I was supposed to come into work today, and these aren't the renovations I was expecting. I mean I'm not upset or anything, I was getting tired of this job, but this is just entirely unexpected.”
The two guards looked at each other and said one final time, “missy, it ain't safe here no more. We ain't supposed to tell you this, but the big J is cooking some fine plans up and he's aiming his sights here. Welcome to the new world”
She stared in bewilderment.
The big J…
She said to the men, “B”H, i wish you a wonderful life” and turned on her heel before walking back to her apartment.