Microstory 2552: Switchboard Operator

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I don’t technically work for the Foundation. I work for a contract company which specializes in performing auxiliary services for other organizations. We have our hands in all the departments that make any sufficiently sized business run smoothly, regardless of what their particular work product happens to be. Every corporation has reception, every corporation has mail. Facilities, A/V, printing/copying, shipping and receiving. We can come in and do all that extra work for you so you can focus on succeeding and exceeding in your specific industry. That’s my company’s slogan: helping your business succeed and exceed. That’s plastered all over my work area. I have all sorts of requirements about our branding, and labeling things. It’s a switchboard, I know it’s a switchboard, I don’t have to print a label for it, telling myself that it’s a switchboard with the company logo, but that’s what they want. Which can be annoying and intrusive, because that logo keeps changing. Since I started working for them, I’ve had to reprint and rehang everything in my office twice. Some hip new marketing firm shoots through and claims to have the best way to capture hearts and minds in the modern world. Consistency, that’s what really gets you customers, and loyal ones too. If you change your look every five minutes, they’re gonna move on to something they recognize. Because that’s what makes people more comfortable; what they’re already familiar with. Anyway, I’m blabbering on. I’ve worked for them for almost ten years now, but only at the Tipton site for the last three. The guy who did this before me took a job working directly for them as a greeter. He sees it as a stepping stone to bigger and brighter things, which I believe means becoming a settlement specialist, but don’t quote me on that. Those people have education. You can’t just work your way up to it, and at any rate, they’re going to shutter this whole place after the panacea comes out. Some say that Landis will keep going, but he really shouldn’t. It doesn’t matter how many people would rather have the real thing, or how often you have to take the pill. It’s a cure! You’ll do whatever it takes to make it work, and you’re not gonna waste this poor man’s time breathing on you because you’re under the impression that it’s better. Listen to me again, talking out my ass, as if I have any clue what’s going on up at the top. I just answer phones, and I transfer callers to the right department. Nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand, that means the Applications voicemail. Literally no one monitors that line. You can leave a message, because the carrier system they’re contracted to doesn’t let you turn off that feature, but those messages are wiped every night. A robot tells you how to submit an application, which is decidedly not on the phone! You think we have time for that? It’s, like, a million questions! A lot of people also want me to connect them directly to Mr. Tipton. Yeah, as if that’s gonna happen. Good luck, buddy. It’s hard to reject them, because they get so belligerent and entitled, but I have the full support of my bosses, and our clients, to tell them to eff off if they keep giving me ish. I don’t know, I just work here. It’s 2025, go to our website.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: February 6, 2399

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When Mateo insisted Ramses teleport out of the magma chamber of the volcano to save himself, he just jumped without thinking about where he wanted to go. Home would be the obvious answer, but he’s not had a home in a very long time. He’s lived on ships, labs, lofts, flying cars, and other random places. His subconscious must have taken over the responsibility of navigation, because he ended up in Egypt. It’s where he was born, and where he spent his younger days, but he feels no strong sentiment towards it. This isn’t even the right version of Egypt. It’s a bastardization, and that’s the nicer way to put it.

Danica’s Omega Gyroscope is what explains why anything in this reality is even remotely similar to the way things are in the main sequence, but something went wrong when it was programming Egypt. This area is where civilization began, but it did not thrive here. Great unrest forced mass migration centuries ago, to the West in Africa, the North in Europe, and to the Southeast in Asia. What was left was a sad approximation of what a culture should look like. While his Egypt stood tall, especially in the latter century, this one was short and pathetic, literally speaking. Their tallest regular building is four stories high, and there’s only one like that. It’s the Port at Said, and it was partially built by Greece, which exports to the rest of the world through the Suez Canal. That’s the only reason this version of Egypt is still alive at all, because they’re in the way.

The Great Pyramid is here, which is surprising, but it’s the only ancient structure that the people still maintain, because they do get a few tourists. Plus, some ships are required to wait in the canal for customs approval, or because there’s a line, so sailors stay in Giza, which boasts the only moderately decent hotel. It’s also anonymous, which is perfect, because that is what Ramses needs right now. He’s not going back to Mangrove One, and there’s nothing left for him in Kansas City.

Angela and Marie are in space, Mateo is dead, and Alyssa is missing. Yes, he made a commitment to find her, but he would probably just mess it up. He’s not the only one who could. Leona can do it just as easily, and she will, because she cares about her just as much. They now have the world’s most powerful governments at their backs, with all of the resources they could need. They don’t need him. He can’t face Leona with what he’s done. He lived. He escaped when Mateo couldn’t, and he’ll have to live with that for the rest of his life, which could be a pretty long time if something eventually changes, and he gets his transhumanistic upgrades back.

Ramses is a genius, which is why it only took him a few minutes to write a little script that will allow him to leave Leona a voicemail without worrying about her answering any ringing. “Hey, it’s Ram. I’m sure you’ve been wondering where we are. I’m bouncing this signal all over the world, so you’ll never find me. You’ll never see me again. I’m sorry to rob you of your chance to confront me, but I... Mateo is dead. Constance!Five broke free, and he had to sacrifice himself. Now, I know I thought that last time, but I really don’t see any way out of this. He was in a volcano, and I programmed the Bridgette’s self-destruct to go off in seconds after activation. I got the alert on my device—he went through with it—it did blow up. I’m sorry I left him behind, I’m sorry I’m the one who lived instead, and I’m sorry for not coming back, but I have to protect you. I have to protect you all from me. I love you. Goodbye.”

Microstory 31: Burning

My phone rings in the middle of the night. Face firmly planted in the pillow, I flail my arm about, succeeding only in knocking my nightstand over. By the time I tumble out of bed and pull the phone from the rubble, I’ve missed the call. It’s dripping with orange soda, and damaged from the fall, with a cracked screen blinking in and out. I manage to select the voicemail, but it’s garbled and hard to hear. All I catch is something about a payphone on fifth, the word burning, and the word alone. At the end of the message, the phone basically explodes and sends a shock through my whole body. It dies, so I am unable to return the call, or contact emergency services, for that matter. My friend, Dave lives in the area mentioned, so I throw on my clothes and race out the door, worried that his house is on fire. I battle with the slippery streets, hydroplaning a couple of times. When I finally make it to the payphone that the voice talked about, I see no one around. I certainly see no evidence of a fire. But the phone rings.  I pick up the receiver and try to answer it, but hear it continue to ring, as if I was the one who had made the call. The thunder and rain is so loud that I can’t hear the voice on the other end. I yell into the mouthpiece, “I’m at a payphone on fifth street! I got a call from here, but I don’t know why! I thought there might be a burning building, but I see nothing and I’m alone!” No one responds, at least not that I can tell. There is a bright flash from above, and I feel another painful shock throughout my body. I am all of the sudden back in my room, holding my cell phone. It explodes and I am all of the sudden back at the payphone. I'm blinded by a bright light, and feel a sharp pain. I am all of the sudden back in my room, holding my cell phone. And it explodes...