Cyber Dreams 2.15 - Leadership

Enjoy the chapter, everyone. I'm listening to feedback - More Angel and Juliet learning things is on the menu. Hope you all have a nice evening. I have an AMA on /r/litrpg over on Reddit tonight at 5 PM PST (8 PM EST). It's ostensibly for the release of my Victor of Tucson book, but I'll be happy to answer questions or talk about any of my stories, including Cyber Dreams.

Thanks!

Plum

Juliet looked at the data deck and the attached cable and glanced nervously around the orientation room. Some of the other new hires were already plugging the devices in, but some, like her, seemed to be weighing the gravity of it. The human resources representative currently running orientation—the fourth of the day—had, believe it or not, just told them that it was time to install their Grave Corporation “watchdog.”

“Simply plug the deck into your data ports, and the software will do the rest, make sure to disable any ICE you’re running. This software is for your convenience and your protection; At Grave, we take the security of our employees very seriously,” the woman, Annette Yeo, said, a variation of what she’d already explained when the decks were passed out. Juliet wondered if she was used to so much hesitation.

“Angel? What do you think? Is this software going to see all my implants and your code and everything else?”

“I’ll alert you if there’s a problem. I’m fairly sure I can compartmentalize it without alerting Grave.”

“Is there a problem, Lydia?” another HR rep asked, walking toward her station. He’d introduced himself earlier as Harry from HR, so Juliet didn’t know his last name.

“Uh, no. Just always been a little cautious about plugging strange decks into my port.” Juliet reached up and carefully peeled back her synth-skin to reveal her port, then with a chagrined look and a slight shrug, she inserted the cable.

She sat very still, watching on her AUI for any indication that Angel was in trouble, but nothing seemed to happen for several seconds, and then Angel said, “It’s installing monitoring software. I would have explained more quickly, but it was initially monitoring your communication with me, well, with your PAI. It’s fairly sophisticated, but I’ve walled off your more sensitive software and hardware assets, including your communications with me. I’ll be sure to allow some benign chatter between us to slip through so anyone monitoring it won’t think something’s amiss.”

“What else does it do?”

“It’s monitoring your visual and auditory feeds. It’s tied into your comms, well, the ones to which I allowed access. I can block it easily, so you’re free to speak and communicate as needed without fear of it overhearing. It’s also monitoring your location—a GPS signal. You should see a new icon on your AUI, as well; it’s a direct connect line from Grave to you. They can contact you at any time on that encrypted line, and it’s constantly feeding them data—your vital statistics.”

“By now, you should have a good idea of what we just installed. I see some wan faces out there; don’t be alarmed! This is a good thing! We all work for the same team now, and with us so connected, we can make sure you’re always safe, keep track of your location and health, and ensure we’re doing everything possible to keep you healthy and productive members of the Grave team.” Annette paused and paced up and down the aisles between the long tables, taking a moment to make eye contact with each new hire, a perpetual smile on her face.

“I don’t even think about my watchdog anymore,” Harry added, happily smiling like an idiot, in Juliet’s opinion. She fought to keep the scowl off her face, but she was sure some of it was slipping through.

“It’s true—I just have a sense of security now, but I never think about the little guardian I’ve got riding around in PAI’s software.”

“Angel, how likely is it that a PAI that wasn’t, you know, you, could wall this watchdog bullshit off?”

“Very unlikely; it would have to be highly customized in addition to having high-end processing and pseudo-AI capabilities. Purpose-specific software running alongside a PAI could handle some of the watchdog’s prying, but likely not all of it.”

“So, most infiltrators would have been cut off at the knees by this little orientation step.”

“Yes. Thought they could revert to old-school infiltration tactics, physically downloaded video or audio data drops, for instance.”

“Well, folks, you’ve completed your paperwork, signed your contracts, and now you have your watchdogs. This is the perfect time to break for lunch, but before you go, I’ll give you your room assignments for the afternoon; we’ll be breaking you into department-specific orientation groups moving forward. Harry, if you would?”

“My pleasure, Annette!” With a spring in his step, Harry began to move down the central aisle, passing notecards out to each of the people sitting at the ends of the tables, who, in turn, passed them down to the other five people at each table. Juliet waited patiently for her neighbor, a sickly-looking man named Lem, to pass her the stack. She took the one with her name on it and passed the rest to her right, smiling at her other elbow partner, as the HR people had called them all damn day—Carla.

Printed on the card were her name and a room assignment—1101. Juliet raised her hand, and Annette said, “Lydia?”

“What time are we to report to our new rooms?”

“Wonderful question! Thank you, Lydia! After you’ve had your delicious boxed lunch, let’s see here,” she looked at a clock on the wall as if they all didn’t have digital time readouts on their AUIs, “We’ll pass out your lunches in five minutes, and then you’ll have until twelve-thirty to eat. You’ll be expected in your department-specific orientation by twelve-forty-five.”

“Woah! You’re giving us a full half hour to eat?” Juliet immediately caught the sarcasm in the man’s voice as his words rang out from the back of the room, and she smirked at Annette’s uncomfortable shift in posture. She could see her visibly breathing in through her nose and allowing her scowl to fade before she spoke.

“That’s right, Jensen. Grave employees are given generous personal time allotments throughout the day. We went over this, you goose!”

“That’s right!” Harry said, forcing a laugh, his bright white teeth brilliantly on display.

“Well, let’s get those box lunches passed out!” Annette said, and a few other HR reps, junior employees who never spoke, jumped to it.

The boxes were brown, cardboard, identical in every way. When Juliet got hers, she opened it to find a protein pouch in a heated zip-pack, a cup of butter-flavored “carrot squares,” and a generously sized and quite dense brownie. As she pulled open the warm, silvery zip-pack, the scent of spices and beef wafted out, and, despite her initial impulse to feel disgusted, her mouth began to salivate.

“Don’t worry, everyone! Your meal is completely cruelty-free! Your beef packs were produced in-house by Grave technicians in our protein culturing facility. Isn’t it wonderful to know that Grave employees wouldn’t have to worry a bit about going hungry if supply chains broke down like in the forties?”

As Juliet ate, she allowed herself to digest Annette’s words; was Grave actually worried about a supply shortage? It seemed to her that those sorts of things were a thing of the past, at least for the blessed corporate class—sure, the plebes went hungry now and then, but she’d always heard of plentiful food being a selling point for the corpos, at least in her lifetime.

“Yes, Jensen?” Annette interrupted Juliet’s thoughts, and she looked up with interest; Jensen had been messing with the HR people all day.

“When are you going to try to sell us on moving into the Grave building? I need to know if I should renew my lease.”

“Oh, Jensen, that’ll be a decision for your department manager. The Grave building is large, but we don’t have enough housing for all of our employees. You’ll be pleased to know that we’re in talks to acquire the current Vykertech Arcology as they transition to their new structure.”

“Really?” another voice called out. “I didn’t know Vykertech was moving out of their building.”

“Yes, indeed, and Grave is in the top bidding position for it! I think I can say that . . . I can say that, right, Harry?” Juliet smirked, biting into her brownie as she saw a sudden look of panic on Annette’s face.

“I think it was in the newsletter, Annette. Wasn’t it?” Harry replied, looking to one of the junior HR reps.

“That’s right, sir. Public knowledge, sir.”

“You see, Annette? Nothing to worry about.” Harry forced another dazzling smile.

“Thank you, Harry! Whew!” Annette wiped at her forehead and said, “There you have it, folks! More housing will be coming available in the near future.”

While she and the others continued eating, Juliet subvocalized to Angel, “Should we do anything about that tracker? Or my sensory feeds?”

“Not unless you must; it will be detectable if I’m not very careful. The easiest way for you to move about undetected is if you make a show of going to sleep, and then I spoof the signal and auditory feed.”

“Okay, cool.” Juliet polished off her brownie and stretched her legs out, waiting for the clock to tick down.

“We’ll release you in ten minutes, and then you’ll have a fifteen-minute break to use the restrooms and find your next orientation location. It’s been just wonderful having you all today. What a productive time we’ve had!” Annette said, her blue slacks swishing with each step as she continued her slow patrol of the quiet room.

Juliet was surprised it was so quiet; for a lunch break, you’d think people would be chatting away, but the new Grave employees all seemed to want to keep to themselves, and she couldn’t really blame them; she felt similarly. She figured things might loosen up when they were all split into department groups.

When Annette released them, Juliet stood, smoothed her skirt, and buttoned her matching, lightweight blazer. As she strode out of the room, she stood head and shoulders above many of the other attendees in her platforms. Some of the new hires chatted, some hung back, trying to pump each other for info, but not Juliet. She left, pulling away from the crowd toward the elevators without a second glance—Lydia Roman didn’t dilly-dally.

Her next orientation was in a much smaller room, a typical conference room with a wide window along one wall that opened to the east, away from downtown. Outside, Juliet could see other buildings similarly sized to the Grave tower and then smaller buildings falling away toward the horizon. The table was set up so that seven empty seats were in place facing the windows, and one singular chair, occupied by Cherise Garza, sat facing them.

“Lydia,” Cherise said as she came into the room. “Please take a seat—any of the empty ones.” She spoke softly, but her voice was firm, and Juliet had the feeling she could make herself heard through a lot of noise, should she want to. Juliet noted she wore an outfit similar to the one she’d had on during the job fair—a silky green blouse that hugged her muscular shoulders tucked into black slacks. Her short, dark hair had fresh-looking, white frosted tips, and though she looked tough enough to twist a crowbar into a knot, she wore a pleasant smile on her naturally pink, glossy lips.

“Thank you,” Juliet said, choosing the seat in the middle, leaving three on each side of her. She didn’t like the idea of sitting at one of the ends, and she figured she’d appear bold sitting right across the table from Garza.

“Everyone on their way?” Cherise asked, eyes unfocusing slightly as she scanned something on her AUI.

“They should be. The HR lady released everyone at the same time."

Just then, the door opened, and a man, tall, lean with carefully combed sandy blond hair and wearing a well-tailored brown suit with a checkered green and yellow tie, stepped into the room. Cherise looked up and said, “Brian Jensen? Glad to meet you face to face.”

“Thanks! I thought we’d be in there with the HR drones all damn day.” He looked at the empty seats, walked down the table just past Juliet, and took the chair to her left. Cherise didn’t reply to his comment, and when he sat, he held a hand sideways in front of Juliet and said, “Jensen.”

Juliet shifted so she could grasp his hand in a shake and said, “Lydia, but I know who you are—you kept me entertained all morning.”

Jensen grinned crookedly and winked one of his pale blue eyes, “Hell, least I could do. That whole thing could’ve been handled online.”

“Then we’d have missed that deluxe lunch!” Juliet laughed.

“All right, you two. I see team rapport is off to a good start, but let's not make it a habit to tear down other departments. They have a job to do just like us.”

“Right, sorry,” Juliet said quickly, but Brian just sat back and smiled, drumming his fingers lightly on the glass table. Cherise looked at the door, and then Juliet heard it open, admitting three more people; two men and a woman.

“Let’s see here,” Cherise said, pointing to each of the newcomers, “Raul Lopez, Arnold Foster, and Delma Granado?”

“That’s right, ma’am,” the woman said. She had shoulder-length, curly black hair and dark eyes and was very petite. She took the seat on Juliet’s right, and the two men, both large and muscular, moved past them to sit on the other side of Jensen. The door opened just as they were settling into their seats, and a familiar face came through.

“Hi, Addie,” Juliet said before she could stop herself.

“Hey, Lydia! Wow, didn’t think we’d be back so fast, did you?”

“Adelaide Hunter,” Cherise said as the red-haired woman sat down next to Delma. Juliet did a double take as she watched her sit; she had normal, human-looking legs. “Left your blades at home today?”

“Yes, ma’am—made sure I got up early enough to ride in a cab like a normal corpo-dr . . . normal corporate employee.” She blushed furiously, and Jensen laughed at her near slip-up. Juliet couldn’t contain her smile.

“All right, folks. Look around. Have your PAIs shake hands and get used to what all your faces look like; this is your Zeta Protocol unit, and you will succeed or go down in flames together.” Cherise had suddenly turned serious, and Juliet sat up straighter, looking carefully at each of the other five people, trusting Angel to do her thing. She already had Addie’s information, and when she was sure she had everyone else’s info, Juliet’s eyes lingered on the empty chair.

“Was there supposed to be a seventh, ma’am?”

“Don’t read so much into an empty chair, Lydia. That’s how many seats were in here when I arrived this morning.” She paused and waited until everyone was sitting still and looking directly at her. “First things first, I’m sending you the contact number for Grave’s legal department. Some of you are going to have to break leases, but they’ll get you out of trouble.”

“You mean . . .” Jensen started, but Cherise spoke over him.

“I mean, you all need to move into the Grave building. Zeta Protocol trains at all hours, and you need to be ready to respond to incidents—even while in training—at any given moment.”

“Yes!” Jensen said, and Juliet chuckled at his enthusiasm. “Hey, I’m sorry, but my lease is very unreasonable! I can’t wait to tell my landlady to shove off.”

“Glad you’re happy. You all know my name, right? Cherise Garza—I’ll be in charge of your training for the next six months. While I’m in charge, that doesn’t mean I’ll be hands-on every day; I’m a busy woman, and you’ll be training with other Zeta units under their commanders. You won’t always be together, but we’ll keep you working as a team as much as possible. You’ll get new assignments every Tuesday morning, and you will treat every non-probationary member of the Zeta Protocol teams as your superior and follow their orders without question. Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Addie said, and Juliet and several others followed suit, echoing the words.

“Good. As of right now, you all have the same rank and pay, but that will change as some of you begin to display stand-out qualities. Two of you will be promoted into unit sergeant roles, advancing to E8, and one of you will advance to E9 and be named unit captain. Upon completion of training, those ranks will remain, and your pay grade will be E12 and E13, respectively.”

She paused, looked at their faces with a tight-lipped smile, and continued, “Why am I telling you this on day one? Because this is a competition, people. I want you to work well as a team, but I need to see which of you will be leaders. There’s no shame in following—we need good soldiers who enjoy being led, but if you have a desire to call the shots, you need to make it known and not be a wallflower. One word of caution: bullies will not be tolerated. Lead by example.

“I’ll need you all in-house by oh-six-hundred tomorrow. I’m sending you each a room assignment. No, put your hands down. Let me get through this. Your rooms will have your training equipment and your Zeta Protocol uniforms. You must wear the trainee designation under your name badge at all times. I’ll tell you when it’s okay to remove it, should you last that long in the program. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Juliet and a few of the others said, surprisingly close to being in unison.

“Good. Get your affairs in order, get moved in, and get some sleep. You do not want to celebrate tonight. Am I clear?” She raised one of her black and blond eyebrows and carefully made eye contact with everyone.

“Crystal, boss,” Jensen said.

“Trust me—tomorrow will be a living hell if you’re hungover or sleep deprived. That’s it! Dismissed! You have the afternoon to get started on your move.”

Juliet stood up with the others and looked at Cherise, catching her eye. “Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate this opportunity.”

“Ass kissing already, Lydia?” Cherise laughed and shook her head. “You’re okay. I’m just messing with you. Get a good night’s sleep. Trust.” With that, she stood and walked briskly from the room, ignoring all the other calls of “Thank you!” or “See you tomorrow!”

Juliet looked around at the other members of her unit and smiled. “That was quick,” she said with a grin.

“Hell yeah! My kinda lady. I wasn’t looking forward to a whole afternoon with my ass in a chair,” Jensen said.

“Oh, God!” Addie said, “I have so much stuff to move! How am I going to get it all done before six AM?”

Addie’s words gave Juliet an idea, and she said, “Hey all—hold up, don’t leave yet. I don’t have much to move. Is anyone else in that boat?”

“I only have a suitcase full of shit,” said one of the big guys, Raul, Juliet thought.

“I’m leaving most of my junk in my old place,” Jensen said with a laugh.

“What do you all say to us handling this like a team? Let’s get each other moved in so none of us are lugging stuff up and down the street until midnight.”

“I like it,” Delma said, nodding. “Let’s all agree, though—none of us bail until we’re all moved.”

“Yeah, I’m good with it,” Arnold, the other big guy, said, rubbing the short ginger-colored stubble on his chin.

“That’s that, then. Ping me your addresses, and I’ll have my PAI design the optimum route to get us all loaded up and moved. I’m renting a truck as we speak,” Juliet said, winking at Addie. Addie grinned, and Juliet could see she was thrilled, but so was she, if she were being honest; she’d already pushed herself into a leadership role with her new unit.