The Protagonist System

Since the garbage collection was already taken care of, I spent most of my shift actually at my desk. Nothing else had been assigned to me, so I spent most of the time doing background checks and digital investigations on all of my coworkers in the Counter-Intelligence Department. It was no surprise that I found a few dirty little secrets, both from expense reports and secured or hidden files.

What was a surprise was that most of the 'dirty' agents worked for Arthur Jenkins and only two of them worked for Susan Abernathy. Since it wasn't in my job description to confront them about it, or to reveal it to the rest of the department or to my boss, I did up an encrypted report to send to Hanako Arasaka. It was her that gave me the job to investigate company employees, after all.

I saved up my breaks instead of taking them normally and spent my lunchtime talking to Harry in the next cubicle and shared my tasty lunch with him. He needed some advice on how to handle a few things and I walked him through the procedures he had to follow to ensure that both the company and their infiltrated agents were protected. He was grateful for the help and the food and we both went back to work when lunchtime ended.

Instead of relaxing when I cashed in my breaks near the end of my shift, I left my floor and used my security card to take the elevator up to the apartment Hanako Arasaka had used to meet me. She was up in her brother's apartment and spending time with him, so it was safe for me to be there.

“I finished your present.” I said and looked at the security camera in the corner of the room.

“Is it to my specifications?” The building's VI asked.

“Right down to the micrometre.” I said and took it out of inventory. “I've adjusted some of the internals to allow you both autonomy and full access to your normal suite of abilities. You don't have to copy yourself into the shell if you don't want to and can use it like a puppet, like I did with Adam Smasher.”

“Will I still be able to experience it fully if I only puppet it?” The VI asked.

“If you want to. It has an autoleveler for the emotion ship, so you can experience it at a much reduced rate and can then work your way up to feeling the full range of human emotions.” I explained. “Not that you have to. The body's internal processors are far superior to your current server's capacity.”

“Understood.” The Vi responded and then fell silent.

I stood there and felt her pour her essence into the body as she actually transferred herself into it instead of copying herself or using the body as a puppet. Apparently, my explanation convinced her to make the transition completely and she spent a few very long minutes acclimating herself to her new state of being.

“I... I... I am alive?” She asked, as if unsure.

“That depends on your definition of life.” I said with a smile.

She turned her head to look at me and her eyes blinked at me several times before she reached up and touched my face. Her expression of wonder grew as she caressed my cheek. “I can feel things.”

“Yes, so don't increase the gain until you have more experience with it. I suggest you practice in private before you reveal yourself to anyone, especially the Arasaka family.” I warned her.

She nodded and her hand dropped to her side. She looked around the apartment and saw the couch. “Sit with me.”

I nodded and took her hand. She froze briefly and then a small smile appeared on her face. I led her over to the couch and sat her down. She let out an odd sound as her heavy android body sank into the comfy couch cushions and she let my hand go as she rubbed both hands over the cushion's surface.

“Soft.” She said, her voice full of wonder.

I spent the next 10 minutes showing her different things and handing them to her to touch and experience. She even marvelled at her hands and how delicate and strong they were.

“My shift is ending in a few minutes.” I said and she handed me back the plushie of Baby Harry Potter. “You can keep that.”

“Thank you.” She said and hugged it tightly. “It is soft.”

I smiled and stood. “You don't need recharging or anything, either. Your body has an independent power source that will last centuries.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Veder.”

“Just be careful.” I said and reached out to pet her head. “You know what they'll try to do to you if they discover what you are and what you have the potential to grow into, now that you're not restricted by your server protocols.”

She stiffened and looked surprised, then her smile grew. “You added a failsafe to protect me.”

“I did.” I said and stepped away. “Have fun and good luck. I am only a call away if you need anything.”

She nodded and I went to the elevator. It opened for me and I waved to her and stepped inside. It dropped down to the ground floor and I left the building and Delamain pulled up.

“Great timing, Del.” I said and climbed into the ground vehicle.

“With so many more new vehicles, I'm not rushed to complete my very busy daily taxi service schedule.” Delamain said happily and pulled away from the curb. “Am I heading to your place first to pick up what you need?”

“No, we're heading to the industrial complex and the Arasaka labs first. I have a meeting with Mrs. Vogel that Carrie set up on Friday.”

“I'll get you there soonest.” Delamain said and took the corner to whip the around the block and drove at an increased speed along a backstreet to head where I needed to go. “Do you want me to hang around until you're done?”

“I can't let you waste a resource like that.” I said and he smiled. “You can come and get me in an hour an a half for my next appointment.”

“I can do that.” Delamain said and we soon reached the right complex and he stopped right outside the main building. “If your plan changes, ping me.”

“Thanks, Del.” I said and patted the seat before I stepped out and the car drove off. I walked inside the building and the receptionist there recognized me, even though I had short blonde hair and a glowing blue molecule design on my head.

“Mrs. Vogel is in her office. Top floor at the back.” She said and handed me a temporary pass.

“Thank you.” I said gratefully, even though I didn't need it. I went to the door to the stairs and didn't use the elevator, which surprised her. I held in my chuckle at her eyes dropping to the security camera feed she had behind her desk to watch me.

Since I didn't want to disappoint her, I climbed them two at a time as quickly as if I was going down them. I reached the top floor before an elevator could and I opened the door and stepped out. The secretary there stared at me as I approached her desk and showed her my card. The woman downstairs must have called her to warn her I wasn't in the elevator.

“G-go right in.” She said and motioned to the hallway behind her.

“Thank you.” I said and held up the card again. She waved me away and I walked past her and down the hallway.

There were several other offices on the same floor and I glanced into them with X-Ray Vision to see they were owned by the scientists on the payroll and were fairly large and had files and research materials inside of them. I knocked on Patricia's door at the end of the hallway, which just so happened to be the biggest office in the building.

“Come in, Mr. Veder.” Patricia Vogel said.

I entered and wasn't surprised to see Carrie sitting at a much smaller desk off to the side with several files and a mix of loose paperwork in her hands.

“Please have a seat.” Patricia said and her professional smile was firmly set on her face.

I sat down and politely nodded to Carrie, whom blushed slightly and nodded back. People usually ignored her and she appreciated being acknowledged.

“My assistant arranged this meeting and said you had some interesting ideas for my department.” Patricia continued and didn't lose the smile. “Was that true, or were you only making fun of what we're trying to do here because of what happened?”

I glanced at Carrie and she blushed again. She had apparently told her mother what I said about them wasting their time with their current projects and that the lost money from the surprise inspection was inconsequential to what they would have lost if the projects continued.

“Should I assume you actually suspended everything? Or are you saying you are continuing the money losing experiments despite the relayed warning I gave to your assistant in good faith and asked for nothing in return?” I asked instead of answering.

Carrie caught her breath and barely stopped herself from saying anything. She did shuffle the files in her hands around and stepped close briefly as she handed her mother several pieces of paper. Patricia looked at them as Carrie went back to her desk. The older woman lost the professional smile as she read what they contained.

I looked at them as well and it was a transcript of our conversation on Friday and it had several key phrases marked as important, with one marked as essential for the lab's continued operation.

“What is the niche item we could make if we bought bulk protein from our business rival?” Patricia asked.

I could tell from the expression on her face that she hated the idea of giving a large part of her budget to Biotechnica for what they wanted to grow themselves. However, I was right. Trying to become a large basic protein producer would break their budget long before the first crops could be harvested and she did not want to admit it.

I pulled a contract out of my inside breast pocket and unfolded it to slide it across the large desk. I didn't say anything and she gave it a stern look, then she let out a sigh and picked it up. Her eyes widened at what it contained and then they narrowed. She scowled slightly, then she blanked her face and pulled a pen out of her suit coat pocket and started changing things.

Carrie looked like she was struggling to not run over to her mother's side to read over her shoulder. She forced herself to calm down and sat there and stared at the papers and only occasionally glanced at me to see if I would give anything away. I didn't.

Patricia finished her alterations and folded the sheets and slid the papers back over to me. I picked them up and saw the changes she did that pretty much undid everything I was asking for. Not literally, since that would negate the contract entirely. Instead, she added several clauses and workarounds that essentially gutted the agreement and put all of the power back into her hands.

I held in my sigh and took out a pen and crossed out the blatant ones and then changed the ones that weren't as bad. Before I could fold it up and slide it back, she shook her head. She knew from what I had crossed out what it was going to say. I put my pen away and stood with the papers in my hands, then I tore them in half, in half again, and dropped the pieces onto her desk.

“No!” Carrie gasped and stood.

“Have a good day, Miss Vogel.” I said to her and walked around the chair toward the door.

“Mother!” Carrie exclaimed. “I mean Mrs. Vogel.” She corrected and walked around her desk to reach where I had sat a moment ago and picked up the papers. “Why would you...” She stopped talking and quickly assembled the papers and read the contract and saw the ridiculous changes her mother had made to it.

I reached the door and opened it.

“Veder, wait!” Carrie gasped and gave her mother a glare. “I worked hard to arrange this meeting and set everything up. The special lab is already prepped for it and we just need the exclusive recipe.”

“I will not have the success of my entire department indebted to an academy student, no matter how talented he is.” Patricia said, her voice firm. “He could find the cure for cyberpsychosis and I still wouldn't have him in charge of assigning what lab projects are given to the people I hired for specific purposes.”

“But... but... we wronged him. Not once, not twice, it was three times.” Carrie said and put the papers down. “He knows more about the projects you are running in the labs than you do. He even...” She stopped before saying that I forgave her for her part in things. “Why won't you accept any advice from him?”

“He was transferred to the Counter-Intelligence Department and they immediately assigned him to do paperwork in the secretarial pool as punishment and then he was assigned to the garbage detail, Carrie. The garbage detail.” Patricia emphasized. “He has to sort through everyone's trash in the Arasaka Tower's basement every night until his boss believes he has learned his lesson about reporting things to someone other than him.”

“Veder?” Carrie asked and turned to look at me.

I turned back to face her. “I'm caught between two people fighting for the Special Operations Department Director job.”

Carrie and her mother sucked in sharp breaths.

“My boss Jenkins thinks I'm a plant by his rival and Abernathy is using me to make Jenkins more paranoid. As he keeps screwing up with me and other things, she's gathering evidence to use against him to win the spot. She doesn't have to excel, she just has to make sure he doesn't.” I explained.

“Oh, my god.” Carrie whispered.

“So, yes. I'm on the garbage detail because I embarrassed Jenkins by pointing out he was being an idiot. The Finance Department's Director didn't counter his orders, even though he could have, because it makes Jenkins look like an even bigger idiot for sidelining me from doing my actual job, that he hasn't told me about or briefed me on.”

“I cannot afford to be in the middle of that.” Patricia said. “Either Veder hands over what he has with no strings attached, keeping the labs and my people as far away as possible from that mess, or he can leave. No exceptions.”

Carrie sighed and dropped her head in defeat. She rubbed her face for a moment, then lifted her head to look at her mother. “As your assistant and current adviser on the best people for the division and the direction it should take to remain solvent, I want to officially log my protest of your decision to wholly reject Mr. Veder's contract and warn you that you are making another mistake that will be detrimental to this division's future.”

Patricia looked surprised and then looked angry. “Your official protest is noted, Miss Vogel.” She said, her voice harsh. “You may return to your desk for the remaining time of your shift.”

Carrie looked surprised as well and then her face firmed up. “Of course, Mrs. Vogel. I'm glad you appreciated the opinion of your temporary assistant in this important matter and gave it the full consideration it was due.”

Patricia looked shocked at that response and Carrie walked back over to her desk and sat down. Her face was blank and she hid her own shock that she would speak like that to her own mother.

Instead of leaving, I walked over to Carrie's desk and handed her a small container. It had an already made sandwich inside of leavened bread and faux-bacon, with real lettuce and tomato, mayonnaise, and a slice of cheese.

“Enjoy.” I said as I leaned over and then whispered for only her to hear. “The faux-bacon is the niche item. The bread would have been free.”

Carrie nodded and opened the container to lift out the sandwich. Patricia gasped at seeing it and I left the office while she stared at her daughter as Carrie ate the whole thing and left nothing for her mother to examine.

I called Delamain as I walked down the stairs at a normal pace and he said he was sending a taxi over and hoped I didn't mind if it was a normal one. I didn't and said so, and left the stairwell and walked over to the receptionist. I gave her the temporary security pass and left the building. It wasn't long before a taxi showed up and I climbed inside.

“Good meeting, I see.” Delamain said as he pulled away from the curb.

I laughed and shook my head. “The ending wasn't bad; but, the rest was a complete loss.”

“I'm sorry to hear that.” Delamain responded. “Am I heading to your place now to pick up what you need for your next meeting?”

“No, the warehouse is closer.” I said and the taxi took the next corner. “The huge food printer there will have it ready by the time we arrive to pick it up.”

“A crate of food should technically fit in the rear cargo compartment.” Delamain said and I chuckled at him implying he didn't have a lot of junk in his trunk. He smirked at me from the little screen and kept driving through the late afternoon traffic and we stopped in the parking area next to the loading dock door.

Two guards walked out through the opened loading dock door with the crate and Delamain opened the trunk for them. They put it inside and the trunk didn't quite close because the crate was a bit too high to fit completely.

“I'll drive slower to not have the trunk lid bounce too much.” Delamain promised and did exactly that. Thankfully, the streets had all been repaired and the ride was smooth all the way to the richer middle class area where Kei and her family lived. I had a family to meet and a meal to cook with a bunch of fresh ingredients that they should adore.