Manager

      You know, when you purposely take easy anomalies and when you remember how to handle them properly, the first few days here are so simple and stress-free that there’s not even much to tell. Nobody died, went insane or even made a fatal mistake during the first few days. This is if we’re talking about the times when I was directly involved in managing. In between work and sleep I was getting to know the local life and chatting with Angela and the Sephiroths, who occasionally dropped by on business. I won’t describe my daily work routine to you, because I suspect you won’t be interested in how many times I sent Peter to the Skull, or how much Prudence Reman has risen. Instead, I’ll describe the non-work routine, which is more interesting.

***

      “Good morning, Manager.”       “It’s never a good morning.” — I reply automatically, walking toward the table with the coffee machine.       “Hmm? Is something wrong?”       “Nothing, I just didn’t sleep well.” — I began to look at everything on the table. — “I just had an unpleasant dream.”       “What exactly was in that dream?”       “I don’t remember.”       “Don’t remember?”       “Mm-hmm.”       “Have you forgotten your dream?”       “Ha? Why are you surprised? People always dream about something while, well, dreaming, they just rarely manage to remember what it was they were dreaming about. They have little to lose, though: most dreams are incoherent nonsense that make very little sense.”       “Really? I didn’t know that.”       “You never can know everything. For instance, I don’t know where I can get black tea here.”       “Oh, I know this one: all you have to do is ask, and I’ll get it for you.”'       “I don’t want to make you run around for nothing…”       “Sir, I’m here exactly to “run around for nothing”, so feel free to ask me anything you like. Within reason, of course.”       “Alright, then take this mug,” — I chose the biggest one I had, — “and fill it with the best tea you can find, and put three teaspoons of sugar in it. And get some cookies or sweets or something to go with it.”       “I hear you. It’s going to take some time, so please wait.”       “I’m not in a hurry.” — I said as I went back to my seat.       It had been a bad night indeed: the stress had taken its toll, and I’d woken up five times during the night for reason I didn’t understand. A shower cheered me up, but not much. I didn’t get any new ideas on how to get out of here, so I concluded that the best thing I could do for now was to go with the flow and keep my nose to the wind. Maybe a miracle would happen and I would have a chance to get out of here. As people say, hope dies last.       On my desk was a folder with a file of the 'Open Can of “Wellcheers"' anomaly. Another hard-to-pronounce name. I should think of another one… Oh, and there’s already a “code designation” column! That was fast. It’s blank here, but I don’t think that’s going to last long.       There was also a report on the EGOs I received. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you about this extremely interesting phenomenon. “Extermination of Geometrical Organ” items is one of the Corporation features. In shortly, this is a variety of weapons and armor made with the same technology that extracts the anomalies. The peculiarity of EGO is that they do not require any training to use them. For example, if a person takes an EGO in the form of a sword, he will have no problem wielding it, even if he has never swordsmanship before. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), in order to realize the full potential of EGO, one must have uncommon talents, which my regular employees do not have. As far as I know, only one person has been able to realize their full potential. And that person is now a coffin on legs…       But I digress. It takes energy to create EGO. Enkephalin, to be exact. The very one I’m extracting, yes. As I found out yesterday in practice, it’s easy to get the quota set in just a couple of hours (at least for now). In theory, I could have ended the day the moment the quota was reached, but I decided to set up an experiment, and as it turns out, it wasa right decision. The surplus of Enkephalin goes to creation the EGO, if I give the appropriate order. I can tell you it takes a decent amount of Enkephalin to do this. As well as time. And it also requires an anomaly in the complex — they somehow get involved in the process of creating EGO, and the characteristics of EGO depend directly on the anomaly from which they are derived. The more powerful the anomaly — the more cool the EGO is, but it also takes more energy and time to create it. So, yesterday I was able to order five full sets from the Jesus Skull (I got the fifth one as a spare). They’re weak, but still better than the standard suits and batons. Which, by the way, are also EGO, though not derived from anomalies. It’s not quite clear to me what’s stopping them from being enhanced, but whatever.       Anyway, the difficulty of working with anomalies directly depends on the toughness of the available EGO. And with this I have a hard time, because I got nothing from the predecessor, although in the game the available EGO remained after each restart. I know it’s not quite right to measure reality with the game, but so far a lot of what I know has been confirmed here, like the four universal job types or employee characteristics. So does that mean I have to extract EGO all over again every time? Or is there some other reason I’m getting an empty vault? I’m afraid I will not be able to clarify this issue before the next reset, and I do not want to deliberately fail for the sake of the experiment. While I was thinking about working things, Malkuth suddenly came into my office.       “Good morning, Manager!”       “It’s never a good morning. Um, I think I said that before… Do you need something?”       “Yes, I have a project that needs your approval. Would you mind to take a look at it?”       “A project? Well, let’s see what you’ve got.”       The project dealt with interactions between different departments. From what it says here, it appears that agents from one department cannot work effectively with anomalies that are in other departments, because they are not given instructions on them at the briefings. So agents who are assigned to work in other departments have to first stomp down to the respective department’s office, get instructions there, study them, and only then can they get to work directly…       “You did a great job yesterday, sir. Honestly, I was a little worried about you.”       “Yesterday was not a very difficult day, really. There were probably only two things that made me nervous: that unstable employee and the argument with Angela. What happened to the one who quit, by the way?”       “He was cut down, sir. What were you and Angela arguing about?”       “Well, let’s just say we had a disagreement about my authority to streamline workflow.”       “Em… How so?”       “Our Manager decided to change the name of the anomaly, arguing that it was “too long and difficult to pronounce and perceive.” — answered Angela instead of me, who brought a tray with the requested sweets and put it on the table.       “Oh, so that’s it!..! Well, to be honest, “One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds” is really hard to pronounce.”       “There! See, Angela, I’m not the only one who thinks so! Not everyone here is a super-engineered AI, you know! Thanks for the tea, by the way.” — I took the mug and carefully sipped from it. That’s a good tea here… — “You know about this project?”       “Yes, Malkuth already brought it to me to submit for review. Then I sent it back for revision. May I?” — she carefully took the folder from my hands, flipped through the pages quickly, and handed it back. — “It’s still unfinished, but if you wish, we can start it up now.”       “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with finalizing this project in the process. Where do I sign up?”       “Down at the end, sir!” — Malkuth glowed with happiness. — “Sir, can I ask you a question?”       “Shoot.” — I reached into my desk for a pen.       “Well, how should I put it… why the “Jesus Skull”?”       “Eh?” — I took my eyes off the document and threw a puzzled look at her, but then I remembered that religion in this world is in decline, and far from yesterday, so I should not be surprised. But I’m a little too lazy to explain to her what for me — the plain truths. — “Angela, explain it to her, please.”       “I’m sorry, I’d explain if I knew, but…”       “What?” — Now I looked at Angela. — “How could it be… you two really haven’t heard anything about Jesus?”       “No.” — they shook their heads in unison. Alright, I really shouldn’t be surprised.       “Okay… well, Jesus is the central figure in the Abrahamic religions in general and the Christian teachings in particular. You know, the very teachings that have influenced world history and culture, and whose echoes can still be found in the most unexpected places?”       “For example.?” — Malkuth decided to clarify.       “For example, Angela’s name.”       “Excuse me?” — The one who was called surprised.       “Well, Angela is a derivative of Angelos, and it is associated with Angels. Angels in Christianity are God’s messengers, his faithful servants and conductors of his will.”       “Ah… I see. Please continue.”       “Now, where was I? Ah, yes, Jesus is the son of God and his prophet. The most famous legend about Jesus is the story of his execution, where he died for the sins of all humanity. A crown of thorns was placed on him and he was cruelly whipped, after which he was crucified on a cross.”       “On a cross…? Oh, I see! Now that you’ve told me all about it…” — Malkuth threw a glance at one of the monitors, where the Skull was displayed, — “Yes, that makes sense.”       “I’m glad I satisfied your curiosity. Do you have something else?”       “No, sir!”       “Then go back to work."– I handed her the folder, and she left our company.       “I didn’t think you knew much about religions.” — Angela said.       “It’s not that I do, it’s just that the image of Jesus and the stories about him have been known practically to the whole world for thousands of years. So it’s not surprising that even in an age when the old religions are almost forgotten, at least someone remembers him… Well, to hell with it, what’s the plan? I thought there was something I wanted to do…” — I looked at my desk, and my eyes caught on the Open Can’s case, — “Ah, yes, I remembered! Angela, we need to optimize the workflow…”       “Manager, are you going to rename every anomaly from now on?”       “I don’t know, we’ll see. And not rename it, but give it a code designation! So, what do you say about 'the Shrimp Machine'?”       “I say it’s completely unnecessary, but if you insist…”       “And I do insist!”       ”…then it’s not the worst option.”       “Well, fine! Make the appropriate changes to the documentation. So, are there any other questions I need to work out before I get started?”       It turned out that I had to go through and sign a bunch of papers. Most of them were reports on incidents that happened after work hours (someone had a fight with someone, someone drank too much, and someone hanged himself), and there was also a report on the repairs done (they had a good fight there). It seems the Complex has a life of its own. Or these papers — a fake, and in fact nothing happens in it? Who knows what’s going on while I’m asleep. I wouldn’t be surprised if time were frozen here, and all agents were put in capsules.       In any case, so far there isn’t much paperwork, and it wasn’t hard to get rid of it. And then there was the actual workday, as I said, pretty quiet. Although some little things made me tense…       ”…What are you doing, moron! Why the hell are you soaping the shrimp?! Apologize to it, and wipe it off, now! I’ll come down there and use this mop to anally punish you if you don’t stop poking that shrimp in the face! Do you have a death wish?!” — This new guy, Stew, has been getting on my nerves all day because he’s not doing his job well, to say at least. I should have taken someone with more Temperance!       “Phew, that was close…” — I exhaled in relief when he came out of the cell with the vending machine relatively unscathed. — “Angela, that idiot is pissing me off!”       “I noticed that.” — her face and voice remained neutral, and it was unclear what she herself thought about it. — “Do you have any suggestions for this employee?”       “I do indeed! Tell Malkuth to give this… Stew a preventive kick in the pants! Let her brainwash him with all the instructions and try to put some intelligence into him, so that I no longer have to fear that he will endanger himself and release an anomaly!”       “I’ll give her your wish, but sir, you don’t have to worry so much about the employees. Even if they die, it won’t be a big problem, because it’s not hard to replace them.”       “Now, wait a minute, what do you mean “no problem”? Didn’t you say yesterday that our budget for hiring new employees is limited?”       “Not so much that we can’t afford to replace people who have dropped out.”       “Replace by whom? With newcomers who don’t know anything at all? You do realize that efficiency would suffer, right?”       “It won’t suffer critically.”       I had a few words to say on the subject, but I decided that it was useless to argue about it, and I did not pursue the topic. I wonder — does Angela believe in what she says?

***

      “Greetings, Manager. Today is your third day of work. Three is a mystical number. In fairy tales, powerful beings often grant others three wishes. Admittedly, I’m not a sorceress or a billionaire to grant yours. But I do know what your predecessors wished for. They were all looking for some kind of “growth”. To lead a company to prosperity, to achieve spiritual enlightenment, and the like. They all yearned for development. What about you?”       “I wish to live happily ever after.” — my simple answer put Angela into a brief stupor. I think I said something wrong, but… was that really some kind of unusual response?       “That’s a good wish. I think it will come true if you continue to do your job well, because your future depends directly on what’s happening now. And so far, I can tell you’re doing a great job. You’re perhaps the best Manager I’ve ever seen.”       “The key word is 'perhaps'.” — I smirked, — “Or perhaps I’m the worst Manager you’ve ever seen.”       “I assure you, sir — whatever happens next, you certainly won’t be the worst.”       “Thank you, that’s comforting. Listen, can you get me some tea and those cookies like yesterday?”       “Sure. While you’re waiting, you can take a look at these documents. I’ll be right back.”       While she was running around getting tea and I was reading the new reports, Malkuth showed up.       “Good morning, Manager!”       “It’s never a good morning… Wait, am I having deja vu, or has this happened before?”       “Um… yeah, yesterday was a similar situation.”       “Yeah, right… Do you have another project to approve?”       “Yes! I mean, no! I mean, it’s an old project, but with additions!”       “Give it to me.” — I delved into the document. Nothing major changed, as I can see… Is she going to have to ask me to sign off on every little thing?       “It was a fine day yesterday, sir. No problems, no one died or went crazy…”       “Yeap, I noticed that. By the way, now that you’re here: have you had a “chat” with Stew yet?”       “Ah? Yes, sir, I did. Angela told me about his… unsatisfactory skill level, and what I should do about it.”       “More precisely, about his crookedness and idiocy?”       “Yes, sir. I had to work with him, but I hope you’re satisfied with the results.”       “I hope so, too.       “By the way, Manager, have you seen… them?”       “Them?”       “Creatures that are even scarier than anomalies?”       “No, I haven’t. — Is she talking about the Ordeals now? No, I haven’t seen them yet. I mean, they used to show up on the sixth day and make a mess of things, but…       “Sometimes I feel their presence in the hallways when I’m alone. We know almost nothing about them, so training doesn’t help much when we meet them. No matter how elaborate the plan, it’s impossible to control the unknown. They are… I don’t know… I’m not afraid of them. I sense something different… something that… Something very strange. Something disgusting, something repulsive. Something crawling inside me… Slowly…” — she froze in place, staring into the void. It’s creepy, I’ll tell you.       “Malkuth, are you frozen?”       “What? I’m sorry, sir, what were we talking about?”       “About something crawling inside of you.”       “Uh… what?”       “Nevermind that… Look, how long ago did you have your maintenance check?”       “I… I don’t remember, sir.”       “And when is the next one scheduled?”       “Um… I don’t think there are any inspections for Sephiroth.” — Well, I suspected something like that, but I just wanted to make sure, because I don’t know how things are really set up here.       “All right, you free to go.” — I let her go in peace. And almost immediately Angela came into the office. She was waiting under the door, wasn’t she? Or was it just a coincidence?       “Your tea, Manager.”       “Thank you… You know what we were talking about, don’t you?”       “Yes, sir. I guess you noticed that Malkuth is… not completely stable?” — So there are cameras or at least microphones…       “Yeah, I noticed. That’s not good, is it?”       “This problem is common to all the AIs in this Complex… except for me, of course. Malkuth’s problem is particularly severe.”       “And why isn’t anyone doing anything about it?” — I know why, but I still have to ask.       “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it at the moment: it requires the Founder’s permission, but he is currently away for an extensive period of time. The best we can do is to reset the Sephiroth completely, should a critical failure occur.”       “Then let’s hope the failure doesn’t happen in the middle of the day… or better yet, that it doesn’t happen at all.”       “Well, at least you don’t have that problem. Hopefully, we won’t have any.”       “I don’t like the way she said it…”       By the way, Malkuth did a really good job with Stew: at least he wasn’t pointing his finger at Skull and laughing at the shrimp like a drugged-up hyena anymore. And what did he find funny about them?

***

      Today is the fourth day, but despite the fact that so far everything has been calm, the tension did not want to let me go. I’m a nervous person in general, and here… this. And it didn’t make me feel any better knowing that at any moment Angela could push me up against the wall and start digging in my head. In fact, I’m not quite sure why she hasn’t done that until now, because, judging by her hints, I’m a messed up with coverage hardly. Maybe she doesn’t care because I’m following the Scenario and the rest doesn’t matter to her? Or is it because of some program limitations? Okay, it’s no use guessing. The fact is, Angela has so far turned a blind eye to my little liberties and some oddities, which I can, in theory, take advantage of. I wonder where the line is?       “Greetings, Manager. I took the courage to bring you your tea without your command. Would you like me to bring it to your room in the morning?”       “Thank you. No, you’d better keep serving it here.” — I settled back in my seat and sipped my drink. My only joy right now…       “Tell me, sir, are you proud of what you do here? If not, the following news should change your mind. Since your arrival, energy production from this complex has increased by 13%. A 13% increase is… a new record. How do you feel?”       I don’t feel anything, because that’s just a lie you’re shoving in my ears to boost my self-esteem or something like that. No, wait, I’m lying — I feel annoyed. Not just because of the lie, but because of the situation in general. But what to answer?       “Do I get a reward for that?”       “No, sir.”       “Will I get a salary increase?”       “No, sir.”       “Is there any good in it for me?”       “You might get the attention of the higher-ups.”       “Or might not. And if they do, they’ll do it in a way I’ll regret. Anyway, I don’t really care about that.”       “You are too pessimistic, sir. Usually people are happy when they achieve certain successes.”       “If they have a positive effect on their lives. Why should I rejoice in something that probably won’t do me any good, even imagined?”       “There is logic in what you say, but I’m still sorry to hear you think that way. I wasn’t expecting that reaction at all.”       “And I’m sorry that I don’t match your expectations. Okay, what about work?” — I hastened to get off the unpleasant subject.       The day also passed quietly. Malkuth came by to sign the documents. She kept chirping about how everything was going surprisingly well, and that I was doing great. She’s so sweet when it’s not about employees…       The only unpleasantness happened after the work day was over. I was about to leave the office when my eyes suddenly caught on one of the screens. It clearly showed one clerk beating in hysterics in the middle of one of the corridors. Soon two more clerks entered the corridor and shot the first with their pistols. He fell to the floor and went quiet, after which they dragged him away. Strange, why did that clerk go crazy? Did he go to one of the anomalies?       “Angela, what was that just now? In sector M-1-3?”       “Nothing much, just suppressing an unstable clerk.”       “I mean, why would that clerk suddenly become unstable?”       “His condition was caused by an overdose of Enkephalin.”       “Ok, that’s the last thing we need… Where did he get it from?”       “I can’t say for sure, but I guess he stole it.”       “Well, isn’t it just great! It’s not enough that people here are going crazy with drugs, they’re stealing them from us! Angela, what the heck?”       “Sorry about that, sir. Despite the strictest security measures, such incidents still occur from time to time.”       “Then the measures taken are insufficient! Ah, crap…” — I covered my eyes with hand. I just remembered that Enkephalin is used everywhere in this Complex, including in food. It’s kind of like it’s added in small doses to food to increase the stress tolerance of the staff. Besides, I suspect — no, I’m almost certain — that it’s already circulating among the staff with Angela’s full connivance. That is, there is nothing I can do about it, the most I can do is express my displeasure. What’s the use?       “Sir?”       ”…Strengthen measures to protect stocks of usable Enkephalin and find out who’s stealing it. No need to breed junkies here.       “I’ll do my best, sir.”       I don’t think it’ll make any difference, but I had to do something, don’t I? Eh, what’s the use of lamenting what you can’t change? That was the thought I tried to calm myself down with. It didn’t work out so well.

***

      The fifth day began about the same way as the previous day: Angela said hello, I had tea, and went through the papers. The papers, by the way, contained the report on that clerk from yesterday, but there was nothing fundamentally new there.       Then the unexpected happened: Yesod showed up. A young man with purple hair and a sweater under his suit jacket… or so the filter showed him. When I turned around in my chair to greet him, he looked at me as if he had seen a drunken scoundrel, and I winced under that gaze.       ”…You run a branch of the Lobotomy Corporation, so you should be an example to the rest of us. However, you are dressed inappropriately. Unfortunately, you are the Manager, which means I can’t give you a reprimand. That’s a pity.” — said that… individual in a voice full of contempt.       I was a little offended by this attack.       “Firstly, if you re-read the statute, you’ll see that there are no requirements to the appearance of the Manager, which means that I can dress as I please, even in a pink robe on my bare body. Secondly, I sit in this office all the time and I hardly ever go out, so who am I supposed to set an example for here? To Angela? Thirdly, if anyone here should be reprimanded, it should be you!”       “Me?” — Yesod wondered.       “You came to my office uninvited, did not ask if you could come in, did not introduce yourself, although this is our first meeting, and you did not even say good morning to me!”       “But…”       “What’s more,” — I stood up and walked over to him. — “you immediately picked on my appearance and began to criticize it, thus directly insulting me, ignoring the fact that I am the Manager, that is, your immediate superior.”       “But I…”       “Silence! Now, young man…”       “I’m not a human being, I…”       “I don’t care whether you’re human, robot, cyborg or unknown beast! You are, first of all, my subordinate, which means that you are obliged to show me at least a minimum of respect and politeness, and not behave like a boor fom a Backstreet! You can talk to your subordinates as you please, but you must be polite to me!”       ”…I’m sorry, sir, it won’t happen again.” — our sugar boy was clearly embarrassed.       I looked at his face, saw the signs of regret, sighed, and went back to my seat.       “Okay, let’s start over. To whom do I have the honor?”       “Yesod, Sephirah of the Information Department.” — he huffed, — “I’m here to declare a protest!”       “Protest? Against what?” — I was surprised.       “Against entering unnecessary and superfluous information in the documentation on Anomalies.”       “You mean the code names, right?”       “Yes, I am!”       “Protest reject.”       “But sir, these designations are confusing and increase the burden on my department!”       “Well, you shouldn’t have given the Anomalies such ridiculous names! Who came up with them in the first place?”       “Most of the names were given to the Anomalies by the Founder himself.” — said Angela, who was just pretending to be a mannequin until now. I see, another thing on my list of grievances against this genius…       “Yeah… Well, nevermind. Like I said: protest overruled, no objection accepted, the case is closed. Do you have anything else?”       ”… I do. Could you please sign it?” — He handed me a thin folder.       “What’s this?”       “It’s a joint project between me and Malkuth and Hod to improve security.”       I ran my eyes over it quickly. In fact, this project was all about preparing and handing out brochures with information on Anomalies to the staff. It also stipulated the contents of the brochures: safety precautions, actions when encountering specific Anomalies during their escape, and other things…       “Isn’t this all given at briefings and training programs?”       “But not for office staff.”       Oh, so it’s also for clerks, is it? Well, if that’s what the Sephiroth thinks it should be, why not? So I signed and sealed it.       “Thank you, sir. Now if you will excuse me…” — said this the unpleasant fellow. Yeah… it wasn’t in my plans to quarrel with the Sephiroths, but I had a fit of temper. Nerves be damned… Well, whatever, I don’t think he was mortally offended by me.       I turned my gaze to Angela, who was still pretending to be a mannequin (quite successfully).       “Tell me, Angela…”       “What is it, sir?”       “What do you think, should I really change my outfit? I really don’t look very respectable.”       “Oh? I’m sorry, when you were arguing with Yesod, I thought you didn’t think so.”       “Well, I couldn’t admit that he was right, or he’d still be acting like a boor!”       “That’s true… Don’t worry, you’re really free to dress whatever you want, so if you want to leave it as it is or change your appearance, you’re welcome to do so. Just don’t wear a pink robe over your bare body, please?”       “I’ll take your wish into consideration.”

***

      “You’re doing just as good as you did yesterday. Keep it up.” — Angela said after end of another day.       “You know, things are going too well. I keep waiting for something horrible to happen, but so far it’s quiet.”       “You’re worrying too much about it. Just keep…”       ”…doing your job well, yeah, yeah, I remember, stop saying that all times. And stop telling me to “stop worrying”! I, unlike someone else, can’t tweak my settings or turn something off so I don’t have to worry! Humans, you know, work on different principles!”       “Excuse me, sir. One of my tasks is to make you as comfortable as possible. So I couldn’t help noticing your tension.”       “Everything is fine, I just don’t want to share the fate of my predecessor.” — let’s not specify which predecessor and which fate.       “I understand your fears, but you must overcome them if you don’t want to fail. “Face fear, build the future”. This is the motto of the one we call “A,” the Founder of our Corporation.”       “Yeah, that motto fits my situation well, especially the first part. It’s a subtle hint at what the Corporation does here. All right, I’m gonna go. See you tomorrow!”       When I got to my room and took a shower, I settled down in my chair and started… or rather, continued to think about what had happened and what I should do.       I don’t know how I got here in the first place, but, more importantly, I don’t know how to get back to my home world and my body. To my previous life. I suspect it’s impossible. It’s… sad. I can’t fully remember my life before I came here, but I kind of liked everything or almost everything back then. Parents, friends, work… I can’t remember if I had a wife or at least a girlfriend. Apparently not, or I would have remembered. Or…? Well, maybe memory loss in my case isn’t such a bad thing. At least I almost won’t miss my family. Almost…       Thinking about staying in this time loop forever, I came to the conclusion that that is, of course, also an option, but an unacceptable one. So I have to get out. In order to do that, I have to go through the Scenario. Okay, fine. Well, how do I go through it? That’s actually a hell of a question. Just live to the fiftieth day? Yeah, and you also have to suppress the cores of all the Sephiroths. To suppress the cores of the Sephiroths, I guess I have to cause them to overheat first. How do I overheat them? In the game, you had to do the Sephiroths tasks. But nobody gave me any quests here. Although, Malkuth still gave me the conversations that were in her storyline… All in all, the question of how to go through the Scenario is still open.        Okay, we’ll deal with that as we go along. How do I deal with Angela? She is, in fact, my biggest problem and threat right now. And that’s where I’m at a dead end, comrades. Her creator has put me in a hell of a lot of trouble, doing everything he can to turn her against himself. If she’d been loyal to him, maybe I could have gotten away with it, but as it is now…       The worst thing is that even if I somehow convince her to let me go, I can’t show my face in the outside world. Why not? Because I’m in “A"'s body right now. And he, I remind you, once crossed the local Head (of whatever), and I doubt he (that is “me”) has been forgotten or forgiven. Maybe I’ll get lucky and somehow get to the rest of Lobotomy assets, but something tells me that during “A” absence his Corporation is no longer quite his, and I shouldn’t show my face there either. It follows that if I want to live happily ever after, I need to make some kind of arrangement with Angela, so that if when the scenario comes to an end, she will be my ally. With her help, the resources of the Lobotomy and the “A” technology, I could make such a turnaround! Except the problem is that Angela herself could turn around just as well without me. Which she actually did in the game. Damn it…!        What am I supposed to do? How do I convince her that she needs to keep serving me? Seriously, what can I offer her that she would never get without me? What can I do to interest her?       I clutched my hands to my head, feeling powerless. Okay, take a breath… exhale… and again… and again… ugh, it feels better. Not much, but it feels better. I don’t have an answer to that right now, but perhaps it will come later? According to the plot, at some point Angela brings back all (or almost all?) of the protagonist’s memories. Maybe I’ll find some clue in those memories? It’s true that I have yet to live to this point… so I will! It may not be the easiest task, considering the circumstances, but at least it’s doable! That’s it! The current task is to get “A” memories! Having made this decision, I went to bed.       I tried not to think about the fact that these memories could be absolutely useless. Hope, as they say, is the last to die…