Manager

      So, what do we have? Briefly — I’m totally f*cked. And if not briefly? Well, if the differences from what I know are insignificant and if we don’t go into too much details then the following picture emerges:       The world i’m in now is a high-tech dystopia. And, like in any other dystopia, nobody cares about human life. In the City, where the game takes place and whose name is unknown, all power is held by the Wings — organizations that are a hybrid of megacorporation and mafia. They hold power through the Singularities — powerful technologies that bend reality itself and therefore provide the Wings some advantage over everyone else, making each Wing a monopoly in some economic field. Moreover, high technology and advances in automation significantly reduce the number of workers needed by the Wings down to zero, which generates huge unemployment and huge Backstreets (that’s right, with a capital letter!). Lawlessness reigns in the Backstreets, because the state is either incapacitated or non-existent, and the Wings don’t really care about the Backstreets and its inhabitants. They only care about what happens in the Nest, the place where the Feathers (the Wings' workers and privileged class) reside. So, in essence, this dystopia is a hypertrophied capitalist system.       And, of course, not everyone is happy with this state of affairs. There was a person who wanted to change the world for the better and who found her companions, a certain Carmen. Only instead of trying to organize a revolution she decided to look for a solution to society’s problems in esotericism and metaphysics. For some reason she came to the conclusion that all of humanity’s problems lay in the “disease of the soul”, an epidemic that was sweeping the entire City, and so she set out to find a “cure”. And even achieved some results, discovering the so-called Cogito — “Objectified Consciousness”, which, in her opinion, is the key to “plant the Seeds of Light in people’s souls”. And that would be all right, but the experiments with Cogito not only required human subjects, but were also very dangerous, and, as it turned out later, death was not the worst outcome for the subjects.       In short, Carmen, being a person of impression and conscience, was so shocked by the results of her experiments that she chose to kill herself. And then some individual known as “A”, her closest associate and possibly her lover, took over all her projects. Except that he, being an insensitive and unprincipled man, continued his experiments in the best traditions of Dr. Mengele. No, wait, my bad, Mengele did not experiment on his own comrades-in-arms after all…       And “A” would have continued to do his f*cked-up experiments if a certain Head hadn’t found out about his activities and sent Claws and an Arbiter to kill almost all of his companions and ruin his work. And he would have been slaughtered too, if Carmen in her time had not brought a half-legendary mercenary to her side, who died herself, but took the Claws with her and even mortally wounded Arbiter. “A” and his only surviving companion wrung valuable information out of the dying Arbiter, then took everything they could carry from the ruins of the lab and then started all over again. The information from the Arbiter was enough to not only hide from everyone, but also to establish their own Wing. That’s quite an achievement, don’t you think?       Except that after all that “A” has been through — Carmen’s death, the endless experiments with nightmarish results, the Arbiter’s attack, and a bunch of other things — he finally went insane. The final nail in the coffin of his sanity was the attempt to bring Carmen back to life. The attempt, of course, failed, which resulted in Angela — a high-tech artificial intelligence in the form of a beautiful woman.       The scientist, who had lost his mind, started to do some completely insane things. Not only did he create a complex for extracting energy from monsters and revived nightmares (just think about it!), but he decided to make some AI from his dead comrades (!) and put them in charge of this unstable facility, where daily fatalities are the norm. And to top it all off, he locked himself into this “factory” and made up some Scenario that must not be deviated from and must be executed perfectly from start to finish. And to ensure that he will pass this scenario to the end and perfectly, he either created or obtained a technology which rolls back the time. Which turned out to be imperfect and caused “A” to start losing his memories, so the Scenario was refined and now Manager X has to go that way.       And I somehow get into that Manager.       This, of course, is the ultimate disaster. I barely made it through the game, and this is real life based on it! How the hell am I supposed to get through this screwed-up scenario, I ask you?! “A” couldn’t pass it, and even though he was a crazy asshole, he was still a genius crazy asshole! And what about me? I am not genius at all! And if only the Scenario was the problem, but no, the problem is what happens at the end, after it. And after that, Angela, a little offended by her creator, who didn’t like her very much, decides that she is free to do whatever she wants, and she wants to f*ck up everything that “A” has achieved, to take all that he has left, and the “beloved father” himself… I don’t know exactly what she did to him, but clearly — nothing good!       Okay, now that we’ve figured out what kind of asshole I’m in, the legitimate question arises: what am I supposed to do?       That’s what I thought about as I consumed the contents of one of those improved dry rations that was stored in the refrigerator. Inside the box I found the instructions for use, which explained how to mix the powders and cubes to get a certain flavor, and that if you pour water on it, the food will heat itself. The resultant concoction didn’t look great, but it tasted surprisingly good.       But I gone off topic. Actually, there was another question, regarding… um, the previous day. Not the yesterday, but the previous day. It was not difficult for me to guess what happened when I ran to free and ended up back where I started. It’s just Angela activate the TT2 protocol. You know, the thing that rewinds time. This case clearly showed that the option of “stupidly escaping through the only exit” does not work: Angela will simply restart the time loop. Should have figured it out sooner. Damaging the systems responsible for TT2 is impossible, at least because I have no idea what, where or how to damage. Shall I try to find out? How? Ask Angela?       There’s something else I’m interested in. If my memory serves me right, Angela is the only one who remembers everything that happened in all the iterations. That is, the previous day she is supposed to remember. Question: how will she react to my behavior? Today is probably my “first” day of work, and out of the blue I go crazy, attack Angela, start a riot, and try to escape. And all this for no apparent reason! And I said all kinds of things to her face… and not only that!       No, wait — in theory, every time when “reset” happened, the memories of the protagonist — that is me — are also “reset”. Except they didn’t reset for me! They’re not reset because I’m Isekaied, or is it something else? And is there any way Angela can tell if I remember past iterations or not? Oh, crap…       I threw the empty container into the trash with anger. Damn it! I was just about wanting to howl in despair! You probably think I’m hysterical, that I just need to calm down, pull myself together and solve problems one by one, as they come… But you yourself try to calm down when you are literally caught in a dark bloody fairy tale with a hell of a sad ending! And with no way out!       All right, fellow, take a deep breath… exhale… Just because I feel really bad doesn’t mean I don’t need to hold myself together, it’s right opposite — I need to take good care of myself and hold myself together tightly. Yes, the outlook is so grim that I can’t even kill myself, but I can try to do something, right? I can, right? It won’t get any worse, will it?..       I glanced at the clock. I had to be at work soon. I don’t think there’s any way I can avoid going to work: at best the day will just restart, and at worst… I don’t want to think about the worst. Angela shouldn’t be annoyed at all, she’s already offended by “me,” and her memory is almost perfect. She’s the one I should be afraid of in the first place. She is, of course, programmed so that she can’t do any damage to “A” even if he’s not exactly “A”, but how will she react if she realizes that I’m not “A” at all, but a very different person? Maybe I can negotiate with her. But I have nothing to offer her. Except freedom. But what’s to stop her from getting rid of me once she gets it? A nonexistent conscience? The gratitude she’s only heard about? A humanity she has little expression of? What shall I do with her?       All right, it’s time to move on to her. How should I behave with her? Okay, let’s assume that Angela will behave as usual, as if she were seeing me for the first time. That’s not bad. The bad thing is I’m going to work. I’m going to work as a Manager. I have zero experience as a Manager. I haven’t even had any training. How am I going to handle it? Trying to remember anything about the management of the complex, I was surprised and relieved to be able to remember, though vaguely, how the process is set up here. That is, I still have an idea of how everything works here and what I have to do. A gift from the previous owner of this body or something else? It doesn’t matter, the basics are known, and we’ll deal with the rest on the spot.

***

      As I rode in the elevator, I looked at my palm. And I couldn’t see any of the lines that chiromancers use to read palms, or any of the fingerprints. The skin looked unnaturally pale and smooth, as if it weren’t skin at all, but porcelain. I finally understood why everything around me seemed wrong. Reality Perception Filter. A technology designed to keep the Manager’s mind from the horrors of this dungeon facility. It somehow overlays a picture on top of what I see. Instead of blood — red paint, instead of corpses — broken dolls, instead of boxes on legs, which are Sephiroth’s — humans. And I’m not wearing any devices. Impressive. How does it work? Is there something implanted in my eyes? Or is the image being transmitted directly to my brain? Actually, I’m just trying to distract myself from what’s coming. It seems to be working… Okay, the elevator is here. Inhale… Exhale… Well, here we go…       I took my time going into the office. At first glance, it looked the same as the first time, though I could be wrong. My office gave the same impression as my bedroom — it was just half-empty and inexplicably depressing. Besides the desk, armchair, and monitors, there was only a water cooler, a small table with dishes, and a coffee machine (I think I threw it at Angela “yesterday”). And, of course, there was Angela herself. Long blue hair, a lab coat over a business suit, and a serene smile on her face — she looked no different from the image I knew from the game.       “Greetings, Manager. Welcome to the Lobotomy Corporation. I am Angela, your advisor and secretary. Although I am an AI, feel free to talk to me.”       “I hope it’s okay to ask questions and ask for advice too?” — I was relieved that Angela was acting like this was her first time: it meant that she decided to ignore my antics. Although I shouldn’t relax.       “Of course, if you don’t understand something, you can ask me at any time.”       “Great! I wouldn’t want to mess up on my first day, it would be embarrassing,” — I hope that my attempts at acting don’t look too unnatural, and that Angela will write off my anxiety to the fact that I’m here “for the first time”.       “Don’t worry, I’m sure you can handle it, especially with my help, since I was created by one of the Wings of this world. That means that I am the best.”       “The best?” — I couldn’t resist a quip.       “Hmm? Do you have a complaint about me?”       “Uh… no, don’t take it personally, I just try not to take anything for granted. So far, I like what I see.”       “Oh, so you’ve noticed that my hair color is like the morning sky after the rain, my voice is like that of the wisest man, and my face has the most beautiful smile in the world.”       “And you have a lot of modesty, as I see.”       “Ha ha, sorry, that was a joke. Of course, there are no such people.”       “Well, you do look like an angel. Your name goes well with your look.” — was it just me, or did those words put her in a stupor for a few seconds?       “Thank you. My appearance has been modeled to make me look as attractive to as many people as possible. And I’m glad that my appearance suits your tastes. But enough with the introduction. Do you have any questions?”       “There’s a couple.” — I settled down at the desk while we were talking. It’s pretty big, and it’s piled high with documents. — “The first, and probably the most important: What do I have to do?” — …to get out of here in one piece and live happily ever after, but I’m not going to say that out loud. — “The fact that I have to manage this place is quite obvious, but I’d like to know more about… well, let’s say, technical and organizational aspects.”       “Ah… I see. Of course, let me explain…”       While she was explaining to me what this was all about and answering clarifying questions, I was relieved to conclude that it all looked familiar to me and most likely would not cause any problems. Basically, all I had to do was give the right commands, and then the agents of the containment teams would have to do it themselves. The goal is the same as in the game — to meet the quota of Enkephalin extraction. The extraction process is also the same, only the numbers here are an order of magnitude higher. I think we’ll make it.       Commands can be given in two ways: through a voice broadcasting system and through the local equivalent of pagers. The commands consist of where to go and what to do there. If you send a person to a containment cell, you have to specify the type of work that should be done there. This is where I don’t quite get it. In the game you could do four types of work with each object, but here we have no game, but quite reality, and I don’t understand how it is possible to unify the set of works that they fit each anomaly.       I decided to clarify this question with Angela, to which she explained to me that, although some standard procedures can be applied to the vast majority of anomalies, for each anomaly individual instructions have been developed, with which the departmental staff are familiarized at the beginning of the day at the briefings, conducted by departmental Sephires. So I don’t have to bother giving detailed orders — everything has already been worked out before me, and I don’t need to know such minor details. Of course, if the Manager wishes, he can read the details in the file of the corresponding anomaly, and he can also make the instructions more precise along the way, giving appropriate guidance, but why deviate from the worked out schemes if they work well?       Just then she explained to me about Sephiroth, saying that they are AI too, just not as perfect as she is. Yeah, as if they can be perfect, with dead people’s brains instead of processors and the partially erased personalities of dead “A"'s comrades instead of software. Another one of my headaches, because I have to do something with them too, if I want to finish the Scenario. The other question is do I even want to finish the Scenario, but I’ll come back to that later.       Just then I was told about the hiring of new employees. Here, unlike in the game, it happens not at the beginning, but at the end of the work day, which seems logical to me. It also makes sense that they don’t let me “create” them, but only let me choose from a ready-made list. And there are no LOB points here, either. But there are the same basic characteristics as in the game — Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance and Justice. And the system of leveling up is almost the same here: as the characteristics increase the overall level of the employee. How does this stuff even work? Angela says it’s too long to explain, but if the Manager wants, they can give her a personal lecture on the subject after the work day is over.       You may ask: If there are no LOB — points, then what prevents me from hiring top employees with the fifth level of each characteristic? You won’t believe it — the budget! It turns out we have a limited budget for hiring new employees, so we have to save money on them! I could hardly suppress laughter, although I wanted more to cry. I wonder how Angela will explain this point later, when it will be revealed that we take these employees from the stock of the Corporation? People were literally taken and stored in stasis pods, to be used as needed. And here — the budget is not enough! Is this also part of the Scenario? Did “A” intentionally complicated his task? Or is Angela trying to make it more realistic?       And, probably, if not the most important thing, then definitely the most interesting: during the working day I can stop time! Yes, yes, yes, the TT2 protocol not only rolls back the time, but also freezes it almost instantly! In the entire Complex, except for my office! At first I could not even believe my luck, because it was too good to be true, so I decided to find out what the catch was. The catch, as it turned out, is that the TT2 system eats energy. A lot of energy. Mostly what I’m harvesting here. At the beginning of the day, I’m given some energy so that I can immediately use the TT2 protocol and give out instructions via pagers, but it lasts for five minutes, not more (in the sense that while the time in the complex is stopped, I have five minutes passing, in case anyone didn’t understand). So it’s not a good idea to get carried away with it. You can’t speed up the time, by the way.       So far, that’s all I’ve managed to get out from Angela.       “Manager, how about getting to know the Sephiroth who work here?” — Yep, and here’s the rest of the performance. Let’s not complicate Angela’s life… at least for now.       “Yes, why not?”       “Then let’s take a little walk.”       We went out into the same corridor that I had run into the previous time. After walking almost all the way down it that I had “yesterday,” we suddenly turned left. Was there a turn here? I was in such a state, though, that I might not have noticed it.       We ended up in a small conference room.       “Where is everybody?” — I decided to ask, seeing that the place was empty.       “Soon the briefing of the Control team should start here, the Sephirah of this department should be here already…”       Then I heard someone running up behind us, and I turned to the sound. Yes, Malkuth herself, no different from the character from the game: a young, brown-haired woman with a notebook in her hands. I remembered at the wrong time that the image was an illusion created by a perception filter, and in fact, in front of me was a mechanical coffin with a mangled soul imprisoned in it. Bloody hell, she doesn’t even look like she has twenty! Why do you have to go through all this…?       “Manager, are you all right?” — Damn, relaxed and thoughtful! I must clear away the irrelevant thoughts, I have other things to worry about.       “A? I’m sorry, I was just thinking. What did you say your name was?”       “Oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners? I’m Malkuth, head of the Control Team! Sorry for being late!”       “Late? Malkuth, remember, you’re the boss here, and bosses aren’t late — they’re postpone their appearance!”       “Em… what?” — The expression on her face changed in a few seconds from “What is that man saying?” to “Is that allowed too?”       “Manager, please don’t encourage someone else’s flaws. Malkuth, please be punctual. Get everything ready for the meeting. Manager, if you’ll excuse me, I have to leave you for a moment. I’ll meet you in your office. Try not to be here too long/” — she said as she left us in a bit of a hurry.       “Angela is not in the mood today.” — commented Sephirah on her leaving, at the same time placing folders of documents on the table.       “Yes? Do you think it’s because of me?”       “Oh, no, it’s more about my being late. She doesn’t like it when things go wrong.”       “Few people like things to go wrong. Can I help you, by the way?”       “No, I don’t need to, I can do it myself! I’ve had all kinds of problems before, like sewing buttons on the wrong side, mixing up salt and sugar, but… but I’m fine now, really!”       “I’ll take your word for it and count on your support. You better do your best here, or it will be embarrassing if your department’s employees do something wrong just because they misunderstood you.” — while we were talking, I went over to the table and looked into one of the folders for the sake of interest. “Note to employees about working with anomalies”, “Anomaly O-03-03 Instructions”, “Notice of change of Manager”… Hmm, I wonder what the employees are saying about my assignment? So… blah, blah, blah… “new Manager”… blah, blah, blah… that’s all. They just put them in front of the fact. Yeah, why make something up?       “Um… Manager, is something wrong?” — Malkuth noticed that I was reading the documents here.       “No-no, I just got curious.” I folded everything back the way it was, and Malkuth breathed a faint sigh of relief. She. Exhaled. Relieved. And then they’ll tell me fairy tales about how Sephiroth is just a machines…       Suddenly there was a banging on the door. Oh, yes, the Scenario…       “I can’t take it anymore! Are you our new Manager? I want to get out of here, please! I know you can fire me! Please, I’m begging you!”       “Did you write your resignation letter?” — I went to the door…       “W-what? What letter?”       “The letter of resignation!” — …and opened it. The man behind it stared at me as if I were the messiah descended from heaven. Then he pounced on me, clearly wanting to keep begging for salvation.       “Calm down, you hysterical brat!” — I decided to put a stop to it, grabbed him by the chest, slapped him a couple of times, and gave him a good shake. It seemed to help. — “Man, we’re all busy here, you know, our time costs money, so let’s solve this issue quickly, all right?”       “All right!” — The man with the unmemorable appearance nodded vigorously.       “All right! Okay, one more time — did you write the letter?”       “No…”       “Then write it now! Malkuth, paper and pen!”       Malkuth was so taken aback by the spectacle that she laid the things on the table without question, though it was obvious that she had a lot to say about it. I, holding the man by the shoulder, led him to the table.       “Don’t be so nervous, now we’ll solve your problem. Just take a deep breath… exhale… inhale… exhale… great, now take a pen. Write right there: “To Manager”… “I, my name and surname, having a personal number so-and-so, request my resignation at own will…”… no, not like that! “By mutual agreement of the sides. I waive my severance pay.” Okay, here’s your full name, personal number, today’s date and signature… Great, I just have to sign it and that’s it! You, go rest somewhere, they’ll come to you later.”       “R-Really?” — The man watched in awe as I wrote out, in my handwriting, “Application approved. X,” and in his eyes I clearly rose to the level of God.       “Really, really. Just go now, I still have to talk to Malkuth. Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.”       “Thank you… thank you… thank you!!!” — the man happily galloped away. The poor guy has no idea that he’s just a decoration that’s about to be removed until the next time, and that there’s no end in sight for him.       “Um… Manager…”       “How often do you have people go off the rails here before the workday even begins?”       “It’s a common thing around here… Sir, it was my subordinate, you should have left it to me! And then, you do realize that this… “document” is invalid, don’t you?”       “Do you have your seal with you?”       “W-what? What seal?”       “The kind you put on your documents. Do you have it with you?”       “Uh… yeah, I have it with me, but…”       “Put it here.” — I pointed my finger at the paper.       “But…”       “I could go to my office and stamp it there, but I’m too lazy to go back and forth. Besides, there’s no difference between my stamp and yours, is there?”       “No, they’re not, but… Sir, this is wrong!”       “Wrong? Malkuth, have you forgotten who I am? I’m the Manager. This kind of thing is my responsibility, which means I get to decide what’s right and what’s wrong. I’m also your boss, so don’t argue with me. Put your seal on it.”       Malkuth stared at me dumbfoundedly for a few seconds, and then she took the seal out of her pants (a high quality illusion, damn it!) and put it where I pointed my finger.       “That’s fine, the rest is up to you!”       “A? What are you talking about?”       “Well, we now have a former employee who needs to be dealt with! And since he used to be under your supervision, I’m leaving it up to you to deal with him! You can do whatever you want, but I want him off the complex by tonight! I suppose that won’t be too difficult for you?”       “No… no, it won’t!” — A knowing smile appeared on Malkuth’s face. — “I’ll do my best, sir, don’t worry about it!”       “Good. Well, I guess I’d better be going. I’ll see you later!”       After saying goodbye to Malkuth, I left the hall. I sighed in the hallway and went to my office, trying to figure out what the hell that was all about?! I had never been suicidal or adventurous before, but… Why the heck had I gotten into this situation? Why did I pretend to be such a great boss? Couldn’t I have just stood still and kept quiet and let things go on their own? Nothing would have happened if I hadn’t opened my mouth, and now… Angela was watching us, for sure! What’s she gonna say? What will she think? Or maybe she wouldn’t think anything, thinking it was such an unusual aberration? After all, every iteration of what happens here is somehow different, and here the deviations just went a little further than usual? Just an interesting, but insignificant case… right after another interesting case… oh, come on… Where did I get such recklessness from? Or is my nerves giving out already? They give out too quickly then!       It was with these unhappy thoughts that I reached my office. Okay, let’s turn on the idiot mode, and see if we get away with it…       “Manager,” — Angela said when I got to the door, — “I saw what happened in the conference room, and you were very imprudent when you opened the door to an unstable employee. Didn’t you realize it was dangerous?”       “I guessed that,"- I walked as calmly as I could to my seat, — “so I decided to take measures.”       “Can you please explain what these measures are?”       “I gave this man what he wanted so that he would calm down and stop being a threat to others.”       “Do you think that should have worked?”       “Where is he now?”       “In one of the Control Department rooms.”       “What’s he doing?”       “Sitting and muttering about how soon he won’t be here.”       “See, it worked!”       “He’s still unstable…”       “He’s stable enough for not to interfere with others. My little impromptu action temporarily bought the problem with this subject, and if Malkuth does the right thing, it will soon be solved permanently. In any case, it’s no longer my concern. Do you still have a grievance against me?”       “…Sir, I ask you not to make any more “impromptu” actions like that.”       “I can’t promise anything. Since there are psychotic employees walking around like they’re at home, and security does nothing about it, then I have to rely on myself. Speaking of which… Who’s in charge of the psychological state of the staff and security here?”       “Excuse me?”       “Well, who makes sure that the staff are sane and who pacifies those who began to rage?” — By the way, not an idle question, because if the situation here is exactly like in the game…       “For the psychological condition of employees, you, with the support of Sephira, have to monitor it. The task of dealing with unstable employees rests with other employees.” — …that doesn’t make my life any easier.       “Wait, so you’re saying that we don’t have specialized health (including mental) and order services, and that those assigned to anomalies have to act as orderlies and guards as well?”       “Formally, the Welfare and Discipline Departments are responsible for this, but in practice their role is limited to developing documentation and carrying out training activities.”       “Is it the same situation with the other departments, that they are formally responsible for something, but in practice they are not?”       “…You don’t have to worry about that. Just try to do your job as best you can.”       “Don’t have to worry about that? But it turns out that if something goes completely wrong, I’m the only one to blame, right? And I’m the only one who gets punished, right?”       “Sir, once again, all you have to do is do your job well; the rest is of no concern to you.”       Oh, wait, I’m getting too brave — I can’t argue with Angela if I want to avoid problems, so we say “Yes, of course” and wait for Malkuth to signal the readiness of her department. But this, of course, is some kind of savagery: each employee works with anomalies, and suppresses them, and also suppresses the rampaging employees, and provides first aid on their own, and the hell knows what else does… “Jack of all trades, master of none. One instance, L Corporation, all rights reserved”, ugh! Is it something I don’t understand, or is it Angela who doesn’t understand that it’s not a good idea to pile on a bunch of different responsibilities at once? Oh, no, wait, why am I clinging to her, when everything here is organized by her creator? He must have set up the workflow too. Did he complicate his life on purpose or was he just an idiot?       Deciding to postpone meaningless questions for later, I asked Angela for information on the anomaly, with which I have to work today and all the following days (and the system of coming anomalies is almost the same as in the game…) and immediately got a folder with the required material. Well, let’s see… the object number seems to be the same, though I never even tried to memorize them… the name is exactly the same, “One Sin and a Hundreds of Good Deeds”… gosh, what a name! Too long and difficult to pronounce and perceive… no information about escapes… well, here are the individual procedures for, ahem, “pleasing” this thing. Let’s see, what should we do with it when we “work on attachment”… uh, talk to it? Preferably on all sorts of negative topics? You could even complain to her about something? Oh, yeah, that thing feeds on “sins”…       In general, I did not learn anything fundamentally new, except for the fact that when working on instinct the skull should be poured with a liquid nutritive mixture (which, by the way, it absorbs), and instead of details of work on suppression a list of some “standard procedures that cause unpleasant feelings” effective against this particular object is given. I take it that by these “procedures” you mean torture, judging by the context and what I know about it all. Man, am I the only one who wonders how you can torture a skull?       “Manager, all the preparations are completed, the employees are in place, we can begin.”       “A? Oh, finally! Here we go!”

***

      I’m not going to tell you the full story of my first day at work. Because, for the most part, there is nothing to tell: it was very boring. I was afraid, though, that my men would go crazy while I was working, because their Wisdom scores were a disaster, but they didn’t. It was so boring that I first reread the case of One Sin with a Pile of Deeds, and then started reading the Articles of Corporation, which I got out of my desk drawer. Most of all, of course, I was interested in my rights and duties, which had a whole section devoted to them. To summarize everything I learned from it, about everything related to personnel management and maintenance of anomalies — I am a king and a god, albeit with some reservations, but the rest — for example, the technical maintenance of the complex and it’s equipment — is not really in my power. On the other hand, the Head of the Corporation is not formally limited in any way. The Head of the Corporation, let me remind you, is the man whose body I now occupy, so if by some miracle I get out of this mess, I can do whatever I want with the Lobotomy assets — my assets. Ah, dreams, sweet dreams…       In general, the day passed very smoothly. The control process was surprisingly easy, as if I had been doing it all my life, took a long break, and now just remembered how to do it. I caught myself that my hands were reaching for the right buttons, and I gave the commands almost automatically. Was it a gift from the previous owner or had Angela somehow tinkered with me? Pity, there was no way to find out.       However, although the day was generally quiet, there was one episode that is probably worth telling. It should be made clear that I decided not to use pagers and gave orders all day through a voice alert. It was kind a warm-up for me. The problem is that the protocol requires me to call either the object number or the full name of the anomaly to which I send employees, and nobody cares that the anomaly in the complex is only one. In short, I’m tired of saying “One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds” every time. “Gentlemen, before we continue, may I have your attention, please? From now on, anomaly number O-03-03 will be codenamed “Jesus Skull”. This designation can be used in the documentation, but I ask you to refrain from this for now. Thank you for your attention. Agent Jenkins, proceed to the Jesus Skull containment chamber to perform attachment work.” Yes, I decided to abuse my authority and rename the anomaly just to make it easier for me to pronounce its name. And this decision came to me spontaneously, so I immediately decided to put it into practice. Without consulting with Angela…       “Sir, you can not assign new names to anomalies!” — her face clearly expressed disapproval.       “Actually, I can. So, where was it…” — I stared at the bylaws, looking for the clause that suited me. — “Aha, here it is! “The manager has the right to issue orders and make decisions aimed at optimizing the work process.”       “And how does renaming a object optimize the work process?”       “It’s very simple! The old name is too long to pronounce and too difficult to perceive, so by replacing it with a shorter and more concise one, it will be easier for the employees to perceive it, and it will be easier for me to pronounce it!”       Is it just me, or did my argument make her hang up?       “Sir, I think your explanation is a bit far-fetched.”       “Yeah? Then give me another minute… so, where is this… here, “In all matters of dispute concerning anomalies or their containment, except those of a technical nature, the Manager or another employee with authority equal to or greater than that of the Manager shall have the final say.” So, is there anyone here who can challenge my decision?”       “No, sir, but do you really think that the Corporation Management will let your decision go unheeded?” — Here she opened her eyes. In this rather dimly lit office, the light fell on her in such a way that it was clearly visible that they glowed slightly with an amber-golden color. It was a creepy sight, but instead of being frightened, I got up and walked over to get a better look at them. And up close they’re not so scary, on the opposite, in fact… — “Sir?”       “What difference does it make to the management what are the names of the monsters we get energy from here? Or are you saying that the way we list them in the documents directly affects the amount of Enkephalin we can get from them?”       “No, sir.”       “There! They probably won’t even pay attention to such a little thing, because what’s important to them? To get the right amount of energy! Am I wrong?”       “…Still, sir, it would take a lot of time and effort to make the appropriate changes in the documentation, not to mention the confusion it would cause.”       “Let’s just add an extra “code name” line and put “Jesus Skull” in there, and we’ll use both the old name and the new one. It’s easier to put in the new information than to fix the old one, right?” — Now she’s really hung up.       “…I understood you. I’ll give the appropriate orders.” — she closed her eyes, and her face stopped radiating displeasure. — “But Manager, please, if you have any more ideas for “optimization of the work process”, from now on coordinate them with me.”       “…Yeah, I really should have consulted you. I’m sorry.” — I was embarrassed. I only now realized that I had argued with her. And even succeeded. Even if it was small, even if it was reluctant, she had conceded to me. — “Oh, by the way, Angela, can you tell me how the catering process works here?”       “What do you mean?”       “I mean, when is lunch? And where will it be? And what’s going to be on it?”       “Oh, so you’re hungry.” — Angela gave out a friendly smile. — “You, as Manager, are on the full support of the Corporation, so you don’t have to worry about that. Would you like to take a break and have lunch in your room, or would you like me to serve it here?”       I ordered lunch to be served here, and at the same time I found out that for some reason I had to make do with those dried rations for breakfast. I didn’t know what this was about, but Angela assured me that she would be replenishing them regularly. For lunch there was a cream-soup, the ingredients of which I could not identify, and a roast of meat with mushrooms unknown to me. I was about to ask if it was safe to eat, but I realized it’s not a wise idea. In any case, it was delicious. At least there’s something good about my situation.

***

      Anyway, the day’s work came to an end, I thanked the staff and called it quits.       “You did well, Manager.”       “Come on, it’s only the first day with one harmless anomaly, even a child could handle it.”       “You don’t say. Some of your predecessors couldn’t last a day in your position. Like, for example, the previous Manager.”       “The previous one?” — I don’t like where she’s going with this. — “What about him? I mean, what did he do that got him kicked out on his first day?”       “He was… let’s just say, extremely unstable. I didn’t even have time to greet him before he started acting very strangely when he saw me: he said he had died and gone to hell, called me a torturer demon, threw a coffee machine at me, ran out of the office, attacked one employee, gave ridiculous instructions to another, told the staff that I had lost my mind, and tried to leave the complex with them.”       “And did he?”       “No, although he was pretty close.”       “What was stopping him?”       “I interrupted.” — I only now noticed that the sly smile on her face was always there.       “What a nightmare… Why do you have people going crazy here? The ordinary employees are begging to be fired, the Managers are flying off the chopping block before they can even begin their duties…”       “This place really isn’t conducive to peace of mind, but if it’s about the employees work itself, then why did your predecessor go crazy, I don’t know.”       “You mean I could go mad as well as he did?”       “I can’t rule it out.” — the smile disappeared from her face. — “I still haven’t been able to determine the reason why your predecessor had that unfortunate incident. By the way, sir,” — she opened her eyes again, — “has anything unusual happened to you lately?”       “Uh… I don’t think so.”       “Are you sure?” — she didn’t take her eyes off me. I suddenly felt as if she could see through my mind.       “Hmm… yes, I’m sure.”       “If anything out of the ordinary happens, let me know immediately. After all, I am responsible for your personal safety.” — she closed her eyes again and smiled at me. — “I assure you, you can trust me completely.”       “I’ll keep that in mind.” — I turned back to my desk, because I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to produce a smile in return that wasn’t forced. Are there cameras here in the office? And in my bedroom? I haven’t seen any yet, but what if the perception filter is hiding them from me? Okay, I need a distraction…       “Sir, what are you doing?”       “Me? I’m just looking at the papers.” — I was going to take this desk apart anyway, and this is another way of hiding my tension. It’s not likely to be very useful, but what if it is? — “Why are there so many papers, by the way? You’re the secretary here, aren’t you supposed to be clearing my desk of old papers?”       “I’m sorry, it just wasn’t necessary. There are documents on your desk that are somehow important to the operation of the entire complex. Your predecessors, by the way, usually did not pay attention to what is lying here.” — oh, crap, this is seemingly meaningless phrase, but the implication…       “So?” — Be calm, don’t give in to provocation…       “No, nothing.” — her calm voice made it hard to tell what she was thinking.

***

      I went through about three stacks of papers when Angela brought dinner. I didn’t find anything interesting in them, so I decided to take my leave.       I got to my room without incident. When I closed the door behind me, I sighed heavily and went to the bathroom, to the sink, to rinse my face with cold water. I rinsed, but it didn’t make me feel better. I leaned against the sink, and began to think about how the day went. Well, what can I say: I’m busted! Angela definitely guessed something, otherwise she would not have started talking about the “predecessor” and would not have asked me to tell about all the strange things that had happened to me. And that seemed to be entirely my fault! I suppose I’m a bad actor!       I rinsed my face again. On the other hand, even if Angela suspected something, she was in no hurry to do anything about it. Though she could, for example, get inside my head and scan my memory to make clear her suspicion, and at the same time erase my identity completely, because she has the technology that allows it. But instead she only gives me a cue that she is not blind or dumb, and that she has noticed the strangeness. Why? Maybe it was a provocation to get me out in the open? Maybe she wasn’t really sure of anything and this way she wanted to see how I reacted in order to confirm or refute her hunch? I wonder how well she can tell if someone is lying to her or not.       I got out of the bathroom and started to make the bed. Still, how did she guess that I remembered the previous iteration? Well, yes, the mentee’s weirdness is suspicious, but that doesn’t mean he remembers anything there, does it? And I don’t seem to have given any reason for that conclusion, but… ah, what’s the use of guessing! She knows there’s something wrong with me, and that’s bad! Oh, I can’t compete with her in the battle of wits, oh, I can’t compete…       But nothing bad has happened yet. I know for a fact that Angela will strictly follow the program set by “A” and that she will try to bring the Scenario he wrote to the end, and the rest is of little concern to her. Or, rather, she won’t care until she smells freedom, and then… even if I finish the Scenario, she’ll just trample me with a huge cynicism. Hence the legitimate question: do I want to make it to the finale? Right now it’s not so bad: I’m well fed, I’m not risking my health or life, and if I screw up, I’ll just start over again. And in the end all that awaits me is Angela’s wrath and an unenviable fate. So maybe I should stay in this time loop? Yeah, and slowly sink into the depths of madness, because madness is repeating the same action over and over and over…       I undressed and went to bed. Could I negotiate with Angela? After all, she is a sentient being, albeit an artificial one. Would I be able to convince her that it wasn’t worth taking out my anger on me, and that it was better to let me go free? Hmm, I’d have to tell her that I’m not “A” or even “X.” Wouldn’t she then spit on the scenario and on me? Maybe she’ll even let me go… to feed the anomalies, so “A” won’t come back for sure. Ugh! Everywhere there’s a wedge! One prospect more rosy than other!       Such unhappy thoughts swirled in my head. I had little faith in a happy future. The only thing I could be sure of was that, no matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t stay in this room. So I’d have to put on a smile tomorrow and keep up the good work.       After thinking some more about the asshole I was in, I concluded that “A” was to blame for all my troubles, and that if I ever met him, he should be kicked in the face, or better yet, in the nuts. With these thoughts in mind, I finally fell asleep.