Page 25 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
“They don’t have you torture someone unless they’re considering you for something big. We had a woman here who was being groomed for middle management, and I think she pulled out someone’s fingernails during her entry interview.”
“Where is she now?” I whispered, rapt.
“Oh, she exploded.”
“She—what?”
“Exploded. She opened the wrong book and went kablooey all over the stacks.”
I swallowed.
“So,” Lex continued, “I guess that explains how you ended up on thirteen. I did wonder, since you don’t strike me as the kind of asshole you usually see clawing their way to the top. You haven’t mentioned an Ivy League degree or your rich parents even once.”
Still processing the idea of being fast-tracked anywhere, I shrugged uncomfortably. “I wanted more than sitting in a cubicle for the next forty years. That’s all.”
“Well, it looks like you got it.” Lex picked up the blood-smeared disc and passed it back to me. “Wherever you found this, I’d get rid of it if I were you. Nothing good comes of messing with Management.”
Studying the disc for a moment, I closed my fist around it. There was no point in getting rid of it now. The damage was done. “Thanks for helping me. I really appreciate it. I would’ve spent weeks wandering around in here before I found anything.”
“Hey, just doing my job.” Lex climbed to their feet and stretched. “Don’t worry about the books. I’ll reshelve them.”
“Okay.” I got to my feet as well. “Thanks again.”
“No problem. I’ll see you around.”
It was tough to concentratefor the rest of the afternoon. The metallic disc in my pocket felt like it weighed roughly two hundred pounds, and I kept wondering if Management could somehow sense it there. Probably not, since I wasn’t shrieking while someone slowly tore off my limbs or whatever Management did to employees who crossed Them. Still, when Ms.Crenshaw called me into her office for the second time that day, a familiar spike of anxiety went through me.
I found her standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing out across a darkened, unfamiliar city that stretched for miles into the distance, illuminated by the faint light of three tiny moons. I stood there uncertainly, watching her, until she finally turned and noticed me. “Take a seat.”
Sinking into the chair in front of her desk, I nervously rubbed my hands on my chinos. Instead of sitting as well, however, Ms.Crenshaw returned to her expressionless study of the city beyond her windows. The silence stretched. Finally, I cleared my throat and asked hesitantly, “Is everything okay, ma’am?”
Swiveling on one heel, she eyed me for a moment before lowering herself into her own chair. “I’ve received word from Analysis and Logistics that several oracles attempting to divine the source of Monday’s incursion have suffered catastrophic strokes.”
My ears perked up. “That’s terrible,” I said thoughtfully.
“Their deaths are regrettable, yes. But they suggest that whateverwas in that elevator is far more powerful than what we’d originally assumed. Powerful enough to destroy those seeking it.”
I didn’t like that people were dying down on the ninth floor, but I still experienced a flash of relief. It sounded like the company’s oracles couldn’t see what I’d done, or if they did, they died before they could tell anyone. Carefully maintaining a solemn expression, I murmured, “I see.”
“That doesn’t concern you, however.” Ms.Crenshaw leaned forward and rested her elbows on her desk, steepling her fingers together. I had a sudden, uncomfortable memory of my last performance review with Ms.Kettering. “You’ve survived your first week on the thirteenth floor. That’s good. Let me clarify something, however. While some of my colleagues believe in coddling their assistants, I do not. I believe in testing to failure. It’s a methodology wherein something is subjected to ever-increasing amounts of stress until it breaks.”
I straightened my spine and gave her what I hoped was a firm and decisive nod.
“I’ve had assistants who broke after a month of my tutelage,” Ms.Crenshaw went on matter-of-factly, “and others who managed to claim a chair on the executive board. I don’t know which path you will take, Colin, but I intend to find out.” Her lips curved ever so slightly, showing a sliver of teeth, and I flinched despite myself.
“I’m not going to break, ma’am.”
“We’ll see” was all she said, ominously.
I rose to my feet, then paused. “Was I fast-tracked to this floor?”
She raised a single eyebrow.
Licking my lips, I pressed on. “What I mean is, was I always on a trajectory to thirteen?”
Ms.Crenshaw studied me. “Why do you ask?”
“My initial interview. The torture. I wondered if…” I trailed off under her expressionless stare.
