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Welcome to Percotran -Part I By: Richard Davidson on 10/14/2002; 11:37 PM It was a cool October morning. There was just a hint of frost on the ground, and it made the grass crunch noisily under Alexanders feet as he made his way across the lawn. Hed always liked that feeling, finding it gave him a vague sense of satisfaction. He took a feeble scrape at the window with his drivers license, got in the car, turned the defrost to high, and slowly ambled down the driveway, as he waited for the little hole he was looking out of to get a bit bigger. It did, as his driveway was about a mile long, and he waited until he got past the washboard part of the road to pop in an Aerosmith CD, and paradoxically drive to the vaunted offices of Percolex International, the computer giant he worked for. Alexander had a pretty good job with Percolex. He was happy with the pay, and the benefits, and usually he didnt have to work that much overtime, although lately it seemed like hed been there quite a bit. Overall, Alexander had a good thing going for himself, but today he had a grim job to do. One of the research scientists downstairs had gone insane the previous Friday, which Alexander had no trouble at all understanding. Those guys always spooked him out with their glassy stares, and unkempt appearance. It was like they were all trying out for a 1950s Sci Fi film, or something. Dr. Herbert Evinrude, who had been working on a very stressful project that was far beyond Alexanders understanding, had gone mad and shot himself, leaving all kinds of horrible blood and entrails, or brains, or whatever all over the research lab in Room 3. Apparently, there were sensitive files down there, and one of the nastier, stupider executives was worried that there were corporate spies from Ecotran, a competing company, who had infiltrated the staff. Alexander had been a trusted hourly employee for fifteen years, and had once saved the life of one of the Vice Presidents wife. She had taken an overdose of sleeping pills, and Alexander had done the right thing, and rushed her to the hospital. And hed been smart enough to keep it real quiet, which is certainly what you can assume any sleazy executive would be praying for. Every year Alexander got 20 shares of stock and a turkey for Christmas, along with an embossed card signed by the very same Vice Presidents secretary. He really didnt give a crap about the card, but those turkeys were pretty good, and that stock was starting to add up. Every year, when it was awarded to him, he would do his best to match it with Ecotran stock, as well. Alexander figured there was room for both companies in his portfolio, and it made him feel just a little bit naughty owning stock from the hated Ecotran. Alexander nodded a hello to Uni, the security guard in the front lobby, and semi-cheerfully walked across the polished marble to the elevators, much as he did any other day. He took the elevator to the third floor, walked briskly towards the Utilities and Drives department, and then Alexander did something he didnt normally do. Making sure no one had seen him, he made his way to the back stairwell; the one the janitors and maintenance people use. The door was usually locked, but Alexander knew it wouldnt be today, and he was right, and then he was through the door, and onto the metal of the stairway. The echo of his boots clinking on the stairs was remarkably unsettling to Alexander, viewed in the light of his present task, and he was slightly distraught by the light being out on the second alcove, causing him to walk three feet in total darkness, and skin his elbow on the edge of the doorway he hadnt seen. He thought he was going to curse, but for some reason didnt. It felt a bit dangerous to dangle a single swear word out into this empty, echoey stairwell, and then Alexander spilled out into the gray-green hallway of the North Building Research Department, which wasnt the main research department at all. The entire corporate headquarters of Percolex International was sort of a big steel and glass sculpture, permeated with soothing oases of smooth marble, carefully controlled fountains, and giant plants, some in planters big enough to park a Volkswagen in. Each room had a name of its own, named after some famous CEO or shareholder, such as the Edward P. Sullivan Atrium; the Sarah J. Kessler Arboretum; or the William Gainseworth Library, which you could get quite lost in if you had the time. The offices had a sophisticated numbering system, that corresponded to the function of the department; the floor; the wing; and which building it was in, so you had offices with such numbers as 325NNS3W and the like. How strange it seemed to Alexander then to look upon the three orange metal doors in this grey-green hallway numbered 1, 2 and 3. Alexander was quite sure he was glad to have this job. He was very happy with the benefits, and had seen fit to use them. He had perfect teeth. Regular check ups. Vision exams. Alexander was in excellent shape, for a guy who sat at a desk all day. And at lunchtime, he didnt even use the elevators. He descended and climbed the three flights every day, sometimes carrying heavy things. He had a good job, and a secure future, and a good life, and was thinking he might even settle down and get married pretty soon, but he didnt want to go through door #3, which he held the key to in his right hand, which, hed noticed, was shaking just a bit. Alexander had never seen the mess left by a gun suicide, but hed seen Reservoir Dogs, and he knew it could be pretty bad. He also knew Reservoir Dogs was only a movie, and even if the paint, or Jell-O that they use did smell as bad as weekend-old human tissue, you couldnt smell it through the TV, and these rooms are airtight when the ventilators not on. Alexander knew that the ventilator wasnt on, because it was completely quiet, and the click of the switch he turned on echoed briefly, before the humming of the ventilator, which was more or less just a big fan, took over the sonic landscape in that hall with a whoosh, as little rubber valves sprung open all through the research department. Alexander steadied his hand, plunged the key into the deadbolt, and turned it. He tried to brace himself, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. The entire room was bright white, with more fluorescent lights than hed seen in his life, for one thing. If you looked at your hands you could see pores you never knew you had. It was a horrible blinding glow, after his eyes had adjusted to that grey-green hallway, and it was painful. So that sucked, right from the get-go, but there was more. There were a few things in that room that werent bright white. There were stainless steel tabletops on bright white cabinets, which made it look as though the little tables were floating in the air. That would have been fairly cool, except for the other non-bright-white things in the room: Pieces of a scientist who had put a gun in his mouth. His head had exploded, the bullet taking out the entire back portion of his skull, and pasting his brains in a triangular smear across the bright white wall. On one of the floating stainless steel tables, there was a small, irregularly shaped puddle of blood, with a little island in the middle that was a chunk of flesh. But what was worse was that they hadnt told Alexander they didnt even take the corpse out yet. Evidently, Dr. Evinrude had fallen back, slid down the wall, and landed face up, staring at the bright white ceiling. The front part of his skull was intact, as was his face, and one eye bulged just past the socket, and the other one had come out altogether. For a moment Alexander couldnt tell where the other eye had gotten to, and picked up a beaker to be sick in, when he realized hed found it, as it stared up at him from the beaker. The shock from that was enough to settle his stomach down momentarily, so Alexander decided to try and focus on what he was there for. A certain executive for the company wanted to see that the files from Evinrudes project didnt fall into the wrong hands, which, as far as Alexander knew, included just about any hands that werent his. He had to send all the data over a secure connection to said executives hard drive, and then use a device called Genuflector to erase the entire system in room #3, which was completely independent from the rest of the research department. Why dont they just have me set off a bomb in here? Alexander asked the corpse of Dr. Evinrude, who had no answer at this time. That was stupid. There was no need for such extreme measures, Alexander quickly assured himself. And then he heard the ticking. It was coming from Genuflector. No, it was coming from the glowing green light that had appeared between Alexander and the late doctor. No, it was coming from both! An idea was slowly beginning to grow from a seed in Alexanders consciousness. Alexander had always known that the executive whod sent him down here was evil. Hed think to himself, time to go see the evil executive when he was on his way to his office. Hed laugh, and think, aw cmon, how evil can he be? and go right on up there, and never admit to himself he had chills the entire time he was there. Mr. Evil Executive, Head of Executive Evil for Percolex International Alexander often thought his office sign should read, but it didnt, of course. And now hes gone and tricked me, Alexanders mind raced with paranoid fury, hes going to kill me, and destroy the evidence of whatever evil he was up to, and the body of the doctor, who killed himself because whatever they were doing down here was so evil. The light was glowing brighter and greener, the floor felt like it was shaking, the ticking was getting louder, and the Genuflector was levitating up and down sporadically like a ping pong ball over a vacuum cleaner set to blow, and Alexander had made quite a few rapid decisions regarding religion and philosophy. The executive whod sent him down there had far too small a mind to even begin to understand what was going on in that room, or even what a Genuflector is, and really had sent Alexander down there to recover data before the spies from Ecotran got ahold of it, and in reality, wasnt all that evil, at least not that much more evil than most executives of large corporations, which, when you get right down to it, is fairly evil anyway. The light filled the entire room, and the walls and floor undulated with fierce abandon, and as Alexanders legs became more and more rubbery, he felt himself slipping away to unconsciousness. He awoke in a strange, stainless steel cubicle, with a touch keypad embedded into its smooth surface. He stepped out into a room that was filled with hundreds of these tiny cubicles, each just big enough to hold a person. He walked down the incredibly long corridor that ran between them, and saw that some of them did indeed contain people, some working the little keypads like hed seen and looking into a small screen that just sort of existed on the stainless steel wall in front of them. He finally came to a door, which led out into a hallway that absolutely took his breath away. Alexander had never seen anything like it in his life. The hallway went on for what looked like miles, and was made almost entirely of glass. In front of him, there was a sheer drop of thousands of feet, down the side of a mountain. Even with the glass there, Alexander felt like nothing could stop him from plummeting to his death. To the right, the hallway went about 50 yards, and then veered off to the left, and went out over the gorge for about 200 feet, and then disappeared into the side of the higher mountain on that side. He stood there reeling, unable to find a reference point to use to understand the scope of what he was seeing, when a dark haired teenage boy in a grey suit stopped and said, you look lost. Ive never been to this division before, Alexander said softly. This doesnt even look like Percolex. The young man gave him a quizzical look. Percotran, he said. Alexander was starting to panic. Look, Ive um, Ive been working alot of overtime, and theyve been sending me to quite a few different divisions, and yknow, its kind of embarrassing and all, but I forget which division this is. The young man looked very suspicious. You said Percolex, do you realize that? Alexander stammered incoherently for a second, then tried to compose himself. It hasnt been called that for many generations, the young man laughed. You need to get some medtime. Youre probably right, Alexander played along, but I have to get this project finished first. OK, so you know where you are? the young man asked, looking concerned. Refresh my memory. Youre in Percotran International. I know Im in Percotran International, but what country is this? he asked impatiently. That is what country this is. Your country is named after a corporation? My country IS a corporation. Alexander was confused. Whats your name? he asked, trying to get his bearings. Worker 2567A. Youve gotta be kidding. No, really. Ive been with the company for a long time. The dramatic view created by the glass hallway spun just a little, as Worker 2567A led Alexander to a sedate Oak office with a complicated map on the wall. To Alexander, it looked as though there were millions of lines forming one giant, shapeless mass. What is this? he asked, intimidated by its sheer volume. This is a map of the company, answered Worker 2567A. Havent you ever seen one before? Look, I dont know what your game is, but youre not an employee of Percotran International, and for all I know, you could be a spy. I work for Percolex! Alexander pleaded, I dont know how I got to this place, or what happened back in that lab, but up until that happened there was no such thing as Percotran International. My God! said Worker 2567A. Youre from the time before The Merger. Merger? asked Alexander. The legends say Percolex and Ecotran became one, many generations ago. Back when office buildings werent built into the sides of mountains, offered Alexander. Back when Ecotran was trying to steal the weapon created in the research department of Percolex, and St. Evinrude was burnt to death by roving marauders. Please continue. Alexander was fascinated. The marauders broke down the walls of Percolex, killed many of the noble employees, and in their struggle to steal a powerful weapon, they inadvertently set it off, sending many into an alternate dimension. It was thought they traveled in space, but there have been theories that the type of energy released by such a detonation would open small holes in the space-time continuum, which would explain your presence here. A beam of light came out of the wall, and focused on Alexanders head for a few seconds, and then went off. What the hell was that? Alexander squealed, panicking just a little. Ooh, thats not good, Worker 2567A looked a little concerned. What was it? That beam just scanned your brain, and compared it to personnel files, to see which department you work in. Whatll happen when it doesnt match? I dont know, replied Worker 2567A, thats never happened before. Really? Alexander asked, amazed. Do you mean to tell me that in all the years youve worked for the company, no visitors have accidentally wandered into an employees only area? Thats not possible, offered Worker 2567A. And why not? Well, since the only people in the world who dont work for Percotran either work for Cellulex, Bogotron or one of the Pirate Companies, anybody who walked up to the Security Gate for entrance would be shot as a spy, of course. And with that, a red light began flashing, and a very loud buzzer began intermittently destroying Alexanders eardrum. Good to see that even in the future they have the same code for Intruder Alert, Alexander mused, as he crashed head first into an air vent, and fell what he guessed was about 2,000 feet or so, until the force of the circulating air held him aloft over what appeared to be a giant steam kettle.
RE: Welcome to Percotran -Part I By: Rachelle King on 10/23/2002; 11:14 AM This story is fascinating...now I must return to Part II and reread it (since I read it first and was very confused until I realized it was a Part II).
RE: Welcome to Percotran -Part I By: Rachelle King on 10/23/2002; 11:17 AM Oh wait, I forgot to say I like this image "It felt a bit dangerous to dangle a single swear word out into this empty, echoey stairwell..." and I just love the way he found that eyeball in the beaker!
RE: Welcome to Percotran -Part I By: Richard Davidson on 10/23/2002; 9:59 PM Thanks for liking that image, and the eyeball. I always figure if you can't suck 'em in with wonderful wording, (or alliteration,) gross 'em out just a bit. Keeps 'em on the edge of their seats. I learned that from the master. (King) What do you think about corporations that have become entire countries, covering entire continents? Percotran covers all of North and South America, you'll find out later in the story, and subsequently, you can walk from Alaska to Cape Horn without ever going outside. Wow!
RE: Welcome to Percotran -Part I By: Chie Theresa Fujioka on 10/26/2002; 9:18 AM Hey, I like this RIchard... you've got talent
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