"Your password is incorrect," read the screen display.
Crap! Ned thought as he took a deep breath and tried again. The same message appeared on his screen. Late for work and now he couldn't even access the server. Ned wiped his hand on his pant leg, cleared his throat, then tried saying his password again as he rested his hand on the access pad. Still he could not get in. Ned poked his head above the cubicle wall and stared at the maze to see if he could sense any others having problems. Keys clackity-clacking throughout the room signified to him he was alone in being locked outside the system. Ned slid his hand through his sandy-blond hair. He picked up his phone and tried entering his code but the dial tone would not sound. Time to check with Tech Support.
Ned hit the hyperpod button on his right armrest and braced for shoot, but instead a mute light blinked on his monitor. Isuppose I have to walk now! Ned pushed his chair back. As he walked back down the hall he heard three different podshoots launch, and the way his day was going, they were probably all headed or Tech Support.
Ned turned the corner, stepped out of the window and jumped on the halo-way. The translucent moving sidewalk connected most commercial buildings in the downtown area, and Ned worked for ViewCon, one of the largest. In fact, the office complex of ViewCon could probably be classified its own city. Tech Support wasn't even in his building.
Ned looked below at civilians on lower halo-ways and the ground. Sometimes it was fun to pretend to lose your balance and let the halo-safety cords spring out to catch you, but Ned had enough unwanted adrenaline in his system from his outlaw password. A faulty password meant one of two things: either Tech Support has permitted a bug in the system, or Ned was cancelled.
The halo-way hummed by Ned's desired destination. He briskly stepped through the window and stormed toward the elevator. Six or seven plastic smiles mocked Ned as the doors slid shut in his face. Now what? Stairs? Tech Support was only a few flights and it would be quicker than waiting for the next one. Ned scowled at the closed elevator before about-facing to walk to the stairs. That's when he crashed into Joel.
Joel was one of the newer techies, but at least he was alone. He was holding a robotic arm and a disk drive.
"You busy?" asked Ned.
"Of course! Always!" Joel never was; he just mastered the art of looking busy. "What's up?"
"Password's not working this morning."
"Do you have a cold or something? Are your hands dirty?"
"No." The last time Ned had a cold, the system thought he was an imposter.
"Maybe you're cancelled."
"Very funny. Can you check it?"
Joel handed his burdens to Ned and started walking down the oval corridor to his right. "Follow me; we'll check the cables. I've had some complaints about twitchy connections."
At the end of the corridor was one door. Joel punched his code quickly on the small keypad next to the door, then uttered "I'm the little feller's mother" into the speaker. The door slid open.
Before him was the brain of the system. He couldn't see the top or the bottom of the room, for it was the height of the entire building. They were only about halfway up, Floor 87. Ned awed at the technological marvel of the brain, so many of its aspects he didn't understand. He wished he was a techie.
Joel turned his back to the massive emptiness before him and saluted Ned before failing backwards. The safety cables were there instantly, and since the system knew it was Joel, it swung his favorite work chair through the air and placed him in it. Joel harnessed himself in and kicked himself toward the brain like the excellent rappeller all techies had to be.
Joel found the pad he wanted and turned a couple knobs. Hyper polka filled the void. Joel had weird tastes in music, but hey, whatever got him to work faster. Joel hummed along as he found some cables on the steel side of the brain and pulled them out. He checked for bad connections and shoved them back into the mesh. Ned's arms were getting tired, so he decided to open the drawer below the pad. The arm was heavier than it looked. Good fortune had the drawer unlocked.
The brain was a giant metal cylinder with buttons, panels, keypads and other gadgets covering its exterior. Every function, every bit of data was stored here and processed here. The brain was the Company. If the brain wasn't accepting Ned's password, he was screwed.
"I'd better run a floor diagnostic." Joel pushed off and rose a story higher to check on some different cables. He clicked on the nearest monitor and entered some commands. Ned peeked over the edge of the ledge to see if he could see the bottom. Only a level that had people present would be lit. Below them stretched a black void. He wondered if there was some sort of light manipulation down below to cause such an effect.
He looked up and couldn't see the top. He saw Joel climbing higher and decided to follow him. Ned dove outward and the sensors immediately responded and caught him in cables. Ned pulled himself upright and swung to the brain.
"How's it going?" Ned called up. Joel ignored him as he sniffed the monitor and climbed higher. Ned had a hard time adjusting to the cables on the brain, but he managed to follow him up. As they went up the lighting brightened above and dimmed below. Ned could see their door was still open, and light poured in. A quick, cool breeze startled Ned, before he realized it was one of the brain's random sterilization checks. The moist air cleansed its exterior.
Joel was hovering above him typing furiously on a keypad. His eyebrows furrowed, but then Joel contined. Whatever appeared on the monitor after each command entered seemed to increase Joel's furrow. He finally turned the monitor off in frustration.
"Well, this isn't helping. I'm gonna to have ask Egg-52." Egg-52 was Joel's robotic supervisor. But Egg-52 was immobile and therefore humans were necessary to Tech Support. ViewCon had designed it that way.
Joel put his hand on the brain and exclaimed, "Open the damn door!" A door on their level opened on the wall. Joel swung over and stepped on the edge. The cables and chair disappeared above. Ned followed suit. They walked down the corridor and Ned saw they were on the necessary floor. They could've talked to him through the intercom in the brain room but Joel seemed to like whatever excuse there was to physically move. And that's how you look busy.
A few corporates gave disgruntled looks when they saw Ned following Joel. Ned had dressed casual that day and everyone except techies dressed highly professional in this building. Joel found the appropriate door and pushed it open.
Egg-52 was currently off, which was rare. Joel slapped him on the back of the head, one of the many creative ways to turn him on. Egg-52 had a giant white bulb for a head but a humanoid torso and arms. His lower half was a giant box filled with circuits, cables, and who knew what else.
"Good morning, Joel," came the synthesized voice. "Problems with the Davis account, Floor 57 in B-wing; Teregon's hyperpod is malfunctioning; Egg-12 needs his new arm; Holley and Bask require. .
"Handled, handled, handled," interrupted Joel. "Except I didn't get Egg-12 his new arm yet. Where you put it?" Joel faced Ned.
"The drawer by the door."
Joel looked sideways to think about Ned's answer, then nodded his understanding. Joel faced Egg-52 again.
"Could you check on Ned's password? He says it's not working. I checked the brain cables and they all seemed fine, and the diagnostic couldn't find any problems."
Bland Muzak came out of Egg-52. It usually meant he was computing, and Egg-52 enjoyed taking his time computing. "Report on Ned McAddely. Cancelled." Egg-52 moved his arm to a switch in front of him and flipped it.
"Cancelled? But I--"
Joel looked at the burnt spot on the floor where Ned had just been standing.
"I didn't think he was really cancelled. Oh, well. He was always bugging me for stuff anyway."
"If you'd taken Egg-12 his arm earlier, you wouldn't have needed to deal with him this morning."
"Don't I get credit for dropping off his comlink? I swear he's the pissiest robot I know. Any word on my raise?"
"Not yet. You know how the executives can be. They want everything right away but they sit on reviews for weeks." If Egg's voice weren't so monotonous, Joel might suspect Egg was sympathizing. But then, Egg didn't know what it was like to need to get paid.
"Oh,well. Let me know as soon as you hear," said Joel as he closed the door behind him. Egg-12 could've used his other arm to complete cancellation, or even his comlink, but he was the type of robot who wouldn't complete any other functions until he was happy with his working conditions. Joel chuckled to himself and decided to take his lunch break before fetching the arm. It wasn't going anywhere.
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