My Human

Chapter 31

"This is a big deal for InTeque Enterprises, Aeris," urged my boss.

I fidgeted in the leather chair in front of his desk. The brilliant afternoon light trickled in from the skylights above and illuminated his excited face even more.

"I don't know, Ivan," I moaned. "You know how I feel about this.  I didn't come to this company to create death machines."

Ivan looked at me sympathetically.  "Believe me, I know.  That's not what we will be doing.  We will be protecting lives.  Remember it's defense, Aeris."

I stared at the floating holographic image on his desk.  It showed the blueprint of several satellites that would be circling the Earth. 

"And what's so special about these satellites?" I asked with an arched eyebrow.    I didn't understand why these satellites warranted such a large investment in our company.

Ivan chuckled, giddy with excitement that I asked. 

"They are nearly impossible to detect!  They're the first-ever satellites created using InTeque Invisicores.  They produce no frequency detectable by current security protocols."

I looked at him skeptically.  "You know we haven't perfected that yet.  No one has even developed the software yet since you just tore me out the Clean Energy Department yesterday and Lana was suppose to be starting it, but no one has seen her in weeks," I grumbled.

Lana was one of our newer programmers. The new department left a lot of room for growth so we had hired several new employees, but they weren't cut out for it, it seemed. Lana wasn't the only one who had left without a word, there was a handful before her. It was strange but no doubt this work wasn't for the weak minded.

Ivan grinned at me even wider.

"What?" I asked with a hint of dread.

"What if I told you I handled it?"  Ivan replied, tapping the floating screen on his desk to talk to his secretary.

"Lulu, be a dear and send him in now."

"Of course, Mr. Noir," she chirped back happily.

As soon as she said it, the frosted french glass doors slid open and a man with pink hair and a cocky smile walked in.

"Tobias," I muttered.

Tobias was eccentric but brilliant.  It was this asset that made most of us look past his unusual pink hair and trendy clothes.  He was a newer addition to the company, functioning as a Bio-programmer, filling my former position in the BioTeque Replacement department.  I had only needed to mentor him briefly as he caught on almost immediately.  He was very self-confident for a newbie.  His ego needed to be fed more than his desire to help others.

"It's good to see you again, Aeris," he said smugly.

"Always a pleasure, Tobias," I replied monotonously.

"The teams back together!" Ivan cooed happily.

I looked at Ivan inquisitively.  "Will Tobias be joining the Global Defense R&D Department?"

"A temporary addition," Ivan corrected and nodded to Tobias. 

"It seems your little project is in need of some special programming," Tobias commented, tapping his wristband that showed 5 glowing little files. The wristband was a new InTeque device.  The technology was brand new, having been created by our Tech division.  No one outside of InTeque Enterprises had anything of the sort, seeing as Tobias had been directly involved in its creation.