Erin didn’t fall asleep quickly, tossing and turning at unwelcome thoughts well into the morning. When she did, she had nasty, short dreams. They weren’t sensible dreams by any measure, but most dreams weren’t.
The Cavalry handedly managed the two rampaging bots, the news proclaimed, but there was no indication on who caused the attacks as of yet. Erin could check the internet for what may be more illuminating discussion on the forums, but she knew she ought to just let go.
Erin was a little worried when she still hadn’t seen Janey for a second day. Erin wandered over to Janey’s office, but it seemed closed. Janey also hadn’t been online all day, or since noon yesterday, according to the status on the Divinilogic instant messaging system.
A little desperate, Erin texted Janey: ‘Hey, hows it going? You in office?’
Janey didn’t respond until nearly an hour had passed: ‘Yeah. I am fine. Not in office, on short business trip.’
Erin blinked, wondering if Janey simply forgot to mention it: ‘Oh, Okay. I’m working on the database code like McMillan asked. Need me to focus on anything in particular for your stuff?’
‘No, that is fine. Work on his stuff only. Do NOT break anything. Customer said its working better now. Thank you.’
Unsettled, Erin put the phone aside, trying to figure out what was going on. It hadn’t sounded like Janey, and her mailbox didn’t have an out-of-office response set up.
She would have asked her coworkers, but she knew from rumor and conversation and Max - back before Erin was placed in the At-Risk category - that Janey’s actual employees focused on simply working and not talking to or about Janey at all. Asking them was a likely nonstarter.
Janey wouldn’t normally flake out with this sort of thing. In a normal world, Erin would just ask Tyson, who ought to know exactly where she was and what was going on. But Erin really didn’t want to start involving the Plot when Janey could just be on a business trip.
She may not have had the courage or tolerance to talk to Tyson about it, but maybe she could ask someone else instead.
Erin R: Hey Max, have you seen Janey around for the past couple days?
Max W: Erin, hey how are you?
Max W: Nope, haven’t seen her this week.
Max W: You… feeling alright?
Max responded pretty quick, and in quick succession. The last question was presumably because he didn’t know if he was talking to a Puppet.
Erin R: Eh. Working alone up here. Plot burned my house down. But I’m okay
Max W: Oh good!
Max W: but, sorry about the house. You know what I always say.
Erin R: Stay in character or story gets you?
Max W: This story sucks but it pays the bills.
Both of the last two messages were sent at the same time. Erin realized her mistake nearly immediately.
Max W: Hey!
Max W: You do read my blog!
Max W: Ha, that’s great.
Max W: BTW, sorry if I said mean things. I hadn’t, um, even thot you’d be reading.
Erin R: I did occasionally - not anymore. Booted from forums. Probably shouldn’t mention it at all in a blog post. I’m blacklisted. No need for you to get into trouble too.
Erin didn’t want Max to go back and report that Erin had been a frequent lurker on the forums. The Admin may get annoyed about the data spill and she’d be banned a lot faster.
Max W: Gotcha. Still that sux.
Erin R: Pretty much.
Max W: You find a new place to stay at least?
Erin R: Yeah. Near warehouse district, alas.
Max W: Oof, yeah, that sux. Anything interesting going on with the group?
Erin R: Work group or friend group? Currently exiled to “only email correspondence” at work
Max W: Not surprised. Nope, I mean friends.
Erin R: Not really. Sorry to say.
Max W: No worries, Its not like you are in their inner cadre or anything.
Erin R: Naw. Anyway, thanks, talk to you later.
Max W: Sure thing. Bye
She was not going to share what remained of her personal life with Max, certainly not about the Cavalry; still, he at least asked about if she found a home before digging for info. Maybe he was just less annoying in chat than in person. And blog posts.
Erin was probably just a bit desperate to talk about normal things, to be honest. It was too much to ask for anyone to talk to her in real life, but she can’t exactly talk to Janey, Misty, or Doppel-… Ashlynn about, well, normal Plot stuff. Even just reading the forums, Erin missed that. She missed it direly now. It was her respite when everything else around her was going away.
Its not like you are in their inner cadre or anything.
Lol, well kinda😜