Erica’s head was spinning. She’d had a long, difficult day. But there was something she had to take care of before she could go home.
It was time to talk to Miss Planner about Garth and his friends and give her a final decision. Hire them, or let them go. And the truth was, she still didn't want to hire them. They might be helpful for the project if she gave them a chance... but she couldn't trust them with the Soul Shell. Something about them just made her uncomfortable, like the mysterious, creepy sensation she got from staring into the darkness at the bottom of a murky pond.
She couldn't quite explain why she felt that way. It was more instinct than reason. But Erica was more than willing to admit that she wasn't being the most logical about all of this. That's why she wanted to go over all the details with Miss Planner one final time to help make her mind up. They'd been avoiding the topic all week, but the situation was only getting messier and more urgent as time went on and more and more people became involved. They had to get this conversation over with. If they didn't decide what to do in a timely manner and started missing deadlines, the Soul Shell project would fail before it ever really got off the ground. And Erica and Miss Planner had both invested so much effort and time and hope into their research that failure wasn't an option anymore.
It was late. Most everyone at the Tower of the Chosen had gone home already. Erica's legs wobbled a bit in the hallway outside Miss Planner's office. Her stomach was twisting itself into an awful, uncomfortable ball. But she pushed through it and stepped inside anyway. There, sitting calmly at her desk, typing away at her keyboard like a little bird pecking at seeds... the same old, familiar, infuriating Miss Planner.
The office was dark, but a little bit of light leaked through the window behind the boss's chair, illuminating the woman's features and highlighting her perfect blonde hair in soft tones of blue and gold and white. She was practically glowing in that small sliver of dim light, but there was a hint of boredom, annoyance even, lurking in her expression as she gazed down at her screen.
"Hello, Miss Planner," said Erica, timidly entering the office and walking over to the big black desk which was so neatly stacked with piles and piles of paper.
The tiny manager smiled a tiny, polite smile and waved, never taking her eyes off the screen.
"Give me just a minute here, Erica. I'm almost done."
It looked like Miss Planner wasn't in a particularly pleasant mood. Her voice sounded a little flat. Erica started to hold her breath without noticing, afraid of disturbing the boss's concentration. She had a strange, metallic taste in her mouth.
"Errr... excuse me Miss Planner..." she began. "Can we talk? I think we need to d-decide what to do... about the team."
"Hold on. I need to get these in order... order of importance. Then, a few minor details..." said Miss Planner absentmindedly, as if Erica weren't even in the room with her. "Maybe just a couple of other things... just... a few loose ends..."
The room suddenly felt a little smaller and darker and emptier. What was Miss Planner working on that was so important? She was acting really weird... cold, uncooperative, distracted...
TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP
Miss Planner's fingers clicked across the keys with practiced precision. She was slouching a little, and her eyes looked dead tired. But she was still typing very, very quickly. The sound of the keyboard was a tiny but relentless ticking clock.
"Miss... uh, Miss Planner..."
"Hmm?"
"Well... I thought we could talk about Garth and the others for a minute... or two... or three. Maybe five minutes? Just so that we can make our final decision before... before we leave tonight..."
"I suppose that wouldn't be a bad idea, Erica," said Miss Planner, finally looking up from her desk for the first time.
"I... uh..."
"You've decided what you want to do, right? It's your choice at this point. I'm happy to do whatever you think is best."
Erica was confused. Why was Miss Planner suddenly acting like she didn't care what happened to the boys? Was she playing mind games or something? Was she making fun of her? Or... did she really not care anymore about Garth? And Clay? Chase?
"Ummm... I was thinking we should let the security division have them," squeaked Erica. "I know it'll take a little longer to get the data, but..."
"That's fine with me. I’ll call Donovan tomorrow and let him know."
Erica had expected a little more of an argument. A fight. Some kind of discussion, at least. Was it just over now? It didn't feel that way.
"I just don't think they'd be a good fit..." said Erica. "And it'd be better to use people that we already know and have an established relationship with. They'd be much more likely to succeed than a new batch of kids."
"Well, that makes sense," replied Miss Planner nonchalantly, her eyes focused on her monitor once again. "What's next? Do you want me to open up the job posting to the general labor pool?"
"Yeah... I mean, we need the research data... as fast as possible, right?"
"Oh, I don't think we're in any rush. Some volunteers would be great, if we could get them, but I was actually thinking we might want to hold off on expanding the team for now. Maybe just keep the team we already have. See how things go for a while."
Miss Planner gave Erica a tiny smirk and her hands flew back over the keyboard again.
TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP
"You don't think we need to hire more people?" asked Erica.
"Honestly, I don't think it's that urgent..." replied Miss Planner. Her voice was a low, quiet mutter.
"What if we... miss the deadline? Won't we lose our funding?”
"The first big presentation is scheduled for late next month, and the first deadline's not for another three months. Both of those dates are flexible, as long as we stay under budget. Sometimes the worst thing you can do with a research project like this, or any other, in fact... is to push things forward too soon."
"If we don't get enough data... the project's going to flop."
"It's too far along now. The technology is solid. It's stable. So if we can't get results, they'll hand it off to the production division and they'll do the best they can with what we can give them."
Miss Planner's words left Erica with a heavy sense of foreboding, as if something awful were lurking at the edge of her vision just out of sight.
TIP TIP TIP TIP TIP
"You don't think... that's going to happen, right?"
"It's not the end of the world if it does. We'll just... try harder next time, work a little bit harder, be a little smarter... there's always another time, another day... yaaaawn... you have to take the long view, sometimes."
"Are we going to lose control of the project?"
"We're going to have to hand it off eventually, no matter what we do. That's just how these things work. But for the time being, we're the only ones who get to work on it. We decide what happens. We run the whole show. And I'm telling you we need to be patient and focus on the big picture, all right? Don't get too caught up in all the little details."
TIP TIP TIP
Miss Planner typed a few final characters on her keyboard, hit the ENTER key with a dramatic flourish, and leaned back. She looked like she was about to fall asleep in her chair.
"Are you okay, Miss Planner?"
"Just tired, Erica. Really, I just need to make sure everything is... everything's all lined up, you know? All my ducks... in a row."
"Yeah... can I... uh... can I get you anything?"
"Mmm..."
The office fell into complete silence. Erica waited in a state of anxiety, holding her breath, but Miss Planner seemed content to remain motionless for a while. Eventually, the woman spoke in the softest of voices.
"Can you get my blankets out of the closet and make me a bed on the floor?"
"Y-yeah..."
"Thank you, Erica."
"Sure..."
There was no further conversation between the two women that night. Miss Planner slept in her nice, warm office on the top floor of the Tower of the Chosen while Erica, feeling a mixture of guilt, disappointment, and worry, trudged home alone in the cold and dark.
