February 8th, 2024

Topic: Congratulations, everyone!

From: Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

To: [Group: Q-Team]

I’m overjoyed to announce that the first stable samples of Quorium are complete and ready to begin testing starting on Monday. Everyone, give yourself a pat on the back for the quick turnaround time and hard work we all put in.

Thank you very much,

Pranavi Nehra

 

REPLY FROM: Marshal Wills <[email protected]>

Great work everyone! See you on Monday!

 

REPLY FROM: Phoebe Baker <[email protected]>
Thank you everyone, and a big shoutout to the lab crew!

 

FORWARD FROM: Marco Domini <[email protected]> TO: Salvatore Domini <[email protected]>, Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

Great news, we can move up the schedule on the Quorium project. Right now, my projection is for testing to be done by end of Q3.

 

REPLY FROM: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

Whoops! Sorry, Pranavi, didn’t mean to include you in that reply chain. Thanks again for your hard work.

---

 

May 20th, 2024

Topic: Touching Base on Testing

From: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

To: Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

 

Heya, Pranavi, hope you’re doing good.

I meant to ask over the weekend, but where are we at with testing? Are we still on projection to hit the manufactory standards by the end of this month, so that we can press on to implementation?

Let me know,

Marco

 

REPLY FROM: Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

Hi, Marco, thanks for checking in. I never say never, but as it stands we are still a ways off from reducing radioactive volatility to acceptable levels for all test scenarios. That is to say, the samples perform well in optimal conditions, but heat, air pressure, or other factors dramatically increase emissions rate. We will likely have to extend the deadline.

Thank you very much,

Pranavi

 

REPLY FROM: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

OK, I see. So the samples work dandy but they’re just harder to use right if you use them in an oven? We can give them a separate safety grading for if you use them in an oven and move on, I think, that’ll be a-okay. Thanks Pranavi!

Regards,

Marco

 

REPLY FROM: Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

That’s not what I’m saying at all. Even the air pressure from a thunderstorm would be enough to risk a sample shattering or worse. We are making progress on refining out impurities, but no matter what, the dangers will remain to some extent unless we restart the entire design process. I do think that it might be best to go back to formula on this one, unless we have some kind of miracle breakthrough in testing.

Thanks,

Pranavi

 

REPLY FROM: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

So, bad news, production is already getting revved up, so I don’t think we’ll be able to start over in time to hit even an extended deadline. Sorry. That being said, do you think that given additional resources, more people, you get the picture, you could just refine the existing formula so that it’ll hit safety standards? I know if anyone can do it, it’ll be you.

Warm Regards,

Marco

 

REPLY FROM: Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

I’m going to be perfectly honest – no, I don’t think I could. Even if it did hit all of the safety benchmarks, it’d still be highly vulnerable to heat, cold, and storms, and I can’t in good conscience lead a team that makes sacrifices in that way.

Pranavi

 

REPLY FROM: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

Alright, sounds good. Thank you for the honest answer, I’ll look into another approach.

Regards,

Marco

 

FORWARD FROM: Marco Domini <[email protected]> TO: Marshal Wills <[email protected]>

Hey Marshal, hope you’re good, man. Remember how I mentioned you were on track for a promotion?

---

 

May 22nd, 2024

Topic: Team Reorganization

From: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

To: [Group: Q-Team]

Hi all, happy Hump Day! Just wanted to share some organizational shakeups you can look forward to next sprint.

I wanna give a big shoutout to Marshal and Pranavi – starting Monday, Marshal is going to take over as acting lead of the Q-team, so he’ll be in charge of the last bit of testing and most of implementation. Pranavi, meanwhile, is going to be rotating into a support role, refining the formula and acting as the go-to for any questions anyone has.

As always, big round of applause as we wrap up testing – couldn’t ask for a better team. I hope to see all of you at the company baseball game next Friday!

Warm Regards,

Marco Domini

 

REPLY FROM: Phoebe Baker <[email protected]>

Congratulations, everyone! I’ll be on PTO for the baseball game but I hope you have fun!

 

REPLY FROM: Pamela Roswell <[email protected]>

Thanks for the update.

 

REPLY FROM: Lucas Finch <[email protected]>

Thanks for letting us know! Good luck in the new roles, Marshal and Pranavi!

REPLY FROM: Pranavi Nehra <[email protected]>

Thank you, everyone. I’ll do everything I can.

 

REPLY FROM: Marshal Wills <[email protected]>

Much obliged, all! I’m excited to show the world what we can do!

---

 

September 2nd, 2024

Topic: Press release draft

From: Marco Domini <[email protected]>

To: Bianca Granata <[email protected]>

Hi Bianca. How does this sound as a first pass:

We of the Omni family are dismayed to report a terrible tragedy which has occurred at our Portland testing facility and claimed the lives of twenty-nine innocents. Such an event is completely unprecedented, unforeseeable, and unacceptable. As we continue with our investigation of the accident, we will be doing everything in our power to provide financial assistance to those affected or whose loved ones were affected. We must be better. Thank you.

Let me know if I can improve it at all. Thanks.

Marco

---

 

Ravi sets down the last sheet of paper and steeples his fingers in thought. “I see.” After a few more moments, he closes his eyes and lets out a deep, rattling sigh, on and on until it feels as though he’s emptying out everything inside himself. “Thank you for letting me know about this.”

“Of course.” Skye lets out a breath of her own, quietly sliding the pages back into order. “And… this is going to be phrased poorly, but I’m sorry we had to dredge this back up for you.”

Ravi waves her off. “No, no, it’s… it’s closure, of a sort. It helps, or at least it will, when everything’s settled.” He’s quiet for a few moments, staring out of the window at the park nearby. “I was so worried when the first news reports came out…”

Skye nods automatically. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Not that.” Kit, red-eyed, finally speaks up. “It’s not just that we lost her, it’s, y’know. The stuff people were saying about her. It’s so completely unfair, that she’s-”

“Kit.” Ravi pats his adoptive kid on the back. “Would it be okay to ask you to run and grab us a few bottles of water? We’re going to be talking for a while, I think.”

Kit nods silently, wiping their eyes with the back of their hand as they storm out.

“I – I’m sorry.” The cramped meeting room feels wide and lonely to Skye, now. “I think… I think I may know what Kit was referring to.” Ravi nods, motioning her on, and she continues. “I lost my father, too, in the Pearl Incident, and… for a time, everyone around me was saying it was… sabotage.”

“Yep.” Ravi quietly spins his cane in his hands as he talks. “We never heard the end of it, for ages. Never mind she wasn’t even in charge of that lab, never mind that her higher-ups got off scot free. For ages, we wondered if Omni let her take the fall because… well, y’know.”

“...Because she’s Indian?”

“What?” Ravi fumbles his cane, grumbling as he reaches down to grab it. “No, because… did Ankit not tell you why they came to us when they got kicked out?”

“Um.” Skye feels the room dim around her. She’s clearly missing something, and the very tall man in front of her expects her to not be missing it. “No?”

“Okay. Alright. I swear I’m going to put salt in that kid’s coffee one day. Anyways, here’s the idea. Kit’s dad was my brother – I say was because the family disowned me when they thought I was gay.”

“I see.” If there are deeper subtleties at play here, Skye can’t see them for the life of her. “Are you?”

Ravi guffaws at that, leaning back and slapping the arm of his chair. “Nope! Not a jot. Two hundred percent cishet, here. But when I started dating Pranavi, they thought I was, because of her. Blamed her for ‘corrupting’ Kit, too.”

“Wait.” Skye pauses a moment. “Then, Kit… and Pranavi…” The pieces crash into place. The woman Skye idolized, whose legacy keeps her up at night…

“She was like me,” she whispers.

There were hints, looking back. The odd conspiracy thread online, a few vicious tirades from her uncle – but Skye had written those off as simply anger looking for an outlet. Come to think of it, being exposed to that vitriol may have pushed her deeper into the closet. Kit was right, this isn’t fair– 

“You better believe it!” Ravi’s grin is back and wider than ever as he guffaws. “I still don’t get why Dad was so mad – he always said I ought to marry a self-made woman someday!” With that, he throws his head back, laughing and laughing until Kit returns, confused, with some bottles of water. By that point, Skye finds herself laughing along with him, worries momentarily stowed.

Kit just raises an eyebrow as they take a seat. “Someone’s proud of himself, eh? Was it the self-made woman one, or the one about finding a girl with balls?” They parcel out the water, gripping the bottles just a little bit harder than they need to.

“Anyways,” Ravi says after a slurp of water, “Pranavi came out just as she was hired to Omni. Deep stealth, after that. The one nice thing I can say about Omni is, they kept a firm grip on her personal info and blocked journalists from exposing anything about her personal life.”

“Diversity win,” Kit grumbles under their breath.

Skye turns her thoughts over and over in her head. “So, Omni never singled her out when talking about the incident, but they didn’t lift a finger to stop the rumors surrounding her, either.”

“You got it.” Ravi gestures pointedly with his open water bottle, spilling a bit on the floor. “And so, for the longest time, I had this, this burning need to know what really happened. I dreamt of shadowy conspiracies, or of an abusive work environment forcing her to put her life on the line.”

“Because all three of us watch too many movies,” Kit growls.

“Compared to that,” Ravi continues, “This is all so… ordinary. I’m mad, don’t get me wrong!” He raises his hands and looks over to Kit, who’s visibly fuming. “But it’s hard for me to hate this Marco guy in the way I think I wanted to. Boss has a deadline, workers can’t meet it, boss forces the workers to cut corners… Nowadays, it’s literally my job to sift through dozens of reports of this exact same story.”

“It’s good, though, that you have experience with this, no?” Now more than ever, Skye is watching her wording precisely, terrified of saying the wrong thing. “That is to say, you know how to take a client to task for these practices, and Omni will be no exception.”

“Ehhh. Kind of?” Ravi wiggles his hand back and forth. “There’s two big sticking points – number one, Omni isn’t our client any more, but they were our client at the time of the Pearl Incident. I can’t say for sure if they’ll accept a late complaint, but more importantly…” He claps the binder shut, sliding it back across the table to Skye. “How exactly did you get these emails?”

Skye’s mouth goes dry. “That – is – is it a problem?”

“Stole ‘em off their computer.” Kit answers for her, halfway checked out of the conversation. “What’s it to you?”

“Oof.” Ravi sucks in air through his teeth. “Okay, so, that’s not gonna be legally acceptable evidence. I’m not mad or anything!” He raises a hand reassuringly in Skye’s direction. “Do what you gotta. I’m just saying that they won’t take this as evidence… yet. There’s a couple ways we could get it instated, but the easiest is probably going to be either if they make a fraudulent case against you and it gets shot down, or if they harm a third party in collateral.”

“I see.” Every time she gets a lead, it seems there’s even more hoops to jump through. “What do you recommend we do now, then?”

“Can I be honest? I don’t really know. Most of my writeups don’t involve enforcer squadrons in matching spandex. At the absolute least, I’d say that if they’re making moves, try to keep an ear to the ground so you won’t be surprised.” Ravi levers himself to his feet, extending a handshake. “Sorry I can’t do more right now, but I’ll be here if anything comes up.”

“Thank you, Ravi.” Skye accepts the handshake graciously, while Kit just nods brusquely. Hopefully the car ride home won’t be too awkward.

---

 

“Oh, hey. Welcome home, you two.” Alice looks up for a second, and then returns her attention to  the massive pot of soup she’s tending. “How’d it go?”

“Nowhere. I’m going to the bathroom.” Kit storms past her. Skye is quietly grateful – the car ride was terribly awkward.

Fidgeting in the entryway, Skye turns to address Alice. “Some good, some bad. I think Kit’s taking it really hard to be reminded of the loss of their…” She hunts for the word, squinting and tilting her head to the side a bit. “Mother figure.”

“I get it,” says Alice, not really getting it and not really caring. “Are you in any shape to talk business before we have dinner?”

“Oy. I suppose?” Stepping closer, Skye leans on the counter. “Good news, I hope?”

“Well…” Alice picks up a letter off the counter. “Nigel came by again today, and dropped this off. Have a look.”

Skye shrugs, plucks the note out of her hands and begins to read.

---

 

Sky Horizon,

I hope this letter finds you well. Sorry for the roundabout delivery system – having Constantine deliver it to Nigel, and Nigel to you – but I’d hazard that you’re not reading the emails I send you, for which I can’t blame you.

In short, I think we got off on the wrong foot. Our initial pitch was marred by violence, and your (perfectly justified) defensive response carried forward into every future interaction between us. On behalf of the Omni Horizons, I apologize deeply. If possible, I’d like to start over, so that we can get every bit of information out there without risk of violence or espionage.

I will be at the Blue Jay Cafe from 9 AM to 11 AM Monday and Thursday for the next three weeks. If and only if you wish to meet face to face, please feel free to join me. I won’t bring company, and I won’t feel slighted if you bring someone along yourself. I can only hope this gesture serves to erode some of the mistrust you must have towards us. Thank you for your time.

Warm Regards,

Marco Domini

Omni Red

---

 

“So, you agree it’s a trap, right?” Alice asks the question the moment Skye puts down the note.

Skye taps a finger to her chin. “I don’t actually know for certain. I’ve read how this Marco writes to his coworkers, and this seems to carry more or less the same cadence, albeit a bit more professional.” 

“I’m not convinced.” As she talks, Alice scoops soup into a trio of bowls. “If it’s a trap and you don’t go, you lose nothing. If it’s a trap and you go, it’s all over.”

“The issue is, the current situation isn’t sustainable – thank you.” Skye graciously accepts her bowl with a little curtsy and carts it to the couch. “Fighting them head-on isn’t working, and as it stands we’re not able to build a legal case. I have to take risks at this point, and any chance to avoid conflict could be a lifesaver.”

Nonsense, as far as Alice is concerned. Is it a hill worth dying on, though? She chews on her lip as she takes her own bowl to the couch. Skye definitely sees her as “the worried one” by now, but if she doesn't act as the voice of reason here, nobody will. “Okay, fine. But I don’t care what you say, you’re not going there alone.”

Skye is quiet for a long few moments, waiting for her soup to cool. “Alright. Do you want to come with?”

“I’ll come,” Kit interrupts. Stepping out from the bathroom hallway, their stance is shaky but resolute. Alice can tell their eyes are red around the edges – have they been crying just now?

Skye just frowns. “Are you sure?”

“I promised, didn’t I?” Kit takes a seat in the chair opposite Skye, fixing her with a look. “No matter what happens, I’m gonna look out for you.” Grinning weakly, they shoot her a finger-gun. “And that’s not negotiable, so no whining.”