Alright, chapter 2 ahoy! Sorry it took longer than I expected, I was hoping to get some feedback form chapter 1…and I didn't so I just have to keep going.
November 10th 2013
I found myself almost yelling in agreement with Edward's crew as the Animus shut itself down. I removed the head-gear and set it down on my desk. I found myself smiling at nothing. Everything had been even more exciting during this run through than before. Every time I log in it gets more exciting. I picked up my glasses, which have to be removed when I put the gear on, and began to get up. It was about time for a break and it seemed the appropriate time for one.
As I turned in my chair I saw Melanie walking up to me. This had become my second favorite part of the job. She was always so damn smiley, it was nice. "Hey," She began. "I just saw you logging out. I thought I'd stop by and give you something. A little welcome gift." She pointed to the wall of my desk area and a painting was there that I hadn't seen before. It was a building, one obviously from the time I was researching and it looked really cool.
"Really, for me?! That's really cool thanks." I walked up to it to get a closer look. In reality I was a bit of a simpleton when it came to art. If someone could draw a circle I was usually impressed.
"Well, Ryan we give awards for top-notch employees doing quality work. And you certainly fit the bill for that."
"That's really awesome thanks."
"Yeah well, there isn't really an official bonus scheme here so…" She trailed off but it didn't really matter to me. Honestly I didn't even really know what she meant by that anyway. "I actually already have about eleven or so-," Melanie jumped a bit and touched her ear. Obviously she was getting a call. I tried not to notice by looking back at the picture. However I still heard her. "Oh…bonjure?... Of course… I'll pass it on." Her hand left her ear and she looked back to me with her signature smile.
"What was that about?" I asked.
"Well…it looks like Olivier wants to meet with you. It's exciting!" She began to walk away as she said that before following it up with "Follow me."
"What does he want to meet with me about?"
"He didn't say but don't worry. You're probably not in trouble or anything. It's on the top floor, so it's not hard to find. But if you hadn't already noticed the rest of the building can be confusing for first timers, so we had the tool team whip up a great map application… Check your communicator. I added a waypoint to Olivier's office." I could confirm what she said about confusion when it came to this building. I had been here almost two weeks and I only recently learned about the bathrooms on my floor. I kept rushing downstairs for them and then I'd get lost usually on the way back up. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure where the café was either.
The two of us walked over to the elevator and made small talk about this and that before she stopped. I guess I was going to have to fly solo on this one. "Aw, you're just going to leave me like this?" I pretended to whine. She laughed, which was good.
"Come on you've seen pirates in action and you're worried about the boss? Olivier's a nice guy he won't bite." I walked to the elevator and the green light on my communicator flashed in response. But before I pressed it I had to do something.
"Hey, Melanie." She looked over at me. "You know I still don't really know where the café is. How about at lunch you show me?" Obvious flirtation came from my mouth and frankly it was a bit strange. I tried to sound confident and all but in reality it was kind of the truth. She smiled in response, again, good sign.
"I'll see what I can do Ryan."
"I'll take it." As soon as the words came out I hit the button sending me to the top floor. However I was only going for a moment before a voice rang in my ear. "Hello? Hi? Testing, testing. Is this thing working? This is John from IT."
"Oh yeah, I remember. Hey John, what's up?" I hadn't seen much of John, let alone spoken to him since that first day.
"Do you have a minute or… ah dammit. Tracker says you're on your way to Olivier's office." John made a sound of obvious frustration before continuing. "All right, I'll ping you when you're done. I have a favor to ask."
"Yeah, sure John whatever." The line was dead, obviously he was gone. Also he said something about a tracker, could they see where I was all the time? It seemed weird to think about but at the same time this was a very exclusive company. Maybe it was common to keep track of assets. Or maybe it was the communicator. I guess it didn't matter much.
The elevator opened up to the top floor and a long hallway leading to what must have been the office. I walked by a receptionist who just waved me through without any hassle and the doors slid open to Olivier's office. I could hear him speaking with someone but I was far too distracted by how cool his office was to pay attention. I saw him standing on one side of the room and we made eye contact for a moment before he held up a finger to me. I put my communicator down and headed to the far end of the office which had a fantastic view of the city. I tried not to eavesdrop on his conversation but I heard something about the project and I heard Edward's name. From what I could gather it sounded like Olivier was trying to defend the project to someone in charge. After that the only thing that stood out was the name of the person he was speaking to: Laetitia. One I had certainly never heard before. A very unique name. Olivier tapped his ear and I began to approach him.
"Ah, thanks for coming in on such short notice Ryan. I know you're very busy."
"No problem, boss. I was just taking a break anyway." Olivier started to pace his office.
"I was actually looking over some of your data. Pretty raw stuff! Obviously we need to scrub of some dirt to make it more family friendly though. You understand."
"Oh yeah, of course. I've seen some violent things in there."
"Maybe we'll give Edward a voice like James Bond or something. Make him more of a ladies man." Funny, Edward never really came off to me as much of a ladies man. He was still technically married as far as the memories were concerned. But maybe I'm being foolish. Olivier walked over to the balcony I was at earlier and I followed suit. He took in a deep breath. "A beautiful city, no?"
"It's is a sight to behold. Lucky you, getting to work here all the time." I said with enthusiasm. He turned to look right at me.
"So…the main reason I asked you here concerns something called the Observatory. It's been mentioned a few times in your footage." I'm glad someone else noticed. I thought I was crazy hearing everyone say it. A device that could show the location of anyone in the world. Obviously some pirates myth but still it was scary to think about. Olivier continued. "I'd like you to focus on locating this specific set of memories as soon as possible. If it were up to me…I wouldn't bother but some bigwigs at Abstergo Industries have been hounding me for days. So follow whatever leads you find, and hopefully we can a-, oh incoming call I have to take this. We'll keep in touch." And with that he tapped his ear again and to him I was invisible.
"Alright, see you around boss." I walked off and grabbed my communicator. Why would they care about the Observatory? It seems like a stupid thing to focus on. There really couldn't be anything to it, more than superstition. But I guess orders are orders. I began to head out of his office. It wasn't long before the buzzing in my ear started again and John's voice came through. I wondered how he was able to contact me without me actually answering the phone, but thought little of it.
"Hey, Ryan, John again. You got a second? Good I'm adding a waypoint to your map."
"Don't be a dick, John. Sure I can help you. But try asking next time."
"Yeah whatever. So, a colleague of yours left for vacation this morning and forgot to send me a video file she promised me. And since I basically hate everyone else on your floor, I was hoping you could help me."
"What do I need to do?"
"Could you transfer the file from her computer and deliver it to the courier when she comes?" At first the request seemed simple but then I thought about it for a second and something seemed a bit fishy. Before I could say anything though, John continued speaking. "It'll be easy. You just wander over to her Animus, log in, and transfer the file. Easy. And please be snappy before I find a reason to hate you too." I heard a beep, once again signaling he had disconnected. He really was a dick. The waypoint on my communicator lead me to my own floor but to another part I hadn't seen yet. After a very short distance I saw a door. As I got close though it wouldn't open. There was a number one on the door and next to it as well. As soon and I thought about knocking or something the buzzing returned and so did the voice of John.
"A locked door. Not a problem. That's the advantage of me having level one security clearance. Now you do too!"
"Uh, thanks I guess."
"Don't abuse it." Suddenly the door opened. I guess he was right. And now that I think about it I had seen a few security level ones around before. Could I open them now? I guess I could. I walked through and it looked like just another office. The waypoint put me at another persons computer. They had a lot more stuff decorating their desk than I did. It made me a little jealous. "Just log on and I'll walk you through this."
"Are you sure about this John? It seems a little…private."
"Just do it Ryan, you're helping me out." I sighed and sat at the computer and started logging in. The green light on my communicator lit up and I pressed it. Suddenly my screen showed something I hadn't seen yet. There was a circle, or more accurately a sphere containing what looked like data all around. John must have noticed from wherever he must have been watching and started giving me very long and drawn out instructions but it basically amounted to get a light on a white line over to a green line. I found it somewhat exhilarating and scary at the same time. I kept looking over my shoulder expecting security to show up or something but they never did.
After a few minutes I was in. It seemed a long distance to go for a simple video file though. As the data sphere broke up the video that I guess was supposed to be downloaded started playing. I could tell from what showed up on my communicator that the download was finished. John mentioned something about all files I download being protected by some kind of firewall on the com but I decided to check out the video anyway. Least I get from helping him out.
The video was very confusing though. It detailed a post-mortem report for someone called "Desmond Miles" also know as Subject Seventeen… the same number of the sample I was involved in. It had to be a coincidence right? The video continued describing something about a vault and the many things they took from the body, such as blood and personal items. It was over my head but at the very end my suspicion was confirmed when the narrator stated the subject would continue to be researched by Sample 17. Myself.
The video ended and I leaned back in the chair. Something else was bugging me. The name Desmond Miles. Where did I hear it? My thoughts were interrupted by that all too familiar buzzing. Followed of course by John. "You're better at this than I thought. Now zip on down to the lobby, Ryan, come one! By the way the video, I wouldn't recommend watching it. I mean you could but it's rather unpleasant. So once you hand it off, just pretend this never happened okay?"
"Oh, right. No way I'll watch it, not my business after all." As I said that I went into my communicator and quickly made a copy of the file. Just in case.
"Seriously, don't you'll just go to bed feeling sad. Anyway the courier should be waiting downstairs. She's been here a while." I quickly left the room and headed over to the elevator and went immediately down. "I suppose it goes without saying…just because you know how to hack all your colleagues' computers, doesn't mean you should. I mean not every day right? No, seriously though, that's illegal. So don't be a dick. Unless that's just your nature." I reached up to my ear and hung up on John. In truth he was probably already gone but I felt it necessary anyway. I walked across the small bridge and heard two people arguing about coffee. I saw that one girl from my first day who I assumed must have been the courier. As I approached they both turned their attention to me. The guy serving coffee looked at me first.
"Oh, look who's here. So you don't forget after all. You're just incredibly rude, and made poor Rebecca here wait nearly thirty minutes."
"You limey. Be nice." The courier stated.
"Sorry about that. It was an…odd situation." I said without trying to sound annoyed.
"Sorry about him, he's high on his own supply. So how should we do this? Data transfer?"
"Yeah I guess that works." I pulled up my communicator and quickly found a way to send her the file.
"Great! That should do it! We'll e-mail you the receipt. Take care Shaun." The coffee guy must have been Shaun because he responded.
"Bye, bye…Yes bye. Don't expect anymore free coffee. Arrogant! She's great isn't she?" I nodded and then turned away. As I thought about returning to work I finally made the connection that had been bugging me. Melanie had mentioned Desmond being the "generous donor" of the DNA needed for my research but that video suggested they killed him for it, or at least they knew of his death. It was little to go on but enough. Something was going on in this place and I was going to find out. As soon as that thought passed my mind I got an actual call on my phone. "Yes, hello?"
"Hey, Ryan it's Melanie. Still want me to show you the café?" Maybe I could figure it out after lunch. I quickly sped off to where she might be.
Alright then, another one done. Not much to say except thanks for reading (if you do) and I'd love some constructive critique if you have it.
