Although it was noon, the sun barely pierced the city's haze. This would have been a serious problem and a huge health risk to many places, but the people milling around GeneCo's headquarters where surgery was a short walk away did not seem to mind. There was plenty people could do to improve lung function if the air became a problem. The haze was an unfortunate byproduct of other industries in the city.
A man, slightly bent, came through the doors into the office where Rotti had been waiting. His drab clothes and glasses made him appear mostly harmless. Upon halting before the desk, he straightened. "You wanted to see me."
"Thank you for coming." Keeping his seat, Rotti passed a folder across the desk. "I have some new orders."
He watched the folder before handling it. "You could have sent them like you always do."
"Call them new procedures. And you have a new partner." He checked his watch, clearly expecting this fabled person to appear any second now.
"But I work alone." His haggard face flushed at how insulting the notion felt. He pulled the first page. "What is this new protocol? Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I understand this is all quite sudden. But you know about Proposition 586, don't you? People are very concerned about you and me. So there are changes coming to keep this bill out of law. Where would you be if it passed, Nathan?"
They both knew the answer. Medical associations were quickly closing their doors to organ repossesors, putting the doctors who installed the parts on a whole echelon above people like him. Agreeing to do that sort of dirty both nullified the Hippocratic Oath and prevent doctors for ever fully trusting someone like him with a permanent stain like that on their past. That would relegate Nathan to an ever lower occupation such as an undertaker or concierge surgeon at the whim of whoever gave him room and board. Without a steady income, he and his daughter might be living on the street or worse. One of his greatest fears was that she'd fall to the fate of so many girls, including Rotti's daughter. Urging himself to read rather than dwell on something hypothetical, he saw the new changes. "I can't carry aenesthetics. GeneCo knows all about the high incidence of abuse."
"That's why I'd never let you have it. Your partner will have that and much more. From now on, each job comes with a small pharmacy."
He read on. "'All clients must be submerged in an ice bath prior to or during repossession?'"
"If you can find nothing else. Your partner will have some of those things at hand. I suggest that you find a bathtub first. From now on, I don't want to see you doing repossessions in dirty alleyways." There were many lines about new precautions against staph infections. "From now on, fewer casualties."
A light, dim at first, grew gradually in his eyes as it dawned on him how much his job was changing. "Fewer casualties," he repeated, hardly believing his own tongue. He could go to bed with less blood on his hands each night.
"There are some parts, of course, that people simply cannot live without." His gesture encouraged Nathan to read on. "Terminate those clients and bring them here."
His heart fell. "Do they know?"
"The company is sending letters to every client as we speak." He offered an encouraging smile. "This could change the image of GeneCo for the better. Think of it, Nathan. You can rest easy each night knowing that you haven't robbed someone of a dear friend or family member without due cause."
And yet, the terrible and dark side of him protested quietly. "This is very inefficient."
Rotti watched the doors, hiding his chagrin. "You have not met your new partner. He is late."
It was a few uncomfortable moments before the doors finally opened. In strode an exacting young man, shorter than Nathan but seeming as tall because he carried himself with vigor and resolve. "This will not happen again," he said as his apology. He wore a cleanly pressed dress shirt, but Nathan recognized the slacks as part of the GeneCo-issued repo uniform. It gave him a little comfort to know that he might be working with one of his own after all.
Standing up, he gestured gallantly to both. "Robert Bruce. Nathan Wallace."
The two shook hands, the latter visibly more hesitant than the other. "Mr. Largo has told me everything. I came from another company on loan. Just recently did I get my permanent position as your whip."
Nathan merely furrowed at his brow at the phrase. "I need more time to look at this," he murmured, thumbing through more of the documents. "There are a lot of changes for me to make..."
"I think the two of you will do quite well together." He dismissed them on the grounds that they should have a little time to get to know each other as colleagues. While he owed Rotti a great deal, he always delivered on his promises and performed each job with the utmost care. The trade-off was that Nathan never got the kind of freedom he wanted, but he got freedom as a senior employee and someone who had influence within the company.
Once out of the office, Robert dropped his nearly oppressive air of professionalism. "I know you work alone and all, but humor me about meeting outside the company once or twice before we get a job. A friend of mine wrote some of these new regulations. It's my job to make certain you follow all the rules, but I'm not here to blow any whistles. The way I see it, my job's to keep Largo off your back."
The sudden change of manner took Nathan aback. He eyed the other warily but allowed him to continue.
"He's a damn son of a bitch, and those kids of his are even worse. I can barely think about what's going to happen if they inherit the company. Cuts for us right and left." It was hard to tell if he was being figurative or literal. "Just fall back on me if you're not sure. Besides, I'm one of the only people in the company who isn't scared of you."
The information didn't surprise him but it disappointed him to know that he had alienated so many people despite his high office. He had always suspected just as much with the way other repos acted around him. At times, he even relished in their fearful reverence. But it also didn't stop him from feeling very lonely. Not even his daughter could completely console him at times.
He lowered his voice. "Everyone knows why you went repo."
Nathan blanched, not in shock but in embarrassment. He set his jaw, refusing to look the other in the eye lest it compel him to tear out Robert's throat.
"Look, they all have their theories. But me?" He shrugged. "Accidents happen. Life isn't fair." Backing down the hall so they could keep eye contact, he said, "Policy says we have to meet once before a job. This counts, but I expect to hear from you before Largo. If you can't make good on that promise, this won't be a good partnership." He gave a sloppy salute before turning around. In a few moments, he disappeared from sight around the corner.
Staring at the folder in his hand, Nathan trudged toward the elevator. He only hoped that the monster inside him could be sated in this new, strange way.
