Chương 5: Dad is the king of pancakes.

Eventually, George started clicking the button again from where he lay on the floor. He held the blanket around his shoulders and closed his eyes. After about half an hour, a level notification appeared. New Achievement: Level Eight +2 Gold +1 Skill Point Would you like to buy anything in the store? Yes or No?

"Yes," George said, sitting up and crossing his legs. He didn't stop clicking. The store menu appeared in front of him. He had sixteen gold. He was glad for the thin blanket, but the other amenities seemed mostly useless. Maybe a juice box would be worth buying eventually—whoever was behind the text messages had said he might be in here for days—but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Random memory. Upgrade button. Upgrade cradle. Upgrade user interface." Would you like to access the skill menu? (Total skill points: 2)"No." Purchased: Random Memory The white room faded, and the memory began. He was alone in a large office. Beyond the window he could see the busy crosshatch of streets and buildings crowding each other all the way to the horizon, but he could not remember the name of the city. This is my office, he thought. He was waiting for something, a meeting.

"Allison," George called into the other room. Then he remembered that she hadn't shown up today and hadn't called to say she'd be out sick. For a while back then, he would occasionally tape a sheet of paper to the inclined surface of the table and sketch an isometric rendering of some ordinary object in the office. A book. The lamp. A coffee mug. A paperweight. It was oddly meditative and relaxing. Now the table was empty except for a T-square hanging from the top edge and a lone drafting pencil in the tray.

Someone knocked on the door and stuck his head in.

"Ready to go, big guy?" It was Mick. The meeting hadn't been on his schedule until that morning. When he'd arrived in the office, Mick had been waiting in the hall when the elevator opened and mentioned it to him. George walked out of his office and saw three people he didn't know in the corridor, two men and one woman.

"After you," Mick said and waved his hand down the hall.

"We're headed up to fifty-three." George nodded at the two people he didn't know, and they returned tight smiles. As the small group walked along the balcony corridor at the edge of the mezzanine, George noticed it was quieter than normal. He saw a few extra upturned faces watching their group descend the stairs. The firm was about to close one of the biggest deals of its history. There was an undercurrent of excitement on the office floor, but people also seemed on edge.

There were rumors going around that some people were going to find themselves shuffled to new projects. George knew privately that the firm planned to use the changes brought by the deal to trim away some of the dead wood in the personnel. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. He found Sonya's face in the crowd and gave her a small smile. She didn't smile back. She looked worried.

His eyes moved around the room until they caught on another face staring directly at him. When George made eye contact with Reggie, he almost missed a step on the stairs. He looked smug, angry, and—what was it? Triumph. Reggie was a climber. He was in Mick's pocket and George assumed he was hoping to ride Mick's coattails up to the fifty-third floor. When their small group made it down to the office floor, they passed a little knot of people that fell silent as the executives approached.

Behind him, the three strangers were having a low conversation, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. George felt an inexplicable sense of worry, but it had not resolved into words yet. It was just beginning to announce itself, like a growl rolling softly through his mind. He realized his heartrate had increased. They came around the corner to the elevators, and Mick pressed the button to call an elevator.

One of the others said something irrelevant as they waited for the elevator, and then they all shuffled in. George's worry began to coalesce from a handful of disconnected fragments. Mick had been waiting for George at the elevators when he'd arrived. Reggie has smiled. Sonya was worried. Allison had not come in today and didn't call. That was unlike her. Suddenly, the words of Mick's forced, inane greeting came back to him. Ready to go, big guy?

Without thinking, George stepped out of the elevator before the doors closed. Mick gave him a questioning look.

"I'll meet you up there in a minute. I forgot something."

"Oookay," Mick dragged the word out.

"I guess we'll see you up there." George saw the two men he didn't know exchange a glance at the back of the elevator. The doors shut and George took out his phone as he hurried back to his office. He pressed the button to call another colleague, Cynthia. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be her. It rang once and then went to voicemail. He tried again as he jogged up the stairs. She didn't pick up. He tried another contact and the same thing happened. He tapped a text to Sonya. Something is up.

What have you heard? Finally, he called Jerry and got an answer.

"Hey, George. I'm sorry, mate. I just heard." George couldn't think of an answer, so he let the silence stretch. He stepped inside his office and closed the door.

"George?" Jerry said.

"Heard what?" George said.

"Oh," Jerry said and then fell silent too.

"I mean…the meeting."

"The meeting hasn't happened yet," George said.

"What do you know?"

"Oh, god," Jerry said.

"Listen. Forget I said anything."

"Jerry, talk to me. What's waiting for me up there?" George said. A text came through from Sonya. Just rumors. Why did you just go back to your office? Do you want me to come up?

"Look. I wasn't involved in any of it. It's all been hush hush for three weeks but, you know…word gets out," Jerry said.

"Word about what?" George said.

"Christ, George. Come on," he said.

"You had to have seen this coming. You know your division is down. The Vektor people are going to come in and clean house. You aren't the only VP moving on." Sonya texted. George, what is going? Are you getting fired? I don't want to work here if you aren't here. George hung up. He plugged a portable hard drive into his office computer and started dragging folders onto it. It began making a mechanical crunching noise as it copied several hundred gigabytes of files.

He crossed the room to the file cabinet and made a stack of files on his desk. Sonya texted. George! Honey. Answer me. I'm freaking out down here. George swept hard copies of several files into a foldable courier box and made a quick call to a courier service to come pick them up and deliver them to his home. He blew out a breath and forced himself to slow down and think. It was entirely possible that when he went upstairs to the meeting, he wouldn't be allowed to enter this office again.

They'd have his personal things sent to him. The photos. The drafting table. All of it. He picked up his phone to reply to Sonya but only stared at the screen and put it back in his pocket. He opened his desk drawer and took out a bright green tie that read: Dad Is the King of Pancakes. He put the tie in his pocket and drummed on the hard drive as it copied the files. He looked at the empty drafting table and the teeming city beyond it. Then the memory ended, and he was back in the white room.

He looked at the timer. It was ticking down faster now. He picked up the button and resumed clicking.