8.k.
The next
staircase took up the entire side of the last tier of the pyramid
structure. General Apathy stood on the
third step and gestured upward.
“Right this
way,” he said. “And congratulations on
making it all the way to the top.”
“What’s up
there?” asked Franklin Buck, his hair oddly misshapen from his recent encounter
with the business end.
“Were you not
paying attention?” said General Apathy.
He pointed upward, flared his eyes in a manner that could be mistaken
for nothing other than outright mocking, and said, “Up there is the top. The Big Bossman awaits. You should probably keep him from waiting any
further. This has all gone on long
enough, don’t you think?”
They walked up
the stairs.
Their feet made
hollow clacking noises on each step. The
sound echoed back to them sounding of crystal, soft metal, and freshly minted
paper currency. A chill air swept down
as they approached the top of the rise.
Each shivered as their flesh goosed.
When the last
of the Union stopped atop the platform, all sound went
out of the room. In front of them the diamond
shaped pit gaped, sidewalls dropping into the floor, meeting at a center point
far below.
“Okay, so now–”
Business Woman started, but General Apathy held up a finger in front of his
face to silence her. His hand moved with
such speed and forceful command that it actually worked.
A low bass hum
shook the room.
They could feel
the vibration in the cloth of their pant legs and the short hairs on the backs
of their necks. A futuristic, pneumatic,
clunking hiss erupted from the great black diamond shape at the apex of the
ceiling as it drifted downward at a slow, steady pace. Eventually, it seated in the diamond shaped
pit in the top of the platform. A
pleasurable sigh exhaled from the strange shape.
Nothing
happened for a painfully long time.
Corporate Man
glanced at Business Woman and then at Senior Executive. Franklin Buck glanced at no one and continued
to stare at the black pyramid.
A noise
shattered the pregnant silence. It
sounded like a robotic samurai sword with a crystal blade being unsheathed from
a dry ice. Lines of white light split
the bottom corner of the pyramid.
Then it opened.
Two doors swung
away from the corner like arms opening outward, readying for an embrace.
A man stood
inside the pyramid, silhouetted by the intense light behind him. General Apathy rolled his eyes and glanced at
his watch as the man walked forward.
“Welcome,” he
said as the light of the room caught his features. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“John?” said Corporate
Man.
The man did not
reply, but his grin widened.
“John? Who’s John?” said Franklin Buck.
“John Q
Public,” said Business Woman. “He’s one
of us.”
Corporate Man
shook his head, “I… I thought you were dead.”
John Q Public,
the Big Bossman, shrugged and said, “Well you never can tell. Can you?”
