A-11 Administration HQ - Counsel Chamber
Administrator Gretel sat alone at her end of the meeting chamber, stone faced but secretly twiddling her thumbs while she waited for the others. Of all the things on her plate, dealing with the monthly Administrator summit was the least important use of her time.....the loss of an Urban Center, the hijacking of a skyport and the escape of multiple high level terrorists. The last thing she needed to waste time on was the cacophonous ranting, bickering and manipulations of the various Administrators. Still....to maintain some semblance of normality and control, the meeting had to go ahead as planned.
One by one the Administrators arrived, or rather appeared. Each station around the Councel Chamber held its own holographic emitter that displayed a rough outline of the administrator, with a large marker behind them for visual clarification of the city they represent. It was crude, but Gretel preferred the functionality of it over something more visually appealing....besides, the less she had to deal with the others on a face to face basis the better.
Such a Bother.
At last, she was satisfied that everyone was present.....her eyes swinging from one side of the table to the other. Of the 12 stations that made a circle from her position, only 8 currently bore the image of an administrator. A-1, A-3, A-13 remained dark.....no communication would ever be sent from them again. They're seats remained as grim reminders of the fate befitting the ones who could not uphold the grand design.
...and now....A-9 sat quiet as well. Gretel eyed the empty seat a moment, let a sigh escape her lips, then addressed the others.
"I call this Administration Meeting to order." Gretel proclaimed, her voice boomed with authority. "We'll begin with the Monthly Status Report before moving on to discussion of current events......Whats our status on Agriculture."
"A6 Hydroponics are yielding acceptable numbers." The A6 Administrator voice came over the communications with a slight garble, as if underwater. The figure displayed was human enough....though a slight distortion in the feed seemed to make certain parts of the anatomy slightly unclear. "We have shipments lined up to supplement the other centers, there will no more then a week delay."
"A8 animal farms are operating 24/7....but its so much harder to grow meat then greens." Another woman, small in frame but complimented by a massive canine form curled up at her feet. Her voice, a cruel amused sing song, spoke all that was needed to the owners personality. "We'll need supplement with outside meat sources to reach the quota this month....."
"...I trust you mean wild game and not...." Gretel narrowed her eyes.
"Has their ever been any alternative?" A8 Admin raised her hands in the air, and Gretel could almost see the bloody grin on her face even through the darkened hologram. The last time they had been close to late on a shipment, the quota ended up being filled via some outside mystery meat that Gretel had very grave suspicions about......non should could verify, or was in any position to start issue with. Food meant a lot, and they were not in a position to be picky.
"Very well, I trust you to fufill the Quota Administrator Hood." Gretel nodded. "What about manufacturing?"
"A-2 Production running at 100%" Another girl, voice low and slightly mechanical, answered. Her hologram gestured robotically...the joints in her shoulders and arms very clearly artificial. "We've implemented Automation on 12 of 20 new assembly lines.....We'll meet our gross product quota for the next three months by tomorrow. Can I go to sleep now...."
"Not until the meeting is over." Gretel said with annoyance.
"If you...*yawn*....say so."
"Excuse me." A gentlemanly voice interjected from the A-7 hologram, a tall gentlemanly figure with the poise of a butler. "For the record.....A-7 is meeting all current raw material quotas. Unlike some centers....I pride myself on meeting expectations." A non visible side eyed glance to Hood was all by assured, and the young admin huffed with stroking her dog....who seemed to react to the gentleman voice with an immediate growl.
".....Very well." Gretel concluded. "In light of recent events, we'll be shifting R&D resources and quotas over to A-12......"
"Ugh....Like I don't have ENOUGH to deal with here." A annoyed male voice to Gretels right hissed. "The oafs in 8 never did proper backups....we could be digging through half finished data for months."
"I'm sure you can handle it." Gretel mused. "Now....onto current events...."
"Its about time."
"Its about time."
"Its about time dude." Three voices said in unison from the A-10 com. Three figures, two girls and a boy, each with distinct voices and builds.
"So what happened to the Execution?"
"So where was the execution?"
"Why didn't we get an execution?"
Gretel frowned, then sighed. "...I assumed your referring to the one scheduled for today. I'm afraid we've run into some slight complications....we've had to delay. There was an attack the skyport and we're currently cleaning up a..."
"....I heard you lost the guy to a bunch of fumbling idiots...." Hood patted her canine, suddenly more smug then usual.
"....No, everything is under control. Security is currently investigating a possible security breach on our communications network, along with footage from the skyport..." Gretel rubbed her temple.
"What about the Luxweave Representative?" The hologram of an elegant woman asked from the A-5. Even from this distance Gretel could make out the golden hair running down past the visual link, glowing unnaturally even in what should have been a blurred image. The concern in her voice marked some level of ulterior motive, but Gretel couldn't mark any importance on it.
"Also taken during the attack...But I have my best witches on the trail. All city exits have been barred and we'll soon be commencing a search. Once the identities of the assailants are made public....nobody in the slums will risk aiding potential ruin conspirators."
"i....I see." A-5 responded, brushing her hair to one side thoughtfully.
"Want me to send some dogs? They'd sniff up the idiots a lot faster then yours." Hood mused out loud. "Or you can send Admin Wolfhert. He's just a big dumb bloodhound anyways."
The gentleman made no obvious act in response, simply adjusted his tie.
"In any event....the situation will be resolved shortly. I have every bit of confidence that our rescheduled execution will be on time.......and all the better this time, when we bring in ALL the conspirators at play....and more importantly.....lead us right to En." Gretel smiled.
Matters of The Subconscious Mind
Jacob spent most of his time next morning looking for a psychologist. Meanwhile, Rhea was roaming around. "I hope a psychologist can get more out of Jacob than I could. I wonder how long I'm going to have to keep making up stories in front of him," Rhea said
" If he caught on to what I was doing, he would never trust me again. I mean, the spirit realm, this goddess of death, and said contract I said had with Jacob doesn't exist. I made all that stuff up based on the knowledge of a place I took from Jacob's mind. However, it seems that Jacob doesn't know the details of said place," Rhea said.
"The person I was referring to when I was with Jacob. Was just the closest approximation I knew of to something from Jacob's past, due to my share connection with him," Rhea said.