IGMS Issue 39 by IGMS

Author:IGMS [IGMS]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Hatrack River Enterprises
Published: 2014-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

Work schedules kept Cerna from tracking down Phil to ask him what was really wrong with him. Two days after talking to Autumn, Cerna was in line in the cafeteria when Camp Chief Miscente walked up to him. "Tauran, can I see you for a few minutes?"

The tone of Miscente's voice and the fact that he used Cerna's real name were plain bad. Cerna nodded and started toward the paystation without selecting a dessert.

They sat in the farthest corner of the cafeteria. Cerna, unsure what was on the chief's mind, barely registered what he was eating except for a faint trace of garlic. He gave up after a couple of bites and watched Miscente paw through screens on his Portal.

"Tell me, Tauran," Miscente said, "why do we suddenly need a separate building for a chapel?"

Cerna sat back. "Huh? I doubt a dozen people ever do chapel stuff in the conference room at the same time. We don't need a building for that."

"Then why did you design one? And why did it suddenly show up on the schedule today, with construction to start next week? And why design it with a basement?"

"A what?"

"I've got an excavation request to dig out a basement under a new building -- you can see the grid coordinates here -- that's labeled 'Chapel One.' Not just 'chapel,' but apparently the first of several? And not to dig footers for walls, but an actual basement? Or near enough -- the project plan says 'storm cellar.'"

"None of our buildings have basements."

"You noticed that, did you? So you just decided that we needed a building with a basement?"

"I don't know how that happened."

Miscente's eyes narrowed, and he pushed his Portal across the table. "The plans have your name on them."

Cerna wiped his fingers on his pants before he picked up the slim computer. Since the Peshari's takeover, only a few humans were allowed such things. Cerna himself always did his designs on a CAD program on a shared terminal, so he fumbled a bit as he tried to call up the relevant references on Miscente's device. He looked at the design package -- a thorough fake, with supply lists, design review minutes, even two change proposals -- then paged through to the equipment requisitions. The excavation list --

"I think Phil Keller did this."

"What makes you say that?"

"Firstly, none of this is real, which is weird, and he's been acting weird. I mean, the date of this design review conflicts with last week's camp council meeting, and it says you were at the review. We both know that's not true. But look at this record here. Phil's a digger programmer, and somebody's reprogrammed this unit . . . and put my name on it, too. The backdated request was to dig footings, but the digger's been re-tasked."

"Let me guess," said Miscente.

Cerna nodded. "It's digging part of the basement right now."

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.