I stood before the steps of the Strokes building, my hands clenched by my side. This was it. My first day as a Strokes employee... and I had no idea what I would be doing.
With a deep breath, I began climbing the stairs. There was an uncomfortable twinge at the back of my leg with each step, but it wasn’t as bad as just a few days ago. The stab wound had healed nicely otherwise.
As soon as I entered the building, a stranger in a lavender dress greeted me with a smile. “You must be Dax!”
“Uh, yeah,” I replied.
“Great, I’m Diane, my pronouns are she and her for the moment.” She turned her back on me, the hem of her dress spinning as if it was trying to catch up with her quick movement. Then Diane walked forward, waving for me to follow.
“I’m your supervisor, of sorts,” she continued as we walked down the halls, towards the back of the building. “Bwoeifjmksdhareufjdsown. Twehrfiejwtay your job should be fairly easy.”
We stopped in front of a plain door at the end of the hall. Diane faced me, her expression suddenly serious. “Only a few people have a key to this door. Now, you’ll be one of them.”
She handed me a brass key that matched the one she used. I glanced from the key in my hand to the now open door; Diane stood beside it with a smile. A flight of stairs led down.
“Should I be worried?” I asked.
Diane frowned. “No? Come on, your cowiejfdmslksaewiodjfskmnjfhujisu.”
I followed her down the stairs to a basement of flickering fluorescent lights. I blinked. Wait. Electricity? In Illagu?
My eyes wide, I took in the rest of the basement. To my left was some sort of makeshift elevator with a low metal gate closing it off. A little to the right of that sat Tazina in her wheelchair before a desk with a- Was that a computer?! Although it did look extremely old.
Then in the far corner, a man leaned over a work table - he must be this Al person Tazina had told me about before. And he was messing with System wires that were attached to 216894.
What. Was going. On?
“Dax,” Diane called.
I returned my attention to her. Jutting out from about half of the near wall was a counter where Diane had laid out a bunch of System devices. Beyond her, a door to another room stood open where plenty more System devices were stocked on the shelves.
I wandered over to Diane cautiously. This whole Strokes department went against everything I’d learned about Illagu.
Diane handed me one of the devices. “Your job is to go through these and report on what you find. Most importantly, anything that can tell us about System weaknesses so we can use them against it. Here’s the form you need to fill out for each one.” She pulled out a packet of papers from a box beneath the counter and plopped it next to the pile of devices.
I glanced at the device in my hands. It was a game console - an old one. I looked back up at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Any questions?” Diane asked.
“So many.”
Diane nodded. “Welp, I’ll leave you to it,” she replied with a smile.
“What?!”
Diane rushed out of the room, practically running up the stairs. The door clicked behind her.
“What just happened?!” I exclaimed.
My new coworkers bursted out laughing. Al walked over. “Diane doesn’t fully understand System tech, so she can’t actually train you.” He picked up the packet of papers as he sat down in one of the two chairs in front of the counter. “I’ll show you how this job works. Welcome to the System Information Department, Dax.”
All I could do was stare back in bewilderment. This was going to be interesting.
To be continued…