The Long Winter #117
A Fresh Start part three
“Penny Stark, report to Mashiro Suzuki’s office immediately.”
Penny jumped at the sound of her name. She was grateful for the break, she had worked tirelessly through three robots for an unknown length of time. Her fingers were raw and she was sweating again. She swept her arm across her forehead and stood upright, stretching her back and legs. She hobbled out of the room and glanced up and down the hallway. She sighed and wandered the way she had come.
I have no idea where I’m going…
Everything looked the same. She climbed stairs and descended stairs. There were rooms like the one she was working in with various equipment on tables or hanging on chains from the ceiling. But though she wandered she could not find the big, open area of the warehouse, just hallways of workrooms. Workstation after workstation.
Is this a joke? Are they playing a joke on me? I can’t remember how I got there, and now I’ll never find my way back…
Marv was quiet again and Penny shuddered. She knew she was disappointing her new boss with her inability to appear in his office “immediately.” She began to run. A stairway appeared and she climbed and there it was, the catwalk leading back to the offices. She dashed across it and back down stairs and then through the lobby where Madelyn glanced back at her in concern. She drew herself upright and took a few deep breaths before walking back into Mr. Suzuki’s office. He did not look up.
“You missed lunch.”
He tossed her a paper bag.
“The dining room is this way.”
Penny jumped and turned around at the sound of Madelyn’s voice. She was standing in the doorway. Penny bowed at Mr. Suzuki and then followed Madelyn back down the hall. The dining room was next to the ladies’ locker room and had a complete kitchen and fancy stone-topped tables, the tile floor polished to a reflective shine.
“Report back to him after you’re finished,” Madelyn said.
“What about the robots I was polishing?”
“You’ll be back on those again later. Good work getting back to his office. You didn’t set another record, but that’s because last year we had an idiot savant who could memorize anything at a glance. He passed out after five minutes in the pressure cooker, though.”
Penny giggled.
“If you need anything, let me know.”
“How about a map of the building?”
“I’ll send you one.”
“Thank you.”
She opened the bag. A gourmet sandwich on French bread and a package of cut vegetables was inside. She got a glass down from a cupboard and poured herself some water and sat down to enjoy her lunch. Madelyn sent a map app to her phone, and after checking through it Penny was quickly finished with her lunch. She rose and returned to Mr. Suzuki’s office. Without speaking, he left. She followed him.
“How many robots did you finish?”
“Three.”
“Screws and all?”
“I found a brush. Everything is shiny.”
They were winding through the lab again.
“I have a meeting in ten minutes. I understand you have a license to drive. You will get us beverages. A company car is in the back lot. Madelyn will assist you.”
They walked down from a catwalk and through the lobby. Penny cast a confused glance at Madelyn and the receptionist smiled back encouragingly. Opposite of the offices he opened a door and stepped into a meeting room. Several other serious-looking men and women were already there. She took their orders and was promptly shoved out of the room. The door slammed shut behind her and she shuffled over to Madelyn.
“We have a car charged behind the building. I’ll show you.”
“Thank you.”
Madelyn produced a key fob from her desk and beckoned Penny to follow her through the labs.
“How was your sandwich?”
“It was delicious.”
“Good. Usually he does not provide meals. He must like you.”
Penny nodded.
“You’re into the afternoon now. You’re doing great.”
“There aren’t many other interns here, are there?”
Madelyn shook her head.
“It seems like a big place. I thought I would be working with Nagisa.”
“Utagawa? She was assigned to Jenn Fisher. Mrs. Fisher runs a completely different project from Mr. Suzuki.”
“That’s too bad.”
“You’re going to be busy anyhow.”
They stopped at a door. The day was sunny and the door handle was hot to the touch.
“The car will tell you how to get to the café. When you get back, park in front and I’ll help you bring in the drinks.”
“Thank you.”
She stepped out into the hot, humid air and squinted against the sunlight. The car sat before her, white and, when she opened the door, already cool inside. Sure enough, once belted in, the car’s screen guided her several miles away to a coffee shop and she went inside and purchased all the drinks on an account the lab maintained. Mr. Mickey waved her through the gate and Madelyn helped her bring the drinks in. The receptionist left and Penny was ordered to stand behind Mr. Suzuki and listen to the proceedings. Several other young people, interns themselves Penny imagined, milled out, fetching pencils for their bosses or taking notes. Mr. Suzuki beckoned her closer.
“Order Javeon Taylor to bring the UT-1047.”
“Yes sir.”
She left the room and approached Madelyn.
“Excuse me, I need to find Javeon Taylor.”
“He’s in the dining room.”
“Thank you.”
Penny jogged down to the dining room. Inside was the big man she saw in the hallway earlier.
“Excuse me, are you Javeon Taylor?”
“The fuck you want?” he mumbled into his food.
“Mr. Suzuki wants you to bring the UT-1047 to the meeting room.”
“Mother fucker…”
He stood up, his bulky frame well over 2 meters tall, and glared down at her.
“You again.”
“This is my first day. I’m doing my best.”
“Yeah. Your best. Get the fuck out my way.”
She stepped aside and he stomped out of the break room. She scurried after him.
“Do you need help bringing it?”
“No.” He sped up. She watched him disappear into the lab.
“I’d wait for him,” Madelyn said. “I wouldn’t go back in there empty-handed.”
“Okay…”
Javeon reappeared with a small box in his hands. Penny jumped towards the door and opened it for him.
“Ladies first,” she muttered as he passed. He snorted at her and she followed him to Mr. Suzuki.
“Thank you, Taylor.” Mr. Suzuki snatched the box from his hand and waved him away. “Stark. Wait.”
Penny watched Javeon leave without looking back. Mr. Suzuki began talking about the amazing improvements in efficiency in their new processor. He talked about the simplicity of the programming language he developed and about the technology he was developing to shrink it further. The meeting finished with a murmur of approval and Mr. Suzuki dragged Penny out behind him.
“We’re entering the prep phase. The rest of the week, you’ll finish your polishing and then you’ll work on server prep. Madelyn has orders for you. Javeon will take you to the server stacks.”
He turned and left and she held back a sigh. One look at Madelyn told her she should be rushing back to work. She put her head down and ran. The maps on her phone guided her back to the robot room and she took a deep breath before diving back into her work. At the very least, it was peaceful there…
***
Javeon scowled at her when she appeared before him the next day. They were both in the white jumpsuits and standing in the shadow of a large industrial machine on a lower level of the lab.
“We’re supposed to prep the servers.”
“And they sent you? Fuck.”
“Why are you so angry at me?”
“Because you’re here. You’re in front of me. You’re in my way.”
“I’ll move—“
“That ain’t what I mean. Goddammit. Goddamn. Come on. If Suzuki wants the servers prepped and he wants you, of all people, to help, then fine. You better fuckin’ pull your weight, pipsqueak.”
He began walking away. She rushed along beside him.
“I’m plenty strong—“
“Yeah, right. You? Tiny Mexican chick?”
“I’m not Mexican!”
“Whatever. Let’s just go. Ain’t no need to run your mouth the whole way.”
Penny snapped her lips closed and stomped along behind him. They descended more stairs to a level she did not have a map to and he led the way into a cool room full of glowing and blinking server stacks.
“The programmers have already taken these offline. We disassemble these and then carry these out, up them steps, and out the door. The new ones are upstairs. We carry those down and place them in the right base. The programmers will turn them on. Go get the toolset, it’s over there.”
She and Javeon spent the week unhooking wires, unfastening the old servers from the docking ports in the server racks, and hauling them upstairs and out of the building. The hallways they had to traverse were too narrow to allow carts and there were no elevators accessing the server level. Penny wondered aloud once what they were doing with the data. Javeon told her to shut her damn mouth and she stayed silent after that. All the way up to their lunch break on Thursday.
“You like ham and cheese, too?” she said, nodding at his sandwich from across the room. They were eating identical grilled sandwiches with leafy green side salads and colorful fruit cups for dessert.
“Shut your damn mouth.”
“No. We’ve been working hard for days now, we’re almost done clearing the old servers out. I think I’ve kept up with you just fine, and now I’m going to demand you be a little nicer to me.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re annoying.”
“I am not! What have I done that’s annoying?”
“You’re doing it right now.”
“Talking?”
“Breathing.”
Penny squawked in indignation.
“You should just fucking kill yourself.”
“That’s a horrible thing to say!”
“I know. I still said it.”
“Then you should kill yourself!”
He stood up and stomped towards her.
“The fuck you just say?”
She stood up and put her finger on his chest.
“You should be nicer. I’ve been a huge help to you. You could not have done that alone.”
“Yeah I could have.”
“No. Those servers were totally heavy and awkward.”
He snorted. “I guess you done okay for being a wimpy little non-Mexican chick. Where you from, anyway?”
“Port Matthew. My mom’s Japanese. My dad’s American.”
“White dude?”
“Yes.”
He walked back to his table and scooped up his lunch. He set it in front of her and sat back down.
“You’re tougher than you look. I thought for sure you were going to give up halfway through that first day.”
“Do you know about Mr. Suzuki’s pressure cooker?”
“Yeah.”
“I set a new record, an hour and twenty minutes almost.”
His eyes widened and he nearly choked on his sandwich.
“And I polished all those robots in one day.”
“Six of them, huh?”
Penny nodded.
“He was pissed you didn’t unscrew them, I heard.”
“Whatever. The screws and the joints were all clean. I did a great job.”
“You’ll never hear it from him. Hell, I never heard anything but orders. “Taylor do this.” “Taylor, do that.” Damn, worse than my mom.”
“Are you an intern, too?”
“No. I’m here because of parole. I can’t quit or they’ll fuckin’ throw me in fuckin’ jail again.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. And you’re here on some fancy internship for some fancy fuckin’ brain-melting places for snooty bitches. Or at least that’s what I heard.”
“The Gravenreuth Institute is a really nice place—”
“I don’t want to hear about it. What I do what to hear about is how in the fuck you were able to sit in the fuckin’ pressure cooker for 80 goddamn minutes.”
“It was hard—“
“No shit!”
“I keep myself in good shape. I work out, or at least I used to, like every day. I went out with a volleyballer back home, she got me into it.”
“She? You a dyke?”
“Dyke?”
“Yeah, you know, a lesbian. They don’t say dyke back where you from?”
“No, I guess not. But yes, I am a lesbian.”
“Shit, that’s hot and gross as fuck at the same time. You got a fine girlfriend?”
“Yes, she’s pretty. I’ve been called shallow a few times, but I like to go out with pretty girls.”
“Who doesn’t?”
Penny laughed. Javeon smiled.
“Listen. You’re doing all right. I am honestly impressed you ain’t fuckin’ died hauling them servers around with me. I didn’t make it easy on you, neither. So I’ll stop being so mean to you. Don’t count on me being nice, though.”
“I won’t.” She smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He laughed and they finished their lunches and sighed. They still had a long way to go in the server room.
Follow The Long Winter into #118 A Fresh Start part four here.