Massively Multiplayer (49 page)

It was just the way Mrs. Hernandez liked him. “Good morning, Mr. Calloway,” she beamed, sliding a tea-cup to the edge of her desk.

Bernardo nodded, a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips as he sipped at the beverage. It was lukewarm but he didn’t complain. “Uh, good morning Mrs. Hernandez. Uhm.” He seemed lost for a topic of conversation. Mrs. Hernandez grinned encouragingly. “Lovely weather this morning. Brilliant.”

“Yes, Mr. Calloway. Oh, the marketing division called this morning about the new press release but you weren’t in. I took care of the changes and signed your name to them.”

“Oh. Good. Yes, very good, well done that.”

Mrs. Hernandez smiled even wider. Bernardo squared his shoulders and gulped at his tea.

“Well, carry on then. Right. I’ll just get to work on...uh...”

“Authorizing the new bonus program?”

“Right, that.”

Mrs. Hernandez smile was now luminous. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Calloway, I meant to mention to you as soon as you came in. You have a visitor. Shall I take care of that authorization for you?”

Bernardo scowled. “Visitor? But I don’t want any-“

“Bernie? That you out there son?” The voice which echoed resoundingly from the President’s office was nattily British, and not a little peeved. “Don’t dawdle, boy, get in here. You have a deal of explaining to do, young man.”

Bernardo’s face collapsed into a mask of horror.

“Well? Don’t keep me waiting, boy! Get in here!”

Shoulders slumped, Bernardo Calloway marched guiltily into his office, pulling the door solidly shut. Outside, at her desk, Mrs. Hernandez turned to her work with a smile that shone like the very sun.

The virtualounge was shiny. That was to be expected. Brand new, top of the line, and worth more than a year’s tuition, the virlo gleamed in the afternoon sun, making even the dingy confines of Trick’s truck momentarily bright. Andrew almost hated to throw the moving blanket over it, but he’d have hated even more to leave it open to the elements during the long drive back to campus.

Checking only once more to make certain the virlo was secure, he tossed the blanket over the top of the pile and began to tie down the corners.

“Wait, wait, one more box!” Jacob Hunter came loping down the driveway, leaping over the tiny hedge to skid to a stop at Andrew’s side. “You mom thought I should make you take these.”

“These” turned out to be a box of books, most of them ones Andrew hadn’t looked at for years.

“You guys planning on turning my room into a workshop while I’m gone?” he asked. “Renting it out for parties?”

“Nah,” his father muttered. “Too small. We’d lose our shirts. No, your mother’s just got a sentimental streak. I think she’s hoping these will remind you of home while you’re at school.”

“Uh…she knows it’s just State, right? I’m all of forty-five minutes away.”

“That can be a very long forty-five minutes,” Jacob said seriously. “I notice you don’t come down very often.”

“I don’t have a car.”

“There’s a train.”

“Dad…”

“All right, all right, I’m sorry.” Jacob put his hands up in surrender. “I guess your Mom’s not the only one with a sentimental streak.”

They stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment. Eventually, Jacob grunted and levered the box under the edge of the moving blanket.

“I see that Agent Blank’s present got the good seat.”

Andrew shrugged. “If you call it that. I’d rather ride in the cab.”

“Even if I were driving?”

“I think…I think especially if you were driving.”

They both digested this for a moment. Jacob finally broke the silence. “Well, I think you can drive fine by yourself. Maybe I’ll take the passenger seat next time.”

“Deal.”

Andrew finished tying down the blanket. They shook hands.

“You will drive carefully, right?”

“Dad…”

“All right, can’t blame me for asking.”

“Actually, I can, but I won’t. I’ll drive carefully. Besides, Trick would kill me if I wrecked his truck. I’ll have it on automatic almost the whole way. I’m sleepy.”

“Game keep you up?”

Andrew stared into the distance for a while before answering. It was the game, of course. But it was also, even mostly, the people who he played it with. “Yes,” he answered at last. “It’s hard managing to get together with people from such different timezones. Malcolm showed Butterfly’s people the locations of that last cache from the upper tombs, and we were up all night divvying it up…sorry, I must be boring you…”

“No,” Jacob held up a hand to forestall the protest. “Really. It’s an interesting game. Kind of a Rohrschach test. You have any trouble from those people you told me about?”

“Who, Sumter?”

“Oh, no, not her. Blanks assured me she’s going to be kept far away from any public work for a long while. ‘Temporary leave’ brought on by job-related stress is the way they’re selling it to themselves, I think he said. No, I meant the other ones.”

“Oh. No. MadHarp acts like he wants to forget the whole thing. I think he actually crossed a street to avoid me the other night. And I haven’t heard anything from the others since Malcolm blew the tomb up.”

“Huh. Okay. Well, let me know if they do. Remember what Agent Blanks said.”

“I have his phone number.”

“And…keep in touch about the other stuff too. You know, whatever your interests are. What are you going to do with the money, for instance.”

Andrew paused. “I hadn’t thought too much about it. I might have enough to set myself up as a guide, the way Gil does…but maybe a little more low key. Show new people around. You know. Help them get set up.”

Jacob nodded his head slowly. “That’s an interesting idea. I think it suits you.”

They shook hands once more, solemnly, and Andrew wedged himself behind the wheel. He was typing his destination into the truck’s console when his father tapped on the window. He rolled it down.

“Yeah?”

“Say, listen…if you do that, set up that guide service…”

“Yes?”

“Would you be able to help a couple of unfortunates who got into some trouble with a crazy Abbot and his necromantic monks? The gobbling guards weren’t any trouble, but the monks are, and without help we might end up trapped in the swamp.”

Andrew’s mouth dropped open.

“Just think about it. You can call me when you get to school.”

The End.

Table of Contents

Chapter Three - Tag

Chapter Six - Careers