~~~

“Welcome to the Department of Human Resources.”

Much like the Department of Security and Surveillance, this floor was fairly normal-looking, more so even. Cubicles for the grunts and nice offices for the high earners. People walking to and fro, paper being shuffled about, phone calls being made every other second, and intercoms beeping while countless fingers typed away. As someone whose parents both worked in busy offices, it was something Amanda had seen countless times before.

“This is where you will be working.” Ms. Steiner said as she guided them across the labyrinth of cubicles. It was a pity, but they had to leave Mr. Gerald and his muscles back in his office to continue their tour. “Starting tomorrow, you will be expected to come here right away. You already have your IDs, so there is no need for you to wait for anyone to let you in. Your supervisor—”

“That would be me.”

The words were said without any trace of hostility, yet all three of them were left frozen in the aftermath. It was as if a blizzard had ambushed them in the middle of a sunny day.

Ms. Steiner recovered first.

“Matilda!” She said with unfailing cheer. “It is so good to see you!”

Matilda was a woman with pale skin, black hair, and eyes like winter. She wore a black business suit, and her hair was pulled into an elegant bun with not a single hair out of place. Her features were sharp, severe even, yet no one would ever call her ugly. Much like Ms. Steiner, she was the sort of woman who could put most models to shame.

Ms. Steiner moved to hug her, but the other woman raised a hand to stop her.

“No hugs during work hours,” she said, making Ms. Steiner pout. Her cold eyes flicked over to them. “These are the new interns?”

Something about the woman reminded Amanda of her mom when she was in lawyer mode. Unfortunately, this woman was not at all related to her, so she was starting to understand what some of her friends meant when they said her mom could be a little intimidating sometimes.

“Yep!” Ms. Steiner popped the p with her usual brightness, completely untouched by the other woman’s coldness. “Matilda, let me introduce you to Amanda Collins and Timothy Lewis. Tim, Amanda, this is Matilda Martel, Head of Human Resources. You will be helping her out for the next few weeks.”

“That will be Ms. Martel to you. Ma’am is also acceptable. Understood?”

Tim and Amanda nodded several times.

Ms. Martel narrowed her eyes.

“Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Yes, Ms. Martel!”

“Hm. Acceptable, I suppose.” Ms. Martel turned to Ms. Steiner. “Very well, you can leave them here.”

“Oh, be nice.” Still smiling, Ms. Steiner turned to them. “Tim, Amanda, it’s been fun showing you around, but this is where we part ways. Matilda wouldn’t like me disrupting her workplace.”

It was amazing, Amanda thought, that although Ms. Martel’s face and posture remained exactly the same, she still managed to express strong disapproval. It was so strong Amanda wanted to bow her head and apologize even though she had done nothing wrong.

Equally amazing was that Ms. Steiner kept speaking as though nothing was wrong.

“Be nice to Matilda, and make sure to listen to what she says. There is a lot you can learn from her. You have been given a great opportunity, so don’t waste it.”

As Ms. Steiner said her goodbyes and left, an irrational part of Amanda’s brain commanded her to grab hold of Ms. Steiner and beg her to stay. The urge passed, and Amanda chastised herself. She was not some kid on her first day of school. She was almost a grown-up already! As nice as the tour had been, she had not come here to have fun. This was serious business.

Ms. Martel’s eyes then peered into hers, and Amanda immediately found herself wishing she had followed her instincts.

“Follow me.”

That was all she said.

That was all she needed to say. Amanda and Tim didn’t even look at each other as they marched after her like good little soldiers.

~~~

“I have far too many duties to be expected to keep track of you,” Ms. Martel had told them. She gestured to a young woman next to her. “This is my assistant, Valerie. You will do what she tells you.”

That was the last they had seen of Ms. Martel, something Amanda had no problems with. From the beginning, there was no reason why a department head should have to keep watch of the new interns. Besides, while not nearly as nice as Ms. Steiner, Valerie was still far more approachable than Ms. Martel. It helped that she wasn’t that much older than them, just in her mid-twenties by Amanda’s estimates.

Under Valerie's command, the rest of the day passed as Amanda had been expecting. There had been lots of delivering documents and memos, photocopying, and even coffee making. Impressive tour notwithstanding, it was the sort of thing Amanda had seen interns do at her parents’ offices dozens of times. She counted herself lucky no one had made her pick up their laundry.

Before she knew it, the day was over already.

“So,” Tim said once as they were out of the building. “I’ve never left Port Stanley. Not by plane or bus. Buuut, I’m pretty sure this whole day has been what visiting another country feels like. Am I wrong? Because I really felt like I had stepped into another world back there. One with free ice cream, gyms, and indoor pools. Also, fancy suits. Lots of fancy suits.”

From anyone else, Amanda would have taken the question to be rhetorical, but the way Tim looked at her made it clear he did want and need an answer.

“It was… a bit over the top,” Amanda admitted. “It is as Ms. Steiner said. Normally, a large building like this would rent out the office space to several companies. However, Regum doesn’t do that, which allows The Blade to be…”

“More?” Tim offered.

“Yes. More. That’s as good a word as any.”

It was as if Regum had shoved an entire town within the boundaries of The Blade. While Amanda had known Regum was a big company, the inside of the building was much more than she had been expecting. She was pretty sure someone could live inside it and never find cause to leave.

So caught up was Amanda with her thoughts that it was a little too late when she realized both she and Tim had stopped walking just a few feet away from the main entrance. The small pause in their conversation had stretched into an awkward silence. Was Tim waiting for her to say something? Was she waiting for him to say anything?

Now that they had left Regum, the gap between them became apparent. Amanda was not the sort of person who made friends easily, and Tim was not even remotely the sort of person she’d consider approaching under normal circumstances. Were it not for the internship, they wouldn’t have ever exchanged a single word throughout their entire lives.

“Yeah, so…” Tim rubbed the back of his head and looked to the side. Amanda was glad he was the one to break the silence. She had no idea how long it would have taken her to do the same. “I’m gonna head home now.”

As he jabbed his thumb to the right, a frown formed on Amanda’s face.

“The subway is that way,” she said before she could stop herself, pointing in the opposite direction.

“I’m taking the bus,” Tim replied immediately. “It’s faster that way.”

Was it? Amanda had never gone to Petersburg, but she did know the subway map. The distance between Petersburg and The Blade was actually shorter than the one between The Blade and Waynesville. The first Petersburg station was only about five stops away.

Then again, what did she know? She was not Tim. Surely he knew the best route to his house better than her? Perhaps, his home was not close to any of the subway stations, and the bus did indeed drop him closer.

“Oh,” she said. “I see.”

“Yeah, so.” Tim gave her a little wave and began walking away. “See you tomorrow, Ames.”

She wanted to tell him not to call her that. Instead, she raised her own hand to echo the gesture. The motion felt awkward and stilted.

“See you tomorrow.”

~~~

“What do you think of them?”

As always, Arthur sat behind his large rosewood desk. The bulky piece of furniture clashed with the more modern style of the office surrounding it, yet Arthur liked it that way. Alice had to admit a more modern desk would struggle mightily against the weight of all the documents and forms Arthur had to look over daily.

The CEO of Regum was a busy man. He tried to delegate as many tasks as he could to those he trusted, but there were still certain choices that could only be made by him.

“I like them,” Alice said, placing a cup of coffee on one of the rare free spots on Arthur’s desk before taking a seat. As usual, the curtains were closed, giving the large room a dark, foreboding atmosphere.

It was highly misleading.

Arthur preferred to work with the curtains closed, but during his free time, he would pull them open and bask in the view. Since Arthur’s office was located on the highest floor of The Blade, it boasted the best view of the city.

Sometimes, they would all come here and talk while watching the sunset.

“Is that so?” His blue eyes met hers. Always inquisitive. Always probing. Always charming. “I am glad to hear it.”

“They are good kids.”

Were they rough around the edges? Of course, they were. Timothy needed a lot of polishing, while Amanda was too focused on making a good impression. She also had a horrible taste in men. But that was fine. They were teenagers. They were supposed to be that way. Alice could not recall her own teenage years without running into several embarrassing memories.

More emotion than sense. Too little wisdom and too much independence in a body that was no longer a child’s. That was a teenager.

“They will do well as interns.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “And their other duties?”

“I am not comfortable with those.” Alice frowned, guilt wormed inside of her. “But yes, they ate the food.”

A nice free breakfast with their nice supervisor at their new job. Why would they ever suspect something had been wrong? Why would they ever think someone had put something in their food?

“Good, that means we should start seeing results in a couple of weeks. I’ll have the doctor closely monitor their condition. I trust you will keep me updated as to any changes in the subjects. We are entering uncharted territory here and it will be for the best if the subjects—”

The dispassionate way in which he spoke made her grit her teeth in rising anger until she couldn’t bear it any longer.

“They are kids, Arthur!” She banged her fist against the armrest, her normally kind face full of anger. “Normal regular kids! Amanda even has a crush on Gerald! Gerald!”

Unsurprisingly, it was the last part of her words that caught Arthur’s attention.

“Truly?” He tapped his chin. “I’ll have to tell him not to tease her too much. He does love the attention.”

“That’s not the point! The point is you shouldn’t be talking about them like they’re… like they’re lab rats!”

“Not lab rats. They are the next stage in human evolution. Potentially, at least,” Arthur said calmly. He always had a way of saying things in a way that made it seem as though he were being completely reasonable. Of course, she knew better. “You agreed to it.”

“I agreed to it because I knew you were going to go behind my back if I said no, and don’t bother trying to deny it.” She pointed an accusing finger at him. “I talked to Matilda. She told me. You all but confirmed it to her.”

Arthur held her gaze, but she refused to back down. Seconds dragged into minutes, neither willing to give an inch.

“I would have,” he admitted at last. “The SP Treatment is too important. We were always going to move to human testing, and it couldn’t be any of you. You are all too important.”

“But why kids?! We could have grabbed any random lowlife from the streets and placed them in containment. It could have even been one of the Squires. They are always complaining about not getting enough action!”

“They’ll regret that someday, and no, we couldn’t have done that. We have had this conversation before,” Arthur reminded her. “We cannot entrust this power to any random variable.”

“So we chose kids instead.”

“We choose young, impressionable minds subordinate to us, who we will be able to monitor for the following months, and who will be able to lead their lives as usual while the process is ongoing.” Arthur listed off the benefits one by one, his voice completely dispassionate. “It is because they are still developing that they are more susceptible to the treatment. They are far more compatible with it than you or I. I did not make this choice lightly. You know this.”

“Do I?”

“Yes,” Arthur replied without a single moment of hesitation. “You do. Cruelty for its own sake is nothing but a sign of immaturity.”

Immature. Not morally reprehensible. Just immature. That was Arthur’s concern.

“Callousness may be considered a sign of cruelty.”

For the first time, Arthur looked uncomfortable. “I am... not good with emotions.”

Yes, he was. Unfortunately, it was not in a way that was conducive to showing empathy.

But she knew that already. She had always known that.

Really, she had no right to throw stones about anyone’s taste in men.

“I want you to care about them.”

Arthur blinked. “What?”

“I want you to care about them,” Alice repeated. “I can’t stop you from doing this, so I want you to care for those kids. Spent time with them. Get to know them. Learn to like them.”

As expected, he looked baffled. “Why would I want to do that?”

“One, because if all goes well, they will be, as you just said, the next stage in human evolution. Two, because it does you no good if they only know Arthur Cadogan as a big shadowy figure.”

“They will know you. All of you.”

“And we are clearly not you,” Alice shot back. “But three and most importantly, you are going to do it because I am asking you, and you may not care about those kids yet, but you do care about me.”

For a moment, Arthur didn’t say anything. Then finally, he sighed deeply.

“Very well.”

~~~

Was he an adult now?

The question struck Tim while on the bus. He was all squashed against the window thanks to a guy that had had a few too many burgers throughout his life. It was the sort of situation that invited introspection, if only so one could not notice the world around him.

Was he an adult now?

The answer came to him within moments. No, he wasn’t. He didn’t own a house or earn enough to maintain a family. He didn’t pay the bills or any of that other stuff adults did. So no, he wasn’t an adult. He was just sixteen. Just a kid with an unpaid internship.

But he had worked today.

Like, real work. Fancy office stuff. He had handled official documents and used the copier. He had made coffee for people with college degrees. Sure, he hadn’t gotten paid for it, but no one could deny he had done 100% real office work.

Like a grown-up.

It was not the sort of thing Tim would normally focus on. Unlike many kids his own age, he was not the type who couldn’t wait to grow up. He was perfectly content being his own age and dealing with just the responsibilities of a teenager and nothing more than that. All the same, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling a little bit of pride.

A day’s work. Well, half a day’s work in his case.

So this was what it felt like.

Tim hummed. It was nice, but it hadn’t really made him any more adult-like. Just the thought of how awkward things had been with Amanda once they finished the day was enough to make him wince.

It wasn’t that he liked her. Not in that way, at least.

He just felt like he could get along with her. The problem was he had no idea how to go about it. He could try asking his mother, but he had learned a long time ago that asking her about girls always made her mind wander too close to her and dad. That was no bueno.

Oh well, he’d figure something out eventually.

They were going to be working together the entire summer, after all.

That was plenty of time.

~~~