Chapter 63:
A bump in the road
Nahndor:
I stare at the email before me. I reread it. The words don’t change. There really are no free warehouses on Ursula 589. That isn’t good. Just where am I going to stash the headsets and the solvents? Some of them are already ready to be shipped. Half of the week is through, and my coworkers count on me.
I suppose that I can rent a piece building, but there is a slight problem. I don’t know much about piece buildings. Roddy was a gift from Rodger Deltona. Picked by him, too. Probably with the help of a consultant. I don’t have the kind of time to search for the right man. Having no other choice, I exit the room.
Alberta is waiting for me. I nod to her in greeting, and then speak.
“Good day, Alberta. I need to get to the control room,” I tell her. She nods, and begins to walk before me.
I figured that, if nothing else, then Hugo will be able to pick something sturdy. Something with an ok electronic wiring. It will take us the better part of the day, to go through the warehouse department of the piece building sales house in town, but I will not go there without him. I’ll just end up getting swindled.
We turn a corner after a corner. Soon, the temperature rises, and we are before the control room’s door. I say control room, but it is actually quite bigger than your average room. With plenty of screens, computers, and cable management that has gotten better, ever since Hugo came to work for us.
I run my card through security, and see that Alberta leaves. Huh, Roddy must be preparing to move. I just hope she is heading to the next location of the control room. I’ll end up getting lost, if she doesn’t wait for me. I go inside the room, and see that Hugo is watching a report chart on one of the screens.
When he hears me slithering on the metal floor, he turns around to greet me.
“Nahndor, hello. How have you been?” Even though we work in the same building, we rarely see each other. Still, I do my best to visit Hugo from time to time. Share my lunch break with him. That kind of stuff. He is a well of love advises, which makes sense, seeing as he is married, and has a child. “Do you want another advice on taking Rhea out on a date? I know this really nice Pegasus place, that serves the best fermented unicorn milk.”
“That sounds interesting,” I make a mental note, to get the name of the restaurant from him on a later date. “But I came down here for a business reason. We need to rent a piece building. A warehouse, to be precise. We have to do it today, and send it off with the community teleport by the end of the workweek.”
“And you came to me? I only know how to do upkeep. Roddy is someone I have to learn new things about every day. It is wonderful,” Hugo says, as he points at the graph. “See here, for instance. He has an electric resonance, much like a heartbeat. By figuring where he moves the center of it, I can guess on which axis he is going to turn for the night.”
“That is nice, Hugo, but I really need your help. I don’t have any idea what makes a piece building good, or sturdy,” I say, making it clear in my voice that there is no other man I would take with me on this outing. “We have some money left over from the state order, so we can splurge. Still, only for a rental for a couple of days.”
“Don’t we need a warehouse?” Hugo asks. “I mean, if we had one, we could have more equipment.”
“I...” I begin. Yes, Roddy is beginning to fill up too much. Soon, there will barely be enough space for us to slither around. Yet, I don’t know if we should make use of the government’s money, to enrich Manacom.
“Think about it,” Hugo tells me, as he picks his hat. He puts it on, and slithers pass me, and out of the door. I follow him out, my head swimming with questions.
What would the Prime Minister say, if we don’t return the extra money from the state order? Will he ever give us another state order, if we do something like that? What would our supporters say?
I shake my head. No, Manacom must never be seen as money grabbers. We have a good name, despite the Dimensional Theory being proven recently. If we keep it up, then we can definitely expand our influence in a nice, and peaceful, way.
We are trying to get permission to mine the other dimensions, after all. If we, do it in an evil cooperation kind of way, then there will be a public outcry. The last thing we need, is protesters in front of Roddy, petitioning for our close down.
Still, a warehouse would be nice. I file it in my mental folder of things that we need funding for. I guess, if we ever get a warehouse, then we will need to begin searching for a permanent parking, with at least two parking spaces. Also, for more staff. Hugo is great, but he won’t be able to take care of two piece buildings. Not even if the warehouse is smaller than Roddy.
After a short ride, we are before the piece building dealership. There is no one in sight. Despite piece buildings being a cheaper alternative to stone and mortar houses, not many Naga make use of them. They are mostly used by businesses because they are more technologically advanced, and people can install more equipment, far easier, in them.
A salesman slithers towards us, a big smile on his face. My palms begin to sweat. Yes, getting things is my job, but dealing with salespeople never fails to make me jittery.
Chapter 63:
A bump in the road
Nahndor:
I stare at the email before me. I reread it. The words don’t change. There really are no free warehouses on Ursula 589. That isn’t good. Just where am I going to stash the headsets and the solvents? Some of them are already ready to be shipped. Half of the week is through, and my coworkers count on me.
I suppose that I can rent a piece building, but there is a slight problem. I don’t know much about piece buildings. Roddy was a gift from Rodger Deltona. Picked by him, too. Probably with the help of a consultant. I don’t have the kind of time to search for the right man. Having no other choice, I exit the room.
Alberta is waiting for me. I nod to her in greeting, and then speak.
“Good day, Alberta. I need to get to the control room,” I tell her. She nods, and begins to walk before me.
I figured that, if nothing else, then Hugo will be able to pick something sturdy. Something with an ok electronic wiring. It will take us the better part of the day, to go through the warehouse department of the piece building sales house in town, but I will not go there without him. I’ll just end up getting swindled.
We turn a corner after a corner. Soon, the temperature rises, and we are before the control room’s door. I say control room, but it is actually quite bigger than your average room. With plenty of screens, computers, and cable management that has gotten better, ever since Hugo came to work for us.
I run my card through security, and see that Alberta leaves. Huh, Roddy must be preparing to move. I just hope she is heading to the next location of the control room. I’ll end up getting lost, if she doesn’t wait for me. I go inside the room, and see that Hugo is watching a report chart on one of the screens.
When he hears me slithering on the metal floor, he turns around to greet me.
“Nahndor, hello. How have you been?” Even though we work in the same building, we rarely see each other. Still, I do my best to visit Hugo from time to time. Share my lunch break with him. That kind of stuff. He is a well of love advises, which makes sense, seeing as he is married, and has a child. “Do you want another advice on taking Rhea out on a date? I know this really nice Pegasus place, that serves the best fermented unicorn milk.”
“That sounds interesting,” I make a mental note, to get the name of the restaurant from him on a later date. “But I came down here for a business reason. We need to rent a piece building. A warehouse, to be precise. We have to do it today, and send it off with the community teleport by the end of the workweek.”
“And you came to me? I only know how to do upkeep. Roddy is someone I have to learn new things about every day. It is wonderful,” Hugo says, as he points at the graph. “See here, for instance. He has an electric resonance, much like a heartbeat. By figuring where he moves the center of it, I can guess on which axis he is going to turn for the night.”
“That is nice, Hugo, but I really need your help. I don’t have any idea what makes a piece building good, or sturdy,” I say, making it clear in my voice that there is no other man I would take with me on this outing. “We have some money left over from the state order, so we can splurge. Still, only for a rental for a couple of days.”
“Don’t we need a warehouse?” Hugo asks. “I mean, if we had one, we could have more equipment.”
“I...” I begin. Yes, Roddy is beginning to fill up too much. Soon, there will barely be enough space for us to slither around. Yet, I don’t know if we should make use of the government’s money, to enrich Manacom.
“Think about it,” Hugo tells me, as he picks his hat. He puts it on, and slithers pass me, and out of the door. I follow him out, my head swimming with questions.
What would the Prime Minister say, if we don’t return the extra money from the state order? Will he ever give us another state order, if we do something like that? What would our supporters say?
I shake my head. No, Manacom must never be seen as money grabbers. We have a good name, despite the Dimensional Theory being proven recently. If we keep it up, then we can definitely expand our influence in a nice, and peaceful, way.
We are trying to get permission to mine the other dimensions, after all. If we, do it in an evil cooperation kind of way, then there will be a public outcry. The last thing we need, is protesters in front of Roddy, petitioning for our close down.
Still, a warehouse would be nice. I file it in my mental folder of things that we need funding for. I guess, if we ever get a warehouse, then we will need to begin searching for a permanent parking, with at least two parking spaces. Also, for more staff. Hugo is great, but he won’t be able to take care of two piece buildings. Not even if the warehouse is smaller than Roddy.
After a short ride, we are before the piece building dealership. There is no one in sight. Despite piece buildings being a cheaper alternative to stone and mortar houses, not many Naga make use of them. They are mostly used by businesses because they are more technologically advanced, and people can install more equipment, far easier, in them.
A salesman slithers towards us, a big smile on his face. My palms begin to sweat. Yes, getting things is my job, but dealing with salespeople never fails to make me jittery.
