Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) Read Online Free PDF

He managed another
dozen employees and their equipment. I didn't really know any of them
beyond our quarterly Holiday parties. They were a sad excuse to drink
and talk about the same topics every time.
    "That's
fine, Hal," I repeated myself calmly. "I'm sure if Henry
has something to talk about, he'll phone me."
    So
the day went. Three morning visits fell under routine. I researched
the technical readouts while in transit and Hal Pal prepped the
replacement modules. We marched in, confirmed the issue and went
forth from there. Parts were swapped out in two cases. The third was
a connection test and system updates. Hello, fix the device, test it
out, and a goodbye. Each one was the same story.
    Henry
finally called between clients three and four. His face crossed the
display projection, larger than life and twice as grumpy.
    "Gates!"
    "Legate."
I corrected dryly.
    "I
knew that. Teasing like always. You’re so stuffy, Legate."
He was clearly looking at something off screen. "Working another
job?" Like he didn't know what I was doing, still taking offense
was unwise. Rule fifty-four of working under a boss, employees could
be upset, but never offended. Besides, Henry was a decent guy.
    "On
the way to one, yeah. Nav estimates another twenty or so til
arrival."
    “ That’s
what, forty-three this month?”
    I
shrugged. Counting was a little beyond my focus.
    “ You
do realize that’s almost a record right? For a week into this
month?”
    “ You
know I don’t pay attention to that stuff.” Every quarter
we did a mind-numbing meeting. People would share their horror
stories of our customers. Next, Henry would try to share our figures
from all sorts of angles. Hours’ worth of pie charts and graphs
that meant we were performing extremely well. Following the data
slide show would be presentations on future contracts.
    Our
quarterly meetings were one of the few times I slept. It helped me
get through the social interaction. Henry didn’t even berate me
about the behavior since my figures were usually among the best. For
me, being the best wasn’t about money. It was about a
distraction.
    “ You
should pay attention more. There was a contest on.” He said.
    “ Okay.”
There had been a message or two about this contest. Maybe more. I
deleted nearly everything after establishing what mattered to me.
    “ You’ve
won, the contest, I mean. You knew, right?”
    “ Okay.”
I ducked my head away from the screen and tried not to be mixed up. I
hadn’t done all those jobs for a prize. Maybe those deleted
messages were more important than expected.
    “ Not
interested?”
    “ Not
even a little, I didn't use the prior awards, and probably won't use
this one...” My comment trailed off with a shrug.
    “ Well,
I canvassed your ARC to try and get an idea of what might work. You
really spend all those hours on a dance program?” His face
leaned in and the image grew even larger. One eyebrow raised in
question.
    “ Probably.
I'm trying to learn a skill.” I said.
    “ If
you haven’t learned it by now, you never will.” He fell
back and laughed. “Machine gives you damn high ratings. All
paired dances are near technical mastery. You got a lady in the works
somewhere?”
    I
didn't rise to his bait this time and tried to grit my teeth. “Pretty
sure nosing around like that is a violation.”
    “ Hey,
company property. You’re lucky there ain’t porn all over
it like some of the others. Jesus. I thought my wife had strange
tastes.” Henry's grumpy face lolled around on the screen.
    “ I
don’t want to know, at all. Not even a little bit.”
    “ You
sure? Might help your glutes. Some of ‘em made my backside
pucker.” He shuddered. It was like watching a walrus shake,
loose skin and flub wiggled around.
    “ No,
Henry,” I said.
    “ Fine.
Anyway. We had a few decent things sitting around, and one that's
right up your alley." He gave a grin that reminded me of a fat
shark. "Hope you like the prize. I know the others