8. Reset

Monday morning, Saroma walked in. Koiz was doing a crossword puzzle but he looked away from it to squint his eyes at Saroma. He didn't bear any good news, "Good job, Saroma. You've barely managed to piss off Moritie within a week of being here." Saroma stopped as if he was going to say something, but then forgot about it. He paced off, only shaking his head as a response to that.

Everyone already knew what happened, it seemed. It was as if it couldn't get any worse, but it did. Moritie's loud shrieking voice sounded through the offices and cubicles, "SAROMA! My office!" She didn't wait for him to get to his desk, but Saroma caught Baser's curious eye.

Before Saroma even sat down, she began yelling. She addressed everything from his hidden work ethic, to food in the office, and to working extremely late while not working hourly. She lectured him for 45 minutes before talking about what happened with Rocca. She sat down and said, "You tell me what happened."

Saroma took a deep breath and spat out what he rehearsed, "I swear, I had no idea that he was behind me. I thought I hit a traffic cone or something— not my manager! I feel horrible about it." He decided to not tell her that he visited him in the hospital a few times.

"You're lucky that he doesn't want to press charges." She crossed her arms.

What Moritie didn't know was that Rocca briefly spoke to Saroma on Sunday. Instead of pressing charges over an accident, Saroma agreed to pay a portion of the medical expenses not covered by insurance. Rocca was actually a very reasonable man compared to most. They even agreed on a plausible story to tell the higher ups and even agreed to keep their Sunday brunch to themselves.

So, Saroma had to pretend that he knew nothing, but it was a waste of time. However she stated, "Termination if your contract will be determined by higher ups. You have an appointment with Mr. Luke Terrick on the top floor at 1." Saroma swallowed hard. His termination?! He didn't think that he would be fired for it!

With his job up in the air, he returned to his desk with an empty feeling. He saw that Baser picked up a few pieces of paper and followed him to his desk. Saroma felt like he swallowed an inflated balloon.

He sat down and Baser looked at the papers in his hands, "I have these for you." He got an eyeful and then dropped them on Saroma's keyboard. "So... what was that?" He asked hoping the awkwardness would pass and he would get what he wanted to know.

"It's not your business."

"Yeah, just like stalking me after work is your business."

"Shut up, William." Saroma said firmly and he looked directly in his eyes. He suggested, "You should get back to work. I have a lot to do." Baser left quickly after he said that. Of course, he wasn't making friends anymore, but enemies. If he was thinking of it honestly, he needed as many people who could help him right now.

Not knowing if he would be fired (or inevitably worse!), Saroma didn't know if he should even work or not. Why work just to be fired?

The only thing he did was lean back in his chair, and look up at the ceiling. The vent above him had strings of dust dangling and it amazed him that his allergies didn't act up. Saroma had some choices to make within a few hours. He knew that before he saw the big boss, he would have to decide before hand if he was going to break his contract and possibly go bankrupt, or grovel.

Within seconds, he made up his "choice". Bankruptcy was not an option for him. It was an easy choice. Besides, what other company would hire a DRiv operator? Not many companies even used the software let alone what it did. Hell, Saroma didn't even know what it did either and he was the operator!

He entered in more numbers but this time they were over 10,000. Then, the numbers suddenly dropped to the hundreds. Saroma got up and went to Baser for an explanation. Forgetting about their squabble earlier, he felt that the topic justified talking to him again. "Why are these numbers so low?"

"Reset." He said quietly with his hand in his face.

Saroma didn't hear him very well so he asked, "What?" Baser took only a moment before he could unattached himself to his computer.

He explained cordially, "We hit a reset. Moritie already announced it. Probably didn't hear." Baser was right but it wasn't Saroma's fault that his cubicle was out of sight.

Saroma shrugged and said, "Well, alright then." His eyes glanced over a paper that he saw on the desktop. It looked exactly like the codes that he thought Query was sending him.

"If that's all you need, then leave me alone." Baser said as he clicked on the computer.

Saroma asked, "Where did you get that?" He pointed at the paper.

Baser said, "I don't know. You should stop looking at my stuff and get back to work."

Saroma only said, "No, it looks like something that you should give me for me to do my job." Baser sighed and without looking away, gave him the paper.

Saroma thanked him and walked off, looking at the codes:

5363913273.81423262.74238261.426391.232162.936382.3163.91422181.936382.3163.

Saroma took his time fitting the words together and correcting grammar mistakes. The message ran like:

Lower than scum. How can you do what you do?

As this message was intended for Baser, Saroma didn't like him either but he didn't think that Baser was scum— that was a little exaggerated.

Moritie approaches the lonely cubicle and said, "Mr. Terrick wants to see you now. His office is on the top floor, to the right and the first door on the left.

It wasn't even time yet! Saroma pointed it out, "It's not even 1 yet." He checked his watch in case he was wrong.

Moritie rolled her eyes as she walked off, "I'm just the messenger."