Waiting for the Executor

Rain prides herself on her looks. No she isn't the type to drive men mad with lust. It isn't her voluptuousness which makes her striking. It's her precision. Her suits never have a wrinkle. Her hair is never unruly. Her complexion is never blemished. Rain looks, and walks and thinks like a razor. Nothing she does in unnecessary. No energy she expends is wasted. If the principle of economy were made incarnate, it would envy Rain.

Which is precisely why she was impatient with this meeting, starting late. Not to mention other things...

"What the hell is the purpose of making us come all the way up here for the meeting?" her perfect teeth flashed as she surveyed the wreckage of the 332nd floor around her. A flap of plastic from the sheets over the empty window frames fluttered in the wind emphasizing her annoyance.

"Calm down darling, you wouldn't want to spoil your reputation for infinite patience." Ara Satoshi, Vice President of Operations for Goshi Mining Corp leaned forward out of the shadows. Power had yet to be restored to this level of the building and the red tip of his cigarette stood out boldly. "I'm sure Blade will have a good reason."

The name Blade cut through the room like shrapnel. No one spoke for a moment afterward. Even Dr. Omura, 75 years old and as sour spirited as they come, looked at the floor.

At that moment one of the decorative elevators ascended through the floor. Everyone stood up straight and tried to appear as if they were not holding their breath.

The doors opened silently and a haughty looking woman in body armor stepped out, the heels of her boots clicking on the floor. Seeing everyone standing awkwardly she gave a wry smile, "No need to be so formal on my account," she quipped.

"Fuck off. You're lucky Blade isn't here yet, you're late," it was plain to all that Rain did not care for the new Vice President of Security at Goshi Corp.

The woman shrugged, pulling out her ear piece and tucking it in a pocket. "Something came up."

Satoshi took a long drag of his cigarette and stubbed it out on the melted surface of a desk turned on its side by the explosion. "Something indeed. Have you caught that illiterate tunneler, Moses, yet? How about Acetylene Sue? Your predecessor was let go," he hesitated significantly here giving everyone time to reflect on the former security director's fate. Rain blanched. "for taking his time on that score. Hopefully, you can do better, Hurricane."

The woman in body armor known as Hurricane flexed her hands like a gunslinger about to draw, "You're just put out, Satoshi, because the figures for the mine this quarter aren't going to look very good once the insurgency that you let get out of hand has its way."

Satoshi nodded, conceding the point, "Maybe. Maybe that's why I'm glad it will be you that the executor is scrutinizing this week and not me. I've already made Blade a very rich man. You'll find that around here one's... utility, is all that really matters."

Dr. Omura, who to this point had been silent, walked from his corner of the room toward the middle where the depression was and where the white-rock teleporter had been. He looked at the mangled arm which had once held the stone, and shook his head, bewildered. "If you two are about done comparing cock size, you might begin to realize how short sighted you are. The executor is an astonishingly smart man. He knows what it is we nearly created here. He realizes its potential value and he understands what it will cost to make it a reality - more than either of you, or I, or even his precious fortune is worth to him. For all the time I have been observing him, I have never seen him be unwilling to pay a cost."

The doctor gave one of those pregnant pauses that everyone understands means you aren't finished yet.

"Before he was executor he had survived three assassination attempts. Since his appointment he has outlasted at least four more assassins. I watched him order one of the assassins to slit her own throat and she complied. I don't believe, that if Katashi Blade means any of us harm, that there is anything we will be able to do to stop him. Don't rely on your skill, or your obedience, or your good fortune. They are meaningless. Accept that you serve him now, because you have no other choice and he will either take you to realms of possibility you never imagined, or he will destroy you without flinching."

Rain kept her teeth clenched and her heels together throughout the doctor's tirade, willing herself not to show any reaction. The bastard is out of his mind, she thought, aware that at least two of the people in the room could read her thoughts if they chose. She told herself she didn't believe Dr. Omura. She kept her professional exterior, icy as ever, but a bead of sweat was forming at her hairline.

The 332nd floor of Goshi Tower lay in shambles around her; concrete dust and broken acrylic strewn over every surface. Through the plastic and scaffolding outside a full kilometer drop led into the richest Blackrock mine on Karia, currently ground to a complete halt because of a violent insurrection. From this distance the gunfire was inaudible, but Rain sensed the turmoil. She felt the nerves of the city frayed to the point of breakdown. The conflict was omnipresent, even though the battle raged below ground. Sometimes in the sweep of events Rain questioned her own control. Sometimes it seemed to her as if they were all being pushed along by events beyond their control and only a very few people were ever gifted the power to influence history.

A second elevator rose into the room through the parting floor.

Perhaps the only man whom Rain was sure had such power was the Executor. The doors opened. Katashi Blade arrived.