Matias woke up a full fifty minutes before his alarm. Outside his full-wall window, the Pacific was still lit up with hints of red from last night’s sunset. But Matias didn’t even consider going back to bed; today was much too important for that.
Instead, he inhaled and slid out of bed, taking all of three steps onto the mini-treadmill. Just a walk today; he didn’t want to be sore on his first day at a new job. He flicked a switch on the side of the treadmill and started walking. The small amount of energy his gait produced was enough to power the treadmill’s projector; the display went from a translucent mix of blue and white to a seemingly solid picture in full color as Matias slightly upped his pace, and with it his output.
Matias swiped his way through the channels; news was first as per the comms mandate. But he was in no mood to hear about either of the old Georgias, nor did he care about the various Pradeshes that were currently dealing with the monsoon; at least the torrential rains in the latter were relatable.
Thankfully, the third channel had some domestic, well, technically foreign, news about Matias’ main interest: technology. A so-nearly-human anchor informed him that researchers in Acela had synthesized an especially pure new form of silica sand for use in nanoprocessors.
As Matias finished his morning routine, having his breakfast of Sulawesi coffee and fortified oats, fixing his chestnut hair, and putting on his navy suit, his thoughts transitioned to a different form of tech . . .
On the walk into work, Matias mentally reviewed the pair of files the Agency sent him the prior week. He’d be visiting one of those companies today and would only know which one after he walked in.
Of course, that required him actually making it into the office, as Matias was so distract that he was nearly run over by a cyclist who not only had the right of way, but was even dressed in fluorescent orange. But thanks to some slick maneuvering (which was especially impressive since the cyclist was using one of his hands to flip Matias off), all Matias ended up with was a scare and some water on his tawny shoes.
The rest of the walk in was much less eventful, and in just a couple minutes Matias turned into the plaza where. The walkway to the building was lined on both sides with a rows of pine tree, their Castleton Green needles interrupted every hundred or so feet by a fountain.
The building itself was wide but stood only a squat four stories. It was a near-uniform rectangular prism of glass, made up of hundreds of smaller transparent prisms which were shrunk copies of the larger building that had been rotated 90 degrees.
The one bit of ornament on the building was the overhang over the front doors, above which read the words: “Cascadia Agency of Business Investment.” in metallic green lettering.
There were small crowds going in and out of the doors: functionaries performing their functions, just as they were handsomely paid to do. There was however, one exception. A tall, rail-thin brunette woman wearing a maroon blazer with a plain, casual white shirt and black slacks, smoking a cigarette of some sort; Matias certainly couldn’t recognize the smell. He gave her a quick look then went towards the door, only for her to gently grab his forearm.
“Hey kid; you know only the Hawks’ rookies need to dress up in full suits, right? Hell, you even match their colors thanks to that green piping on your shirt; nice touch.” She smiled, her cheek muscles barely moving before resuming their prior neutral expression.
“I appreciate the advice ma’am . . .” Matias said, before he was cut off.
“Please, call me Samantha. You must be Matias.” She smiled for a click or two longer than the first time before going back to neutral.
“Of course. I should’ve recognized you from the orientation modules from last week.” Matias said.
“You watched them? Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, with you being so literally buttoned up.” She said, slightly adjusting Matias’ collar.
“Thanks. Hope I haven’t kept you waiting for too long. Let me just get my things into my office and then we can get started with the visit.” Matias said, taking a step towards the door.
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. We’re going right on site to start. Consider it a test of your preparation, and your improvisation.” She said, walking behind the building to a small lot with a couple dozen dark green compact cars. There were a few four-seaters, but most, including the one Samantha picked out, had only two, with barely any trunk space as well.
They both got in; Matias’ feet pushed up against the carpet as he couldn’t get close to stretching out while Samantha punched in the address for the car to start driving itself.
“Spoilers for where we’re going, in case you couldn’t tell.” She said.
“Eleuthia Medical Devices?” Matias surmised, trying to remember the correct address.
“You’re as right as you are unsure of yourself.” Samantha said, leaning back and closing her eyes as the car trundled its way through the narrow, greenery-lined streets of Seattle.
“Thanks, I guess. You seem very relaxed considering the amount of money on the line today.” Matias said.
“That’s because I know exactly how this works. With some luck you’ll be like me soon enough.” Samantha said, keeping her eyes shut.
“If you say so boss.” Matias said, fiddling through his notes. Eleuthia took after its Greek goddess namesake in producing monitoring devices for artificial wombs, as well as a titration system to rebalance the fluids in said wombs. Only two layers of vertical integration, so it didn’t fall afoul of any antitrust scrutiny, very smart of them. Whether those products worked, how they worked, and the plans to sell them would determine the amount of funding they received. Matias spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes reviewing their grant reports before the car stopped.
“We’re here. Look alive, kid.” Samantha said; Matias couldn’t be sure whether she was joking or not.
Matias and Samantha exited the car; they had just barely closed the doors when they were greeted by someone even more doe-eyed than Matias. Her pink jacket was nearly iridiscent; her teeth were somehow even brighter.
“Inspectors! It’s wonderful to see you. I’m Yun, deputy Public Relations officer, and I’ll be leading your tour today.” She smiled, offering her hand to Samantha first. “It’s so great that you’re here again Ms. Visser.”
“Thank you Ms. Taylor. Always a pleasure.” Samantha gave a handshake that as firm as her smile was fake. Matias almost rolled his eyes; sure, Samantha had enough seniority that only committing a felony would get her fired, but did she really have to act like it? He just stopped himself from visibly shrugging at the situation as he and Samantha followed Yun inside.
They entered the atrium, where Matias was almost blinded by the fluorescent lighting bouncing off the eggshell-white walls. They hadn’t even gotten to the front desk when Samantha peeled off to the right. “Yun, I’m off to meet with your boss. I trust you’ll show the newbie the ropes.” She said, giving a quick wave and making her way down the hall; a short trip that she last needed directions for a decade ago.
“Let’s get started then.” Yun said, returning Samantha’s wave before turning the opposite way down the hall. “First, as you can see, the entire Aletheia facility is kept absolutely spotless, with any imperfections quickly found and cleaned by our dedicated staff.” On cue, a pair cleaning drones appeared, their small, ovoid bodies floating just under the ceiling as they latched onto and cleaned off some invisible dust particles, the tops of their bodies turning red, then yellow, then green once the ‘contaminants’ were removed.
“Impressive. How finely tuned are the sensors? Matias asked, getting out his stylus and tablet to write some ancillary notes.
“They are fine-tuned to the nanometer for particles and to parts per billion for airborne particulates or chemical imbalances. You’ll see them at work in our main product as well; their calculations are exacting.” Yun said, scarcely slowing her pace.
“I see how that could be useful, but it’s still another level of horizontal integration. Not only that, but that wasn’t included in your grant report, so it might warrant further review. I’m sure you, or your legal team at least, know about our antitrust rules.” Matias said.
“Of course.” Yun said. “I’ll take that information to our COO; I’m sure she’d be happy to connect with your Executive Director about it.” She smiled and punched in a clearance code next to a pair of reinforced doors that looked like they could withstand a point-blank rocket barrage.
After about ten seconds and twice as many button pushes, the doors opened outward, nearly clipping Matias. “Apologies for the delay; I hope that you’ll at least give us good marks for security.” Yun laughed before entering another pristine hallway, though this one was lined with laboratories on both sides.
“Of course. Not that I would expect anything else.” Matias said. “So, what are the researchers here working on?” Matias asked, as a mix of scientists in full-body lab suits coated in shimmering silvery material mixed, titrated, boiled, and sublimated pastel-colored chemical mixtures, assisted by drones who read out measures to the parts per billion to ensure every mix was perfect for the experiment.
“Testing nutrients to ensure that the babies are as healthy as possible. Striking the balance between the infant’s evolution to grow in the natural environment and fixing some of the volatility inherent in it. Well, really all of the volatility.” Yun said.
“All the volatility? That’s quite the task. I see why you need such a large team to handle that.” Matias said, noting the company’s plan under “dedication to excellence” on the report form.
“It is. But our customers, the citizens of Cascadia deserve nothing less. What you see there is the level of care we put into all of our programs.” Yun said. “Now, to the main event.” Yun said, entering another labyrinthine code next to a door that was marked “Live Testing Area” in cerulean lettering.
The door opened, revealing a much smaller space than Matias expected; he’d thought that there would be dozens of experiments going on. Instead, there was only one machine in the middle of the room. Its exterior was an upright, navy blue rectangle propped up by various tubes and pipes so it stood at about a 60-degree angle, almost set up like a picture frame.
But unlike a picture frame, the exterior wasn’t flat; it bulged with storage tanks, sensors, and other things Matias couldn’t even make out. In the center of the machine was a tank of a liquid so golden the Greeks would’ve called it the ichor of the gods. At the very center of that liquid was a baby—fetus technically since it wasn’t born yet—that appeared to be sleeping.
“Incredible. I’m no doctor, but it looks very healthy.” Matias said. “How long does it sleep for?”
“It varies. We’re trying to see what amount of sleep best stimulates growth, within reasonable parameters of course. If any of the numbers on our sensors go too far off baseline, we end the experiment. It’s a shame, but you recalibrate and learn.” Yun said.
“Of course. Does the baby move? There’s a lot more space in this than the normal way things work.” Matias asked, hoping that Yun couldn’t see him blush a little.
“A very good question. We give our fetuses a very light sedative, as well as keeping the umbilical cord short and relatively taut, so they’re both not interested in moving very far, and also just outright can’t even if they try. Do you have any more questions?”
“Not that I can think of. Maybe I should have brought a doctor.” Matias laughed.
“We already have our annual inspections from the Agency of Public Health.” Yun laughed. “But anyway, that’s the end of tour. I trust that you appreciated your time here. We’re always happy to show our investors what we’re doing, especially those who publish reports.” Yun said with a smirk as she and Matias re-emerged into the original hallway.
“Definitely, if the antitrust issues get sorted I’m sure you’ll pass with flying colors.” Matias smiled. “ One last question: What’s that door? You’ve pointed out all the rest” Matias asked, looking at the final door before the end of the hallway.
“Oh, that’s our COO’s office. She likes being close to the action, in case you couldn’t tell, says it sends a strong signal to staff. I’d love for you to meet her, but she is very busy.” Yun said, approaching the door and nearly holding her ear against the metal. “Sounds like she is in a meeting right now, maybe with the Executive Director of your office.” She laughed.
Matias walked by but couldn’t hear any conversation. In fact, all he could hear was the hum of servers, not something one would expect from even a lower management office. Odd as it was, Matias guessed that was what being so close to the company’s operations sounded like, and besides, the company clearly knew exactly what they were doing.
Yun punched in a rather shorter code to exit the hallway; they had looped around back to the atrium where Samantha was waiting.
“Very efficient. Maybe I underestimated you. Yun, it was a pleasure as always.” Samantha said, her smile saccharine as she shook Yun’s hand.
“A pleasure.” Matias said, doing the same as they walked out of the buzzing building and back into the car. Samantha put in the agency’s address then leaned back and closed her eyes again.
“What do you think about the antitrust situation? They’re really pushing it with both their horizontal and vertical integration numbers.” Matias said, putting the finishing touches on his report.
“Kid, they’ll be fine. The decision’s been made. This visit was a formality. Do you think I’d act like this if today actually mattered?” Samantha said.
“Off first impressions? Maybe you would. And it was a very expensive formality given how much we’re paid.” Matias said.
“Not as expensive as litigation. Citizen suits are a bitch, even if technically they end up paying both sides’ legal fees when they beat them. The visits get those suits dismissed nice and clean, so long as the junior staff member writes a sufficient report, which I’m sure you’ve already done.” Samantha said, turning her head slightly towards Matias.
“And besides, you being there helped the company too. They really needed a human touch, don’t you think?” Samantha said. The smirk on her face was finally sincere.