Maygan walked the parts of the Automatomics village that she had not yet seen to get a better feel for the her future battlefield, while always watching for signs of demons. The village was contained entirely indoors via a series of hallways linking huge, expansive rooms. The big rooms were good for free movement, but not good for taking cover. She passed by numerous closed door offices and packed meeting rooms, the modern measurement of productivity. But it was also perfect for an ambush. Her left shoulder throbbed, remembering past pain. She rubbed her arm anxiously. After the last mission, she vowed never to be ambushed again.

She found herself hesitating at a staircase that led to the basement, her intuition buzzed. It’s rough stonework stood in stark contrast to the rest of the clean design aesthetic found everywhere else. The dim lighting suggested that whoever walked these stairs was about to descend into a dark abyss.

As far as she knew, those stairs were the only passage to the basement floor, the location of Fabrication and Design. She thought it curious that the elevators in the building did not actually reach one of the most important departments in the company.

A faint glow from Hon and Koga illuminated Maygan’s path as she took one careful step at a time. The activation of the swords’ inner power indicated dark energy flowed nearby.

“Yes, yes. Maybe there is something for you to snack on. Perhaps another awareness demon.”Hon and Koga were always hungry but they needed to know their place. “Remember, the big ones are mine. Now be quiet,” Maygan said.

At the bottom of the staircase she took a deep breath before continuing. The stairs opened into a hallway made from the same rough stone floors and walls, but now were punctuated periodically with heavy protrusions of macabre design. Gargoyles. Tentacled beasts. Demonic wolves. Walking the hallway was like being lost in the woods at dusk. There was enough light to see sinister looking outlines and shapes, but not enough light to chase away the fear. So every shape, every shadow could be a threat seeking her harm.

An enthusiastic voice cut through the dark atmosphere.

“Having a rough time,” it boomed. The voice was chipper but slightly condescending. Maygan stopped, and unsheathed Koga and Hon. There were reacting to something ahead. Something evil. She steadied her breath, awaiting the first move of battle.

“You drive me crazy,” the voice said again. It was the voice of a lunatic.

Around the corner ahead, a light flashed on and off like lightning from a distant storm.

“I like big putts and I cannot lie,” it announced.

“What the devil is going on,” Maygan said quietly. “I feel the darkness, too,” she said to her swords. She inched to the corner and took a deep breath. Something waited for her, she could feel it.

“It takes a lot of balls to golf like you,” it said.

Maygan leapt from the corner, swords at the ready, her face scrunched into the start of a battlecry. But instead, she let out a long exhale. “What sorcery is this,” she said lowering her swords slightly.

In the middle of the medieval inspired dungeon hallway, someone had set up an entertainment machine. She had encountered others like this, but not the “Crazy Holo Golf”machine that was the source of the noise. The sizable machine was in an unusual spot, almost without consideration of placement at all. It was as if whoever was responsible for delivering this thing got too scared to get any closer, plugged it in, and ran the hell out of the basement.

A projector created the illusion of being on a lush, green golf course, giving players ample room to walk around and believe they were actually playing a round. The projector came to life as Maygan drew near. A holographic NPC waved in her direction, then went through the motions of getting ready to drive the ball. It drank a holographic beer, threw the empty can, lined up, and swung hard. But the ball remained on the tee. The holographic man threw his holographic driver towards the holographic woods and gave the middle finger. It turned back to Maygan.

“Golf for the soul!”

This was more advanced than the machines she saw in the past where yellow circles consumed dots and ghosts. While this appeared to be manufactured for recreation, it had some basic level of intelligence. The announcer appeared to acknowledge her presence with smiles and waves. On the front of the machine was a small slot. There was something written on it. Something hard to read in the low light, even for her eyes trained in the black orb mines of Tamia.

“It’s putter late than never, Maygan 4.”

Maygan shot upright, hand on Koga. The holographic NPC stood at the edge of the machine, smiling at her. There was something familiar about the smile. Something about the eyes.“Careful putter fingers,” it said, winking. “Those are some nice swords. May I have one?”

The holographic man beamed as Maygan lifted Koga into an offensive stance.

“You can try to take my swords, but your machine will regret it,” she said, aiming her sword at the projector unit.

“Hmm, be that way!”

And without a sound, without a disturbance of air, without any visual indication, the machine disappeared as if it had never existed. Maygan stood, dazed. Koga and Hon were no longer as bright. But they still glowed. Maygan remembered some of the feedback from employees and wondered if she was hallucinating as well.

* * * *

The heels of her shoes click clacked on the hard stone floor, echoing through the empty hall. Little time was spent adorning the hallway walls with any other decorative elements. It was clear that the entire hallway led straight to a gigantic black, circular door flanked by two guard dressed head to toe in brilliant red combat armor. Both guards carried MGM4 assault rifles.

“My guess is that this is F&D,” Maygan said to Hon and Koga. She approached the door.

“Oh machine guns,” Maygan exclaimed as she approached the guards. “Greetings, I’m Maygan 4. I’ve been given permission by Mister McQuarry to solve your demon problems,” she said smiling, bowing slightly before them.

The guards only turned their heads slightly to focus on her, but did not utter a word. She saw their hands turn off the safety on their guns.

“I’m taking a self-tour of the building. It’s impressive,” she said looking up at the door, rocking back and forth on her heels, hands held behind her back. “Perhaps you can let me inside?”

“This is Fabrication and Design.”

“Oh excellent, I was right! I’ve been meaning to meet with the team,” she said innocently.

The guards looked at each other and then back to Maygan. The barrels of the machine guns moved noticeably in her direction. “You don’t have the credentials.”

“Is there by any chance a bathroom inside,” she asked through gritted teeth, shifting back and forth on her feet.

“Use the ones upstairs,” one of the guards said.

She took the hint. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you both. I’ll just head back the way I came and put something on the schedule then. Ta ta!” Maygan could have taken both guards out before they knew what was happening. And she knew there were always mportant things are behind giant metal doors.

It was unfortunate that there was a bathroom should could not reach, but she hoped it would not stop her from flushing out the demon.

* * * *

Maygan returned to the first floor and passed through the cafeteria, giving only a passing glance to the cardboard box desk and the stack of papers upon it. So much had happened in the first day and she was pleased with her progress, but the day was slipping away.

Sounds of clanging pans and hot grills filled the otherwise empty cafeteria. The kitchen robots were hard at work preparing for the lunch rush. There were three of them, zooming around behind the serving line, beeping and booping. Maygan was genuinely impressed by the achievements of science and wished she knew more about it.

Maygan’s shoulder comm beeped.

“Maygan, it’s Scooter. We’ve got a problem. The design diagrams for the building, which include the plumbing layout, are missing. Someone got into the network and deleted them.”

“There aren’t copies somewhere?”

“Automatomics was never great at backing up anything. But I can look through my emails, see if anything was mentioned.

Maygan was quiet for a long while, thinking. “Okay, forget the design diagrams. I have an idea and I need a few things from you,” she said.

“Absolutely Maygan, what do you have in mind?”

“Incidentally, do you happen to know where the smallest bathroom is located,” Maygan asked.

“Absolutely. It’s the family bathroom on the first floor. Crazy small in there.”

“And what is the easiest way to get a message to the entire company? Meeting in the town square? A written poster? A bard perhaps?”

“Probably just an email,” Scooter answered.

“I need you to build one of these emails for me. Can I dictate my message for you to carve into this email?”

“Fire away.”