POV: Eva

What a day. I need a key to archive 7zU=w4 but the usual suspects don't have one. Nastja gave hers to W-Nwu who is on vacation, I think, and Yrgudys gave his to Georgette who gave it to Vladalaja. And no one knows where she is. A big scavenger hunt just to prove that Gzeph's boss didn't forward an order for new parts again, 'forgot' to put his signature under it and just tossed it in the archive as if it wasn't his problem. AGAIN. Those replacement parts don't order themselves, you know! Graham needs them!

On the upside, the responsible boss is very angry that Graham doesn't get his needed parts and operations are in danger of coming to a halt. Well, it took a lot of work to convince him that Graham had submitted the request for new parts on time months ago, now it is just a hunt to find who messed up. And as usual, the prime suspect is that jerk.

I just need to get those order sheets and rub that in the boss's face and then I should be rid of him, hopefully forever. This is like the tenth time his negligence brought operations to a screeching halt.

Let's see. Office 6002134 - that's Alice. Office 6002135, Treva, also not who I need. Office 6002136, Gzeph, he is still in hospital - wait, why are there lights on?

I knock on Gzeph's office door, "come in", greets me an exhausted voice.

"You look even worse than last time. Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital? I thought you collapsed from overwork!"

"Overwork? Me? Why I never!"

"Then what were the medics doing in your house on the day where we finally sent someone to your little pet project? And the figure they carried out of your room supposedly looked kinda like you too, I wasn't there but that's what I heard."

"...great, so everyone knows about it, huh?"

"Whether you want it or not you are a minor celebrity at least. Some eyes will always be on you especially when shit like that happens. So what ARE you doing here? It has been barely a week."

"My work isn't finished, I need to see this through."

"And just collapse again? Who does that help? Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't call the medics on you right now."

"..."

"Three..."

"..."

"Two..."

"Fine. Let me just finish this one document and make two calls, then I go back."

"Deal. I'll... wait here."

He continues filling out the document. "so what was going on while I was away?"

"Nothing much. Your boss is pissed because you punched him. Everyone's panicking because they have to pick up your work and no one knows the passwords. Business as usual. Which reminds me. I need a key to archive 7zU=w4 but everyone I talked to has passed the key on to someone else, last I heard either W-Nwu or Vladalaja have one."

"Oh, V? Yeah she gave me the key before she left. Will supposedly be a longer trip."

"Cool, can I have it?"

"Knock yourself out, it is in my coat somewhere."

"Thanks", I go to the coat rack and dig through the pockets for the key... "found it."

"Good... for you."

"You really don't look well."

"Don't really feel it either but I have to -"

"No, you don't! You may feel like you let a lot of people down if you don't finish this now. But you know what? If you collapse again you won't be able to help them either AND may never be able to again if it gets really bad!"

"Yes... I know..."

"Then stop forcing yourself."

"...", he is about to start a call but stops, "yeah, you're right."

He instead writes a short message, "this has to be enough then. Mind giving me a hand getting back?"

"...just sight tight and let the professionals do that."

"I really should."

I push a single button on my smartphone, "well, too late now if you change your mind."

"Am I so predictable that you just needed one button for that?"

"That's what 3000 years with the same coworkers get you."

"Hah, figures."

"But don't worry. You're not the only one that is bad off. I heard Todo, the biggest boss, caught something nasty as well, like two days before your collapse but they kept it under wraps. He'll be out for a couple of months at least."

"Heh, not surprised. He's ancient even from my perspective and an even worse workaholic than me."

We both laugh, "you know how he is."

"But there's one thing I don't understand", I tell Gzeph, "the day the news of him getting sick got out they sent an order to shut down 'the machine'. It seems like the soul we sent to Deteoh will be the last one to use it."

"What? Maintenance or real shutdown?"

"Real shutdown. Seems to be permanent this time."

"Weird timing. What does the rumor mill say? Are his sickness and the shutdown related?"

"A few say so but most think it is unrelated."

"Doesn't make sense", Gzeph tries to think but is visibly tired, "this is half of our business model. How else... are we dealing with those... worlds?"

"No idea. Seems like the upper brass still have to figure that out."

"Seems very shortsighted."

"Yeah, it is. Speaking of shortsighted - I'm sure you've done the math already, what's the situation with your Deteoh plan?"

"Single digits for success assuming the most favorable situation for several factors I've no intel on. Realistically you're more like to win the lottery three times in a row. Consider it a guaranteed failure at best. Worst case we've half a dozen high world demon lords more on our ass than predicted."

"That bad... got a plan B ready?"

"More like plan R at this point - 'R'eally last hope."

"Understood. Send me the notes and I'll prepare what I can while you REST."

"Thanks. That's appreciated", he begins typing on his phone.

"...really now. You should finally open up more to others. I'm not the only one able and willing to help you with this."

"You know that I can't do that. My trusting people is what... caused Yulia to..."

"Yeah, I know that. But you can't let one mistake dictate your entire life!"

"I know, I know. It is just easier said than done...", he gets lost in his thoughts.

After a minute it seems he's finished sorting his thoughts, "was anything else going on while I was out?"

"Not really. Oh, yeah, there was something I wanted to ask you when you get back. It seems like 'someone' has tampered with configurations in the data center. There are some anomalies as to which worlds were available for transmigration - not that it matters anymore now that they shut down the machine. Would you happen to know anything about this?"

"Oh... right, yeah, that was me. Forgot to set it back."

"You, WHAT!??"

"You heard me right. I set it so that if Deteoh was one of the available targets about 90% of the best non-deteoh compatibilities are thrown out."

"You can't be serious."

"I can and I am."

"And... may I ask why you thought this was a good idea? This is a massive scandal if or rather when this gets out."

"You know the situation. I've prepared this thing for centuries. And even if it wasn't for Alex's interference we wouldn't have much time. There isn't much time left until... THAT event."

"And you didn't get any suitable candidates so you had to force the issue, yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm not happy about how you stole some potentially great futures from a couple of million poor souls but I concede that... it was necessary. But how did you manage to change the config? Nick would've found out within minutes!"

"Oh, he's in on this."

"That old stickler for the rules? HOW?!"

"He knows what is at stake. If we fail there won't be any rules left worth following."

"And in reality?"

"...he pities me because of what happened to Yulia. So he's turned a blind eye."

"Yeah, that sounds much more like him. *sigh* You are aware that I have to report you for this breach of protocol?"

"I am... aware of that. As long as my plan succeeds I don't care what happens to me."

"...you are impossible. Just think about what Yulia would have wanted."

"Don't talk like she's dead. If she was... we'd have seen her here..."

"...I'm not telling you to give up on her. But think about it that was millennia before I was even born."

"Yeah, you better... not... say... that...", he falls asleep in his chair.

"*sigh* you never learn, do you? When do the medics finally arrive?"

It takes a few more minutes then I finally hear some commotion on the floors. I go outside the office and wave them over, "he's in here!"

The medics run over to me and into the office, "in what shape did you find him?"

"He was working on some stuff despite looking terrible", I answer, "I forced him to stop working and just sit down. We had a bit of a talk and then he passed out."

"Understood, this matches his past behavior. We'll take it from here."

"Yes, please do, he's a good friend of mine... If you need some help with him, here's my number, he... doesn't have any family left."

"Sure, thank you."

I just stand by while they transfer Gzeph onto a stretcher and then carry him off carefully.

Once they are gone I take the key I got earlier from Gzeph's cloak and make my way to archive 7zU=w4. Once there it doesn't take long to find the needed document. And just as expected the signature is not under it. The form was declined but the field for the reason of denial is empty. Typical.

The form starts from Graham, passes through some more hands and then dies in that jerk's office. Why is he that way? Those expenses don't come out of his personal pocket, not even his department's budget, so why let it expire? Graham needs those parts soon, half of his equipment is falling apart...

Well, nothing to do now but make sure Gzeph's boss gains an ex for his title for his 'outstanding' accomplishments. Then... we can finally start fixing some things.