A robotic voice sounded from the ceiling, making me realise that if the speakers were planted everywhere, they must have a double purpose and become mics as well. Which meant that the entire surface of the ceiling was a recording device.
“The time is 4:37 AM.”
“Any idea what time the faerie is getting here?” I took my chances and looked up in question.
“Your first instruction will arrive tomorrow afternoon. Please take the time to rest in the meanwhile.”
I was on a mission, and I was wasting time. Not much relaxing in that. But I decided to listen to the voice and sat down at the table to enjoy my meal. I normally ate in a hurry and always standing. Sitting at the table felt nicer than I remembered. Once the meal was over, I started exploring my surroundings and once that was finished as well, I decided to catch some sleep.
I had no idea what time it was, but my body felt rested. My bones did not crack when I rose from bed for the first time in forever. I freaking loved this mattress. The sheets were soft and smelled amazing, the pillow was just the right fit to support my neck and keep my spine straight. Basically, I had the best sleep in as long as I could remember.
“Can you tell me the time, please?”
“14:12,” the ceiling robot announced.
Shit, I jumped and hurried to the bathroom. Shit, shit, shit, I overslept. To the point of losing an entire morning.
I took exactly three minutes to pee and shower, then jumped in my uniform and grabbed a banana from the kitchen counter to fill my stomach. The over-eating, plus the mattress and having no natural light made my body forget that we had things to do.
“I’m ready,” I looked up, circling around the gym to make sure all the cameras spotted me and that whoever was watching gave me a chance to rectify this silly sleep. I looked like an amateur, coming in here, enjoying the good life without giving a damn about the mission. This was not me. Not at all. I had to stay focused and earn whatever PDD planned to entrust me with.
“The first instruction is in the drawer of the right nightstand,” my robot friend told me, making me rush to the bedroom. Was someone in here while I slept? Because I had checked every corner last night and found no instruction letters.
The letter was short, containing only two words that did not make too much sense.
“Welcome Gale.”
Okay…what was I supposed to do with that? I didn’t know a Gale. Was Gale supposed to visit? Was it PDD? Hundreds of questions rushed through my mind, but I found my robotic friend silent after I uttered each one. No one was listening. Or if they did, they did not plan on helping me with this issue.
Which again, was odd, because an analytics team was supposed to help with whatever questions and support I needed during the trial. During any trial, for that matter.
By dinner time, my anxiety went through the roof. I baked some potatoes and sausages and opened a fizzy drink, hoping that the sugar rush would keep my heart from pumping to its untimely death and I asked the roof robot what time it was so often, that it decided to give me regular updates.
At ten pm, just as I was prepared to go out of my mind, the ceiling started buzzing slowly.
“New message for Captain Harrow. Please confirm acceptance.”
“Yes, yes, I accept,” I pointed my full attention upwards, scanning the white ceiling without even breathing from fear of missing a word.
“Dearest Captain Harrow,
Please accept our apologies for the delay in the start of this trial. A complimentary electronic device has been brought to your disposal to keep you entertained while you wait. Please note that some instructions may be delivered to you electronically.”
As soon as the message ended, a metallic creak made its way into the living room. I hurried to check the disturbance and spotted the gym equipment sliding to the side, as if on a conveyor belt to make room for a box to be lifted from underneath the floorboards on some sort of an elevating platform.
I blinked a few times and watched the sliding motion with amazement, wondering, once again, how many funds have gone into these quarters.
“Thank you…” I said to no one in particular but hoped that the ceiling robot heard me and moved to pick up the box to find a tablet inside. One of the new models, which must have cost months of my wages.
To keep me entertained, they said. Fortunately, it came fully charged, so I did not have to waste time with cables and went straight to the bedroom. Very well, if they were going to be late, at least this offered me more preparation time. I went straight to the search tab and typed ‘Gale.’
After an hour and a half of reading articles, I still had no clue as to who I was supposed to share these rooms with. There was no type of faerie called a gale, I went through hundreds of pages and even chatted to some online libraries, for them to come up with the same answer. Which meant that it had to be a name.
And if the faerie had a name, it meant that it could openly communicate in our language, which was another bonus for me. Having to use speech detectors only worsened my job. I also searched for PDD but gave up quickly after discovering that it was a lesser faerie kink and many sex pages dedicated thousands of videos to it. Not something I would like to see again. Or try.
My eyes started drooping and I found myself dozing off when another noise came from the living room. This time sounding heavier, as if the load was much more difficult to push through.
“What is this?” I asked again when a massive crate made its way into the room through the hidden system underneath the floorboards.
