Tunnel Rat

Chapter 201: Getting the gang together.

Mr. Wyatt Eady, President of Claw-Master Inc., was holding his first board meeting. The first order of business was to take a vote on expanding the staff. The vote was unanimous at 1-0 in favor of hiring. Mr. Eady was working hard at his job and needed assistants.

The first person he hired was Steven Duran, one of his beta testers who was happily coming off his victory in the office video game Olympics. Steven had been a dark horse in the tournament, despite having won before. He hadn't been practicing, and a gamer needed to be in top form at this prestigious event. He had stepped out of his office at the last moment, grabbed a controller, and proceeded to trash everyone else in the ten-game decathlon. With everyone else wearing M-1000 gloves and Steven wearing a pair from a manufacturer no one had ever heard from, it wasn't long before an observation was made. It had come three seconds after he defeated Sydney in the finals of Pacman 2047, scoring just enough points to take the overall trophy.

Sydney glared at him, then turned her eyes to the knock-off gloves he wore that no one had ever heard of. "I have a suspicion that 'Poor Steven,' who didn't even bring a pair of M-1000s to wear, is pulling a fast one on us."

Steven looked at her with a grin. "Jealousy is ugly; you know that? I think you should take that little core of bitterness that comes with coming in second and channel it into something useful."

"Where did you get those gloves, Steven?"

"Nope, can't talk. NDA and you know how serious some companies take those." He got up, stretched, shook a few hands, collected his trophy and the traditional five pounds of jelly beans, and started for his office. Sydney was right behind him.

"You can't keep this a secret, Steven; what's up with the gloves?" Sydney had problems with curiosity.

He looked at her seriously. "I could tell you, but you'd also have to sign an NDA. And I'm unsure if you're ready for what comes along with that."

"Fine, toss me a contract. If it's about not talking, I don't care, I want to know."

A printer on Stephen's desk immediately spat out a contract. He handed it to Sydney. "Sign and hand it back if you want to know more, but I'm warning you, you have no idea what you are getting into. The secrets of Claw Master Inc. are not for the weak of heart." Sidney skimmed through it quickly. Standard NDA, product testing, and the possibility of further responsibilities for which she would be remunerated at her normal rate of pay. She signed it and tossed it back to Steven.

He opened a drawer and handed her a set of gloves. "Welcome to Claw Master. Put those on, activate them, and after that, they won't work for anyone else." Steven pulled out two controllers for Packman 2047, and they played three games on the large screen in his office. Steven managed one tie but lost the other two games. "I really am out of shape."

Sydney held up one hand and flexed the glove. It felt like nothing was there. "You cheated! These are better than M-1000s. How the hell did you make these?"

Wally appeared on the screen, looking completely different. Wyatt Eady was tall, dark-skinned, and on the thin side. He was bald with a full beard of curly black hair and immaculately dressed in an expensive suit and silk tie. His even white teeth smiled at Sydney. She only knew it was the A.I. because of the background behind him.

"He didn't make them. I hired him and made him sign an NDA similar to yours. He works for Claw Master now. And similarly, you now have a second job, working for them as well. We have one product to sell, the gloves you are testing, and one client to make happy." Schematics for the gloves went up on the screens, showing how they were made. "As you can see, these are a totally different design from other game enhancement gear."

Her eyes narrowed, thinking. "You invented these?"

Wally shook his head. "No. The knowledge was there if I had chosen to look for it and if I had needed to invent a better gaming glove. But I didn't. The person who invented these tends to think differently and approach problem-solving differently. You, I, and Steven are handling any needed marketing, distribution, and product sales for our client, who does not wish to be known to the public."

Sydney blinked. A reclusive genius that Wally and Steven would work for? It made no sense at all. "This is an exclusive club. Why am I being brought into it?"

Steven coughed to suppress a grin. Wally smiled warmly at Sydney. "Why? Because the two of you have worked together before. He thinks highly of your work."

Sydney was thinking hard now; puzzles also bothered her, and her eyes widened. "Reclusive genius?"

"Yep."

"Worked with me before? Knows Wally?"

"Yep."

"And you're dragging me into it so you have a lackey to keep tabs on him!"

Wally grinned. "By Jove, Steven, I think she's got it!"

Sydney leaned back in her chair. "I willingly signed a contract to work a second job for Milo?!"

Wally put another screen on a monitor. It showed traffic to the Claw Master website. "And I think you need to get to work. He just did something that drew a lot of people's attention. We have to plan press releases and the next stage in the marketing plan."

As Belinda led the rest of the group down, Milo tugged on Butch's sleeve and pointed to the distant restrooms before hobbling off on his crutches. Using the facilities wasn't Milo's objective. The bathrooms were down a hallway that also had a door to a storeroom. Milo's palm opened the door, and he slid inside. A few seconds later, he was into the ductwork and making his way to a temporary command center.

He wasn't taking any chances with this many people around, especially security guards. He had a small array of screens that could patch into the security system. He checked to make sure his entrance to the event hadn't stirred up any unwanted attention. It hadn't, but the video he'd run on the screens had. He watched several people wearing Ubergear logos talk loudly with the event organizers. He listened in, but it was about contracts, money, and other things he didn't care about. Down in the gaming area, he saw two large security guards dressed differently from the others. They wore casual clothing, but nothing could disguise their size and way of moving. He watched them for two minutes and concluded they were guarding Belinda, the girl in the wheelchair. Facial recognition gave him a name, Belinda Sabbatino, and linked her to the head of Manpower, her stepfather, John Sabbatino. Her bio mentioned her being an avid gamer and fan of older video games, especially those from the 1970s to 2000. He approved.

He checked the five escape routes he had set up, and all of them were still viable if he had to leave quickly. That done, he got dressed. He ditched the clumsy back brace he'd used to hide his sockets and put on his bionic leg that replaced the simple prosthetic. Next, all his new gear except the hood and his new and improved tail. Everything fit under his outer clothes. His special gloves replaced the generic Claw Master set he had worn to the event. He hadn't even bothered to activate them. His special set looked identical. He felt much better with his good leg and tail attached. His suit gave him an added sense of security. The extra gloves went into his pack underneath some snacks, two copies of the NDA, his hood, and a few special tools. He put on his long duster, grabbed his titanium alloy crutches, and went to a service tunnel with a hatch he could drop down from. The cameras in this area showed only an empty hallway, and none on the outside were pointed at the exit. Within ten minutes of heading to the restroom, he was back in line to get food. Butch was already there getting seconds.

"You worried me. I hoped you were catching your breath and not ghosting out on us." He winked, grabbed a stack of pancakes, and poured authentically flavored maple syrup over them. Hundreds of youth from the hab were at the end of the event, grabbing food and playing games. The gang had staked out an area near a group of six versions of Asteroids. The sounds of exploding rocks and whizzing saucers were a nice background. He was happy to see that Belinda was still with the group. She'd helped get him in and was concerned, whereas most of the other adults, with the possible exception of Joe, hadn't cared.

There was talk of more events like this and swap meets. He had needed to establish that scanners would always show his 'brace,' which would be his tail from now on. Making a big fuss this time would save him later. Belinda putting them all on the VIP list was extra helpful. Sitting with the group, he started to relax. Digging into the full plate of food Butch had carried over for him was wonderful. He was comparing the taste of real cheese sauce pancakes to the ones in the Hollow. The taste was a little different but equally good. Everything else faded out as he stuffed himself.

Belinda looked over at the small boy with the missing leg. He dug into the savory pancakes with cheese sauce like he hadn't eaten in days. Maybe he hadn't? "Your name is Ghost? I heard Butch call you that, I'm Belinda."

Ghost looked up from his pancakes and nodded shyly before going back to eat. Belinda was trying to get to know each person she'd just met. They were talking non-stop about playing games, arguing about strategies for the older arcade games she'd brought in for the event. It was fun to sit and listen. She didn't want to pry, but she was dying to know how they had been picked to test out the Claw Master gloves. She hadn't heard anything about the corporation until they had offered to help her by sponsoring the event. She was still upset with her father for taking part of her budget. If it wasn't for the sponsorship, her event might have flopped. John had sent her sixteen messages in the last hour. She was ignoring him.

The crackle of the speakers gave a warning of an announcement. John appeared on the screen, smiling down benevolently. "Hi folks, and welcome to the event of the season! We have a special announcement for those down in the gaming area. Wouldn't having one of those games for your own would be great? Well, now you can. Manpower and Ubergear are teaming up to give you a chance to win some of those games. You can register singly or as a team of up to six gamers and compete to win them. If you have a high score at the end of the event, we'll ship the game to your house! So get ready. You have a half hour to register, and then we reset the high scores, and you can get gaming!"

There were cheers from all over. Butch and the gang were cheering loudly. Belinda began to shake angrily, her right hand making a fist, her left just holding tight to the edge of her chair. She kept telling herself she wasn't going to cry.

Yumi had a hand placed lightly on her shoulder. "Are you ok? Can we do anything?"

Belinda looked at her. The strange boy named Ghost was on her other side, looking confused.

"I'll be ok. That's my stepdad. He surprised me with that announcement. When we planned this, it was partly an apology for moving us here where I didn't know anyone. I told him I was keeping the games I liked to put in my rooms. Now he's giving them away. He always does this. Always. He'll never change."

Ghost looked at the gang. "Butch, go register us as a team of six. Belinda, what games are your favorites? Yumi, I need you, Kenji and Minerva to grab spots in line for the games on Belinda's list. We're going to go too in a moment." Ghost had a scary look in his eye. Butch sketched a salute and ran to register them. The rest of the gang ran to get in line for games."

Belinda wasn't sure what was up. "You’re planning something, aren't you?"

Ghost shrugged. "Easy solution. We win back your games. We're going to put a Team Claw Master high score on everything in here and take them all home. Problem solved."

That sounded good to Belinda. It wouldn't happen, but she was thrilled by them trying. "So, I'm part of Team Claw Master now."

Ghost bent down and started digging in his pack. "Do you want to be? I have another set of gloves." She was amused when he even brought out an NDA for her to sign but loved having money John couldn't touch. "Yeah, I'm in. Just help me try them on. M-1000s hurt my left arm."

He cocked his head and thought. "Different mechanism. If you already have trouble moving your hand, I can see how they wouldn't work for you. Forced muscle fatigue." He helped her put on the gloves. They felt comfortable and light. He did something to activate the glove, and she felt a tingle in her hand and forearm. She flexed and found it easy to move her hand!

"Do the other one, please." He did, and the tingle was a lot stronger this time. Carefully, she tried moving her index finger and was surprised when it straightened. She started doing the exercises that normally left her exhausted and found she had the complete movement of her left arm again. "This is amazing."

Ghost was watching her intently. He had questions. So did she. "We'll talk later? Ok? I need time to process and get used to having two hands."

He looked at the games, then to where several professional gaming teams were heading to the registration table. "And we need to win some free games. Let's grab the classic Asteroids and Pacman first."