Civilization, part 3 - R. Scott Robison

[Continued from part 1 and part 2]

Joe had turned into a tiger. He crouched behind a parking meter, eying his prey. Inside the Verizon Wireless store, employees enthusiastically engaged new customers in two-year agreements. Free cellular telephones were promised. Joe did not see the Verizon Guy, so he focused on one associate with a particularly bad complexion instead.

Remaining crouched, Joe moved swiftly toward the store entrance. Pedestrians diverted left and right to avoid the crazy man, scarcely glancing up from their news papers. Fixated on the acne-scarred associate, Joe scuttled through the door.

The police officers from the park had not reported Joe’s comments from the night before, so the on duty officers who responded to the call from the Verizon Store were not prepared for anything other than a homeless person who had finally cracked. When they arrived on the scene, however, it was clear to them that something else was afoot.

Although it appeared very little ruckus had taken place, the shift manager who had placed the call reported the bedraggled perpetrator had kidnapped one of his employees. Not just any employee, but the employee of the month two months previous.

“I’m not sure if he had a gun,” the shift manager said. “He snarled, though, kind of like a…a big cat. Our employee handbook says we’re not supposed to fight thieves.” The shift manager shuddered and was handed a cup of coffee. Two lieutenants exited the building through the rear door, following the description given them of Joe’s exit.

Joe wondered if they would make a motion picture of his deeds. He glanced at his captive – Raphael, according to the nametag – then back out the windshield. Traffic was at an all-time high. They had progressed less than five blocks from the Verizon store.

“Why do you work for them?” Joe demanded.

Raphael kept his eyes on the brake lights in front of him. “It’s just a job, man. Are you going to, you know, hurt me?” Joe didn’t answer. He thought back to his birthday, to the two $20 promotional offers, and the linear progression his life had followed to that point. He furrowed his brow. No longer. He was branching out.

A blaring siren jarred him from his reverie. Joe looked out the back window. A squad car was stuck perpendicular to a mass of vehicles that had failed to wait until the intersection was clear before proceeding. Fascinated, Joe watched as gridlock happened. He imagined what it must look like from the air: an interlocking steel tapestry – a Chinese puzzle. Joe heard a metallic click and envisioned a league of giant Confuciuses tugging at all sides of the traffic.

Raphael had run away, leaving the driver’s side door open behind him. After a moment, Joe got out as well. He turned toward downtown, then loped away from the intersection. Unbeknownst to either Joe or Raphael, their short journey had taken them across a police jurisdiction line, so when half an hour later Raphael’s car was finally able to be towed, Joe’s trail turned cold.

Joe arrived at the Verizon Headquarters out of breath, but pleased with himself. In the center of the lobby, a collection of flora towered over the dark suits that criss-crossed the marble. Joe got on the elevator, heedless of the worried looks his appearance drew from the suits. He pressed the button with the biggest number on it. By the time he reached his chosen floor, he was alone in the lift, and stepping off, he was surprised to see tarpaulins and work equipment covering an unfinished pile of metal and dust.

Two workers lounged across the room from Joe, sending text messages and simultaneously arguing over a sports team. Joe ducked behind some aluminum scraps and scanned the floor. Noting a stairwell, he moved stealthily to it and slipped soundlessly inside.

The floor below was much more promising. Plush carpet supported massive oak desks, which in turn supported the crushing paperwork belonging to several sharp-looking executives. Joe strode to the executive with the biggest desk and placed his hands on the polished wood.

The executive shooed Joe’s hands away and wiped his desk clean without a pause in his telephone conversation. Wrinkling his nose at Joe, the executive barked several sharp commands into the receiver before concluding his conversation, whereupon he demanded an explanation for the sweaty handprints on his desk.

“You work on the highest floor at the Verizon Headquarters (except the one they’re working on above you), and you have the biggest desk on the floor,” said Joe. “Without a doubt, you are the man I need to talk to. The Verizon Wireless Company has demolished my life, and unjustly to boot.”

“I’m just a mid-level manager,” said the executive, cutting Joe off. “My assistant should really have screened you out.” He turned back to his telephone.

Joe placed his hand firmly on the receiver, holding it down.

“Do you mean to tell me you’re not in charge of this company?” Joe said.

“Not even close,” replied the executive. “I’m in charge of overseas network compliance. Look around you. There are lots of us.” Joe complied, and as he assessed each executive in turn, his spirit wilted. Already retreating toward the elevator, he offered one last thrust.

“Where is the Verizon Guy?” Joe shouted. It was as if he were speaking a different language.

Back in the lobby, Joe shuffled slowly toward the entrance. He felt tired, and gazed upon the city through the plate glass. The setting sun illuminated the roads and buildings in a coppery hue, making Joe think of wire circuitry, weaving through thickets of building-shaped diodes. A connectivity that Joe could not fathom. It was the network.

He turned to look again at the lobby’s verdant centerpiece, but his eyes instead found a blonde in a red dress, walking toward the elevator. The woman from his dream. His lover. A surge of hope rising within him, Joe followed her.

Elevator accidents are not common, and the team that investigated the Verizon Headquarters mishap termed it “preventable.” A software flaw that affected the computer control unit’s interface with the pulley system resulted in an “uncommanded descent” according to the press release. In all, eight employees of the Verizon Company were injured, and twice as many personal injury lawyers were summoned to recover damages.

Although the affected employees recalled a ninth passenger in the elevator, no one could remember what he looked like for sure, and no trace of him was found when the rest of the car’s occupants were pulled from the rubble two floors below the lobby. The closed circuit cameras that provided surveillance for the building recorded the man in question getting on the elevator, but no identity could be confirmed based on the images available.

The Verizon Company settled out of court with the other eight occupants, and investors suffered a fleeting loss. Later that week, a tiger escaped from the municipal zoo, briefly agitating a group of citizens to protest the incarceration of wild animals in the first place.