Stargazer: The Fractured Universe

The Basement Has Been Breached

Olivia gazed at her computer, doing her best to focus on forwarding calls and responding to emails. But despite her efforts to stay busy, there was always a period where most people coming in the door knew where they were going, and no one called reception. Her coworkers were pretty much always on the phone, but Olivia always felt weird doing that with their desk being the center of attention of a large lobby. Besides, she could do non-work approved things on the computer – like shopping – and make it look like she was working when she really just didn't have anything to do.

She opened up an email chain. Someone had been consistently emailing every month for the last year trying to sell cleaning products. Olivia responded the first few times, letting them know that they're not interested along with all the businessy things one is supposed to say when rejecting a salesperson. Now she just deleted them. Half of her inbox was filled with salespeople. Then there was that other portion of people who were angry that the automotive batteries could not power a large house. Olivia had a pre-typed message reminding them that those batteries were for automotive use only with a link to a website where they could find a mechanic who would be able to install it.

Then the last few emails she actually had to make an effort to respond to were for appointments. Looked like Mr. Cooper had an appointment coming up with the general later this week and a follow-up appointment with the CEO. Then an appointment next week with the board of directors. He would never tell her what it was he was doing down there, but this sort of appointment scheduling made her think it was nearly done. Or at least getting to an approval stage where he could finally start to talk about it. Maybe she'd get to see why the man slept in the building most nights.

She opened a new tab in her browser, seeing a news article pop up in one of the suggested readings:

Altered-Humans: Good or Bad for us?

Olivia curled her fingers, resisting the urge to find the author's email and tell them that it's not as simple as that. No one asked to have their abilities given to them. Maybe some wanted them. Some were given horrifying abilities, but others were given practically harmless abilities. Other people just got a cough and moved on like it wasn't even the same virus affecting them. Of course, some did die after contracting the virus. The news was still talking about the incident of the woman who went into a nuclear meltdown and obliterated a chunk of a hospital a month ago. Some bodies just couldn't handle it. And it absolutely didn't make things better for a journalist to take an entire group of people, some suffering and others just trying to live their lives, and categorize all of them as "good or bad."

Maybe she cared more because she had been affected by it. And to her, it was the greatest thing ever. After the virus spread, she found that she was able to communicate with animals. Not verbally or telepathically. It was something else. But either way, they understood her, and she understood them. She could persuade them and interpret little body languages and sounds that she never knew were forms of communication before.

She got to pet a squirrel in Central Park, and her friend's cat finally warmed up to her. It was the kind of thing a child dreamt of doing and grew up knowing that it was completely impossible. Then she was given this ability out of nowhere, and all of a sudden she was a menace to society for it.

She closed the tab, not even remembering why she opened it. She took deep breaths, stretching out and sighing. The lobby only had a few people hovering about, sipping their morning coffee. Olivia set her hands back down to check her emails before doing anything else. Lauren, to her left, was already on a personal call with her cell phone. Eli, to her right, was just kind of staring at the elevators.

What was he staring at?

She followed his eyes, and she saw it too.

Something up on the wall, like a Lovecraftian sausage. It writhed and moved around as if to nuzzle against the wall. It managed to be somewhat cute in a horrifying sort of way. But there was that pit in her stomach that told her that creature was not of this world. Perhaps... well... maybe she could talk to it. But there were so many people who would see. Would they know it's an ability? They might fear she's a telepath who can control their minds.