When 45-year-old Theodore Narrator gets fired from his job as Employee 528 at a large company, he is at a loss for words. His life is already going down the gutter, and this feels like it will be the straw to break the camel's back. But one fateful...
The Narrator woke up to his alarm beeping loudly. He got out of bed, took a shower, put on his nicest shirt, and put his ID card onto his retractible lanyard. He looked at himself in the mirror, smiling. He had managed to get a job, somehow. And he didn't even apply! He must've gotten some sort of recommendation. He polished his wire-frame glasses, which he was borderline blind without, picked up a piece of toast and some Earl Grey tea from the kitchen of his small apartment, and headed to work.
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He stood in front of Door 13, grabbing his ID card. He held it up against the reader, took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
But nobody was there.
Well, the ID card worked, so I must be in the right place, right? , he wondered to himself. Looking around, he spotted a computer which was on.
He sat down at the desk in front of it. The console said, Hello, NARRATOR, THEODORE JAMES ! Is this your first time using the THEOCORP user portal? (Y/N)_
He carefully pressed Y on the keyboard. Was this a setup? Was he going to get mugged? And how did the computer know it was him?
Welcome to THEOCORP, NARRATOR, THEODORE JAMES ! Do you suffer from frequent motion sickness? (Y/N)_
"What the...", Theo said, as he pressed N. This had to be a setup. There was probably a sniper positioned right outside the window, ready to kill him. But he kept going, curious.
That's good! Commencing portal opening in 3... A low humming sound started, growing in intensity as the computer counted down. The screen of the computer gained depth, becoming a glowing yellow vortex. Theo pushed his chair back, his head hitting the wall behind him. He had known this was a bad idea. And now he was going to die for his mistake. 2... He was pulled closer and closer to the swirling tunnel, which was sparking at this point. The sound became deafening. 1... The screen was glowing so bright that Theo couldn't see anything. He was being pulled into the portal. He tried grabbing onto anything he could, but it failed to stop him from flying into the monitor.
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His eyes opened to complete darkness. And a huge pain at the top of his right ear. He yelled in pain, and clutched his hand to the side of his head. He could feel blood running down the side of his face, and a mysterious piece of metal imbedded in his ear. He took a few deep breaths and came to his senses. He was sitting in a chair. It was leather, and he could tell that he had been sitting in it for a while, due to the fact that it was warm, unlike the usual coldness one felt when first sitting in a leather chair.
Suddenly, a video started being projected on the screen in front of him, startling him. On the screen was someone sitting in a tall chair, facing away from the camera.
"Hello, new employee," the person said. Their voice sounded familiar, but Theo couldn't place it. "Welcome to Theocorp, the one job that will accept you. Because it's made for you, and you alone. Don't believe me? Well here's some proof. You, my friend, are Theodore James Narrator."
Theo rolled his eyes. It was an AI voice model, and an impressive one at that, but it was still obvious.
"An AI model, you say? Well, that certainly isn't true," the voice said. Theo gasped. "And yes, this is prerecorded. You may be wondering how I could predict what you were going to think. Well, I believe I know myself pretty well, don't you think?" The man turned around in his chair.
The man had modern bleached blonde slicked-back hair, with the sides buzzed. The roots of his hair were brown. He looked to be in around his early twenties. The most off-putting thing about him, which caused the narrator to nearly faint, were his piercing yellow eyes, which were the exact same as his own. The man pushed up his yellow-tinted glasses, which appeared to be prescription.
"Ah, do you see it now? The resemblance between you and me? We're the same person. Not entirely, however. But it's close. My name is Theodore James Narrator, but you can call me Mr. Narrator, the CEO of Theocorp."
Theo couldn't believe it. How could this man be him? He, himself, was wearing a white-collar office worker's uniform, and this man in front of him was wearing a showy, large collared tailcoat. The man-- Mr. Narrator stood up. His coattails ended in arrows, which was very strange. He snapped his fingers and a martini appeared in his hand with a flash of yellow light.
"Theocorp is a company spanning multiple dimensions. The device we put in your ear is a translator, translating everything that your coworkers say into your native language. Oh, and did I mention that your coworkers are also variations of you? That means that you can't address each other by first name, nickname, or last name. Only I am Mr. Narrator in the workplace. So we gave you a different way of identifying yourselves."
More numbers? Really? , Theo thought.
"Don't worry, it's not numbers. We have given you each a nickname based on your backgrounds and physical variations. For example, get over here, Scar. Now, 'Scar' may seem like an edgy name, but it's actually a pretty accurate description."
Another Theo walked on-set, this one around 43 years old, in a military uniform, and with a scar over his right eye.
"There's also MI6, who is a former agent of, well, MI6!"
A Theo walked on camera in a suit with presumably prescription sunglasses, and a dyed brown combover.
"If you look at your ID right now, you will see the name we've given you!"
Theo looked down at his card. his name had been moved to the bottom of the card, and was now in small print. In its place were the words "Office Drone".
"Seriously??? Office Drone? Is that what everyone is going to call me now??? I think i might qui-", Theo started.
"Ah, before you quit, i'd like to inform you that the pay is 150,000£ per year," Mr. Narrator said smugly.
"Nevermind then," Theo commented. Having a weird name like "office drone" might be worth it for the pay. Things were (possibly) finally looking up for him.
