Renewal Eternal

1.1.2: A Blank Slate

February 13, 2067

It took Ryan less than half-an-hour to pull up to the parking lot of Tel-North and take the elevator up to where the offices of Renewal Eternal lay on the forty-third floor. He was all smiles as he greeted the secretary who flushed at his approach. Rachel, eyes colored the deepest mahogany, was a temp who caught his eye as soon as she started; every time he entered the office, Ryan wasted a little time to flirt with the woman. He was sure she would ask him out any day now.

But, today, he was in a hurry. He brushed passed her desk without an apology as he took long strides through the cubicled office towards the administrative wing on the floor. As he flashed his security badge at the two guards, they let him pass through the barrier without a word.

One long stride later, Ryan opened the first door in the hallway. Inside, the makings of a madman lay. Charts, diaries, poems, pictures, songs, everything and anything obscured every part of the floor of the room. Similarly, paper tacked onto the walls obscured even the window, wide as it was, from view.

A man sat huddled on the floor, a pen in his mouth, as he muttered to himself.

"No, no, no. That's not it. It has to be here. Fool...can't have that there."

He took the pen out of his mouth and began to scratch on the paper in front of him. A jumble of scribbles, unrecognizable as any script Ryan knew, found its way onto the page.

His once copper hair was now tinged with more than a dusting of grey. Bloated cheeks pointed along with a gut that had long been unattended bespoke a man who, for years, ignored his health.

Ryan bent down as sympathy washed through him. He looked at the man he had called boss for ten years. Foli Hamstead.

"Foli," Ryan said as he bent down to the doctor's level. Foli lifted his eyes up to Ryan as he fell silent. For a moment, his eyes held a glazed expression as the doctor looked straight through Ryan.

But, that moment passed in an instant. Foli's eyes refocused and a tired, but pleasent smile formed on a face lined more by stress than age.

"Ryan, you're back early," he said as he rose to his feet with a grunt.

"This one was easier than most. The guy was a stiff board. Couldn't move an inch."

Foli chuckled as he straightened his rumpled suit. It was finely made but was stretched over the chest and sagged at the shoulders. Diminished. That was all Ryan could think as he saw the overworked, under-paid genius in front of him. It was as if, back in the day, America used Einstein for all he was worth, and then tossed him out with the trash.

Foli was not there yet but the day was fast approaching. In the last two years since the program's release, he practically lived in the Tel-North skyrise.

A grimace passed across Ryan's face at the thought of the company who was destroying his friend's life.

At his grimace, a shadow passed over Foli's face. "What is it? Did the transfer not take?" Foli's mouth turned down as he swept back the little hair that remained on his head.