22:59

15:02

Roger had almost reached his office when he was stopped.

"Roger!"

Roger turned towards the sound of the voice and saw the head of the Hospital Department. His department was doing the same thing as Roger's own—doing everything possible to make people experience negative emotions. Only if this was done on the roads by what were called the Offenders—creating accidents leading to traffic jams in which people became nervous—sometimes being several hours late, then the people from Oliver Clife's department were called "the Patients." Their function was to create long lines at hospitals, clinics, blood collection stations and other medical institutions.

"Oliver!"

"I was looking for you, but you did not answer your calls so I decided to stop by."

"Um... Yeah, I left my phone in the office, while I myself went... on business. Something happen?"

"Not yet. But it might."

Roger looked at Oliver in surprise.

"Roger, shall we go up to the greenhouse?" We need to talk where there are no unnecessary eyes or ears."

Roger checked his watch. He was terribly late.

"I would be glad to but it would be better tomorrow. I have less than an hour left to go through the reports on the day shift, so if something suddenly happens, I can change the scheduling of the Offenders."

"I understand everything," Oliver came close to Roger and whispered in his ear. "I have some information about what we talked about at the meeting today," he took a step back, looked at Roger and loudly said: "This is very important."

Roger sighed and nodded. "I have twenty minutes."

"That's enough."

Roger and Oliver took the elevator to top floor, the 44th. When the elevator doors opened, they were hit by the smell of new paint, fresh wood, and a large ladder that had been leaning against the wall near the elevator doors.

With a curse, Oliver put the ladder back in its place and walked deeper into the huge facility which was supposed to be a greenhouse, but which was now only littered with paint cans, boards, work tools and wrappers from street food left by the workers. Construction had begun two years ago, and since then it had been closed, or "shut for defrosting". Last week, work had been going on everywhere but on Friday the workers had left the building and had still not yet returned.

Squeezing their way to a pile of boards where there were the most chocolate and chip wrappers, Roger and Oliver sat down on one of the boards.

Roger glanced at his watch more out of habit than out of necessity—he already knew he was late with the reports.

"Oliver, what did you want to tell me?" He sighed.

"Roger, I have information regarding Daddy Stephen's orders," the nickname Daddy was given to Stephen Cooper because of his constant reminders that they are all "family." "Don't ask who told me, but my source can be trusted."

Roger did not need to ask how Oliver might be privy to the secrets of their director—there were rumors about his affair with Nina-the-Assistant-Not-a-Helper.

"One of us might be getting fired," Oliver Clife said in a loud whisper, making the situation even more tragic than it might seem.

"What?"

Oliver crossed his legs, took a candy from his pocket and handed it to Roger. The man sat motionless, looking Oliver in the eye. The head of the hospital division took the hint, unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth.

"If we fail in the assignment and fail to meet the annual numbers for the entire division," Roger hardly understood what Oliver was saying because of the candy in his mouth, and therefore became even angrier.

"Do you think they want to make scapegoats out of us?"

Oliver Clife finally finished his candy: "Exactly."

"I don't understand... How can we be responsible for all the units?!" Roger really didn't understand. He turned away, began to look around, as if looking for an answer among the heaps of rubbish and building materials. Without realizing it, he was rubbing his hand over the area of his solar plexus.

Oliver threw up his hands.

"You don't think Daddy Stephen is going to take all the blame, do you? He has to remain squeaky clean. And we will be fired, either one of us, or both of us which is more than likely."

"Okay, okay..." Roger finally realized that the pain had intensified and winced, bending over towards his knees.

"Are you okay?" Oliver put his hand on Roger's back and tried to look into his face.

Roger straightened up, took a few deep breaths, and replied: "It's okay. Nothing serious. What do you suggest?"

"Me? What can I suggest? Do your job well and handle this idiotic assignment!" Oliver was angry, not knowing at whom: at Roger, who was asking stupid questions or at Stephen Cooper, who decided to set them up, or at himself for telling Roger about this, instead of arranging the situation so that Roger was fired...

"Do get worked up. First of all, we haven't lost yet. We were only given the task today and we have time to complete it. We'll bring in other leaders. Secondly..." Roger hesitated, there was no secondly. The situation was really serious and he understood that he would have to sacrifice his main job, at least for a while, in order not to fail.

"There is no second, Roger," Oliver read his mind. "We do not have much time, not only to develop a strategy, but also to implement it and then to raise the indicators. Do you understand what this means?"

"We'll have to devote all our time to this assignment," Roger muttered.

"Exactly. And you need to start today. Do you have anything serious going on right now?"

Of course, Roger had something serious—they were waiting for him at the checkpoint. He had to make sure Christian didn't get into trouble.

Roger shook his head in negation.

"Nothing serious. Shall we be meeting here then?

"I don't think there is a need for that. From now on, we will only work on the task at hand and not share secrets. I propose meeting in your office. Sometimes mine is like a public meeting place."

"It's a deal," Roger said, getting up from the pile of boards and looking at his watch. The evening shift was going to begin in 15 minutes. "We'll meet in 15 minutes. Bring your coffee mug. One of the guests has taken the spare one from my office."

"Noted. In 15 minutes, in your office."

Roger and Oliver walked back to the elevator, stepping heavily as if a couple of bags of cement had been placed on their shoulders.

What an idiot!!! With his little excuse for a brain he couldn't give birth to any new ideas—and now I have to take the rap?! As long as assholes like him have the right to vote—this damn world will definitely not be seeing anything good! The Black Hole is truly God's punishment! People have become too degraded, and nature decided that nothing good can ever be expected from us. Let a million years pass—evolution is not as strong as we are. We who kill ourselves. Every day. Slowly or quickly. Nowadays, more often than not, slowly. We were so dumbed down that we could not even recognize the problem in time! It took so many years and so many sacrifices to finally find a cure! And for what?! So people like that runt could live?! Nature is not a fool... Oh, such a fool she is not! If it was up to me, I would become a superhero. And my superpower would be to recognize impenetrable human stupidity! Even in childhood, it is necessary to mark such people so that, God forbid, they do not get access to the leadership of people. Yes, he cannot deal with it with himself! Damn, because of him I have sharp pains again... I need to see a doctor!!! URGENT! God, how I hate them all!!!