Bioshock: The Story of Henry Walker

Chapter 11: Meeting with Ryan

It had been three weeks since the death of the two divers. Construction of the city was progressing incredibly fast, Jacob was doing his best to calm the divers after the incident and had found two more divers to take over Shawn and Mary's lead roles. The entire city's base had been constructed and the divers began the creation of Rapture's first buildings. There was a small funeral for Shawn and Mary Smith on a Sunday afternoon. The divers could not retrieve the bodies, therefore there were no caskets at the funeral. Elizabeth had not been at her parents funeral. In fact, nobody had seen her leave the cabin since the incident. The only person that could get remotely close to the girl was her German nanny Helga. Helga brought meals to Elizabeth and tried to talk to her, but she would barely answer any question Helga asked her. Henry was also becoming more anti-social. He would spend several days locked up in his room with his head on his desk. He knew it had been a while since the incident, but Henry could not shake the thoughts from his mind. "I told her everything would be fine. I said that nothing would happen to them. I promised her that they'd come back!" Henry covered his face with his hands. He didn't think he could face Elizabeth again. Henry had gone after the funeral to check on Elizabeth. He had knocked on her cabin door for several minutes. The door had remained unlocked and so Henry attempted to enter the cabin. He had found Elizabeth in the corner of the cabin, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. She had looked up at him. Her cheeks were stained with tears, her hair was matted to her face and her eyes were red from crying. Henry would never forget the look she gave him. That look of sadness. That look of pain. That look of hate. She screamed at Henry to get out and threw the radio Henry had made for her right at his face. The radio had pegged him in the shoulder and fell to the floor. Henry bowed his head and left the cabin without saying a word. He knew he had hurt Elizabeth terribly. He knew she might never forgive him. He didn't expect her to forgive him. He didn't blame her.

Henry needed to know what would happen to Elizabeth now that she was an orphan. Would she stay with Helga? Would she be sent off somewhere else? Maybe she had relatives she could live with? Henry needed to know what was to become of Elizabeth. It was time for another meeting with Andrew Ryan.

Henry shook his head and got up from his seat and went to the bathroom. He looked into the silver plated mirror hanging above the sink. His eyes were bloodshot and bags formed under his eyes from lack of sleep, his hair was becoming shaggy and he had a scruffy beard forming on his face. Henry shook his head. "I need to clean myself up, can't go looking like a caveman in front of Ryan." Henry took some scissors and a razor from the cabinet. He trimmed his hair and shaved his beard. He looked back in the mirror and rubbed his new clean shaven face. He slowly smiled, "Much better". He put grey casual slacks and a white shirt on and walked out of his cabin.

Henry put his hands in his pockets, slouched and drudged on towards the offices. He kept his head down the entire way to Ryan's office. He passed people without so much as giving them a glance. Even though Henry had met Ryan only once before to discuss his success with the radios, he knew the way to Andrew Ryan's office as if it had been seared into his mind. Ryan had personally congratulated Henry on his amazing success of the communication radios. Ryan looked as if he hadn't been disturbed by the Smith's deaths at all that day. Henry couldn't read Ryan, he was like a statue dressed in a nice business suit, barely any emotion in his face. Henry shook his head and continued walking at a faster pace. He turned the corner to the offices to find a young woman standing in front of him. The woman let out a small yelp. "Oh, you scared me! You shouldn't do that to people!" Henry looked up and blinked. The woman had blonde hair and blue eyes, a small mouth and slender nose. "Diane, long time no see." said Henry smiling. Diane regained her composure and returned the smile. "Henry, it's so good to see you, its been quite a while since we've seen each other hasn't it?" Henry nodded. "Did you just come from Ryan's office?" Diane's cheeks turned pink, "Y..Yes, I just finished a conversation with him, he's such a unique man, he's really going to make paradise for all of us. I heard about the accident on the first day of construction. It must have been so horrible for that little girl!" Diane said sadly. Henry gulped and bowed his head. "Yes, it is." Henry said softly. He looked up to Diane. "I should get going, I need to talk to Ryan about something." Diane nodded, "Well don't let me take up anymore of your time, go on in and see him, he's in a pretty good mood. I'll see you later Henry!" she said smiling widely. Henry's face cracked into a small smile, "Yea, see you later Diane." And with that Henry walked pass Diane and into Ryan's office.

Unlike most of the people on the Odyssey, Andrew Ryan was the only person with multiple rooms and cabins which he spent several hours of each day in. However, of all his rooms, his office was the most unique. Henry opened the large metal door and stepped into the office. The office was massive. The room stretched for at least twenty metres, a crystal chandelier hung in the middle of the ceiling, the walls were plated with silver and gold waves and lighthouses, there were no windows so the room was quite dark save for one lit lamp on the desk, and behind Ryan's desk there was a giant banner that said: NO GODS OR KINGS, ONLY MAN. Henry had never really known what that mean't but he didn't think to much on it. He looked towards the desk. Seated in the large leather chair was a man. He wore a white business suit. He had slicked jet black hair and a small moustache. Half his face was covered by the darkness but Henry could see his mouth and chin clearly. The mouth slowly turned into a small smile. "Henry Walker. It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of your company in my humble offices. Please, sit." said Ryan motioning for Henry to sit in the leather chair on the opposite side of the desk. Henry said nothing. He walked forward and slowly sat down in the chair. There was silence for a few seconds. Henry couldn't tell if Ryan was looking at him or not. Then Ryan spoke, "Well, I can barely see you in this light, allow me to illuminate the world once more." He clapped his hands twice and bright lights shone vibrantly around the room. There were eight large lights shining symmetrically from the ceiling. Henry shielded his eyes so they could adjust to the sudden brightness. He heard Ryan chuckle. "Now, that's better, I would rather talk to a man face to face in the light, then hide myself like a parasite in the darkness." Henry lowered his hand and looked at Ryan. "I need to talk to you." Henry said quietly. Ryan looked amused. "Well, of course your hear to talk to me, why else would you be hear?" Henry didn't respond. Ryan continued, "So, Mr. Walker, what is it you've come to talk about?" Henry gulped and stared right into Ryan's eyes. "I'm hear to talk about Elizabeth Smith." he said sternly. Ryan remained silent for several seconds before smiling. "Ah yes, Shawn and Mary's daughter, tragic what happened to them, when you see her again please give her my condolences, her parents were some of the best divers I had ever seen." Henry couldn't believe how calm Ryan was being. "Mr. Ryan I need to know what is going to happen to her. She's an orphan now and I need to know if there will be a place for her in Rapture now that she no longer has parents." Ryan closed his eyes and smiled. "Henry, there will always be a place for man in Paradise, I believe that Helga has taken the role to be her guardian, yes? If that is so than the two of them will have an all expenses paid home in Rapture. I won't leave the daughter of the legendary Smith divers alone in the darkness with the parasites, don't worry Henry, she'll always be welcome in Rapture." Henry stared at the man opposite to him for a long time. "But what if she doesn't want to live in Rapture?" Ryan thought for a moment and shrugged. "Then she'll be left to do as she pleases. Of course her guardian must agree with her for the two of them to leave. Honestly, I don't see why she would leave, she has no other relatives in the world, and I don't think Helga would like to leave anytime soon. Her parents died creating Rapture, i think she would want to see it through to the end. Whatever the case, she will always be welcomed in Paradise." Henry couldn't believe what Ryan was saying. Elizabeth was always going to have a place in Rapture! Henry let out a deep sigh. "Thank you Mr. Ryan, that's all I needed to hear." And with that, Henry got up from his seat and headed towards the large metal door. He looked back at the great man that was going to create Paradise. Henry nodded to Ryan and closed the door behind him leaving Andrew Ryan sitting behind his large desk. The lights in the room faded until the single lit lamp was left shining. Ryan slowly smiled. "Of course, if something were to happen to the guardian, orphanages will always be ready with open arms, to take the child from the crawling darkness."