Gate of Time

III

Monday, 29th of August, 2146. 10:42 p.m.

    Edwin Gray was pacing back and forth behind his desk. He was waiting patiently for the man for whom he sent about five minutes ago. The man was quite prompt, as Edwin himself expected of everyone in his organization, and does everything in his power to arrive as soon as possible, and it was done. Edwin himself says that if someone was late to work because of something in their control, they were to be evicted from the building, and it was done. However, if it was something out of their control, and their alibi was always checked by lie detectors even though everyone was quite trustworthy, they were let off by being warned of doing everything in their power to be early the next time.

    Almost no one has been fired from the organization because Edwin, in the initial debriefing of the organization's plan and motive, always mandates being prompt and ready. If they're fired, their memories of this organization are wiped. He wants no one to know of the NUO (New Union Order). However, Edwin wrote a book called The Truth of the Government, so the true intention of the memory wipe is to hide where he is because he doesn't want the government after him.

    He moved over to the large window that overlooked the city. He grinned and chuckled a bit. "Oh Pasadena, how oblivious you are to our true intentions." The NUO building hid itself under the façade of being just a normal business, that sells and publishes, in the upper floors, books. The business is called Gray and Locke booksellers.

    Edwin looks to the clock on the wall behind his desk. "10:47. He never takes more than a few minutes to get here. I called for him eight minutes ago." Just then, Edwin's right-hand man, Joseph Locke, walked in.

    "I sincerely apologize, for my delay," he said with a bow. "I was held up up by a new person who wants to join."

    Edwin told him to stand back up, and it was done. "That's a perfect reason for your delay. They had the book and said the Code?" Edwin sat behind his desk and put his feet up on the desk.

    Looking straight into his eyes, Joseph quoted: "'I would like to learn more about this book. Take me to the author.' Everything clear and voluble," Joseph reported.

    Edwin gave a nefarious smile. "Perfect." He dragged out the word. "We are gaining numbers quickly. When will the person be in here?"

    "Shortly. We are just examining her skills and qualifications. If she is unqualified to aid us, she won't even make it here."

    "So it's a woman? Interesting—quite interesting, our government seems to cater towards women these days. They preached equality, but women and blacks didn't believe them." He put his leg down and folded his hands. He started to think about the woman's motives. "She could either be quite smart or quite stupid. Smart could mean that she realized the stupidity of women wanting to be catered for, or stupid that she was just curious as to why I wrote the book."

    "You are very right, sir. When I first saw her on my desk shift, which was when you called we, I could tell by her aplomb stature that she wasn't a curious person. That could mean that she was an actual person that wants to join us."

    Edwin let on a smirk. "I can't wait to meet her."

—

    In the testing room of NUO, Sarah Banks was seated at a table with a piece of paper and a pen in front of her. The room was all white, and the only color came from her clothes and the clothes of her spectators on the other side of a window. There was a door behind her that lead to the room of the people watching her at this moment.

    An intercom sounded. "You will have twenty minutes to finish this test. The answers are not multiple choice and all are about how well you can analyze the situation and draw conclusions. Are you ready? Do you have any questions?"