Numbskull

Day 1

The Way the Wind Blows

"Sorry for the rough exit."

I jerked back to the present to find a woman hovering over me and blinked the fog in my eyes away.

"Earpiece working? Check."

Who is this lady exactly?

"You were just in the Animus. AH-NIH-MUS? Yes?" Am I a kid from kindergarten that you need to supervise for this Helix database analysis? Probably.

"Of course I know what an Animus is, I have been working on this thing for the past few months or so to make sure it worked for everyone!" I wanted so badly to say that but thought better of it and kept my mouth shut.

"You were using it to access a genetic memory file in the Helix labelled Shay Cormac. You work for Abstergo Entertainment? Remember?"

I just continued staring blankly at the lady waving her hands and looking around; a loony, she must be. The blaring of alarms drowned out conversations in the background, red blinking lights sparking panic in people. I slowly stood up, feeling the ache of my sore back.

"Any of this ringing a bell? Your session triggered something bad, and it's affecting the whole building," she continued, "We need to find your boss. You haven't forgotten your boss, have you? Melanie Lemay? Super chipper over-achiever?"

Blinking at her, I kept quiet still, not wanting to disturb her entertaining drama self. She just looked absolutely fed up with me and I relished the feeling of almost driving her off a cliff. I took the communicator, a slab of electronic metal, that she passed over and followed her somewhere.

"This chaos is absolutely your fault, in case you were wondering." What can I say? I am a magnet for trouble. Shaking my head in exasperation, I ran along with everybody else.

"Come on everyone! Just like we practiced in our safety drills!" A new voice joined in the mayhem. An overly-energetic woman with short red hair — Melanie Lemay, our boss — beckoned us into the lift, "Everything is going to be okay, guys! Stay positive!"

I tried to go into the lift like the others but the lift went down before I could get in. Boredom catching up to me, I stared out through the see-through glass panels surrounding the lift at the happenings downstairs.

"What the hell is happening?" Melanie's voice full of what seemed like dread came in.

"A file labelled 'Shay Cormac' was booby-trapped with some kind of virus." Despite looking down, I couldn't help but listen in on their conversation and how it related to me being here with them.

I could have almost imagined a glare from Ms Lemay, "Your job is to prevent things like this."

"We need to contain these genetic memories then we can destroy them."

I just stood at the side, continuing to observe the chaos on the ground floor.

"No. Isolate them," A faint male voice joined in from their earpieces, "I want to study these memories."

"But-"

"With respect Ms. Lemay, this is not a request." The male voice came at it again.

If you listened closely, you could have heard the sighs of resignation reverberating throughout. "You heard the man."

"Fine."

"I need to borrow your numbskull." I turned around at what supposedly was a reference to me — who else would she call a 'numbskull'? Obviously the one that had been ignoring her the whole time during a mass panic attack. "That okay with you 'Ms. Lemay'?"