Just a head’s up, there will be no In Beta addition next Friday (December 27), but I should be back in action the following week. I hope you have a happy holiday season!
Enjoy!
——
With the report concluded, Tanner pressed the button on his desk to open his office door and waited for the doctor to make his exit. Baker, however, continued to watch the director with a sort of vacant smile, as if unaware of Tanner’s irritation with him.
Tanner forced himself to maintain an even tone, “Something else, Doctor?”
“I’m so glad you asked, Mr. Tanner,” Baker replied immediately, clapping his hands together. “Our R&D team is ready for another excursion and I was hoping to join them this time. Would I have your approval for a dive?”
The doctor offered him his datapad, which displayed a dive approval form. Tanner snatched it from Baker’s hands with perhaps a bit more haste than he meant to and pressed his finger on the form for verification. “If that is all, Doctor Baker…”
He trailed off, holding his hand out towards the door, a smile plastered on his face that did not reach his eyes. If the man stayed one moment longer he was going to lose his composure completely.
But the psychologist was already taking back his datapad and nodding his way out the door, mumbling about how he had already stayed too long and how the director must be busy. His eye continued to twitch in maddening fashion and as soon as he cleared the door’s threshold, Tanner jammed his thumb down on the door button to shut him out.
With a sigh, he leaned back in his office chair and began to flick through agent profiles on his desk computer. He set four aside and pressed another button on his desk to open a communication link with his secretary . “Emily, I need to see some agents in my office. Could you page them for me?”
He listed off the four names and then cut off the channel, allowing himself a brief smile of satisfaction. Sam Lalonde was already proving to be worth the effort they had put in so far.
******
Outside of Eric Tanner’s office, Dr. Baker waved vacantly to the director’s secretary and entered the elevator to go back to the rest of the Academy. On the trip down, he eagerly forwarded his dive approval to the technicians looking after the pods and then quickly typed out instructions for his assistants left in charge of Erin Cartwright’s care.
He thought of also sending an email to Sam Lalonde, but dismissed the idea in favor of speaking with him the following morning. The boy needed some rest, no matter what Tanner thought of it.
“[Sixth floor]“
The elevator chimed and the doors opened. With a bounce in his step, Dr. Baker made straight for the Simulation Chamber and the VR pods inside.