Office Space

All Play and No Work, A Speculative Fiction

Shaking her head in irritation over the time wasted, she clicked him and sent him heading for the bench, then quickly zoomed out to re-scan the now smaller crowd.

Then she, saw him: her Prince Charming. Tall, dark gray pinstripe suit; immaculate hair and complexion; briefcase of a lustrous leather that looked sturdy enough to withstand an explosion - this was her lucky day. Sandra quickly switched her avatar's outfit from the conservatively- professional suit to something a little more daring and moved in for the kill.

He pulled out a cell phone. "Damn," she thought. That had to be Frank. She stepped up and said hello. Charming's eyes moved to her, lowering the phone slightly, and Sandra poured on the charm, using every emote available to her in expert succession.

She noticed his eyes kept flickering over her shoulder. She turned the camera so see what was attracting his attention, and moved applicants out of the way until she realized that he was looking at the bum she'd benched. Curious, she recalled the bum and invited him into a private room with Charming who, cell phone still half-raised to his ear, willingly followed. Sandra excused herself from the room and left a camera behind to watch what happened. It wasn't long before the prince and the bum started shaking hands and chatting. Gotcha! Those two were somehow related. The bum was meant to distract attention or make the prince look like a golden opportunity. She released them and benched them both. Let Frank take the bait and make the top 20. Sandra would play it safe, and down the road when they took Frank for a ride, his rank would plummet while hers continued to rise. Sandra smiled. Nobody could beat her in this game, nobody.

Corvus Elrod is a storyteller and game designer who is working on bringing his 16 years experience into the digital realm. He has a habit of taking serious things lightly and frivolous things seriously, a personal quirk which can be witnessed on his blog, Man Bytes Blog.