Progress                                                                                                             

The skies outside the lone sentinel building were overcast and gray. It looked like it may rain, but to the employees of Heltech Enterprises, it made no difference. They were basking in the perpetual light of fluorescent suns, breathing in the over-filtered air from the central air processing unit designed to encourage the productivity of Heltech employees.

"Damn computer won't start!"

Nobody turned his or her head towards Joey Patone. His words were common enough, and besides, everyone was busy with their own business, surviving on their own in this jungle that was General Marketing. Supervisors circled the cubicles, seeking out the hapless employee who was wasting valuable corporate time, while secretaries typed away at their computer keyboards, the clicks and taps creating a perpetual background noise that drowned out the whistling mail-carriers and the droning of the central air-processing unit.

Recovering from his outburst of emotional distress, Joey examined his possibilities. He could just sit down and do nothing about the situation, and leave himself open to the circling supervisors, or he could call in a technician from Tech Support. Not wanting to risk his Casual Friday privileges, Joey dialed Tech Support. A clearly bored operator informed him that a technician would be sent up shortly to address his situation.

All he had to do was wait. Joey sat down at his desk, twiddling his fingers and wondering what to do.

After creating a whole a whole family of cannibalistic head-hunters out of numerous paper-clips and observing his neighbor Nancy readjust her undersized bra through a hole in the PVC barrier between them, he heard a knock at the entrance to his cubicle.

"Is this the cubicle of a Mr. Patone?"

Looking at the figure skulking at his cubicle entrance, Joey thought of a human-sized mouse wearing a technician's uniform, and a tag that read, "Hi, My name is Daniel. How can I help you?" Real-life Daniel was wearing a pair of round glasses, which accentuated his bulging eyes and receding hairline, even though he was in reality barely 25. Joey nodded in response to Daniel's question, and pointed towards a blue box that was located at the corner of his 3' by 5' desk. Daniel the technician proceeded towards it, like a gerbil finding its goal of Swiss cheese in the middle of a maze. Leaving Daniel to his work, Joey began to weigh his options in being able to sneak another look at Nancy. He wondered why Nancy would wear such undersized bras and dresses. It wasn't like no one knew what was under them. She could spend hours readjusting her bra and dress, and people could still see that they were bursting at the seams. Someone ought to tell her to get a bra that would fit. Or get breast-reduction surgery. Her unnatural extensions could kill someone if she weren’t careful. David from the mailroom didn’t seem to mind as he accidentally brushed up against Nancy. After a few minutes, it seemed someone was going to get hurt tonight.

"Mr. Patone, don't we know each other from somewhere?"

Joey was snapped back to office-space reality. Daniel was looking at him with a credulous look, his right eyebrow raised in an arch. He was sitting in front of his computer screen, his fingers still scuttling over the keyboard while he looked at Joey feign irritation.

"Maybe. We work in the same building, right?"

Joey lied.

"I could have sworn I knew you from somewhere else. Oh, found your problem. It seems that your computer here suffered a power surge that literally fried your main motherboard. I would need to bring your box down to the Tech Center and get it replaced. You desperately need a system overhaul. Oh, by the way, I've managed to create a backup of your hard drive, so once you get your replacement, you can continue working immediately."

Joey just nodded in agreement. They didn't pay him enough to learn the mumbo jumbo Daniel was spewing.

"Are you sure we haven't met? You can correct me if I am wrong, but do you happen to frequent this club called Paradise Lost downtown?"

Big mistake, Joey thought. Employees do not discuss affairs that occur outside of Heltech Enterprises. The office was a controlled environment in which employees are expected to

provide full productive use of their time. An employee does not bring contaminants from the outside. It could disrupt the whole ecosystem.

"You must have me mistaken for someone else."

"Oh well, just wondering. Hey, I should bring this box down to the Tech Center. Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Patone. I will send a replacement shortly."

With that, Daniel picked up the blue box, and left the cubicle. He scampered his way through the maze that was General Marketing, clutching the box close to his chest. He almost ran into a supervisor fresh from a kill, but managed to squeeze through the closing doors of an elevator.

Stupid new recruits, Joey thought. They just have no respect for the system. To succeed you must follow the system. In the system, supervisors looked for prey to hunt, while secretaries performed their typing like mindless drones. In the system, people like Joey cannot work if their computer is not operational.

Sitting on front of the area that once housed his computer, Joey proceeded to observe Robert, his other neighbor, pick his nose.

**************************

Later that night, the skies outside the establishment that was Paradise Lost were clear and lucid, each star in its right place in the heavens. Inside, a dark, writhing mass reveled in the darkness punctuated by short bursts of brightness from the swiveling lights. Smoke from burnt tobacco and vapors from distilled spirits permeated the dark atmosphere, masking the smell of newly-washed bodies and synthetic scents of imaginary flowers.

There, everyone paid attention to anyone. Everyone was equal, as though predators made peace with prey for the night. The night was young, and hours could pass with no consequence. Dance and techno beats drowned out the beating of a hundred hearts, beating and breathing as one.

There, Joey would find Daniel under the blaring speakers and explosive lights. They would talk, and Joey could tell Daniel what he had wanted to say back in General Marketing.