Chapter 24

The building seemed as imposing as ever. From the square in front of it, Sam could look up and see the lines, the edges, come together, as if the building tapered into a fine point. Shooting up toward the sky, a pointed threat to the heavens. It was, of course, a rather large rectangle, but perspective shifts this close to something so big, so powerful. Sam walked to the entrance and through the door into the gold-tinged lobby. The same receptionist sat there, wearing the same empty smile, staring down at a screen. She didn’t seem to blink, just stared blankly ahead. Theo had said there was a spiral on the screen. Sam wondered if that was what the woman was staring at.

The lift pinged and the doors slid open. Sam looked over to see Aisling emerge from them, her long hair swishing around her shoulders, green eyes glinting, mouth curled into a wry smile.

“Samantha, wasn’t it?” she said as she approached Sam.

“Sam. Just Sam.”

Aisling nodded and put a hand on Sam’s back, then looked over to the receptionist. “Heading upstairs with my guest, put her down as Sam for me, ok?”

“Yes Miss,” the receptionist replied without so much as glancing up from her screen. Her hands began to move and Aisling ushered Sam into the lift with an insistent hand that crawled down to the small of her back. Pointed fingernails pushed into her skin and delivered a jolt of arousal that Sam tried to ignore. Aisling smelled wonderful.

“So, Sam,” Aisling said as they stepped into the lift, “what do you think of CaliaCorp Headquarters?”

Sam opened her mouth to speak, and the doors slid closed with a thunk, and the lift began to rise. Aisling dropped her hand and turned to face Sam directly, peering down at the smaller woman.

“Be careful what you say here, when we’re not alone. Ok? Act naturally, we’re just bringing you in to talk about job opportunities.”

Sam nodded. Aisling’s eyes bore down on her like emeralds glowing and burning into her. Spinning and sending her spiraling into a daze. There was something altogether sexual about Aisling. Long, red hair, a deep cleavage in an emerald blouse the shade of her eyes. A figure that defied logic, a waist too small to match the curve of her hips and the dramatic swell of her chest.

“When we see Ben,” Sam said, “will he… come back with me?”

Aisling shook her head. “I don’t know, Sam, depends how happy he is here.”

“How happy, or how… brainwashed?”

Aisling raised an eyebrow. She paused before speaking again. Sam shifted awkwardly. Feeling a bead of sweat trickle down the back of her neck. Like she was in the lift with a predator, not a person.

“I don’t know what he’s like, I haven’t seen him. He’s just been told to report to a meeting room I booked for us. We’ll see.”

Sam tried to smile.

“How did she do all this?”

Aisling shook her head. “Who?”

“Calia. What did she do? To just… take over everything?”

“I think you already know that, Sam.”

The lift stopped with a loud ping and the doors opened, revealing a perfectly average-looking corridor, with a series of small meeting rooms lining it. Some had people inside talking in front of screens, others were empty. It was the most bland office environment Sam could imagine and suddenly she felt silly, as if there was no way anything she knew could be true, anything she had been told could be real. CaliaCorp was just a successful company. A big one, one that dominated others, but just a company.

“Follow me,” said Aisling. Sam obeyed.

Striding confidently along the corridors, Aisling’s behind swayed with her, and Sam found herself staring. She still wanted Trish the most but could see why Theo seemed so infatuated. Aisling looked like a fantasy come to life. A dream. Sam followed her pert bottom as she sashayed down to a meeting room far from any people. Somewhere private and secure from prying eyes. Sam was glad of that much, maybe she could have some time to talk to Ben, to make him see what was happening. If Aisling allowed her to. Sam still didn’t trust her, though taking her into CaliaCorp, bringing her to Ben, that went some of the way to making her feel at least a little more like the redhead was on her side.

“In here,” Aisling said as she pushed open the glass door of a small room with a single round table and four chairs in it.

Sam stepped inside and Aisling pushed some buttons on a wall panel. The clear glass walls of the room turned opaque, and Aisling shut the door.

“Ben will join us shortly. We’re early. I expected to be waiting for you downstairs. You’re quite eager, aren’t you?”

Sam blushed. She always turned up early. It never made her feel like she was ‘eager’ before.

“I just want to know Ben is safe.”

Aisling nodded and sat down on the table, crossing her legs and letting one foot dangle over the other, bouncing it up and down, catching Sam’s eye. The back of a shoe slid from her heel and the leather pump started to bounce up and down in rhythm as Aisling impatiently moved her foot.

“He is. Everyone is safe here, Sam. No one gets hurt, you know, not unless they’re into that sort of thing. The rest, the control, it’s all mental. You understand?”

“Yes, I think so, it’s just… it all seems so unreal.”

“Of course it does. The idea of a massive corporation brainwashing the masses, it’s absurd, isn’t it?”

Sam let out a small, breathy laugh. “It really is.”

Aisling smiled and nodded. “Yet here we are.”

“Who even is Calia? It doesn’t make sense. She never changes, never gets old, never looks different.”

“What do you expect her to be, Sam?”

Sam looked around the tiny room, trying to stop glancing down at Aisling’s dangling heel. “I don’t know, older? She’s always been the same since I was a kid.”

“I don’t know, Sam, I’m not in the media department. Photo editing, touch ups, who knows?”

“I guess. It just seems strange for her to set up a company like this, so fast, doesn’t it?”

“Was it fast?”

Sam looked down again. Aisling’s shoe swung a little faster.

“Well, she’s been around as long as I remember.”

“So what, twenty-something years?”

“But the company is older than that, right? I looked online and I can’t find a date.”

“What does it matter, Sam?”

“I want to know who she is, the person, not the corporate mascot.”

Aisling shrugged. “Not many people get to see her, just her top advisors.”

“Are you one of them?” Sam asked.

A laugh. “No, Sam, I’m just a manager here. Nothing special. Just another cog in the great machine.”

“So how do I get to see her?”

“You don’t,” Aisling said bluntly.

Sam felt her fists balling up. “I need to, I need to talk to her. I need to know who she is, why she’s doing all of this, what’s going to happen to all of us. I want to know why our homes are being destroyed and why no one seems to care. Why are we stuck at the whim of some woman no-one’s seen in years? What’s going on in this building?”

“You’re a feisty one,” Aisling said, biting her lip, “but nobody sees Calia, besides the few with access to her. That’s it. You don’t get to argue.”

“Why? Why is she allowed to control our lives without even consulting anyone, without asking us? Why did she take Ben? I need to know, Aisling, I need to get some answers.”

Aisling’s shoe dropped to the ground with a thump. Sam’s eyes fixated on green-painted toenails, glimmering through sheer black stockings. She felt suddenly weak, lost, mind softening. It felt as if time were going in slow motion.

“Sam?”

Sam shook it off, blinking rapidly and looking back into Aisling’s mesmerising eyes.

“He’s here,” Aisling continued, stepping up to slip on her shoe and open the door.

Ben stood outside, rigid, expressionless.

“You asked to see me, Miss?” he droned.

“Come in, Ben,” Aisling said, “Someone came to meet you.”