Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Gilded cage

It took a few days before Norman got the call and a location to meet the President. Not wanting a repeat of the warehouse incident – with the biker assassin – Norman reached out to Toby through the convoluted email exchange he set up. Despite Norman’s dislike of his former friend, Toby’s paranoia and skills would come in handy in this situation.

After finding out that the gron President had access to statewide surveillance, that eclipsed the Chinese, Norman knew that Toby’s meager efforts to hide their activities would be useless. It would piss Toby off when he found out, but Norman didn’t care.

Now, he might have a different opinion if the President didn’t want his help.

Norman stepped out of the teleporter and looked around. He found Toby leaning against the building across the street. Norman shook his head. Toby was trying to look inconspicuous but that only made him look more out of place as people rushed by him. That may work in human cities but not in Grothlosburg.

Toby noticed him and headed across the street to meet him.

“I think this is a bad idea,” Toby grumbled as the two walked down the street. “You have no idea what his real agenda is.”

Norman shrugged. “That’s his agenda, why should I care? Besides, these people suck. I would take being an outcast at home over the apathy these gron show. This is also the best way for me to try and figure out how your condition happened.”

“I thought the point was to fix my condition, not make more like me,” Toby stated as his eyes constantly scanned the street for trouble.

Toby wasn’t in his usual Compliance Officer outfit today. Norman didn’t want to spook the President. Not that the man already didn’t know that Toby worked for the Compliance Office.

“The first step to fixing your problem is understanding what caused it in the first place. At the moment I am only guessing at the cause of your change. Would you rather I test a solution on you, without first testing it on someone else?” Norman hoped this would shut the man up, but he was quickly disappointed.

“You’re fine with just killing people for the sake of furthering your knowledge?”

“No. But the President assured me these people wanted to die. I will ensure this is what they want before attempting anything. I’m not the monster you clearly think I am,” Norman replied tersely, ending the conversation.

Everything Norman said was true. He didn’t want to harm people if he could avoid it. He still had nightmares about that guy he liquified while they were on the run. He knew it was justifiable self-defense, but just watching it happen was a memory he wouldn’t soon forget. That didn’t mean Norman wouldn’t defend himself vigorously going forward. It was clear he had been quite naïve to think people would just let him be as he gained power. Heck, Toby was a prime example of that.

“This is the place,” Norman pointed to a building that matched every other building for its utter blandness. The one thing that made this building stand out from the others, was the subject matter of the graffiti that covered the entire face of the building up to the second floor. It was a mural that depicted the history of the gron Presidents' contributions and their escapades throughout history. Norman only realized this as he spotted the sock thief President stepping into a teleporter with a big grin on his face.

Norman traced the mural back to the beginning. It showed a man dumping piles of garbage on unsuspecting people as they exited their homes. Norman figured this led to the invention of the gron disposal system. He didn’t know how they operated back then, but the magic closets on each building floor now teleported the waste to some sort of processing facility within the city. It did leave the city quite clean. It reminded him of stories about Japan and how clean their water was even after a storm.

Norman scanned the faces on the building until he found another interesting character. This one seemingly invented the gron holo tech for the sake of scaring people by projecting monsters out of dark alleys at them. It was honestly impressive how far the gron Presidents went to pull pranks.

“What a waste,” Toby snorted as he examined the mural as well. “Their time could have been better spent helping their people instead of causing mischief.”

“I don’t know. I think they did quite well for themselves. Just look around.”

Toby grunted noncommittally. “Let's just get this meeting over with. I have a shift tonight.”

Technically, Norman was supposed to be on shift now, but having the bodies pile up in his room wasn’t exactly an issue anymore. One because he could just store them and two because Norman figured out the trick the other jerks at work were using to stay ahead. Apparently, they were jamming the doors open that delivered corpses. If those doors didn’t close all the way, the transportation system couldn’t activate due to some safety features they were required to have.

Now that Norman thought about it, they worked a lot like the garbage disposal rooms. They wouldn’t activate until the disposal door was completely closed either. That got Norman wondering if there was a similar room to his own where an Entry-Level Garbage Disposal Technician labored away.

Who was he kidding, of course, there was. The gron loved to reuse ideas in other places if it meant they didn’t have to come up with an original one on their own. The carbon-copied buildings were proof of that.

The two entered the building, only to be met by the President. “Oh, good, you’re both here.” He stuck out his hand and Norman shook it, followed by a reluctant Toby.

“Oh, wow. It is just like shaking the hand of a dead man.” Toby pulled his hand away and glared at the President. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just surprised. It's one thing to see something through the holo and another to see it in person. I must say, If I didn’t know already, it would be impossible to tell at a glance.”

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with,” Toby grumbled.

Something Toby said, made the President laugh. “You remind me a lot of my people. Stoic and fixated on a goal. But you are right, shall we?” he gestured to an elevator.

The three stepped inside and the doors closed. The elevator began to rise but it wasn’t accompanied by any music. The gron did not do elevator music or music in general. Norman had only heard a few drinking songs since he had arrived in Grothlosburg.

“The people you are about to meet are old. I read a bit about your Earth's history. Some of the oldest people you are going to meet were around when your Rome ruled the known world.”

Both Toby and Norman turned to stare open-mouthed at the President.

“How?” Norman asked.

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“Us gron live relatively long lifespans. Anywhere from three to five hundred of your Earth years. It’s one of the reasons our society is so stagnant. That timeframe can be extended through magical means. Then again through technomagical means. Although, those means are only reserved for the previous Presidents. And it’s more a torture than it is a gift.”

Norman winced at that, especially with what the current President had told him at his apartment. He had suspected he was going to meet a former president based on the mural on the building, but not the oldest of them.

“I see you understand,” The President nodded. “To be stuck in a gilded cage after serving your country, and then be denied even the decency to die is a travesty. These are some of our best and brightest people, left to rot and fester as nothing more than an information source for the few scholars that care enough to visit from time to time.”

“Why not just put them out of their misery then?” Toby looked at the President with disgust.

“It is not within my power to do so. I am not even allowed on the floor that holds them, as I am the current President.”

“Wait, then how do you expect me to do my tests?” Norman asked in concern.

The President fished out two visitor badges and handed one to each of them. Then he held out three bottles that looked familiar.

Norman placed the lanyard over his head, then pocketed the bottles.

“This place is automated for the most part. But there is a guard station and a camera at the door. If they see me, they will refuse to open the door. But all you need to do is pass your badges in front of the reader and it will allow you entry. They don’t monitor the interior, other than vital signs. But you know how apathetic my people can be. I timed your arrival to coincide a few minutes before their lunch. As government employees, they are mandated to take two hours. So you have two hours. Make it count.”

“What, you could have told me this before I agreed to this idiotic plan.”

Just then, the elevator door opened and the President shoved both of them out and into a hallway. “Sorry, there was no time. I wish you both luck.”

Before Norman could turn around and shake his fist in anger at the man, the elevator door slammed closed and it dinged, letting him know it was heading back down.

“That sneaky son of a…”

“I told you not to trust him,” Toby crowed proudly.

“Shut up. Let's get going so we don’t waste this opportunity.”

The hallway ended at a big security door. Toby was the first to spot the dim circle along the wall that marked the reader. Both of them ran their cards across the surface and waited.

After about thirty seconds, the door gave an audible click and opened. It seemed the President was correct, there was a secondary check in the system. Although, Norman was surprised that two completely unknown humans were just allowed to traipse into where the past presidents were being forcefully kept alive with just a simple security pass.

This sort of security would not fly in human society. Then again, there was only a handful of gron that would ever think about coming into this room to harm the people inside. Let alone have the ability to even get into the room. And all but one of them was already stored inside the room. So it sort of made sense from the gron perspective.

The room consisted of only three beds and a mess of machinery that Norman couldn’t even begin to comprehend. The only thing he recognized as anything familiar was a lite shimmer over the beds that reminded him of the stasis fields in his workroom.

At first, Norman thought the three were all asleep but he was mistaken. One of the men was staring at him, his flinty blue eyes boring into Norman and making him swallow. The man may be ancient, but he possessed a sort of gravitas that Norman had never seen before. The man raised an arm that looked like beef jerky and beckoned them forward.

Toby remained near the door, not seeming all that interested in what was going on in the room. Either that or he wanted to stick near the door in case something went wrong.

Norman left him to it, preferring to proceed alone.

“So,” the old gron rasped out. “The youngin finally found someone foolish enough to come to see us off?”

“Um… not exactly. Although there is the risk that you might pass on.”

The man’s eyes lit up at that. “You hear that boys?”

Norman wasn’t sure who the man was talking to until two other voices grunted in agreement. Norman turned and saw the other two were watching with undisguised interest. It was really weird to see people this interested in dying.

Norman turned back to the first man and pulled out one of the bottles. The man eyed it curiously for a moment before turning his attention back toward Norman. “I’m here to conduct an experiment on behalf of the current president. This is a weak poison-” Norman wasn’t even able to finish his spiel before the man reached out and snatched the bottle from his hand – with more speed and strength than Norman thought possible of someone so ancient – and with one fluid motion popped the top off and drank the entire bottle. He didn’t even grimace at the awful taste or smell.

“Ok…I guess we can start with you.”