Surprise! It's an inspection!

[Tally]

No communications went out beforehand, no warnings.  The president's ship arrived unannounced and unexpected, just as Zachary had ordered.

It's official name was the Thanatos Monarch 01, and under normal circumstances it was a sleek, coal grey luxury ship.  The luxury was still there certainly, but as the tale went, the president had quickly become bored with both the name and the color and had ordered a recasting of the shell.  And so it was that the ship that set down in TRIM's docking bay was not the stately grey it should have been, but a mist of reds and greens all blended beautifully into each other.  It now went by the name of the Celestial Mango.

This visit wasn't a happy occasion for the people of TRIM.  A flurry of frantic activity swept through the station at the announcement of the president's arrival, employees doing their best to re-sharpen all the corners they'd been cutting in the long months since the last corporate inspection.  The president had a reputation.  At best he was described as non-conventional, at worst a loopy psycho who fired people on an arbitrary and whimsical basis.

Aboard the ship, Zachary sat at one tinted window.  I can see you, but you can't see me, he sang to himself, chin propped on his hand as he watched the docking crew below.  The interior was dim and he was alone in his private quarters.  It had been an uneventful flight to escape a very eventful Earth.  He'd set things in motion at HQ there, and now it was time to let it all play out.  Living in Haviah, he thought, was rather like surfing.  You had to know how and when to ride the waves or risk wiping out.

Not that he'd ever surfed.

A knock at the door roused him.  He stood to check his shoulder-length, pale brown hair in a mirror and smooth the front of his suit.  It was a sharp blue and the jacket was long, ending at his knees.  Tucked in his waistband at his back was a simple sidearm, and he checked the safety before returning it to its place, hidden beneath his jacket.  Then he was off, joining the rest of his party at the exit to the Mango.

"Does everyone have their bunny ears?" he asked.

There was a shuffling of feet and a muttering of many voices as the upper management team he'd chosen to come with him assented with some...reluctance.  Honestly, you try to educate people about other cultures and this was the thanks you got?  Pah.  When he'd first discovered the holiday, he just knew it would be perfect to lighten the mood of these stiff corporate shills he had to surround himself with constantly.  Or at least provide him with the entertainment of forcing them to pretend like they cared.  

He'd learned that, in the distant past, there had been a little known religion on Earth that celebrated the first day of spring by honoring rabbits, those frolicy, cuddly, universal symbols of springtime rebirth and merry dalliance.  And, well, this was the first day of spring on Earth.  So he'd given his management team an ultimatum: wear bunny ears or be thrown out of the airlock.

Thus the president of Thanatos Inc. and every important manager in the company emerged from the Celestial Mango and into the white artificial lighting of TRIM's docking bay--every one of them wearing a headband of bobbing bunny ears, Zachary included.  The president paused just outside the Mango's door, head swiveling in search of the TRIM director.

[Anonymous]

Well, true to the name of an unexpected inspection, it was...unexpected.

She didn't like that at all. She had heard tales about the President of TRIM really, bad tales of course. He was a bit of a loopy fellow, and hsi habit for simply firing or even threatening to kill people at the drop of the hat. She expected really bad things, and she was hurrying as best she could. There was nothing that she had to hide of course, but after she took over for the previous Director, things had been a little sloppy really. She wasn't too fond of that, things weren't orderly, they were messy. She had to set teams on sorting out results, filling out proper forms, but even still it had been months of backlog.

If she got fired because of that, she was gonna hunt down the former director, and if he wasn't dead, he'd wish he were really.

"Ma'am. You have to hurry. His ship is docking." Her assistant's voice was urgent, nervous, afraid, she could even smell it on him. Poor boy was a hard worker, but damned if he wasn't a wreck some of the time. She checked herself in the full length mirror in her office, just make sure she looked professional and accordingly. She wore a slimming suit, deep black with white stripes running vertically along it. The outfit matched her shoes, which were more of a professional looking leather slip on shoes. Instead of pants she wore a skirt that went down to her knees, her legs covered in a dark beige stockings. Under her long sleeved jacket she wore a tie up bodice that slimmed her figure down, not like she really needed it of course.

Her nails were painted a soft pink colour, and her long black hair was pulled up into a bun. Scrutinizing brown eyes continued to run over her form. Ah. Her hand. She looked to the left one, which was more skeletal than her right. Less meat on it, it was almost...rotted in a way. That was the necromantic magic in her. She pulled on a black glove over it and shook her head. Alright. She could dot his. she pulled on a thin pair of glasses and started walking.

It didn't take long for her to make it to the docking bay, where the ship was being hauled in and secured. This would be a little interesting. She wasn't sure what was going to happen, but she had nothing to hide. The experiments were still going on, everyone was to be on their best behaviour of course, and the teams working on the system would work double time. If she could have whipped them, she might have really.

As the doors to the ship opened out came the president and the important managers of the company. Wearing...oh stars what was this? Those weren't...Bunny Hoods were they? They were. All of them were just wearing bunny hoods upon their heads. Her grip tightened on the data pad she held but said nothing bad about. This was their president, she couldn't say anything about it after all. He must have had a reason for it...some...strange ...reason.

"Welcome to Thanatos Research Institute of Metaphysics President Zachary." She gave a half bow to the man, deciding to ignore the bunny ears. If he wanted to explain it, he would no doubt. "Where would you like to visit first sir? Alpha wing, or Omega wing?" Mages or psychics. "We did just get a new shipment of pharmaceuticals from Kabua Enterprises, some of them give such interesting results on the psychics." One of their good clients really. They paid well apparently from the records she could find out, and the ones that had been sent so far were rather...interestin g.

[Tally]

Zachary, never idle, was already looking around and taking mental notes as the director approached him.  Never let it be said Zachary Noel had no work ethic!  He most certainly did, and he would be introducing the director to that ethic during his stay here.  He hoped the bunny ears didn't fool her.  (Well, actually, he kind of hoped they did.  He liked to surprise people.)  He was a shark when it came to business; they wouldn't even recognize this place when he was done tearing through it.  He just hoped she could keep up with him.

If not, he'd find someone who could.

While the docking crew worked on settling the Mango in to make way for the standard maintenance, Zachary strode over to meet Gwen half way, smiling brightly, standing with his hands behind his back as she bowed and greeted him.  So polite and proper.  How quaint.  "Aha!  You called me Zachary!  Excellent.  I like you already.  If you'd called me Zach I would have put a hit out on you."  In the management team behind him there was a flutter of tie-adjusting and throat-clearing and side-glancing.  Zachary quirked an eyebrow up and shot them a look that quieted them.

He shrugged at Gwen.  "That's just how I roll.  It's a pleasure to meet you at last, director."  Zachary leaned forward, turning his head to peer at her with his one green eye.  It was bright, almost fluorescent, and as it looked at her it shifted color subtly toward a lighter yellow-green.  Satisfied with what he'd seen, he straighted again.  

"I apologize for the unexpectedness of my arrival.  Provide advance warning and it just gives everyone time to sweep the dirt under the rug.  I much prefer to observe the real status quo.  I hope you're ready.  We'll be going over every aspect of TRIM in fine detail.  And of course I will be wanting to observe your researchers in their work."

It peeved him just a little bit that she didn't even comment on the bunny ears.  Heavens, what did you have to do to generate some lively conversation around here?  Maybe he should have waltzed out wearing nothing but the bunny ears.  "Do you like our cultural enrichment cranial embellishments?" he said, reaching up to tug on one of the ears swaying over his head.  It bobbed back into place when he let go.  "Now I know what you're thinking. 'Zachary, you gorgeous beast, you've forgotten about me!' Ahh, not so."  From behind his back, Zachary whipped out a spare pair of bunny ears.  "I brought an extra for you!"  He placed the headband upon her himself, standing back to look, reaching back up to adjust it, standing back one more time and nodding.  There.  Now they were all bunnied up and ready to get down to business.

She was getting ahead of him though, and he chuckled.  "Actually we'll be starting here, in Main.  But how about you show me where I'm staying first?  After that we'll start with your security office and go from there."

[Anonymous]

She was glad that he brought his work ethic, even if he were a little...silly. Appearances on TRIM were much too deceiving. The bunny ears were just another hat after all. Just a little...sillier than most hats she usually saw. Hopefully she wouldn't get in too much troubles for the follies of the previous director. That would not sit right with her.

She was trying to fix them after all.

"Of Course Zachary." She wouldn't dream of calling him Zach, at least, not during business hours. Which of course for her never really ended. No no. She had a whole lot of work to do at this time. She always would have. She looked back at the management team that was with him before focusing on him once more. "I would like to say the pleasure is all mines but this is your surprise." Hm. That was interesting. What was his eye doing? It seemed magical perhaps in nature...if not magical, it must have been technological. The shift had been a tad too smooth for technological, unless some new development had come about.

She would enquire later, if she had the chance anyway.

"I wouldn't have it anyway Zachary. I would hate for you to see the fake TRIM. The Real TRIM has so much more dirt and grime to it. We're undergoing a lot of revamping. The previous director ran a shabby station." She would get it running in tip top order if she survived this day anyway. There was no telling with Zachary, she was told he was a fickle man.

"Very much so...they're...cute." She did admit, they looked good. Just likeeveryone was a little bunny. Silly though, but still cute. "Oh...thank you." She lifted a hand to readjust the bunny ears until they sat properly. He signed the cheques. If he wanted her to dress up in bunny ears and a bikini she'd do it. She may not be too happy about it of course but she wanted to keep her job after all. You only argued with the boss when he wanted you to, put in your two cents, creative information, that sort of thing.

"Follow me then Zachary. I will show you to your quarters." She waited for him, walking beside him, with a company of guards near them. She showed him down the halls to one of the rooms, swiping a card on the door before it swung open. It was a posh room, very large, only the living room for the time being. There were a few guards already inside the room, standing watch, though, one of them had a wash cloth and was cleaning up. How very odd no doubt.

"This is just your room Zachary. Your accompanying businesspeople have their own rooms set up not far from your own. There will be guards here and around all the time. These are our...latest batch of guards actually." She gave a stern look to the four guards in the room. "Ahem. Attention." The four guards suddenly rushed over to stand in front of the director and the president. "Remove helmets." Automatically their hands raised to their helmets, unscrewing them and then taking them off.

They weren't human.

Far from it.

They had strange faces, humanoid in a way, with two eyes, a mouth, and nose, but their skin was a strange colour. They were transparent but...hues of blue, grey, green, and black. Obviously silicon based life forms. They did have hair, but it was inconsistent, some of it seemed like protein strands of a normal human, while others were lengthened pieces of silicon. "Viterrans from Viter Five, our resort planet. Fascinating beings. Their bodies allow them to exist in Absolute Zero. These are half human, and exhibit most of the strengths of the Viterran." The exchange program had been set up for just this sort of thing. To help TRIM with being guards.

And no doubt a few scientists that were Viterran were around as well.

"You have a king sized bed with the latest in memory mattresses, fully adjustable with six types of pillows. Full spa facilities of course, a console to access the VCN that routes through sixteen encryption channels for your security issues, a television set, and matter constructor if you are hungry. There is also an on call chef waiting to prepare food that was actually grown." Those were of course just a few features of the room, everything was taken care of just for him. "Anything else you need and require can be taken care of at a moment's notice."

She was actually proud of what would come next. The security office. One of the most technological and state of the art marvels. She had completely revamped it the moment she arrived really. She had no choice. It was in such disarray, it needed to be remade, rebuilt, reorganized.

[Tally]

A noncommittal, "Mm," was his only response to her comment regarding the previous director.  That had come dangerously close to an excuse, and nothing got on his last nerve so fast as excuses.  He'd much rather hear about what she was doing to get the place in top form than listen to her complain about the previous director.  The man was gone.  She was in control now.  He let the comment slide though.  He was still taking the measure of her.

The management team dispersed when they reached the room, off to find their own rooms or get to work on specific tasks.  They each had their individual responsibilities to take care of, details that Zachary didn't need to oversee himself.  "Take those bunny ears off for even a second and I'll know!" he called after them.  Resigned grumbling filtered back to him.  He proceeded into the room and listened politely while Gwen explained the Viterrans and introduced his room, but his thoughts were elsewhere.  The large mirror on one wall of the room had caught his attention.  When she finished, he held up a finger.  "One moment.  This can't wait."

Zachary peered into the mirror.  His own reflection peered back, bunny ears and all.  He frowned at it and his left eye shifted from green to blue, then normalized again.  "Now that is interesting.  This one's been used.  But why would he need to come here of all places?"  He was talking to himself really, a habit of his.  But this was surprising.  And infuriating.  There was supposed to be an understanding in place.  TRIM should have been off limits.  He wished he could tell how long ago the mirror had been used.  "Well.  We can't have this."

He cast about the room and his eyes landed on a decorative crystalline vase.  It looked expensive, but there was nothing else immediately at hand.  Zachary picked up the vase and gave it an appraising look.

Then he hurled it at the mirror.  It made an impressive noise, and shards flew everywhere.  So much for that.

The mirror was now in pieces, and alas the beautiful vase was no more.  Zachary sauntered over and selected a good sized shard of mirror and set it aside upon the table.  "Sorry about that.  Had to be done.  You can have a cleaning crew come in later and sweep all that up.  Do not replace the mirror.  And leave that shard.  I'll be needing it."

Not done yet, Zachary then made for the bathroom.  Bathrooms always had mirrors and sure enough there was one on the wall.  This one was not tainted, but he turned it around and faced it toward the wall just the same.  This was a bad place for him to be caught by surprise.  Searching through drawers and cabinets, he located every hand and pocket mirror and tossed them into the wastebasket, which he then set outside the room.

Finished at last, he brushed his hands off and smiled at Gwen.  "That should do it."

[Anonymous]

Gwen was very thankful she couldn't read his mind, or she'd be very upset with this crazy man who, somehow was running the entire Thanatos Inc. She was doing her best with the crappy setup that the last director had done after all, and it was coming along swimmingly. She hoped that she was able to continue working her, and continue doing quite the job here. She just had to have peak efficiency here. His interruption made her blink as she nodded. "Of...course sir." She murmured quietly as she watched him go to work or...

Peer at the mirror for a moment.

It was soon that she got to see turly that this man was quite insane. After all, he just introduced a very nice crystal vase to the large mirror at the side of the room. That was...he was her boss. People in such a position were allowed to be...eccentric. She hoped that she'd never become like that, but no one was going to argue with him about being so...strange.

This might be a problem if he insisted on smashing mirrors.

There were a lot of mirrors in T.R.I.M.

"Yes sir." It was all she could say at this time as she punched in the order into her data pad. Cleanup crew to the VIP room, leave the shard on the table, and do not replace the mirror, or the vase. Well, the vase couldn't be replaced since they probably didn't have a lot of decorative furnite backups anyway.

"Zachary, should...I be worried about the rest of the mirrors in T.R.I.M when we take the tour? Should I be sending out a crew to cover them up or some such?" There was actually, she had to admit, a various number of reasons that he might be smashing or turning mirrors. Whether it was just the fact that he hated his reflection, or that he believed the mirrors were portals to other worlds, it was a rational thought. Of course, so far she had never experienced some demonic doppleganger jumping through the mirror to strangle her, didn't mean it couldn't really happen. The world was a strange place after all.

She wasn't sure he'd be worried about the other mirrors, in some logic, if he were sleeping and whatever creature came through, it could throttle him. Hrm, she would have to have an active scanner passing over his room just in case then. She punched that order into the data pad as well. Extra security might be a good idea. They had enough staff on reserve after all. Besides, it would give the reserves something to do.

"Would you like to go see one of the wings now? Wing Omega is up and coming now, as we've started to get better psychics. That seems to be our only problem with that particular wing, broken psychics and ones with very low key powers. Research and Development is working on a process to activate various parts of the mind so that we'll have fresher psychics." She frowned as she talked as her bunny ears kept sliding forward. They were bobbing around a little bit. A hand went up to her head and she shifted the bunny ears back into place. Thank the Gods she didn't sleep, or else they might fall off during that time.

Zachary seemed to like his people wearing them, so she would wear them.