71. Penthouse Views

        Once again, Nolan found himself staring out across the water towards the island of Lemuria, emotionally hung over from the Lashing Ceremony. Why did Zara have to be so stupid? If he had known she had been invited to have luncheon with Hedena that day, he would never have sent her down to measure the lab. Why didn't she tell him? 

        With a heavy heart he returned to the gravel invoice in hand, the prices had almost doubled, overnight. Why was this allowed? Why now? Why was everything so messed up? Was this some kind of conspiracy?

         It bothered him because he couldn't question it without some sort of fallout and there was enough of that already. He couldn't help but return his gaze to the foggy isle, puzzled now that Vikkar lived there. Why? He could guess now. Peace. Vikkar was smart. Vikkar had a monopoly over the mining trade there, it wasn't simply his ridiculous sword which gave him such power.

        A loud knock at the door broke his thoughts. "Come in."

         It was Bell, visibly stressed, in need of a friend more than anything.

         "Sit!" Nolan poured him an Orange Bubbly, noticing now how badly he stunk of the Underworld right now. Lending Bell an ear offered some relief from his own burdens of thought. "Tell me!"

         "There's just so many bodies, there's not nearly enough personnel in the Lab to process them all! The walls are lined with carts, stacked to the ceiling, the halls are almost completely plugged up with stupid fucking furniture. Why do we have to store all those bodies? They’re all fucking dead!"
         Nolan could see Bell was losing his mind, it wasn't just him. "I know..."
         "No, no you DON'T, you're all safe up here in your nice shiny PENTHOUSE ILLUSION. What do you see?" He stomped over to the window. "Fucking LaLaLand!!!"

         Nolan let out a heavy sigh, sympathizing with Bell. He had seen how jammed it was down in the Underworld for himself, the stench was unbearable and wafting upstairs, in spite of efforts to conceal it, it wasn't just Bell himself. It was time for a meeting with the boss, he had to face reality, so did they. 

         "I think we should just burn them all" Bell pitched. "Halios says they’re torching the island so what’s the storage about?"

         "I'll make a proposal."

         "Tell Atalon it's the only solution."

         Nolan was green, but he had a solid case; everyone was sick of it. Armed with his reference plans, records and furniture lists, he made his way to Atalon's chamber, rehearsing his pitch. If Atalon wasn't going to increase his budget, he could only offer Bell’s solution. Maybe Atalon just needed to see the figures for himself, perhaps Atalon was suffering from a penthouse illusion too, perhaps if he become enlightened as to the seriousness of the condition underground, he would bend. Confident of a sale, he checked his hair in the glossy walls, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
         "ENTER!" Atalon boomed from inside, not an indication of a pleasant mood. His timing was notable, a meeting was already underway. Atalon seemed relaxed in his chair, Halios and Malodon were both at his side.

         "Your Honor" Nolan snapped his heels together and began in respectful salute. "Allow me to apologize for the interruption. We have a serious crisis in the lab, we need an emergency solution. There's just so many bodies, there's not nearly enough personnel in the Lab to process them all! The walls are lined with carts, stacked to the ceiling, the halls are almost completely plugged up with furniture. Why do we have to store all those bodies? They’re all dead! Bell's losing his crew to the unbearable conditions manifesting below!"
         "Ha! Hear that?" Atalon turned to his brothers, mocking. "Baby Boy wants more gold! Ha-haaa!" He cackled. "Junior spent all his department budget already, Ha-haaaa! On gravel! HA-HAAAAA!"

         "Your timing is excellent." Halios replied, ignoring the king's mockery. "We were just discussing the lab space and storage challenges."

         Nolan relaxed a little, relieved by the maturity of sympathetic ears.
         "Take a seat" he gestured. "Tell me."

         Nolan pulled out his plans and laid them out on the table. He showed him the tally tablets for the equipment that had already arrived, the limited storage areas and the hallway implications.

         "This is just the beginning, too" he explained the cold hard facts. "Like I said, there's just so many bodies, there's not nearly enough personnel in the Lab to process them..."

         "I know, I know, the halls are almost completely plugged up with fucking furniture and they're all fucking dead!" Halios had little sympathy to offer.

         "Adon's working hard to process them" Atalon assured.

         Nolan couldn't understand why Atalon didn't understand. "There are thousands of bodies still at the Culloom Institute, we haven't even begun bringing the equipment in from the school, we've already filled the Moha Lab, the Shipping room and all of the Institutional cold storage. Right now we're running out of room, they're decomposing too fast, we need a new idea!"

         "We can't waste them" Atalon argued the cold hard facts.

         " I think we should torch the rest" he stiffened, daring to air his idea. "Halios said they were going to torch Culloom and Gora anyway!"

         A moment of silence as none dared speak any more stupidity. Instead they studied the underground plan, churning out ideas in silence.

         "You're right" Halios concluded, siding with the king. "We can't allow any of them to rot and go to waste."

         "The new waste processing units are what's holding things up" Malodon informed "Maintenance will be disposing of any waste very shortly, I'm sure the condition will ease up on it's own."

         "Processing units?" Nolan didn't know that Maintenance had been working on a waste processing unit. "What processing units?"

         "You just focus on the pyramids and the renovation plans." Halios ordered.

         "Does that answer your question?" Atalon asked.

         "Not really... I mean, Yes, Your Honor" Nolan replied, taking a cue from the chartreuse glare focused on his presence. "Thank you!" He saluted the gods, picked up his reference materials, and left the room in a hurry.

         "How ARE the pyramids doing?" Atalon boomed as he opened the door.
         Nolan turned, standing to attention. "Very well, your Honor! I have given Be..."

         "I'm very glad to hear that!" Atalon dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

         Nolan returned to his office, deeply troubled by the outcome of the meeting. The condition will ease up on it's own? Didn't they hear him? Adon couldn't keep up! They hadn't really solved the emergency at all, they didn't even grasp the concept of an emergency, they were confident it was all under control. What exactly were the processing units and where were they? Now he was upset for new reasons. He didn't know Torus or his Maintenance department very well, he certainly hadn't mentioned anything to him about the disposal plans… Who was designing it if it wasn't Infrastructure?

         Perhaps Infrastructure was involved? He was beginning to realize how little he knew of his own department, of his role in the Firmary. Weren't waste disposal processors an Infrastructure thing? Wasn't it his job to know these things? He couldn't let it go, he couldn't stop rehashing the meeting in his head. If he was in charge of the renovations, then why were they discussing them without him?

         It wasn't just his department or his role, or it was and he was supposed to be responsible, Nolan was beginning to realize how little he still knew of the Firmary itself, of the city and it's overall operations. He had never really studied the old plans that he caught Zara studying, he didn't even know the extents of the Underworld… Maybe she knew more than him? 

        They called him Baby Boy?