"Hey, Beasty! Look at this!" One of my coworkers boisterously shouted. I turned around, and away from the GE-635 I was at to code a program.
It was 1977 and I was part of a small team that was developing software for an operating system that had been around for the closer part of a decade, yet a lot of people didn't think would catch on as a serious contender in the market. It was mostly a research and hobbyist system, but we saw something that the doubters didn't.
The colleague eagerly held a tape reel in his hands, and showed it to me. I walked over, and looked closely at the label on the reel. "Utility for a more enticing experience". My eyebrows raised when I saw this as the label on the reel.
"I'm just as confused as you are." The colleague said after a few moments of silence. We stared at the label, trying to make sense of what it could mean.
"Could the developer or whoever put this label on be more specific?" I said with a bit of suspicion in my voice. Suspicion and intrigue.
"Do you want to take a look at this?" The colleague asked, suddenly sounding nervous.
"Sure, I will, but is something the matter?" I asked.
"I'm just getting tired, and a little dizzy. That's all!" He said before he handed me the reel.
"Okay--" I said. I offered to load the utility, but the colleague quickly walked off as if he were relieved to be rid of it.
I sighed. He's going to miss out, but if he suddenly wasn't feeling well, I shouldn't be so harsh.
I loaded the tape reel and continued coding, but after a couple of minutes, I was feeling light-headed. My body began to sway in my seat, I was feeling ill, and I thought I saw faint purple sparks coming from the drives. They lasted for only a split second before they disappeared, so I wasn't sure.
Was I just getting tired and was feeling ill from not getting enough sleep? I tried to shake it off, and reached for the half-full energy drink can on my desk. Chugging it gave me a jolt of energy. I thought I was just tired before, because I felt more alert and continued coding. Something still wasn't right. After a few more minutes, more sparks came from the drives! I carefully looked at them.
These were real! These were larger, brighter and lasted long enough I couldn't ignore them! "Hey! Something is wrong with the drives! They're sparking!" I shouted for help, desperate for any of my colleagues to rush to my aid, even the coworkers who annoyed me at times. I need help, but while I waited, I made the wise decision to approach the drives and try to remove the mysterious reel that I put in.
I quickly drew my hand back. A shower of sparks popped at me when I had put my had near the drive. I lurched back in fear, but was surprised. Some of the sparks hit my hand, and I wasn't wearing any gloves, but I didn't feel any pain from them. Relief lasted for a few seconds when I noticed the floor was starting to glow.
A large magic circle from out of nowhere surrounded me! It rotated and had mysterious symbols.
"Help!" I shouted. I panicked and tried to run out of the circle, but I was knocked back and fell to the floor as if I hit an invisible wall!
"Beasty-- What happened?!" One of my colleagues shouted as he entered the office.
"I didn't make this! It came out of nowhere!"
"We'll try to get you out of there!" The colleague shouted. A few others gathered by him, and they dashed towards the magic circle.
"Ouch!" One of the colleagues complained.
"What is this?!" Another of them complained. They were all knocked back after they hit the invisible barrier.
The magic circle glowed more brightly. I was surrounded by a large column of light. Everyone panicked further. They were feeling as hopeless as I was, and I could sense it... my body was starting to feel light, and like I about to be warped somewhere. I didn't want my last moments they'd see of me panicking. I sighed.
"Goodbye... I hope we meet again, but please tell my roommate to--" I calmly said before being warped away cut off my sentence!
"Tell him to what?!" One of my colleagues nervously said. I wanted to tell my roommate to stop drinking milk directly from the cartons we shared, and to stop borrowing my record player without asking but I didn't get the chance!
I opened my eyes after I was knocked out. It felt like a moment, but I didn't know how long I was out for. When I woke up, I was lying down in the floor of an unknown building, and immediately jolted up.
A cheerful but unfamiliar-looking person had approached me and was immediately the first person I saw. She looked to be in her 30's. Her hair was dark blue in a short flip-do that reached to around her shoulders, and she had blue eyes. She was wearing a blue dress with a skirt that reached halfway past her knees, with grey stockings, and red shoes. Her dress had a dark gray shawl with a blue bow and a large round brooch, and she wore a necklace with a large wire-wrapped crystal on it.
"Where am I, and who are you?!" I shouted. This mysterious person listened for a few moments when she must've recognized my language and began speaking in it.
"Hi!" She quickly greeted me before she stepped away and towards the open door into a hallway. "Juna! Juna! Your ritual worked!"
"Ritual? What ritual, and who is Juna?!" I asked.
"Oh, where are my manners?!" She cheerfully asked, and she approached me again. "My name is Polyxena. Juna is my former apprentice, and she summoned you to our headquarters!"
I was still confused, but wanted to be polite.
"My name is Damien Beasty, but I don't know where I am. Where are these headquarters?"
My answer stunned her for a moment while she tried to think of an answer.
"You don't know where we are?" She asked.
I glanced around the room for clues. There was some furniture to suggest that this was the lobby. The room retained a rustic look to it with wooden panels lining some of the walls, and brick in others like the inside of an old mill. The furniture resembled sleeker space age styles from the 1960's. It was quite a contrast between that style and the rustic wood interior, but there were design elements that brought them together. Panels on the tables and on the walls brought splashes of colors with reds, oranges and blues.
Several framed pictures were on the walls; one of them was of a mill. Another framed some newspaper clippings, and there were several framed pictures of colorful 1970's-style geometric patterns in reds, oranges, greens and blues. At least those were current.
On the wall was a large rectangular flag which had a dark red field with six narrow silver vertical stripes. It was reminiscent of Digital Equipment Corporation's logo. Could this be a coincidence? DEC's original headquarters were also based in an old mill!
Polyxena looked worried when I glanced back at her. She saw that I was looking at the flag and the insignia, but still wasn't sure where I was.
A pale and slender short person who looked to be a magician with slick black hair tied in a ponytail entered the room, and she had a somewhat surprised expression on her face. She looked to be in her early 20's, wore a simple gray magician robe with boots and a shawl, and a short black cape that had a gray pattern of lines on it. She had gold eyes with rounder irises which gave her an owl-like expression, and in her right hand, she held a metal pipe.
"Are you the person I summoned?" She stoically asked.
"I was just taken from the human world if that's what you mean!" I nervously said while I tried to be polite, taking more notice of the pipe that she was holding.
"My name is Juna, and I'm looking for an apprentice." She introduced herself.
Before I could introduce myself, another person entered the room and added to the commotion. Why would they all be excited to see me when we never met? I didn't think I'd ever be the chosen one in some story. A woman who appeared to be around the same age as Juna but slightly taller entered the room. She had light blue hair with a light yellow and blue polka dotted headband and wore a knee length blue dress with a polka dotted shawl, yellow tights and blue dress shoes. She looked cheerful.
"What a delight to meet the new guy!" The new person in the room cheerfully boasted. "My name is Piper!"
I reached out my hand to Juna and Piper but they and Polyxena seemed confused.
"I've seen this before. Is this part of a human custom?" Juna asked.
"Humans? They're implying they're not human and they aren't common here. Where am I?!" I thought, but I took a breath before I responded. "Yes-- this is called a handshake." I said.
"Oh! This is familiar. I've done this before!" Piper said, and she helped demonstrate the art of the handshake. "Humans don't drop by that often." She added.
I was still disoriented from all of this. I was relying on caffeine to get through my shift, I was still feeling dizzy and I was warped into another world! The only thing I was sure of in this world that was in my favor is that the people I met know some human languages, and I speak one that they know! I can ask for directions to get out of here or ask for basic survival tips. I began chatting with these people but then we were interrupted by a grouchy man who entered the room.
Everything about his appearance spelled "sorcerer who could kick my a** with magic or in a physical brawl".
When he approached, I quickly realized how much he towered over everyone in the room. He was around 6 and a half feet tall if not taller, and looked to be in his late 40's or early 50's. His outfit was also elaborate; he was wearing an elegant black robe and boots that had light yellow stripes on them that gave them sort of a baroque meets a 60's or 70's sci-fi movie look to them. A striped tunic peeked from underneath his robe, and wore a red cape with a large frilled black collar and a red ascot. His hair was brown with silver tips, and his glaring eyes were red.
"Summoning cannot solve all issues and that is an unwise lesson to teach." He argued to Polyxena.
"Don't be rude in front of our new guest, Gerald!" Polyxena argued back at him. "Don't mind him. He's no fun, and he's being a rude guest." She cheerfully said to me.
"You initiated Juna and summoned her because I gave up on developing that experimental game." Gerald bluntly pointed out.
"Because... someone else gave up on it, then you did and I didn't want it to go to waste!" Polyxena argued. "It wasn't the best reason but I'm glad we got to meet Juna." She conceded. I was awkwardly caught in the middle and didn't say anything, but this reminded me of something. I couldn't put my finger on it though, and kept observing.
"Summoning the guest was my idea." Juna bluntly said.
"Oh, in case, I'm proud of you, Juna." Gerald cheerfully said.
"So am I!" Polyxena added before she glanced at Gerald, and glared at him.
"Stop. You've both been great mentors, and I'm ready to mentor my own student." Juna told them. Gerald and Polyxena nodded in agreement and backed down.
"Great job, Juna! De-escalating conflicts is a crucial skill to have for any leadership position!" Piper cheered.
"Good one!" I said and smiled in agreement. Juna briefly smiled.
"Thank you" She said.
When the commotion cleared, the topic changed again. Everyone was suddenly looking at me, which made me nervous.
"Am I not a candidate to be your apprentice, Juna?" I nervously asked.
"No. Since you were summoned here, you should have the potential for what it takes, but we're thinking about something." She stoically replied. "It was about your outfit." She added.
"My outfit? Is there something unusual about it?" I asked. What questions would they have about it and what potential do they see in me? I was just wearing black jeans with white sneakers, an off-white button-down shirt, and a dark red tie.
"Is he already one of your apprentices?" Piper asked Gerald.
"He can't be... I've never seen you before, and you act like you've never been here before." Gerald began to say to me. He sounded suspicious of me.
I was intimidated, and wanted to interrupt to tell him that I've never been here before, but what would've happened if I did? I couldn't afford to be seen as rude then, so I let him continue.
"Are you one of Multiplicia's apprentices?" He asked. Everyone else in the room looked nervous, but I was just confused.
"Who's Multiplicia? Is this a person to be dreaded?" I asked. Piper and Polyxena gasped, but Gerald and Juna were silent for a few moments, but I saw them glare.
"That person I didn't want to mention, because that'd be opening a can of worms if any of us did." Polyxena quickly explained.
"She's a rival. A formidable rival." Juna tersely said. "She made a lot of innovations to our world's magic system. I agree with the basic concepts, but I can't stand her demand for overcomplicated elements..." She explained in more detail, and with a hint of hot-bloodedness in her voice.
"I wanted to be more approachable, to work with more people and promote these ideas in a more accessible way." Juna added. Piper smiled when she heard this explanation.
"A lot like me years before!" Piper cheerfully added.
Multiplicia and Juna had a connection, and a rivalry of complexity vs. simplicity, and they're called Operating Superstars?... It couldn't be. This is just like--
"Did you want to know more?" Juna asked.
"Perhaps." I said, still sounding lost in my thoughts. The similarities I was seeing didn't look like coincidences. "I wonder though. Why did any of you think I was someone's apprentice in this world?"
"The color scheme of your outfit. When I was Polyxena's apprentice, I wore a blue and black outfit similar to hers." Juna said.
"I'm not anyone's apprentice yet. I was a software developer before I was taken to this world." I began to explain. The group looked interested and very curious...
