Terra Nova

A man in a black suit and hastily tied tie ran into the floor entrance of a large high-rise building. It was the middle of the night, but the streets were still packed with people living the night life. However, the interior of the building was slumbering. The parlor was dimly lit and there was no one at the reception desk. The man took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat that was accumulating on his face.

He didn't dare even stop for a moment, so he continued moving while doing it. Even in the poor lighting he knew his way to the side hallway toward the elevators. However, as he wiped the sweat off his brow he accidently ran into someone standing in the hallway. He dropped all his documents and they scattered on the floor.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going…" He crouched down and started picking up the documents putting them in a messy stack.

"The lighting is bad, I understand…" A beautiful voice consoled him and a petite hand reached out for a few papers to help him. When the man looked up and saw the face of the person he just ran into, his dry forehead became drenched in sweat again.

"Madam Chairman! It's fine, its fine, it was my mistake, ill pick it all up." He had heard of the beautiful board member of their company. Although she had a gentle nature like the mother of all things, she could be very cruel and cold to those that fail to meet her expectations.

"Oh, I'm waiting for the elevator anyway, its something to do while waiting." She continued to put the papers together in a neat and orderly manner. The man gulped, holding back his words in fear of angering her. He knew that once she had decided something, those that went against her would not fare well.

"Mother, what are you doing on the ground?" A stern voice sounded out. The sweating man instinctively turned to see who it was but he already knew based on the voice. A tall and muscular man stood over him, completely ignoring his presence. His clothes were very expensive-looking, and he had an aura of authority about him.

"Oh my, mister CEO, didn't we agree to be formal at work?" She looked up teasingly, not a way a mother should look at her child. However, it was strange to think of them as being mother and child, they seemed to be the same age. 'Perhaps adoption?' The sweaty man wondered.

Ding!

Before anything else could develop in the tense atmosphere, the elevator opened. The CEO entered immediately while the chairman smiled at the poor sweaty man, handing over the stack of papers she accumulated. He had completely forgotten about the fallen papers and was surprised to see they were all picked up, neat and in order. Seeing her walk into the elevator, he suddenly realized the situation. Fortunately, the elevator on the other side also dinged open.

"Madam Chairman, Mister CEO, it was nice to meet you!" He bowed toward them, hoping they wouldn't think he was so rude. He recently got this position and losing it now would be the ultimate blow.

"I look forward to your presentation, Theodosius." The chairman said with a genuine tone. Theo gulped and realized his name was on one of the papers that she gathered. "You have a wonderful name, I knew a talented man with the same name once, I hope you live up to it."

As the elevator closed, Theo was still stunned. He quickly entered the closing elevator behind him and prayed that everything would go well. He knew the purpose of this emergency meeting was due to the newly launched OLYMPUS game by the company. Although it was public knowledge that a new upstart was behind the game, the truth was that NOVA Corporation was the real backing to OLYMPUS. Theo was one of the lead project leaders so he, along with 11 others were called in for the emergency board meeting.

When he arrived, he heaved a sigh of relief to see that he wasn't the last one to arrive. The lights started turning on and the shadowy figures of the 12 board members were revealed sitting on either side of the CEO. Theo gulped when he saw the chairman, he met in the lobby stare at him and then wink. Although she was much older, she exuded a motherly charm that riled up his deep desires.

"It is currently 1:30 in the morning in Sydney. The emergency meeting concerning the newly launched game Olympus begins now. A little over an hour ago, the development team released a statement saying that the game needed to go down for maintenance 30 minutes from now. However, the game suddenly went into an emergency maintenance due to server stability issues. The projected stock value of Olympus and the shell company behind it dropped by 43%. That is over 3 billion in lost profits. Who can explain what happened?"

The project managers were shell shocked. Half of them were asleep and had no idea what happened. They were not in charge of any parts of the game that were necessary for launch. They looked over at the other managers who were directly in charge of the various components of the early stages of the game. They especially looked towards the pitiful leader of the server team. He too was completely taken aback by the news. He went to bed after sorting out the improvements to the server that would be implemented after the maintenance.

"It seems no one has an explanation for me… I guess I can only dismiss everyone and start fresh." This scared all of the managers because they fully believed that the CEO would definitely do what he promised. Theo couldn't hold it in anymore and stepped forward.

"Sir, I believe I have the answer you are looking for!" The CEO instantly recognized the man as the one who was interacting with the chairman downstairs. He gave an impatient look and Theo went over to the computer to project his presentation. The stacks of paper were filled with notes and figures while he began explaining.

"My name is Theo Caesar, I am the project manager of the storyline of the game. One of my technicians discovered an inconsistency appearing in the game after an hour of running. After 3 hours, the inconsistency began to create multiple gaps in the projected story progression…"

His presentation was very detailed and he went over the exact moments that things began to change. The story was created by an algorithm technology protected by the company. No one except for the top brass knew the details of the algorithm. The developers just needed to input data into the algorithm for it to create the story.

"In my opinion, I believe that there is something wrong with the algorithm. I wish to get access to the source code and examine it with my team. I am certain the error occurred there."

The other managers looked over at Theo with a look of schadenfreude. Someone drew the attention of the board of directors, and even asked for the source code of the closest guarded secret of the corporation. They knew that dismissal would be the best outcome for him. He might face legal litigations as a corporate spy in some cases.

However, to their surprise, the board seemed to be rather calm. They examined the slides and were convinced. After the CEO took a quick silent vote between the board, he turned to Theo and gave him an order.

"The board has denied your request. However, we believe your interpretation and explanation has some validity to it. It seems the players have thrown the games story off track with their actions and revealed some content that should not be available. The developers of the algorithm will reach out to you to discuss the information you provided and make appropriate changes and optimizations. Have a good night's rest, as you will be working hard tomorrow."

The group sighed, but before they could leave, the CEO slammed the table with his hand. "Did I dismiss all of you? Only Mister Caesar is allowed to rest tonight. The others will take turns to explain everything they have done for Olympus. Anyone without good contributions will be dismissed."

'A performance review!' Everyone became white as a ghost except for Theo. He had taken the chance to quickly slip away. As soon as he exited the meeting room his legs buckled, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well done, Theodosius. I am satisfied with your courage and wit. How would you like to be rewarded?" When Theo opened his eyes, he saw the chairman crouching in front of him. Her gigantic breasts were like mountains in his vision. He couldn't resist staring at them.

"M-madam Chairman…" He gulped his drool and before he could continue speaking, the chairman put her finger on his lips. "Shh, call me Terra. I accept your request."

…

The gaming pod opened, and Markus stepped out. He stretched his muscles, but instead of feeling tired, he felt invigorated. However, remembering where he was, he frowned. 'Should I just quit the company…?' He thought about his old gaming group again and shook his head. That was just a whimsical dream.