Administrator

The Chief Administrator called me into her office today. I was worried before I went in; I haven't produced any significant research while I've been in The Sick Land, and I know how competitive places like this are. I've been asking a lot of questions, too, and I might have upset some people. If those people wanted me gone, there wouldn't be many arguments I could muster in my favour. The meeting wasn't what I'd expected, though.

I sat down in a leather chair and spoke to the Chief Administrator. She told me she knew that I'd been looking for answers, and that my intellectual curiosity, and the grit I'd displayed in surviving for so long out in the field, had impressed the senior staff. She stopped talking and took some papers from her desk. She said that if I signed them, I'd be offered a new position. If not, I could choose to remain where I was or leave. I glanced at the papers, but there was no real question; I signed them immediately. Once I had, the Chief Administrator told me that the upper level of the facility is for field experimentation; the true researchers were on the floor below. I asked why no one had told me this before, and she said it was an open secret, but discussion of the matter without security clearance led to termination, so no one really talked about it. I'm being taken down to the lower level tomorrow. I hope I'll find answers.