The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.
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Chapter 5.5: Intermission 1. Business is Business
6 August 2020
The sun had not yet risen enough to light the Seattle streets when the hermetically-sealed white van pulled up to the high-rise office building. The back opened, and out stepped a rather attractive man, waving off the offer of a hazmat covering in favor of athletic shorts and a white tank top. He was tall, somewhere around six feet. His features were regular, his face unlined, his neck-length hair blond, and he was built like a brick wall. The twenty-something year old man's name was Chadwick William Richardson, but nobody called him that. To friend and foe alike, he was Chad.
Not that he really had many foes, and none intentionally, which was half of the point of this exercise.
The elevator ride up to the floor he'd been told was his destination was a long one. Long enough to give him time to think. To reflect on the rather strange turn his life had taken, since the call he'd gotten the other day with the wild and impossible job offer. Since he'd agreed to the offer of buying out his current apartment lease in order to be moved an hour north into an integrated penthouse apartment here. The Superior Economics and Expansion group, a niche think tank, needed someone like him, and it would let him make something of his life more than just living off his trust fund.
It gave him the chance to think, yes. He elected not to take that chance.
The elevator pinged cheerfully when it got him to his destination, the door opening to reveal a marble-tiled hallway. Standing in that tastefully decorated space was a severe-looking and tall woman dressed in business casual. "You're Chadwick?"
"That's me, but please call me Chad. Not a fan of the long version." His voice was deep and cheerful, his smile ready and bright white.
"Good. I'm Monica, the director of this organization. Follow me, and be quick about it." She turned and strode off, not wasting any time. He had to scoot a bit to keep up, but not too hard. After a couple of turns, they came to a door with her name on it, and "Director" over it. Simple enough. Monica took her seat behind a large and ornate desk, motioning for Chad to sit on the other side. There were two documents there. "Chad, thank you for agreeing to come. This is your interview. Before we go any further, I need you to sign the non-disclosure agreement on the left. Once you do, we can talk about the details of the job offer."
Chad might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but his trust fund came from a rather shrewd businessman. One who happened to have two sons, the firstborn being much more suited to this, but Chad didn't exactly know nothing on the topic. He glanced at the NDA, finding a standard form that forbade him from discussing what was said during this interview with those outside of Superior Economics and Expansion group. Operations, potential placement, salary, perks... but with an additional line that was not normal. The Quaranteam Serum was specifically included as a topic. Whatever that might be. Finding nothing objectionable, Chad signed where appropriate. He was curious where this was going, after all.
Monica smiled slightly. "Good, I was concerned you might be scared off. You may feel free to read the other document before signing it, but I'll give you the highlights. We here at the company need to be able to move around freely. There are unfortunately a couple of major diseases going around. The precaution against one of these is an unusual vaccination. To utilize it, we need an agreeable male to anchor the... effects. That is where you come in."
The contract was an interesting one. Extremely generous. Compensation was into six figures, plus an attached luxury apartment. Expense line against a company fund. Top-of-the-line health care and insurance perks. "Must be important if you're giving me all of this as an offer."
"Yes. The most important thing at the outset is that you will be on-call 24/7 for your services, and this requires keeping yourself healthy." Monica looked him up and down frankly. "That last does not seem like it will be much of a problem. However, you will have to limit exposure to the outside world. In general, you will need to stay in the top five floors of this building unless authorized and plans are made. There will be travel on occasion as well."
"Gonna be hard to keep up with my workouts if I can't go to the gym. That's the only problem I see. You still haven't told me what I need to do, either." The document was... vague... on that point. It only said he would need to help maintain the protection of all seven of the other employees.
"The serum will be injected into the seven of us. You will need to have sex with all of us, regularly, in order to ensure that you are fully protected and that we stay able to do our jobs. That is what we are hiring you to do. Us. Your suite has a home gym that you will be able to expand as needed in order to stay in shape."
"Right on!" It was uncertain if he was more excited about the sex or the gym. "Anything else you want to tell me before I read this?"
Monica was a bit nonplussed. He had filled out an Oracle survey just after initial contact, resulting in no hard rejections on the entire team and nobody under their agreed-upon 70% compatibility. Now he was here, nonchalantly glancing through a contract that included "irreversible, for an unknown length of time" in its terms. Once this all got signed and commenced, there would be no turning back. They were stuck for the long haul, either for life or until someone figured out how to undo it, with no way to know which would happen first. "Um, yes. You are also required to avoid risky activities. Extreme sports, smoking, drinking to excess, illegal drugs, pyrotechnic or laser light shows not run by a professional, and the like. You will not be expected to provide input on the operations of the company other than what is outlined in the contract."
The contract was short and simple as such things went. Really, it wasn't all that much more than they'd already talked about. There would be medical screenings for tomorrow, his job duties would commence on a timeline as advised by the doctors. "Sounds good, Monica. I wasn't into any of that stuff anyway. When do the movers get here? I'd really like to set up my space." With nothing more than that, he found where he was supposed to sign this one and scrawled out his signature once more. It was done, Chad was now an employee of Superior Economics and Expansion.
Not the way she thought this was going to go, but it worked. "They should be here tomorrow. Erica can lead you to your suite." She hit a button on her desk-side phone, instructing the person on the other line to come to her office.
"Sweet! Thank you." He stood and shook her hand, and that was that. He always did try to be polite.
The woman who came to the door was average height for a woman, though this appeared diminutive compared to Chad, and was extremely pale and blonde but quite skinny. With a smile and an appraising look, she brought him back to the elevator, this time hitting the button for the top floor. "Four of us live on the top floor, you are now one of them. The next floor down has the others. Our workspace is the next below that, and then the common living areas, which includes eating and utility space." Her accent was... vaguely Nordic. "We do not leave this area unless needed, for safety and focus. Supplies are delivered."
Chad was puzzling that out when they arrived at the door to his suite. Across from it was a door labeled "Rita." His did not have a name on it, just an icon of a bicycle. Not his favorite piece of equipment, but good for warmups and cardio. The room inside was... big. Larger than his old apartment, and though it was organized differently it would be easy to make things work here. Huge windows gave a beautiful view of the city. A lot of the rooms were set aside oddly with glass or wood, around a large and carpeted central space. "Thank you, Erica. Do you know when the next event is?"
She smiled a bit, a small expression she seemed to want to hold on to. "The medical team will be here tomorrow morning at eight.. You have all day today to get yourself settled in and meet the rest of our team. If all goes well, your more important job role should start the next day."
"Sounds good! Uh, I'd normally ask if you need anything, but I guess I don't have any of my stuff to give."
"Oh! That's quite alright." Her voice stayed proper, but the blush on her pale cheeks belied her real thoughts on the matter before her. "I have to go. More projections to work on, I fear. I will see you again soon."
She left, and Chad turned to face his new home. Really, other than the slightly odd layout, it was a really nice place. Kind of reminded him of his dad's old office. It all worked, too, giving him space for a good stretch of padded floor and a weight rack on one wall. Which was good, because one was there already. A nice one, too. Three different bar types, plenty of weight, pull-up bar, and resistance bands. And the rack behind it had free weights. Good start, when the movers got his own selection here he'd probably be good to go.
Strange that there was no stationary bike, though, given what was on the door.
Before Chad could really start planning things out for his cardio, there was a knock at the door. He walked over and opened it, revealing another pale woman. This time, a statuesque redhead in a business suit. "Are you the new hire?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"Good." She placed her hands on his chest and lightly pushed him inside. "I'm Tina, the primary scientific data analyst for Superior Economics and Expansion." She closed the door behind her, grabbed him by the wrist, and started pulling him toward one of his suite doors. A bed was behind it. "I know some of what is going to happen in the next couple of days, but this presents me a unique opportunity to get some data. You, strip."