The Shadow of Purexo Lasse Öörni 1 2 NaNoWriMo 2011. Dedicated to the grand master chefs who each day sub- merge themselves in the art and science of preparing the most challenging desserts for the rest of us to enjoy. Also dedicated to Carolyn Keene. It is recommended to eat bun pudding and orange rice while reading. The character Okko created by Tomi Thurlin. Used with permission (as far as the author remembers.) 3 4 1. ”The composition's already close to optimal. Just have to keep the temperature firmly in check,” Lothar Wa- gener mused to himself as he eyed the yellow-brownish mass bubbling in a glass container, heated by a gas burner underneath. His present location was ten metres below ground, at Purexo's secret research facility for especially chal- lenging desserts (referred to ECD's in official memos.) He was the scientist in charge of product develop- ment and analysis. Purexo was the global leader of food, events and fa- cilities management services. Its morals and ethics had been questioned in the media several times. There had been demonstrations against the company, sometimes bordering on riots. Even some famous people had been arrested during these demonstrations. As for some of the less famous persons arrested – they had never been heard from again. Lothar had long ago learned not to care of his em- ployer’s public image, and did not feel any measure of guilt twisting his heart if he happened to ponder what fate had fallen upon those poor devils. And in any case that was a matter for the security division, not product 5 development. They both had their own work to be done – and in his case it was not unpleasant in the slightest. Quite on the contrary! Of course it demanded an especial strength of char- acter to spend day after day in the laboratory optimiz- ing the taste and composition of a pudding or a kissel, according to the strict but peculiar quality criterias set forth by the company guidelines – But when the work was finally complete, when the instructions for a brand-new ECD, or an updated exist- ing dessert, had been codified and put to distribution around the world for the chefs to follow to the letter, nothing could beat that grand feeling of success. It was exactly at moments like these when Lothar felt at the top of the world. Even though physically he was pretty much at the bottom. Before sanitating its business focus to slightly more acceptable forms, Purexo had invested heavily into pri- vate penitentiaries. This facility had been built into one of them, and subsequently expanded below it. The prison itself had been closed already three years ago because of violent outbreaks and unsanitary condi- tions, and on the whole it had been a failure on almost all levels. Nevertheless, before closing down the prison- ers had been given the questionable honor to judge the taste of some very imaginative but often also forbidding desserts. Very few of them was ever brought to the pub- lic. The prison was called Black Meadow Correctional Facility. Black was not far from the truth, but there cer- tainly was no meadow to be seen, just miles of open, marshy terrain into every direction. Any escaping pris- oners would have had it hard trying to make any kind 6 of headway, and they would certainly had been de- tected unless they dug themselves into the swamp. Officially no-one had escaped during the five years the prison had been operational. Unofficially there were rumors of some convicts daring to enter the bow- els of the earth, the caves below ground that the re- search laboratory had later been expanded into. But where would they have gone from there? “Maybe straight to Hell,” one of the security staff – a for- mer prison guard – had said to Lothar somberly. In a way it was amusing to think why security was needed at all at this in this God-forsaken place – but in fact it was. First of all to guard trade secrets – Purexo's security division was admirably well up to speed with the tricks of cyberwarfare, and no noteworthy breaches, leaks or malware epidemics had ever materi- alized during the company's colorful history. And sec- ond – to ensure the physical safety of employees, par- ticularly those in a leadership position like Lothar. Sometimes, the task of sorting fifty variations of chocolate kissel or cappuccino mousse according to whatever criteria was simply too much for an assistant lab worker, and test tubes, LCD displays or even chairs could go flying at that point. But now security might actually be needed for even more critical reasons. For Lothar's exact line of work might actually be changing due to a very, very specula- tive expansion Purexo might be about to undertake. This expansion might not be entirely voluntary and controlled, and if Lothar would have let any kind of weakness or doubt to take hold of his mind, he might have headed running to the nearest exit in the throes of insane, gut-wrenching, absolute terror. But he was a scientist. He took to the matter – or to 7 the phenomenon – with an analytic, iron-willed calm- ness. The possibilities were fascinating. It appeared that a bun pudding (one of Purexo's old- est and most famous ECD's) with just the right kind of composition and appearance, one that had been pre- pared in just the right temperature, reacted to certain harmonic sound frequencies in an utterly perplexing manner. It started to fracture, which was not surprising con- sidering the porous structure of this particular varia- tion of pudding. But what was most surprising – the other side of the dessert bowl had not been visible through the cracks and holes. Rather, something completely else had been visible. Lothar did remember that he had been awake forty- eight hours without a pause at the time of witnessing the phenomenon, so his senses might not have been at their sharpest. But he could swear that through the pudding, he had seen into another dimension And what kind of dimension! In his youth Lothar had read H.P Lovecraft eagerly, and this author's visionary descriptions of dimensions most foreign and forbidding to man came to his mind, undeniably and unquestionably. Spirals – nebulas – eternal black towers of monstrous size. Though the holes between pieces of bun had been small, it had been peculiar to observe that peering through them nevertheless felt like observing the vastness of space in every direction. It was therefore possible that it was not only purely a visual perception, but some kind of thought transference. 8 The phenomenon had not yet repeated itself. But Lothar could sense that it was just a question of time. He would just need to prepare the exact same composi- tion again. It was very possible that Purexo was about to transi- tion from an international company to an interdimen- sional one. This thought brought goosebumps to Lothar's skin, and made him chuckle almost silently. He had not brought the matter yet to his immediate superior, the assistant regional director Klaus-Marius Goldigger. First the phenomenon should be made to repeat itself reliably. Of course one terrible thought had occurred to Lothar. What if it would not repeat, ever? What would he do then? But he shut the disturbing thought from his mind with Spartan deliberation. He had succeeded in every- thing in his life up to this moment, and he would suc- ceed now as well. The temperature of the pudding sample was slowly rising up to the saturation point. Lothar sighed with a measure of disappointment: at this point there was not much to do except to wait, and that meant he would have to return to his actual assignment. There had been a study on the effect of ECD's on the performance and mental agility of “top specialists in their respective fields,” and Lothar was to produce a summary of the results, along with recommendations for further actions and further testing, if any. The guinea pigs – or test subjects – had been given the opportunity to rate the meals and desserts on a number of criterias, including taste and surprise factor. They would also rate their perceived work effective- 9 ness, and whether the food had affected it in some ways. The questionnaire contained both multiple choice and open questions. In addition the actual per- formance of the participants had been measured quan- titatively, for example in the case of programmers by counting the lines of code produced, and the number of programming errors fixed, or caused. One had to note that the concept of a dessert being “challenging” was absolutely classified, and kept hidden from the public. On Purexo's management level it was of course discussed each and every day. The common people could well discuss the “kick” or “bite” of a dessert, but they could never be allowed to know that Purexo made the desserts challenging on purpose. If that information ever leaked, it would greatly reduce the subliminal shock effect, in addition to potentially stirring up another round of public fuss over the company ethics, or lack of thereof. It might af- fect the turnover as well. Not that Lothar cared that much of the turnover. But his pride was dependent on knowing that each day as many as possible, from students to prisoners to doctors and lawyers were subjected to the meals, and especially the desserts, that he had helped to shape. That was something worth ensuring that it stayed that way.