Machinery: A Transcendence Short

Perihelion Studios
New York City
United States of America
January 2121

“You have a really shitty dedication to work,” Marion noted. Ansel said nothing and kept working at his computer, typing at lightning speed while muttering some incomprehensible words under his breath. Marion assumed that they were very technical, video-oriented jargon. “When’s that even due?”

“It’s his long-term project,” Jae-hwang mused from beside Ansel. The Korean, whose hair was now dyed a brilliant shade of teal, watched as the spectacled male kept typing and typing as the seconds passed. “You should have seen him yesterday, M. He was nearly in tears when the fucking program gave him the rainbow wheel of death.”

(At the word death, Ansel gave a small, pathetic noise.)

“The program almost died?”

“Yup. Ansel was going to to start yelling if it weren’t for the program then choosing to spare him.” Jae-hwang paused, “I swear to God he backed up nearly all his files into the first two external drives he grabbed from his bag.” Despite the joking tone in his voice, Marion couldn’t help but give Ansel a worried expression.

“Do you want us to get you something to eat?” she asked him. Ansel didn’t give a reply, only continuing to work. He pulled up one window after another and worked on so many things at once that Marion swore she felt her head spin. Hesitantly, she touched his shoulder and then looked at Jae-hwang, who was now on his phone. “Jae, let’s go on lunch run. You’re free until two, right?”

“Yup – or at least until they text, but that’s going to take some time. Why?” he blinked as she dragged him out of the room, Marion calling to Ansel that they’d be back later. When the director was out of earshot, Jae-hwang pulled himself out of her grip and frowned. “The fuck was that about, Salazar?”

“It’s Ansel’s crappy work ethic,” she muttered. Marion and Jae-hwang left the floor and went for the escalator, “No wonder Elena’s been asking me to tell him to chill out…the last time I saw him this bad was during college. He’s the type of person who can work himself to hell and back.”

Jae-hwang gave a hum, “Now that you think about it…”

“See?” Marion sighed and rummaged through her bag, soon pulling out her phone. “I need to text Elena.”

* * * * *

“You’ve been working hard lately, Elena.” Rayne noted as Elena manned the cash register. The brunette blinked and glanced over her shoulder, seeing Rayne carefully organize the different ingredients they kept. (Knowing their staff, though, she’d end up reorganizing it in the next few days.) “Have you been taking a few more shifts, lately?”

“Might have.” Elena stretched upon seeing that no one else would come into the coffee shop, “For no reason, really. Just wanted to earn a little bit more.” Rayne peered at her curiously while aligning the glass bottles containing the different variations of liquid ingredients.

“How does Ansel take it…?”

“Ansel?” Rayne nodded. “I’m sure he doesn’t mind. Between being a barista and doing freelance work, it’s not really much of a hassle. Besides,” she added, “It’s nice, knowing that you’re earning. Even though it can be a pain in the ass sometimes.”

“I feel you.” She watched as Elena took her phone from her pocket and watched as a frown came to the female’s lips. “Need a few minutes off?” Elena nodded and Rayne took her place in front of the cashier, Elena rushing towards the back room to give Marion a call. Immediately did her wavy-haired friend answer the phone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh good, you saw my text. Hey, Jae-hwang and I are sort of on the way. We’ll be bringing food back to the studio, Free’s on the verge of overworking himself again.” Marion explained. Over the call, Elena could hear Jae-hwang giving an address to a cab driver. “Let’s not give him anything caffeine-y, okay?”

Elena pursed her lips. “Just regular iced tea?”

“Yup – or green tea. It’s about time that he gets some of the healthier stuff.” Elena agreed and was about to end the call when Marion spoke up once more. “Hey…we sort of need to talk about Ansel,” she said, lowering her voice. “I’ll send Hwang back with the food and if you can grab at least half an hour off, that would be nice. Maybe ask Truman or Ho to cover for you?”

“Can’t it wait? I’m sort of double shifting,” the brunette tried, but the insistence in Marion’s voice made her stop.

“No can do, sweetie. It’s sort of important.”

Elena glanced back at the cashier, where Rayne was enthusiastically entertaining a customer. Luke was already there and preparing the drinks to be served.

“Alright.”

Twenty or so minutes later, Marion entered the coffee shop with Jae-hwang trailing behind her. The Korean’s eyes caught Rayne’s and he grinned, sliding up to the counter and lowering his sunglasses so that he could wink. Rayne snorted. Behind her, Luke gave a wave. “Usual?” he asked Marion over the now-flirting couple in front. She gave a nod and Luke began to move, the latter stopping suddenly. “How about Free?”

“Hwang will tell you,” she answered. Luke shrugged and continued, Rayne snapping out of the flirting-daze before receiving Marion’s payment and handing back the change. Eventually, the female got her tea and sat down in one of the booths, texting Elena again impatiently on her phone.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted Elena poke her head out and whisper something to Luke. Luke looked in Marion’s direction and nodded, giving a quick thumbs up. Soon did Elena approach her, apron off and braid in dire need of fixing. She sat right across, and Marion gave a mildly weary smile. Before she could speak, Jae-hwang went up to their area with a paper bag containing food.

“This all for him?” he asked incredulously. Marion nodded and Jae-hwang gave them both an odd look before shrugging and leaving without saying anything else. Elena thought she heard him mutter how much fucking food does Free need for that kind of shit before leaving.

“How have you been doing, Elena?”

“I – I’m fine,” Elena answered, taken back by the other’s question. “You?”

“Better than Ansel,” Marion responded dryly. Elena’s mouth fell into an “o” shape and she waited for the other to set her drink down. “Look…I know you’ve been worried. I got your message,” she explained, briefly showing her phone. “I thought you were exaggerating until I caught him working a while ago.”

“How bad was he?”

“College bad.” Elena gave her a confused look and Marion exhaled, idly stirring her drink. “Look, Elena…you can ask Ansel for all the details. But what I wanted to tell you was to keep an eye on him,” she explained. “He and I didn’t study at the same university, but we kept tabs on each other frequently. All of a sudden, updates from him stopped. I had to contact his dorm mate to check up on him.” While she recounted her experience to Elena, the memory flashed perfectly in her mind. “Because I knew how shitty he could get back in high school.”

“…shitty?”

Marion gave a short nod. “He’s one of the harshest people I know. Harshest to himself, at least. He treats himself like a machine sometimes,” she added under her breath. “Long story made short, that’s how we ended up keeping tabs. Ansel made sure I didn’t worry myself to death while I kept him in check. Anyway, I rang up his roommate – Nico Gomez, you might have seen him in Free’s yearbook…and he basically confirmed what I suspected,” she ended with a grimace. Elena wasn’t quite sure how to register that; Marion finished her drink while waiting for the brunette to comprehend the whole thing.

“…so you’re telling me that Ansel has a very shitty work ethic,” she managed. Marion gave a smaller, sadder smile this time and nodded.

“The crappiest.”

“…what do we do?”

“Honestly? I’d just keep any eye on him,” Marion replied. She leaned back against the seat, “I trust that Ansel can take care of himself and that he knows what he’s doing for Perihelion. But yeah…we should keep an eye on him. We don’t want the worst to happen.”

Elena could only nod.