ALARM CLOCK DAWN (An Original Novel - Episode 20)

In yesterday's episode Adam was subjected to a roller coaster of emotions. At first, he was afraid his career at XenTek was coming to an untimely end but instead he was offered a brand new beginning! As fiction, as in life, it's very important to read between the lines, as things are not always as they seem. The truth is often right there, between the lines. I hope you enjoy today's episode everyone!

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Did you miss Episode 19 of Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to catch up.

Are you new to Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to start at the beginning.

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His words had hit their mark with a sniper’s precision. The final priceless picture that Adam had of Ms. Finch was her standing there, visibly uncomfortable, not knowing what to do with her hands, her eyes looking only to the ground. She stood there at last, revealed for both what she was and everything that she wasn't.

She then looked up at him furiously through reddened eyes and managed a small sniffle. “Adam, you have been promoted. You will be escorted to the office of Mr. Busby, Director Pfizer's assistant, to be given the details of your new position.”

CHAPTER 7

“You must be Adam Harkin.” Mr. Busby's receptionist studied Adam from over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses. “Please have a seat. Mr. Busby is busy and will be with you in a moment.”

Adam took a seat in the waiting room. Furnished in chrome, glass, and leather, the room was cold and minimalist to the point of feeling bare. Mr. Busy’s receptionist, who wore a tweed suit and heavy makeup, sat down at her computer. She adjusted her gold butterfly lapel pin, and then her fingers began to click away on the keyboard.

Adam gazed out of the tall window at the gray sky, his mind racing as his legs bounced with anticipation. He still felt edgy and thought for a moment about how very odd the last hour had been. Promoted? Why? What the hell was this all about anyway?

“You may go in,” the receptionist said as she quickly rose from her desk.

Adam's heart began to race as he stood, walked to the door, and turned the ornate brass knob. The huge door creaked open and the receptionist closed it quietly behind him.

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Mr. Busby was reclined in his chair on a phone call. He was speaking quickly, his eyes darting back and forth. He nodded his head and motioned with his hand for Adam to take a seat in chair in front of his desk. The office was even more bare than the reception area, which seemed unlikely for someone who was responsible for the Herculean task of keeping an organization as large and far reaching as XenTek humming. The only thing that looked out of place was the tall stack of manila folders perilously teetering in the middle of his desk. Adam glanced around the room and noticed there were stainless steel elevator doors just a few feet from the doorway he had entered through.

“Yes, I realize it will cause a spike in energy prices, but Mr. Pfizer has given specific orders.” Mr. Busby took off his tortoise shell glasses and whipped them across the top of his desk in frustration. “Yes, I am certain. The director specifically said the power from both stations must be diverted for Project Phoenix . . . yes, in thirty minutes. We will need a two-hour window. I have to go now. Call me in fifteen minutes with an update. I don’t have to remind you that Mr. Pfizer doesn't like to be disappointed.” He slammed the phone down.

“Hmm, Adam is it?” Mr. Busby stood up and walked around to the front of his desk.

“Y-y-y-yes, sir,” Adam answered, shaking Mr. Busby’s hand.

“Welcome.” Seth Busby pulled a Holo from his breast pocket. “So, you're the gifted young man who solved the missing piece of the puzzle?”

“ I-i-i'm sorry, sir? What puzzle?”

“Ah, and modest, too?” Mr. Busby smiled, revealing a sizable gap between his two large, front teeth. “The way we do business here has its flaws. We’re sometimes left with these incomplete puzzles, useless and frustrating half-solved riddles that mock our intellect. Ha! But not this time. You were absolutely correct about the small metallic box you were working on yesterday, and this discovery is very valuable to us. This is the missing piece to the puzzle of a project we've been working on for years, a project that will secure the future of XenTek for many generations to come. Can I ask how you figured this out when so many others have failed?”

Adam furrowed his brow, not really sure how to respond, and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Sir, I've f-f-found the greatest success in going with my gut instinct when faced with my assignments.”

Mr. Busby grabbed a manila folder from the top of the stack and threw it opened on his desk, wrapping it twice with his knuckles. “Whatever your method is, it works. The proof is in the metrics. Your success rate since beginning with us is ninety-two percent. This puts you in the very top tier of this organization, Mr. Harkin.”

A wave of contentment came over Adam. This was the first time in his entire career at XenTek that Adam felt as though he had finally made it onto management's radar.

Mr. Busby reached into the pocket of his suit coat and placed a Holo on the desk in front of them. A three-dimensional blueprint of a large circle appeared in a hologram in front of Adam. Busby traced the circle in the air with his finger. “This, Adam, is the project I would like you to become a part of. Project Phoenix. This enormous machine has taken two years of round-the-clock work to construct. It consists of a tunnel ten miles in circumference buried a full five stories beneath the bedrock.”

Adam studied the diagram for a moment, surmising it could only be one thing. “A p-p-particle accelerator?”

“My, you are a brilliant one, aren't you? It’s a pity we didn't promote you sooner.” Seth scratched a few notes on a pad of paper beside him with a pencil.

Just then Adam’s body began to sway slightly and his thoughts became fuzzy. The dizziness didn’t impede his ability to hear Busby speak but instead the sound of his voice was cloistered into the background as the following words suddenly came to him:

Focus is hazed as
wing-tip dreams come calling.
softly, persistently
those starched seams
of material obsession

trite expressions that seem
to echo so endlessly.

I've left it all behind this time,
left it all behind in my mind

The alarm clock so
methodical in its wringing,
starving, stealing time
so stealthily that you hardly notice
until one day you wake up faded,
to a jaded, gaunt and hungry hue.

I've left it all behind this time,
left it all behind in my mind.

So this is how it feels to be free?
To be set adrift like some jazz sax riff
When need is an endless song.

Can't tell you where I'll be tomorrow.
I may be drawn back into the
Yawn of the alarm clock dawn.
Balance is my only hope to end up
Somewhere in the middle.

As Adam’s full consciousness returned he saw Busby leaning over top his desk snapping his fingers.

“Mr. Harkin? Hello, are you with me?”

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Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.

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