CML - Custom Made Lover [Slow Updates]

CML - Custom Made Lover, Chapter 1

His finger made an elegant waving motion as it slid across the holographic panel, sending a few virtual sparks flying, thereby placing a neat signature at the bottom of his most recent report. The report itself was on altered reaction times of test subjects who had been asked to imbibe specific substances; it had been an interesting study. There were no breakthroughs or shocking results but it had dotted the i's of previous investigations in to the subject matter and Caleb Jones had enjoyed working on it. This was partially because he liked completing the puzzle that was scientific research but mostly because it had been his final study; this was his last day at work as a scientist at Ryan Corp.

November 15th, 2087, exactly forty years ago, he had walked through the personnel entrance for his first day of work. He had only just finished his lab assistant training and had been very lucky to be hired pretty much straight out of school by a Ryan Corp representative.

There had been a job market in the school's cafeteria on the last day of his senior year before the summer holiday would commence. Caleb and a few of his classmates had initially decided on skipping the job market to go hang out at their favorite spot; the sun was shining and the thought of staying indoors at this stuffy job market full of very square-looking corporate representatives did not seem very enticing. Aside from that none of them had any intentions on applying for jobs yet, still busy enjoying their freedom and lack of responsibilities.

An observant teacher had seen the small group heading for the door and ordered them back inside, putting a stop to their sun-soaked scheme. The job market, she informed them, was not an optional event; every senior student was supposed to be in attendance as their future careers depended on it. Grudgingly they turned back around, moping, and headed in to the crowded cafeteria.

A lot of stands were strewn throughout the hall with some very flashy, digital presentations filling the air around them. When they spotted the Ryan Corp stand it was only because it had attracted the largest crowd; the company was known for its high salaries and excellent benefits. Everyone at least semi-serious on landing a job before the summer holiday was through was busy jostling for a position at one of the application terminals.

Out of the group of friends Caleb had the highest grade average. He had managed to hide that fact skilfully however, as being good at things that your friends were bad at could cause for major strife. He wanted to avoid filling out a Ryan Corp form fearing he might actually get hired so he suggested to steer clear. However, Shaun, the undisputed leader of the group, insisted they should all fill out the forms just to get a Ryan Corp rejection letter; it would be something to frame and hang on their wall as a joke. Caleb, not wanting to stand out, agreed with the others that it was a good idea and so they got in line.

The queue was fairly long so Caleb, for a while, had high hopes that Shaun would get bored with the wait and then suggest they go do something else instead. Shaun, as it turned out, was determined to get his hands on a personal rejection notice; it had become a matter of personal pride for him. This rejection notice would most likely be the one and only time he would get his name on anything with a Ryan Corp logo on it. Most of Caleb's other friends were just as likely to only ever have this one opportunity so they too were interested in sticking it out. Caleb hoped dearly that the machines would break or that the fire alarm would go off for no reason or anything that would lead them to leaving this place, but no such thing happened.

Eventually he was at last confronted with the holographic application floating in the air in front of him. When he noticed that the Ryan Corp system had access to the school's database all hopes of falsifying his exam scores and thereby getting the highly sought-after rejection notice vanished in a puff of smoke. Meekly he entered his personal information and watched as his scores appeared, neatly lined out, on the screen.