The Sored Incident, and Six Similar Stories

By Stewart Berg

Listing of contents along with short summaries:

"The Sored Incident: The Edited Interviews of Person-of-Interest #17" -- A novella of a tech company's campus in Western Washington that experiences an attack. Told across ten sessions of interviews with an eyewitness, the conversational narrative allows for the simultaneous unfolding of the "official" narrative of events along with the many holes in that narrative.

"The Short Happy Trip Of" -- A story of a man hunt in reply to Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

"'You Know What's Wrong?'" -- A story of the New England Patriot's Deflategate scandal as well as its wider implications

"The Seasonal Festival" -- A story of a family’s time at a music festival centered around a performance by their favorite band, The Audacious Crouse

"The XLVIII Iteration" -- A story of existential alienation set against the backdrop of Super Bowl XLVIII

"相信某件事,即使這意味著犧牲一切" -- A story of an overseas employee working under unclear conditions

"Ragnarök" -- A story of a nightmare in reply to Jorge Luis Borges’ “Ragnarök”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stewart Berg
• Release date: May 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781370253647

Stewart Berg

Stewart Berg is a 2014 graduate of Pacific Lutheran University. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Book preview

The Sored Incident, and Six Similar Stories

By Stewart Berg

Published by Falling Marbles Press

Copyright Stewart Berg 2020; 2023

Smashwords Edition

The Sored Incident updated in April 2023 to reflect paperback edition

The Short, Happy Trip of first appeared at Unlikely Stories Mark V

You Know What’s Wrong? first appeared as What’s Wrong at Across the Margin

Contents

The Sored Incident

The Short, Happy Trip Of

You Know What’s Wrong?

The Seasonal Festival

The XLVIII Iteration

相信某件事，即使這意味著犧牲一切

Ragnarök

THE SORED INCIDENT: THE EDITED INTERVIEWS WITH PERSON-OF-INTEREST #17

PROLOGUE: SOME MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENTS OF THE NOVEL

Fire, there is plenty of, and only brimstone is lacking for a full-on hellish scene. As of some minutes prior, the explosions have stopped, but their echo still resounds, if only in soul. Sirens are, instead, the predominating sound.

The predominating sight is a five-story building that has had one whole side blown out. Per campus lexicon, the structure is properly named Building Twenty-Nine, and the smoke pouring out of its wound has dissipated enough that the full extent of the damage is exposed to view; accordingly, much of what used to be inside is able to be seen by those outside. Few, however, are looking toward this epicenter of chaos, and a general alarm for the welfare of self and others is, instead, the predominating focus.

The predominating feeling is, of course, fear, though confusion is a close second, and anger, while present, is a distant third, subsumed for now by the other two. Running, the predominating activity, is also, like the feelings, rather expected and can thus be disregarded as disinteresting in the most usual. Other activities, such as care for those wounded as well as those unable to evermore feel, are likewise enough a part of the situation itself as to be overlookable.

The predominating explanation, though not yet spoken, is that a terrorist attack has occurred. As yet, no one has stated the words in question, but they are in every head, and they may, in fact, have already been expressed by those not at the scene itself, depending on whether any media outlet has been able to, this early into the tragedy, get out a breaking-news bulletin. All wonder, and whether to know now, later, or never, each in his or her own way asks: Why was Sored, the international home of Cogether, attacked?

•

SESSION 1; FEBRUARY 19, 2029

[Q]

How far back?

[Q]

I started about a year and a half before everything happened. I applied for the job and then got it without really knowing anything. I just thought it was going to be for catering, based on the ad. There was only one phone interview before I was hired.

[Q]

No, nothing, at first. A friend of mine just saw the ad then told me about it. I didn’t have any idea what company it was for when I applied.

[Q]

Why?

[Q]

His name’s Jason.

[Q]

No, not until I showed up for the first day. I started realizing it once I was driving out there, obviously, but that’s it. Nothing in the ad said anything about who it was for. I even looked to make sure after.

[Q]

The first day I was there, they tried to have me start right away, and I didn’t have any idea what was going on. The person training me could tell right away that I was clueless.

[Q]

Kathy Halenfield. She was fired not long after I started, though.

[Q]

I’ve no idea. They usually wouldn’t even mention the fact of someone’s leaving to us, so I didn’t even know she was gone until I realized I hadn’t seen her. It could’ve just been that she quit, though, too.

[Q]

That first day, they wanted me to help with actual kitchen stuff, and I couldn’t even understand what they were asking me to do. I’d thought the job was just going to be for setting things up, taking them down, and cleaning, but they wanted a full member of the kitchen. I’d put on my resume that I’d been a butcher, so they must’ve assumed I’d know my way around a little.

[Q]

I put it on my resume, but it wasn’t true.

[Q]

Because I wanted the job. I didn’t think it’d matter, either. I was applying to a lot of places every few months.

[Q]

I’ve no idea whether they tried to. No one ever brought it up to me. I know they’d actually run the background checks, but I don’t know about anything else.

[Q]

I don’t think they cared. That’s referring to the people on my team, at least. Kathy, I’m sure, was annoyed that first morning, and I screwed up a lot that first week, but I don’t think anyone really minded. I figured out the routine before too long, and then I just did the same thing every day after that.

[Q]

I’m not sure. It didn’t seem like it.

[Q]

I don’t care if they’re the most powerful company in the world. I’m not lying. All I’ve said is how I got hired. I haven’t said anything untrue.

[Q]

Yeah, the job was being a full member of the kitchen. They made three meals a day for the whole campus, so we pretty much just did whatever the chefs needed at any given time. Every meal would be different, too, and usually themed, so it ended up being like working in a different restaurant every few hours. The cafeteria was right in the middle of campus, too, so it always felt like everything was converging on us three times a day. It could be pretty hectic, and there could be a lot of pressure, but there could also be a lot of downtime, depending on the day. The chefs were all full employees, obviously, but most of the rest of us were just contractors.

[Q]

No, I was never an employee of Cogether.

[Q]

No, I was an employee of Shorein. That’s who gave me my paychecks.

[Q]

No, Shorein did staffing for a company named Benevento.

[Q]

Yeah, exactly. I worked for Shorein, which had a staffing contract with Benevento, and then Benevento had a staffing contract with Cogether. I was a contractor with Cogether, not an employee. There were some contractors who were employed directly by Benevento rather than Shorein, but we were all contractors, as far as Cogether was concerned. There were other staffing companies, too.

[Q]

Most of the jobs at Cogether had contractor roles. I don’t know any that didn’t. Contractor just meant whoever had been hired to do the basic work of an employee job. We contractors would end up working beside employees the whole time, but we’d be beneath them, too, so it was like working for your coworkers. I was told it was the way all the tech companies structure things.

[Q]

All sorts of reasons. More limited liability, for one. If a contractor ever screwed up something big, Cogether could always say it wasn’t actually an employee of theirs who’d done it, which would point the finger away from them. It helped with regular employees, too, I think, since it made them feel like bosses, even though they were still doing the same work they’d be doing anyway. We were told it was designed so that contractors could have the opportunity to kind of audition in order to become future employees, and it was true that they’d sometimes go through the process of buying out a contractor’s remaining contract from Shorein, or Benevento, or whatever other company it happened to be. Also, there’d be the fact that I’m sure the whole thing saved them a ton of money.

[Q]

Yeah, we were given badges like employees, but they were different. Everyone had to badge into every room when walking in, so contractor badges were designed to stop us from going places where only employees were allowed. The game rooms would be a good example. We could go to those places if we were invited by an employee, but we had to have them badge us in. Usually, though, if you were a contractor and had just met someone on campus, you wouldn’t want the person to know you’re just a contractor, so we tended to just avoid those places altogether, which is probably what they wanted. There were other things, too, like special brunches when they’d wall off half the cafeteria for employees only, and there was a monthly trip to Point Defiance Park because of the zoo there.

[Q]

No, I was renting an apartment in Puyallup. Only employees ever actually lived on campus, and I think most of them didn’t want to, anyway. Sored was about exactly between Tacoma and Puyallup, so most everyone I knew of lived in one of the two cities and then just made the drive every morning. I think most of those who actually lived in the campus apartments were employees who’d moved into the country for their jobs. There were always a lot of international employees on campus, and everyone said Cogether liked them so much because, once they were brought in, they wouldn’t have an easy time quitting.

[Q]

No, not at all. I almost joined one of the volleyball leagues that allowed contractors. I ended up just not wanting to be on campus unless I had to be, though.

[Q]

If I was ever early enough, I’d go to one of the cafés until a chef needed me. There were always things happening on campus, so all the cafés had long hours. There were a few that were open twenty-four hours, too.

[Q]

No, it wasn’t too bad at all. There’ve been lots of job I’ve had that were way harder. Getting meals was like added pay, too.

[Q]

Yeah, I did. He’s who met me when I showed up the first day. He was with me while I did the introductory paperwork, but I never saw him again. He was my boss, but only in the context of Shorein. The employees we worked with were our actual bosses.

[Q]

Do you mean Robin Beckham?

[Q]

No, I was never friends with her.

[Q]

No, I didn’t know her at all.

[Q]

It was about a year and a half before everything happened, so almost exactly two years ago.

[Q]

Yeah, I’m sure.

[Q]

Yeah, I know.

•

SESSION 2; FEBRUARY 19, 2029

[Q]

No, I didn’t.

[Q]

I don’t know her. I never did. I told you I didn’t know her. Why would I lie?

[Q]

Everyone on the kitchen staff knew her that well. She was our coworker.

[Q]

I can only tell you what everyone knew.

[Q]

She was hired right after I was. Contractors never ended up staying for very long, so they were always hiring for everything. She told us her parents lived out of state, she was usually a little late, she was tall and thin, her last name was Beckham. What is it I should say?

[Q]

I don’t know what it is you want to know.

[Q]

I can’t remember any conversation I ever had with her that seemed important.

[Q]

I know that now, though. Back then, I didn’t have any idea what she was.

[Q]

The last conversation I can remember having with her was about a month before everything happened. We only ever spoke enough to say hellos, and even that’d only be on days when we’d be on the same shifts. All she did that last time was mention how hungover she was.

[Q]

Why?

[Q]

Not everything, but I can remember part of it. She said she was as hungover as the overhung, and then she asked if I was the same. It was a Friday morning, so it didn’t seem too weird. I’d heard her ask it that same way to someone else before, so I assumed it was a phrase from some show.

[Q]

I can’t remember who it was. I’m not even sure when it would’ve been.

[Q]

No, Robin was the only one, I think.

[Q]

Like a code?

[Q]

Why would she need to find out about me, though?

[Q]

Not at all? How were they infiltrating Cogether without knowing each other, though?

[Q]

I didn’t realize it was that extreme.

[Q]

How many of them were there?

[Q]

No, I know you’re not