Sylvia Glen's face turned quickly into concern. "Doug? No.. he should be at the warehouse."
"We've tried calling him, but nothing. We thought he was on his way to the office." The lizard man said also getting worried.
"can you trace him Michelle?" asked Sylvia.
Michelle connected herself to the wireless internet. It was as glitchy as any computer but she was able to get a relatively good picture out of it."The... last picture I have of him is going into the warehouse, and it corroborates with the last phone call." Michelle continued to observe the video recording then... noticed 'something'. Something that she had seen before... a faint shimmer. A shimmer that tended to indicate the presence of... of...
...a magic girl.
Magic girl's didn't get picked up by security camera's easily especially now. Something about their powered up form disguised them... probably because of the huge concentration of magic. But Michelle had enough experience with Becca, to see it for what it was. "I... need to do a little investigating" Said the gynoid.
"We all do," said Sylvia. "I'll call his house... maybe he went there. Or... someone has seen him.
Michelle nodded as she wordlessly stepped out of the office.
The lizard man and Sylvia were alone.
"You don't suppose he's done something... stupid?" Asked the Lizard man.
The cat woman looked up at him, a picture of grave concern. "...Doug was upset," said Sylvia delicately. "But I did everything I could for him. He seemed to understand. I- surly he wouldn't..."
She couldn't even complete the sentence. "I'll have to call a few people too... keep looking for him."
"Okay boss," said the lizardman before going away.
Sylvia tapped her claws on the computer. The computer still glitched showing random runes that meant absolutely nothing to her... it was maddening. Now of all days, she needed information and it just wasn't available.
With Doug missing, it forced her to reflect on just what she had been doing. If it turned out that Doug had harmed himself over the loss of the job... or the added pressure she had put them on... was she to blame for all this?
Not to mention her thoughts on their new gynoid. Michelle was new and young, but she had hit a nerve. She liked Michelle... not just her skills to replace those lost when the computers went down but also... she was a very pleasant person. Clever too... One wonders if she can work out how conversations are going to go before they happen. If anyone could, a machine probably could.
That left her with that lingering doubt. If she didn't want to work with them... she could easily go to a competitor. The robot changed were in very high demand. Sylvia didn't think she had been that unreasonable... but what if she had been cutting too fast? What if Doug's disappearance was a symptom of that? What if even more people drove against their cost cutting and 'productive time management'?
It's just this new world had so much to get used to. New people, with new skills... so many lost skills, and people all needing a job and money. It wasn't easy... but the world was moving on quite well.
Sylvia licked her paws. A... somewhat annoying habit, but when she got stressed out it helped. She thought back to when there were more human managers in charge, and were shunning the changed... now there was a greater mix, with the changed doing things as much as the unchanged... and for the most part it worked out quite well. But it didn't change the reality of the situation. Even a changed person had the same pressures and demands, to find the right people in the right place... and maybe Sylvia did somewhat prefer the changed to the unchanged. She just... found them more 'suited' to the job. Humans were just... 'average'.
Sylvia went to her shelf, and took out a book... one of her favourites and one she felt had prepared her for the realities in managing the company in this new world. A book that now had greater significance..."Animal Farm," she said looking at it. "What have I done..."
She sighed. Michelle... might be right. Still, that didn't make the work pressure go away. Perhaps she could apply the gynoids touch in a new way?
But first... they had to find Doug.
