Short Story: Copper Games

Simon Lang woke up with a smile, all of his hard work and maneuvering through office politics finally got him to the executive position for the marketing division at Electronic Arts, or EA. Another executive offered to give him a rundown on how things work around there in order to not be let go by “the big guy”. As he stepped into his office he found the other executive waiting for him looking as sharp as he does during normal days.

“Hey there Simon, how is it going?”, the executive asked, shaking his hand.

“Well it is going, am I right?”, Simon joked as the executive smiled and let out a laugh.

“I like you already,” the executive began, “I’ll show you around.”. Both Simon and his executive friend toured the building, waving to secretaries and cubicle workers alike through the floors. Soon, they reached a specific room and the executive stared back at Simon. “You signed the NDA correct? We are entering the big guy’s section.”, the executive asked to which Simon nodded. The Executive swiped his ID card into the lock and the door switched from red to green, granting access. Upon entry, the office space became more old-fashioned, with clay tablets on display.

“Is the CEO an archeologist?”, Simon asked in surprise.

“Well, the answers will come soon Simon.”, the Executive answered. Both men walked down the hall with displays of copper alongside specific clay tablets until another door appeared at the end. With two knocks, a voice replied back to the two men.

“Come on in.”, the voice said from beyond the door. The Executive opened it and Simon was confused at the sight. There was just a short man sitting at his desk with a portrait of some sort of an ancient person behind him. He looks at Simon and smiles softly before getting up. “Mr. Lang am I correct?”, was what he said.

“Yes Sir.”, Simon answered.

“My name is Ea-nāṣir, I run this company.”, Ea-nāṣir stated, to Simon’s surprise.

“You mean you took the name from that copper merchant?”, Simon asked.  Ea-nāṣir laughed heartily at the question posed by the new executive.

“I am afraid not, I have been Ea-nāṣir for quite some time.”, Ea-nāṣir answers confidently. 

“How exactly does this work?”, Simon asked.

“I did perish, but it appears that a tablet referring to me resurfaced back into the public gestalt which manifested me in the modern day. Ever since then, I managed to worm my way into this company to the top doing what I did best.”,  Ea-nāṣir answered.

“And what would that be?”, Simon inquired.

“Making low-quality products for my customers of course. You cannot fathom just how much the shareholders tolerate the product quality so as long as their numbers go up to their liking.”, Ea-nāṣir replied, laughing before giving a serious face. “You do remember that you signed an NDA, right?”, he asked to which Simon nodded. “Good, besides who would believe you anyways?”. The ancient being across him poured two glasses of champagne and gestured to clink glasses to which Simon obliged.