pls crit

The multitude of holographic displays, aligned in perfect lines along small desks, bathed the conference hall in an otherworldly glow. Tendrils of illuminated smoke curled lazily through the room, disappearing from the air as they rolled into the shadows cast by each figure sat at his desk. Some conversed with faces projected before them, whilst others sat silently leafing through documents. Ramsey hated this bi-monthly charade, known officially by the catchy title of "Employee Leader Information Aggregation and Dissemination, or ELID for short. A podium at the front of the room, stretching horizontally from wall to wall, seated the long row of management staff who were tasked with connecting, one at a time, to the holo-display of each of the waiting throng below.



To Ramsey, those platform seated figures were little more than silhouettes through the all-permeating fog that hung in the air. Squinting through the haze, he could loosely make out their individual forms, hunched over their holo-screen terminals, each inhaling rhythmically from a reducer. The concept of introducing a smoking device into a cramped facility of this nature baffled Ramsey; he had still not quite figured out exactly what the reducers were meant to reduce. Station-wide posters and broadcasts advertised a menagerie of positive side effects: reduce your stress levels! Reduce your claustrophobia! Reduce your joint pains! The only thing Ramsey found it had effectively reduced was his already malnourished bank balance; despite initially resisting the device, he now twirled a reducer of his own through his fingers as he waited for his turn to receive his duties.



"3rd Quadrant Technician Leader... Ramsey, is it?"

The sudden address jarred Ramsey from the mesmerising motions of the twirling coils of smoke. Ramsey was familiar with this particular grating voice and set of dark beady eyes, projected in a pale-blue radiance before him.

"Manager Lowell, it's... good to see you again".

"It's Senior Manager now" beamed Lowell, the insincerity of Ramsey's greeting lost in the overpowering air of superiority the manager exhumed as he flashed his silver company badge over the holo-screen.

Ramsey remained silent, raking his fingers through his thick beard as the manager re-affixed his badge to his blazer. He held a dedicated reserve of loathing for this wiry little company minion. His large hooked nose, in contrast to his deep-set beady eyes, dominated his small skull. The thin-lipped smile he wore did little to hide his aura of smug self-satisfaction. If Ramsey knew beforehand that his promotion to Employee Leader would have resulted in him having to occasionally endure the company of this particular manager at each ELID, he might have given it a second thought.

"But enough about my promotion! I take it you have read your monthly dissemination?"

Ramsey had finished reading the documents handed to him at the door almost an hour ago.

"Yes. I read the briefing."

"And?"

Ramsey suppressed his irritation as Lowell peered back across the screen over the top of a document, no doubt an identical copy to the briefing that lay before Ramsey. The briefing given to Ramsey remained virtually unchanged from one ELID to the next; the management staff's insistence on testing his familiarity with his "new" list of to-do's never failed to irk him. Ramsey inhaled deeply from his reducer and exhaled a billowing cloud before reciting his memorised checklist.

"Perform maintenance on all equipment currently in use in the 3rd Quadrant, repair the damaged drilling units, check all sites for outside interference and debris, catalogue the technician's inventory and service items as necessary. Same as always."

Lowell looked up from his documents expectantly.

"And what of item number five on your itinerary?"

Ramsey quickly cast his eyes back over the list laying before him before folding his arms across his overalls.

"The list ends at number four, Manager Lowell..."

"Senior Manager. My copy here states a fifth duty, please verify you are looking at this month's list, Technician."

An uneasy silence lingered between Ramsey and the holo-screen.

"The list is up to date, and it has no number five"

Ramsey impatiently fluttered the singular sheet in front of the holo-screen camera. How many more hours of his time would the managers waste with their bureaucratic errors? The hands of the clock, barely visible through the ever-present fog, slid persistently onwards as Lowell began slowly entering keystrokes at his terminal. The reducer barely left Ramsey's lips as he fruitlessly attempted to reduce his rising irritability.

"You will be required to contact the 3rd Quadrant Administrator. The system has verified my version of your dissemina-"
"Then why was I given this incomplete piece of... this incomplete document!"

The screwed up sheet was sent skittering across the desk and behind the holographic display, passing through and beyond the image of Lowell's thin lipped grimace.

"Come now James, there is no need for undue disruption..."

Lowell's uncharacteristic application of his forename irked Ramsey even further. Furtive glances from other nearby desk-bound employees tempered his agitation. He ran both hands through his hair before briskly resuming his folded-arm stance.

"Outbursts like that are exactly the type of event that prevent you from reaching manager status. Do you think I reached senior manager by losing my temper? Need I request that attendance to the behavioural management seminars be added to your itinerary?"

"You'd only hand me the wrong list again, you useless fuck" Ramsey quipped internally. He answered both Lowell's questions with stoic silence. Ramsey's grinding teeth reached a near-audible level as the corners of Lowell's narrow mouth briefly upturned into a sickly smirk.

"The administrator for your quadrant will brief you on the duty omitted from your list, and then your work can continue. Please see to it that you do not delay."

The small projection unit at the back of the desk swallowed the holo-screen. Lowell's curt termination of the interchange sent a wave of relief through Ramsey. He lent back on his chair and rubbed his eyes, musing on the depressing fact that today's work had not even begun. Stretching slowly as he stood, Ramsey strode through the rows of desks with reducer in hand, briefly scanning the faces of the seated employees he passed wondering which hapless worker would be connecting to Lowell next.