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One
Anyone who said network installation wasn’t sexy, never had the right scenery. And when it came to great views, it didn’t get much better than Cole Denton, AKA Oz. As in The Wizard of.
Watching him lay cable—not a euphemism—along the bases of cubicles, so it could be connected and then hidden, was a thing of beauty. The way his back muscles flexed under his T-shirt… The deftness of his fingers as he crimped twisted pair… Wowza.
I was such a freaking dork. And proud of it. Best part was, Oz was too. Back in the day, he was top brass at Rinslet, one of the biggest gaming companies in the world. It was where he got the nickname, Oz. He preferred to be the man behind the curtain, making the magic happen.
He retired at thirty-five, and now, two years later, he’d founded an organization that offered tech apprenticeships.
“I was scanning the list of EdgeBite contestants this morning.” I snapped another cubicle panel in place to hide wires. I preferred programming over manual labor, so I watched all the innovations, amateur or corporate, so I could dive into the tech as soon as the opportunity presented itself. “That they have a think tank out of Silicon Valley this year— Is that redundant, aren’t they all?”
“No. They’re just nosiest about it.” Oz’s tone was flat.
“Okay.” I didn’t mind the gruffness. He was one of those guys who was like that. I expected to carry most of this conversation, which I hated with strangers, but it was okay with Oz. “Anyway, one of competing companies has a new rendering algorithm that extrapolates from video and makes digital characters look real. Like, closer than we’ve ever been to the other side of the uncanny valley.” The previews of their 3D models were amazing.
Oz moved a ladder under an open ceiling panel. “Up.”
I climbed into the hole, leaned over to grab the bundle of cables from him, and headed for the next pillar to connect these. The first time he had me do this today, I’d teased him that he only picked me for the job because I was tiny and better at crawling through walls.
He’d given me a completely flat expression and said Busted. Anyone else would’ve thought he was serious, but I knew he was teasing me.
In my fantasies, his teasing took a much more physical form. He was still quiet in my imagination. Rough, intense, and working my body over with those skilled fingers, until I was sore and pleasantly spent. Then cuddling after.
Not that I ever expected that to happen in real life. He was a decade older than me, my mentor, and basically a tech god. I was a chatty, sunshiny noob to him, and I was fine with that.
“No comment?” I called down as I worked.
“They built the tech so they could make more realistic porn.”
I grinned. These were the conversations I lived for with Oz. He had perspectives I’d never consider, and while they weren’t always the most positive—okay, they really never were—I learned so much about the industry this way. “You assume. Besides, the internet is so vast thanks to porn.”
Silence again.
I poked my head through the nearest opening in the ceiling tile. “No comment?”
“I’m your boss. I’m not talking porn with you.”
When he offered to personally work with me as part of his company’s program, to give me next level training, I almost died. Mr. Smart, Sexy-as-all-get-out, was going to teach me new tricks, and make sure I didn’t violate my probation in the process.
Wiring an office for CAT6 wasn’t supposed to be on the lesson list, I knew this stuff, but there was a scheduling conflict and he’d offered me an extra five hundred bucks to help. I would’ve done it for free, but I couldn’t afford to turn that down.
“You’re my mentor, and I’m not asking about porn. I’m asking about the tech. They could’ve made it for other reasons.”
“They could’ve, but they didn’t. They pitched an investor friend. Disgusting pitch.” Oz knew so many people in the industry.
I was both intrigued by his statement and wasn’t going to ask for more detail. His definition of disgusting could be actual disgusting, in which case I’d rather not hear. If he was talking about a little kink, I’d still rather not hear. Best not to destroy the fantasy.
“Even if they did create it for that, it can be used for other things. Video games are only the start.” Though they were what I was most interested in. I super was lucky that my best friend’s previously ex-, now current-again-boyfriend had pulled some strings with my felony conviction. Gotten me a reduced sentence. Made sure I wasn’t completely cut off from technology, especially not the way my accomplice was. But game programming and security was where I really wanted to be, and that had been out of my reach for the last couple of years.
The good news was I’d finished my probation a few months ago. My felony had been reduced to a misdemeanor. I’d be re-entering the industry in no time.
Oz’s sigh carried the heavy weight of why do you have to be so damn optimistic? “3D renders that pass for real could put people out of work with training videos, digital tellers—”
“Any tech can put people out of work.” I scooted to the edge of the nearby opening in the ceiling, grabbed the lip, and dropped down the few feet to the ground, rather than using the ladder. I was short, and I was nimble. “It can also create jobs. You can put the programming behind one of these to do training videos in places where there’s no Cole Denton to offer apprenticeships for hands-on work. Or as an avatar for someone who’s uncomfortable with their appearance for whatever reason. There’s as much potential for good as for porn.”
“This is why you’d make a shitty super villain.” Oz’s tone was flat, but amusement flashed in his eyes.
“I really would be bad at it. Why? Are you looking for a second?”
