Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
SETH LINDBERG
He banged his fist on the dashboard over the radio.
Damn it. Modern radio, and even it broke down.
Nothing worked anymore.
But slowly through the static, it came back. Someone
talking, then… he recognized the voice. The voice
from that television screen, back in the convenience
store.
“Here we have a request, a dedication from Eurydice
to her beautiful man,” the voice said.
Anders blinked, just barely remembering he was
still driving. He turned the volume up, static and all.
“Don’t ever look back,” the voice said. “Don’t ever
look back….” The voice faded into static, then the
trashy pop song came back full force, louder than ever.
***
Back at the office, he arranged an appointment to
see his project leader, Jane O’Farrell. She was locked in
meetings all day long but could arrange some time in
the afternoon.
He sat at his cubicle and read through his old email,
mostly broad statements from the board, a few financial
memos involving what could and could not be expensed
by agents in the field, that kind of thing. A big
“go team!” email from the new CEO, Jack Tilton,
about Orpheus surpassing expectations, even in the
face of competition from upstart companies like Terrell
& Squib and Nextworld.
Terrell & Squib sounded like they had the tech
angle down. Maybe they had equipment that could see
ghosts, but did that make them effective fumigators
like the Orpheus guys? Anders doubted it. He knew
nothing about Nextworld. They were too new for him.
He’d heard the name bandied about, that was all.
He kicked his feet up on the desk, surfed the web,
listened to more of his coworkers idly chat about the
latest layoff rumors. Time slowly passed until he was to
meet O’Farrell.
She was late. He loitered outside her office until she
arrived. Her office was nice and cozy, a refuge from the
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