GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (18 page)

Jonathan was Project Leader and responsible for a small team of contract Programmers and Database Administrators (DBAs)
that
maintain
ed
the
c
ontract staff workforce
’s
“database-working environment”.
They primarily p
rovid
ed
disk space and logical schema designs on database
s
ervers
,
as well as performing
many additional scripting and admin duties.
The
entire staff was multi-lingual and from a variety of backgrounds,
and English was spoken as the universal language of business.
He laughed a little with another
d
eveloper and lower
ed his
voice a little,
although he knew Francesca would still be able to hear him just fine.

‘They are just rubbish
,
’
he said distinctly
as another man laugh
ed
with him
.

‘Si, we’ve known this for a while
,’ the man agreed.

‘T
hat lot
was
crap and this just proves it again
,
’
Guieletta
snidely added to the conversation
.
Guieletta was
a
Unix Systems Admin Contractor and Developer who sat next to Jonathan.
She loved stirring up
trouble for the other wom
e
n in the office
and
revelled in
trying to cause disharmony and division
between
the teams.
She
had a good mentor in Jonathan
, for sure
!

Bitch
!
Francesca
thought, and then
ignored the
rest of their
ridicul
ing conversation
.
Technical
& Operations were always an easy target for annoyance and
finger
pointing when the systems were unavailable.
The more a
c
ontractor caused some kind of problem for the T&O staff
,
the better
—
for the
n
their
position
seemed to become stronger in the eyes of the Vatican Executives and Holy Order. It guaranteed their continued employment at very, very lucrative rates
.

Jonathan’s arrogance was endless, but he was a smart arse, a very smart arse
,
and not to be argued with lightly as he knew his area of the business intimately and
was
articulate in debate.
Although i
n truth
,
the
c
ontractors would be completely lost
without Francesca and the team
.
Maybe that was
the true reason
why T&O w
as
hated so
ardently.

Ignoring his rudeness, Francesca finally turn
ed
a deaf ear
to the group.
S
he could never let them know
how hurtful they had been or
that they were denting her armour, getting to her.
Her full red lips moved
softly near
the receiver.

‘H
ello
, Francesca speaking
,
’
she said,
speaking with rising trepidation of who
was on the other end of the line....
Francesca listened for only a brief moment to the Chief Executives Secretary
,
Silvia
.

‘I’m just checking the systems
,
Silvia, it’s not a big issue and we’ll get back online for you as soon as we can.’
She always phones me directly
—
never the
h
elpdesk
. What a
pain in the ass
.
Francesca looked over at
the smiling
Jonathan and his sarcastic
grin.
...

He’s a bitch
,
too,
she thought
as a headache
began
to remind
her
why
she was happier at home than at work
.
This is the last thing I wanted,
to give him an opportunity to be right
! Steady, keep cool girl
....
Francesca
thought of a calm
l
ake
, it
s tiny lapping waves
smooth
ing
he
r
mind.

Some of the other
a
nalysts in the office were bewildered
;
they
tapp
ed
furiously
at
their keyboards,
seeming bemused,
scratching foreheads with dismay and looking around
in confusion.
S
ome
,
panick
ing slightly,
focus
ed
their attention towards Francesca with mixed looks
of terror and pleading.
With each minute that passed
,
the noise
of the office became
louder and louder
.
More people were arriving
at
the office to begin their daily workload
and found themselves unable to perform
.
The phones
rang and rang without cease.

N
ormally
there would
be four people
on duty working as a team to solve
n
etwork and
s
ystems
a
dministrat
ion problems
.
Team-members
included Francesca, Massimo,
Michaelangelo
and Paulina
, who was
the Unix T&O member of the team.
Where is he
?
Francesca thought
,
feeling a little isolated
.
Where is
Michaelangelo
?

Gabriella Siciliano popped her head up from above her console screen and smiled sympathetically.
Gabriella was in her early to mid twenties with short
,
straight black hair. The young girl was the Change Control Officer
, and it
was
her job
to coordinate any configuration changes to the many systems and services within the Vatican Bank and Administration.
She was a small and attractive girl, with warm brown eyes, although
her
good looks
were
not quite
as spectacular
as Francesca
’s
. She had a friendly
but
qui
e
t personality.

‘Morning Francesca,
it
looks like your morning is full already.
I’ll speak to you in a while,’ she spoke in a
somewhat
gentle
r
voice
,
‘once it is a bit quieter.’
The girls had been friends for a few years now,
and
often
found that they made
good company for each other a
t
part
ies
, dancing or shopping. Francesca was always the more outgoing personality of the two
, but Gabriella had a subtle wit that kept everyone on their toes
.

Francesca groaned as she saw
Ciriaco from the helpdesk striding up the
a
isle towards her, looking worried
from
being hassled by constant and incensed client demands.
His phone had been ringing red-hot for an hour!
He would be with her in seconds.

Francesca’s computer finally accepted her login and password and agreed to let her in.
Phew! No problem here,
she though
t
,
relie
ved
to leave behind her the world of angry co-workers and
enter into her domain, her system
...
.

The backdrop on her computer screen
was
that of a 1956 Austin-Healy 100-4 BN2
,
British Racing Green
in colour
with grill front
,
spotlights
,
and perfect alloy wheels, the windscreen tilted back to form a wind reflector.
What a car!
she sighed.