Calligula sat in a high backed chair, looking out the large glass window of his office, watching the clouds and the hovercraft. The sound of a metronome filled the room. The constant beat brought order to his life, reminded him that time is not to be wasted. It also had the added benefit of making other people squirm. Over the video conference line, he could hear his employees fidgeting.

Carson and Tullyreh. He thought they were two of his best operatives. He was forced to reconsider. He turned his chair back to face the video. But still he said nothing, only letting them feel the disappointment in his gaze. It didn’t take long for them to break.

“The market was overcrowded,” Carson blurted out.

“One of them is basically invisible,” Tullyreh added nearly at the same time.

“They took a direct portal to the temple and we had no hiking gear!”

“You know my species can’t survive below 300 Kelv.”

“And the temple is a maze, we don’t know where they went.”

Calligula coughed lightly and they immediately stopped. He let the silence stretch for 30 beats of the metronome. “Are you telling me, that both of you could not follow five inexperienced travellers, one of which has a communicator we make, and determine how they are modifying the temples? You could not use any deductive reasoning to determine what had been most recently handled? What was different from when I sent you there to scout the temples?”

They looked anywhere but at him.

“Do you have anything for me?” he asked in a deceptively soft voice, resisting the urge to shout.

“We do,” Tullyreh said as he lifted up a large book. “This is the log book from the portal on Debden. It shows the exact coordinates of the temple.”

“And why do we need the exact coordinates of the temple where they already were?”

“Err, so you can get there to destroy their work.”

“But I don’t know what they did,” he said slowly. “You were supposed to find that out.”

“Oh yeah,” Carson said as Tullyreh lowered the book down into his lap.

“Is there anything you can tell me about these people who are working to fix the portals?”

“I thought you said they can’t be fixed?” Tullyreh questioned.

“That’s not the point!” Calligula finally snapped and yelled, his face tinged with red.

“Yes, we have information about the beings,” Carson hurried to say. “We have written up a report on each of them. One is not from anywhere around here. She knows nothing of the ways of our world and is no threat to you. Another is a scientist and is apparently searching for a job. The older woman has magic though and I would not want to cross her.”

Calligula sighed and steepled his fingers, resting the tips just below his thin nose. “Put your report inside the log book. Use it to mark the relevant page.” He watched as they did as he said. At least it looked like there would be a couple pages of intel. As long as it was not just drawings like he had gotten last time from another pair of operatives. “I’m assuming you have not lost the painting I gave you?” They nodded. “Throw the book through the portal.”

“Throw the– but that was our way back!” Carson protested.

“It’s a one time use portal!” Tullyreh said.

“Then you are going to have to travel back to headquarters another way. And don’t think that you will be taking the company spacecraft either.”

“You don’t mean?” They gasped in horror. “You know we hate taking the main portals. That means being with all of the lower class beings. You surely can’t expect us to travel that way?”

“Then you should have thought of that before you failed me. Now send me the book.”

Tullyreh stood up and dejectedly walked over to touch the rune to activate the portal. The painting shimmered and, with one more sorrowful look at his boss, hoping in vain for a change in heart, he dropped the book. He almost immediately heard the thud as it landed on Calligula’s floor.

“At least you can do one thing right,” he said as he stood from his desk to pick up the book and sever the video connection. He pushed a button on his desk to call his secretary in the outer office. “Cassandria, what do I pay Carson and Tullyreh?”

“One moment, sir. I will look that up for you.”

“Nevermind. Whatever it is, knock them down two pay grades.”

“Remove any privileges as well, sir?”

“You read my mind.”