Rise Of The Immaterial Man

Unfortunate Revelations

In many cases going AWOL for a couple of weeks after a massive tech launch would have been an absolutely ordinary thing for the CEO, founder and head developer of technology at a company to do.

I mean, what was I really needed for at that point, anyway? 

The tech had all been developed, it was being manufactured and sent out to stores and people were buying it and enjoying it. 

Didn’t I deserve some kind of a break?

That would be under normal circumstances, anyway. 

Following the launch of our new holo-lens phone, things were far from ordinary. 

My company had exploded onto the scene like nothing ever had before, going from a hokey garage set-up to offices in London and manufacturing plants across the world. 

That had raised a lot of eyebrows, and we had investors and governments breathing down our backs seeking an audience with the guy that had created it all. 

Before the launch of our flagship device, I simply hadn’t had the time to meet with all the people that I needed to meet with. All of those meetings had been slated for the weeks after the launch of the product, while people were still snapping up devices across the world and we could show just what a powerhouse we’d become. 

But now… now I’d missed all of those meetings, all because I’d been stabbed and turned into one of the Immateria. 

I started grabbing clothes from the closet, everything that I needed to make me look as presentable as possible. 

The final message that my phone had received, one that had come in just half an hour ago, claimed that there was going to be a meeting of the board that very day to oust me from my position as CEO, leave me with a severance package, and elevate someone else to the head of the company. 

I couldn’t let any of that happen. 

I’d worked damn hard to bring my company up to the heights that it had reached, and I wasn’t going to let it get stolen away from me. 

“So, what exactly are you doing now?” The woman asked. 

I glanced up at her as I pulled on a pair of trousers, “I need to go into the office. They’re trying to expel me from the company because I haven’t been there for two weeks, two of the most important weeks in the company's history mind you.” 

From the look on her face, I could tell that she didn’t really understand. 

“You’ve just been turned into an immortal day-walking vampire with strength beyond your wildest dreams and a thirst for human blood and… you want to go to work?” She asked. 

I tried and failed to hold in an aggravated sigh. 

“I built this company from the ground up, as you should well know considering you claimed to know who I was,” I said, “I put my heart and soul into my products and the company itself. I can’t just let it fall away to some other jerk just because I nearly died and all of this has happened.” 

“That shows a surprising amount of dedication,” The woman remarked, “Though I must let you know that I’ll be coming with you. We can’t have anything untoward happening in the board meeting, after all.” 

I shrugged my way into a shirt, did up all the buttons bar the top one and glanced at the woman again, who was now getting dressed in clothes that were decidedly not office friendly. 

“Untoward in which way?” I asked, I couldn’t see anything too drastic happening. 

She fixed me with a dead-hard stare. 

“You’re a newborn, for all intents and purposes,” She said, “You haven’t been near any humans yet and you’re going to be going into a very stressful situation. Things might get… bitey.” 

She flashed her fangs at me and understanding slid into place. 

I hadn’t been presented with the temptation of human blood yet, even if the idea of consuming it sent my stomach into knots. 

Presented with a room full of old board members who couldn’t possibly hold me off if I were a person, let alone with the supposed enhanced strength of an Immateria, they’d have no chance if I went off the rails. 

“Okay,” I relented, “You can come, but you can’t come dressed like you’re ready for a night on the town. That’ll hurt my overall image, people will think I’ve been doing nothing but partying for two weeks. You’ll need to change.” 

She nodded, agreeing with my sentiment, “You’re right about that. I look ready to party, not ready to take part in business discussions.” 

“Take part in discussions, I don’t remember agreeing to that,” I said, “Leave the talking to me.” 

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve been alive?” She asked, “I’ve been on this Earth for thousands of years, I’ve run businesses and consulted on some of the top companies on the planet across that time. You would do well to heed my advice, newborn.” 

She said the word newborn as if it were a slur, and for all I knew it could have been. I was smart, sure, and I’d managed to build a business from scratch. But my intelligence also let me know that experience was key in situations like the one I was walking into. 

No amount of raw talent and intelligence could make you a match against thousands of years of experience packed into one person. 

“Fine,” I said, “Do what you want, but if you try and sabotage this I’ll-” 

“You’ll do what?” Her eyes flashed a dangerous red and I felt my conviction leave me in an instant, “Do not forget that I am your maker, and just as easily as I brought you into the world of the Immateria I could remove you from it.” 

I nodded, a little shellshocked. She hadn’t raised her voice at me once so far, but there was a level of power in her tone that made me had to obey her. 

As if some part of my newly transformed body was programmed to listen to her. 

I’d need to look into that. Programming was my forte, after all. 

“Let’s just go down to the garage,” I said, “All of this posturing isn’t worth anything and we’re running out of time.”