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It was just a dream job previously but when analysts were alerted to a warning while operating the highly advanced and sophisticated system that was located on the top floor of Austin Towers, there was already an incoming deluge of information with which to deal and the night shift had only just begun. The impressive state of the art structure where the top floor operated the mainframe was designed to be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even for Christmas Day and Bank Holidays. Every evening the facilities at Austin Towers, which was a lively hive of activity during the course of the day became dormant by night, apart from a skeleton staff and a cleaning agency along with the analysts in the IT department based on the top floor. At dawn’s early light the whole place, which had appeared almost inanimate overnight, came back to life as the whole body assembled ready to tackle that day’s tasks. Austin Towers was an impressive feat of futuristic engineering that had won numerous awards and dominated the environment around the immediate area. The manpower located in Austin Towers worked as one tight knit unit and employed the latest technology which was being constantly updated. On the top floor was the IT department where each day new information was analysed and processed before being stored. Analysts would be inputting data continuously in an entirely windowless but spacious environment where the temperature was regulated as well being monitored constantly.&nbsp; The whole workspace was deceptively expansive, decorated with motivational quotes, witty comments and cartoon characters which drew attention away from the elaborate and intricate circuitry buried into the walls. One colourful image of an idolised athlete was a reminder of how its members were any organisation’s greatest asset as well as how each and every individual was “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Images flashed constantly while the night shift and daytime staff focussed solely on their daily tasks conscientiously.&nbsp; Although a clear breach of modern day Health and Safety regulations, any lengthy breaks were out of the question so considerable quantities of caffeine were consumed during the day. Overnight rehydration had to be limited to water in order to avoid the diuretic effects of caffeine. It was almost impossible to distinguish between the operative and machine as they appeared to merge into one. The only stimulation seemed to come from the task in hand along with occasional daytime intakes of caffeine and nutrition.&nbsp; The floor below was a much airier and open space where the surrounding area and landscape could be surveyed and admired. From that floor one could see for miles on a clear day and truly appreciate the surroundings. Usually those inside were far too preoccupied to take full advantage of those stunning views and at night the blinds were shut tight with an occasional flicker from any activity or movement elsewhere.&nbsp; However during the hours of daylight many operatives would often look up to admire the surrounding sights and sites. There were numerous distractions in the surrounding streets. The sight of a pretty girl, or an impressive vehicle would sometimes catch the attention of male eyes and compete with what was on offer in the shops that dominated the nearby High Street. The establishment’s feminine element which at best could be described as pretty minimal and at worst tokenistic, was more often distracted by incidents which would then be discussed, analysed and reviewed at some length and in considerable depth. From their vantage point events could also be anticipated. On more than one occasion they had spotted a potential pile up and managed to alert the whole set up to the danger. Traffic jams frequently occurred so could be avoided. They also took advantage of the view whenever one of them witnessed something spectacular. The whole focus would be on one of the windows as comments were passed on what was happening outside. Of particular interest was the behaviour of drivers and the traffic. Usually a voice would provide the commentary mimicking the sports presenters on TV. “And he’s moving in - oh and we weren’t expecting that! Can you believe it!? She’s gone right past him!” On more than one occasion the vantage point had assisted in helping someone in distress. Once a vagrant was spotted who had collapsed and was lying motionless in the gutter outside the supermarket located opposite. What was particularly noticeable was that passers by were either staring at the body before quickly moving on or simply ignoring him. Several messages were relayed to the ground staff who sent a request for someone to go over and check the situation. It turned out that the person was sleeping off a heavy bout of drinking as a quick call to the relevant services brought a couple of Community Wardens along to address the situation. On the middle floor was the heart of the operation connecting to the nerve centre from where the system was managed. When the night shift began most of the activity was limited to the top floor with some tasks lower down being overseen by a skeleton staff. But the brains of the operation worked tirelessly on the top floor. Notifications could also be relayed using a sophisticated system of communication. Messages would flash around the outfit reminding the individual of meetings, important dates and even at times when to eat or exercise. The importance of avoiding a sedentary lifestyle was the philosophy of the whole outfit whilst the overall principle of the hierarchy was that each had a vital part to play in keeping one company fully operational and active. Every day a whole range of information was gathered before being processed. The vast majority of this information was filed in separate compartments. Information was collected and carefully sorted into sections. Much of it could be deleted, most of it needed to be archived but some had to be accessible for the immediate future. Data analysts noticed a warning on several devices alerting them to the memory being close to full. It was their task to sift through the drives and delete some of the excess information. Line management and minions assembled to assess the situation and discuss options. Usually such critical incidents applied solely to security risks or data breaches. The word on everyone's mind but as yet unuttered was “nightmare”. Operatives alerted their senior staff remotely. Such conferences often happened at night because that was when emergencies occurred. Higher earning managers then had the opportunity to demonstrate their worth and justify their pay grade. Unlike many similar outfits the firm that operated in Austin Towers had adopted a system that recognised the merit of each role. Those engineers who kept the whole set up operational during the day were well rewarded but not expected to work nights. Only those on the very top floor could expect to keep the operation going 24 hours a day so their role was fully recognised. “What are we up against?” asked Ray, the team leader.“We seem to have reached critical levels of memory storage.” muttered Grant, one of the analysts.“How critical is this?” enquired Ray“If we don’t create space we will begin to lose the capacity to retain important information.” responded Grant with an air of resignation.“How secure are the stored files?”“I’d say about 99% secure. There is always a slim chance they could be lost. The problem is not so much what is already stored but the capacity to cope with new information.”“So what do you suggest?”“So we either start to delete existing files or we risk losing anything new.”“Which files use the most storage?”“That’s simple - the images. Some of them are huge, particularly the recordings.”“How straightforward would it be to delete them permanently?”“It could take all night!” Ray pondered the implications of this approach. He knew that this was all part of the role but he had been in the department long enough to know that sometimes it paid to cut corners. It was expecting a lot to have staff work flat out until morning but he had little option. He knew that if swift action was not taken then by the following day the only option would be to begin limiting the amount of data being processed and start to select information that could not be stored. This would present colleagues with a serious dilemma over what to accept and what to reject. While Ray weighed up the options Grant broke the silence.&nbsp; “What about these duplicates?” queried Grant.“Yes of course! Can you isolate them?”“It’s possible but we may need to sift through quite a bit of footage to identify them.”&nbsp;“Try putting them in chronological order!” murmured Ray.“What about arranging them alphabetically?” Grant grunted.“There are also different versions of the same information.” muttered Ray.“Different versions? How come?” croaked Grant.“The system regularly updates itself and some of the older versions become obsolete.”“Mmm - nightmare!” sighed Grant.“I suggest that you make a start and re-evaluate the capacity once you have deleted any duplicates. Report back to me first thing in the morning.”“Just one other thing.” added Grant. “There’s no warning light with the message.”“No warning light?” retorted Ray. “But there must be… unless. What does the message say?”“Oh the usual. Memory close to capacity. Take immediate action.”“But no warning light?” Ray added rhetorically.“No warning light.” repeated Grant tapping his pen in a ridiculous rhythm.“OK. Let’s treat this as an emergency. Go through all the files and delete any duplicates.” Grant swung round to face his screen again and began to search. He and his colleagues beavered away at their screens until first light, sifting through files, checking old recordings and gleaning the crucial components. Just before dawn Ray requested an update from Grant. “We have created sufficient space for the day ahead.” reported Grant. “We managed to archive most of the more obsolete information so that if needed it can be recalled. We have deleted several versions of the same recordings.”“Sounds good. Excellent job. Anything else?” quipped Ray hoping that this enquiry was surplus to requirement so there wouldn’t be any further issues.“Just one!” chirped Grant. “I noticed that there was one huge file that I couldn’t delete!”“Show me!” snapped Ray. Grant directed Ray to a peculiar looking file on his screen that claimed to hold almost as much space as the rest of the files put together. “What the…? Click on the file!” barked Ray. He surveyed the screen for a while, and grabbed the remote control. Totally absorbed he clicked on several drop down boxes which appeared. A chuckle emerged as he processed the information before him. “Good thing you didn’t manage to delete that one Grant!!” he spluttered his words punctuated by a distinct guttural laugh. “That file has enough capacity to retain all this information! Look! It’s created a whole new pathway!”“It must have been there all along!” giggled Grant like a school boy.&nbsp;“The system has been set up to create more space!” Ray concluded.“Did we need to delete all those files?” groaned Grant.“No but good housekeeping is always helpful!”“Most of them were duplicates going back decades! I even had to rewind one or two!” An annoying buzzing alarm interrupted curtailing further discussion and alerting the room to the start of a new day. So when Austin Towers responded and awoke from his deep sleep he initially recalled vividly the dreams he had where he had gone back to his childhood. Some aspects were puzzling though, such as why did his dreams so often seem to precede the noises outside or predict that of the alarm? It was as if what he was imagining led up to those sounds. Did everyone dream in reverse? But he dismissed these as his brain recalling the events and comments from the previous day. Others lingered briefly before being entirely forgotten as if deleted from his memory - permanently.

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A Dream Job

Andrew

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A Dream Job

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ANDREW HOUGH

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