CHAPTER FIVE — THE OFFICE AT SEVEN

The Summit Arc office occupied the upper floor of a warehouse where sections of tram cabins stood on rolling platforms.
Daniel arrived at six forty with the folder beneath his arm.
Workers in reflective jackets were loading crates while a mechanic inspected an enormous steel wheel.
Nothing about the place looked like a company built entirely on polished presentations.
The people on the floor were doing actual work.
That distinction mattered to Daniel.
Priya Shah met him beside the fabrication bay.
She was shorter than he had expected, with gray streaks in her hair and an expression that suggested she had slept even less than he had.
“I asked the team to stop public rehearsals,” she said.
“Did they?” Daniel asked.
“They stopped one.

”
“What about the others?”
“Adrian changed the demonstration schedule without telling our operations office.”
“Then who controls the summit gate?”
“Our supervisor does,” Priya answered.
“The guest invitations are another matter.”
She introduced him to a maintenance lead named Kieran Holt, who had worked on mountain lifts for eighteen years.
Kieran had already placed a red tag on the upper platform’s passenger access gate.
“No boarding until the sensor checks out,” he said.
“Does that include investors?” Daniel asked.
“It includes my grandmother if she happens to show up with a helmet.”
Daniel liked him immediately.
Priya asked Daniel to join a meeting with company founder Elise Marlow, Adrian Bell, and the senior engineer, Sonya Park.
Daniel hesitated before walking into the conference room.
“Am I employed yet?” he asked.


Priya looked surprised.
“You signed your employment agreement.”
“I haven’t completed orientation.”
“Your position is real.”
“I need to know whether you’ll still say that after I explain why this event should stop.”
Priya considered him carefully.
“That’s what I hired you to do.”
Inside the room, Adrian Bell wore a dark jacket over an open-collared shirt and a smile that seemed ready before he knew who had entered.
“Daniel,” he said, extending a hand.
“Welcome to the mountains.”
Daniel placed the folder on the table without shaking it.
“Why is my name on a document approving a passenger demonstration I never reviewed?”
Adrian glanced toward Priya.
“That’s a preliminary readiness packet.”
“It certifies conditions that the installer says have not been verified.”
“We were assured the issues were minor.”
“By whom?”
Adrian smiled again, less convincingly.
“Our partners.”
Sonya Park leaned forward.
“I’d like a name too.”
Adrian opened his laptop.
“The communications team consolidated the material.”
“The communications team cannot certify mechanical controls,” Sonya said.
Elise Marlow, the founder, folded her arms.
“I need everyone to speak plainly.”
Daniel opened the folder and slid the disputed page toward her.
“My name has been used to imply I reviewed this demonstration.”
“Did you?” Elise asked.
“No.”
“Then the claim is false.”
Adrian cleared his throat.
“The language can be corrected before investors arrive.”
“The platform can’t be corrected with language,” Daniel said.
A silence filled the room.
Sonya described the problem with the sensor, the gate, and the upper platform capacity.
She said she would not sign an engineering release until further testing was complete.
Elise asked whether the tram itself was safe to operate empty.
Sonya said it was, subject to its normal checks, but passenger loading remained suspended.
Adrian reached for the presentation schedule.
“We can show investors the cabin from the base station,” he offered.
“We can do a guided walk-through without moving passengers.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Elise said.
“Then we should tell the guests now,” Daniel replied.
Adrian hesitated.
“Some of them flew across the country for this.”
“Their flights don’t change the sensor.”
Priya suppressed a smile.
Elise pointed at Adrian.
“Revise the event, and make the limitation explicit.”
Adrian nodded.
Daniel almost relaxed.
Then Kieran’s radio crackled from the hallway.
“Priya, we’ve got people arriving at the mountain already.”
“Who?” she asked.
“A busload of guests in matching badges.”
Adrian looked down at the schedule.
“That isn’t supposed to happen until nine.”
The clock read seven twelve.