Bashar Mati: Apocashitstorm Tour, Day 1. Where better to start than at the end? Or where the end started, anyway. Ground zero, where it all came crashing down. My career first, then everything else. And I mean everything.
Transcript
Hi Ma,
Remember how ecstatic we were when I landed a job here? Aerospace Control Engineer at Faro Automated Solutions, straight outta Stanford U. Saturday I was tossing a mortarboard, Monday I'm an employee of the biggest corporation on Earth. Starting wage? Six times basic.
It was a dream come true - yours as much as mine. When I found out I'd landed the gig, I waited until graduation day to tell you in person. You were so proud, you hugged me five minutes straight, laughing and crying at the same time, saying over and over, "Onwards and upwards! The start of great things!" I thought so, too. It seemed as though nothing bad would ever happen to me - to us - ever again.
But bad did happen, of course. More bad than I ever knew was possible. And while I can't blame FAS for making you sick - Metallurgic gets the credit for that - I can sure as hell blame Faro for the rest.
But let's talk about the end of the world later. It plays a part in this story, of course. If I hadn't found out what was coming, I wouldn't be doing this, leaving these time capsules behind. But the apocalypse isn't the story I want to tell.
This is going to be about our family. About us.
It's time to get going. I've spent enough of my life in the shadow of this place. I've got eleven more Vantage spikes in the trunk of the Sabara I rented, and some pretty good ideas for where to sink them.
So let's get the hell away from this place and start sinking.