I’ve been a sweeper for 10 years and counting. Liked my job from the start and still do. The pay is good and most of the duties are fairly easy. Pick up a project, lead him to another sub-level, some supervision, nothing hard. Sure, you have to deal with all kind of freaks and not all are projects. I think I do a pretty good job, "don't mess with me and I won't mess with you" - that's the kind of guy I am. I carry out my orders without complaining and do my best to make sure things run smoothly.

After I’d worked for a couple of years doing a little bit of everything, I realised that I liked most of all to work with low priority projects. That’s were you find the nicest co-workers and the routines are easy-going. You still have to take your job seriously but not to the point where it gets boring. So when I was told I had been reassigned to the Pretender Project I did get a little disappointed. Just the fact that it was down at SL-15 with all the extra security was enough to make me unhappy.

Also, there are a lot of rumours floating around. We sweepers talk to each other, therefore we know more than most of the "high and mighty" think we do. So of course I'd heard about this project before. Apparently it was some weird guy that could become other people or something like that. It sounded really strange even for the Centre if you ask me. Some said the guy was a genius, other said he was like a six year old, but most agreed on that he was a total bore to guard.

When we are going to work with a new project for more than a couple of weeks there’s always an info meeting. Some basic background about the project, what's allowed and what's not. We are also told what the projects do, nothing in detail of course, just enough so you know what to expect. This guy, Jarod, had been inside the Centre for almost his entire life. He was easy to work with, seldom caused trouble or showed an attitude. My job was to make sure that he got from place A to place B and that he did the work he was given. So far nothing out of the ordinary. But the surveillance was heavier than usual, cameras everywhere, and the rules were pretty strict. Besides giving orders I was not supposed to talk to Jarod and was instructed to interact as little as possible. There was three sweepers working in shifts and I was assigned the 9 am to 5 pm, whatever Jarod did or wherever he was a sweeper was always nearby. There was a heavy rotation of people around this guy, no sweeper worked for the pretender project longer than a year and the routine had looked the same for ages. They seemed to pour money into this project and that could only mean one thing: this guy was valuable.

High profit projects; sounds more interesting than it is. In fact they are the most tedious to work with; you get edgy because you’re afraid of screwing things up and the atmosphere is anything but relaxed. But I figured it wasn’t all that bad, I mean a year goes by pretty fast and hopefully I’d be back at my old job in no time.

The first week I was to work with Dave, the sweeper I was replacing. He was big built, not too aggressive – you could just look at him and you knew he was a tough guy if needed; therefore he had nothing to prove and could get away with a laid back attitude. Easy to talk to as well, basically the kind of guy you would go out for a beer with. Good at his job, no doubt about that. On our way to Jarod's room, we were going to pick him up and take him to the sim lab; I took the opportunity to get as much information as possible. As a sweeper you know where it’s safe to talk and before you reach SL-15 you can speak rather openly.

- You know, this being my first day and all, could you tell me something about him? I got a short briefing, but well, you know how it is, better to ask someone who actually work with him.

- Yeah I know. The PTB’s have no idea what actually goes down in the sub-levels.

- Well, like I’ve heard both that he is a genius and that his kind of slow …

- I've seen some of the stuffs he's been doing and trust me, he's smart. About the slow thing, well…he's been here for almost his entire life, he hasn't done the things you and I did when growing up...teenage angst, football practice, puppy love, that kind of stuff. Never had any friends, never had to deal with people and real life problems in general. So he looks at the world like a kid in some ways, never sees the big picture, because he's never allowed to. He sort of talks like a kid who spends most of his time with adults, you know? But he’s mature in his own way, I've asked him about some sims and his answers are really thought through and intelligent...and he does talk to Sydney, his handler, about pretty deep stuff. So, yeah, he is smart, just very naive sometimes.

-You talked with him, Jarod I mean, isn't that forbidden?

Dave gave me the amused smile and look you reserve for those moments you’re about to say something controversial. What he said next went against what was said at the meeting, and very much against “The Sweeper’s Code” or whatever you could call it.

-Strictly speaking, yes. But watch a guy every day for a year; it gets boring just sitting there. So a few times I made some comments about a sim if it looked interesting, some comments when escorting him. Not for long, not too often. They don't want him to become emotionally attached to anyone but Sydney, so you have to be careful with it. It’s not like I'm not best buddy with Jarod, I’m not even an acquaintance, but the few words I had with him...well he is actually fun to talk to...or he would be if they let him.

Yeah, you see my point, it sounded like he liked the project as a person. That’s a big no-no for us sweepers. Your boss won’t like it and as far as co-workers go you might as well say that you like ballet dancing or that you do volunteer work for Amnesty. But some guys can get away with everything and apparently Dave was one of those. I however had no desire to become chatty with a project and risk becoming the laughing stock at lunch breaks.

-What if he starts talking to me, should I tell him to shut up? I don’t want to get into trouble, you know what I mean?

-Yep, get that. But it won’t be a problem. He knows the rules, no talking with anyone. Besides I don't think he likes sweepers at all...but he's also taught never to disobey, so if someone asks him a question he will answer. Other than that all he will ever say to you without being spoken to is asking for permission to go to the restroom and to drink water, that kind of things.

So…Jarod was supposedly fun to talk to but he would never actually speak to you except when you asked him stuff and even then the questions had to be valid or authorized. On top of that he hated sweepers, “fun guy” wouldn’t be words I’d be using. Nothing of what Dave said made any sense to me but I didn’t get a chance to ask him what the hell he actually meant before we reached SL-15. Down there it was defiantly for the best to shut up so I quietly walked beside Dave towards Jarod’s room, thinking I was in for a boring year.

My first impression of Jarod: well, he didn’t look like a genius. He looked more like the annoying guy you run into at the gym. You know the type; without being asked they come by and tell you to "do it like this, because it's much more effective and will give your abs a good burn". After that you’re doomed, they just won’t leave you alone, following you from exercise machine to exercise machine. You think you’re finally free when you go to the locker room. But no, they are still after you and you can tell that the moment you take of your shirt they start to calculate the ratio between muscles and body fat and not to your advantage. Before you’re finally able to leave the gym the Gym Guy talks you into spending a fortune on protein bars and nutritional supplements. When you walk out the door you know you’ll never come back because you don't want to meet that guy again, ever.

As soon as Jarod stood up the initial impression faded. He looked very humble. Gym guys aren't humble. He didn't make any lasting eye contact, only quick glances, like he was shy. And there was something kind of sad about him...and I usually don't take pity on projects, but this guy, well there was something different about him.

So I spend the week together with Dave, learned the routines before I was left alone with Jarod. I don't know how many sims I watched that year, some were twisted, others a total bore, and some actually seemed like fun. And I had to sit through endless hours where Jarod just read or made a lot of very complicated calculations. Most enjoyable was when Sydney and Jarod had conversation about things Jarod found odd with a sim or an assignment. His way of looking at the world was so different from mine, Sydney’s too for that matter.

However, Dave was right, after a couple months it got so boring just sitting there, quietly watching. I just had to say something to break the humdrum. Sometimes it’s better to do the forbidden very openly, because if you try not to look suspicious you end up looking extremely fishy. I mean if Jarod and I were standing in a dark corner whispering Centre-secrets…it would be like saying good-bye to my career and possibly to myself as well.

Instead I just used my brusquest sweeper manners, grunting questions like "And what's that all about? What's that good for?" Anyone overhearing would just think that I was a testosterone-filled muscle goon up for his weekly dose of “oh I’m so bored let’s harass someone”. In my opinion it’s kind of unprofessional, although not exactly forbidden in a place like the Centre. It’s hard to explain but after a few years as a sweeper you kind of get a knack for harassing projects without it being considered interaction and you learn how far you can go with each project. Still it didn’t prevent me from being very nervous, but I’m still trusted and all by the PTB’s and my co-workers still talk to me so I think I got away with it. And I’m pretty certain that Jarod didn’t notice anything suspicious either; he didn’t even seem to understand that gruff questions could be disguised interest. To him it just meant that I was in a bad mood like every sweeper surrounding him. Despite that he always responded very politely, sometimes even calmly explaining so that the hardest things actually became understandable. I did like listening to the guy, he was much more interesting and fascinating than he himself must have realized. After he was done explaining I would say something like "hrmpf" or "seems pretty useless to me", just to keep up the charade. Jarod never talked back or defended himself, he just seemed to think it was completely normal to be snarled at, which I guess it was for him.

After a year had passed my replacement came and spend a week with me and after that I moved on. I never saw Jarod again. Then two years later he escaped. First there were rumours of sloppy surveillance, the Tower wanted to blame someone. But in the end they couldn’t find anything wrong, the security had been flawless as always. Personally I think Jarod had planned his escape for years, he most likely had a plan thought out long before he escaped, something or someone must have ticked him off enough to use it. There were some rumours to support that, something about a gunfight. Don’t know what really happen…but well, it sounds a little too much if you ask me, Jarod in a gunfight - nah.

They assigned a completely new team on the Jarod hunt, Miss Parker and sweepers that had never worked with Jarod before. A smart move, I mean if I had been assigned on the Jarod hunt I would have done as I was told, but I wouldn’t go that extra mile to get the job done because honestly; I never found it terrible that he escaped. He was special, and deep down inside I wished the guy good luck. And I believe most of the sweepers that spend a year with him were of the same opinion. Not that one of us would admit it; after all we're not completely stupid.

You know, I don’t think Jarod ever understood what impact he made on me. He seemed to have very little self-confidence. Kind of ironic; smart enough to escape Miss Parker for over seven years and she’s no idiot to say the least, and still he had no self-confidence. On the other hand, if he suddenly developed a confidence it would probably go straight to his head and he would turn into that annoying Gym Guy. Well maybe not an actual gym guy. Like a clingy doctor or pilot, whatever he chose to be, constantly running after people. Correcting everything everyone does with a huge grin plastered on his face as he does it. Wouldn’t want that, those guys are so annoying.

**THE END***