"Is this a good idea?"
"Don't be lame, Víctor. It's going to be funny."
"Hurry, he's going to wake up!"
Román Santarrosa felt that he was being made fun of. He could hear the hushed laughter of the people behind him, and when he turned around he could see how their smiles disappeared from their faces, they looked away or quickly left the place. The ones laughing the hardest were Gonzáles, Penz and Falcone. They had to put their hands over their mouths to keep the laughter from escaping. Santarrosa didn't like the situation, especially after having to sleep on the couch in the break room due to working overtime, leaving his neck sore.
At lunchtime, Santarrosa looked for Doctor Klasz in the cafeteria. Klasz was his friend inside the site, so he could tell him what was going on behind his back. Santarrosa found him enjoying his meal and quickly walked over to sit at his table. The first thing he did after greeting him, was to ask him if he knew anything about what was happening with him, or if he had heard anything.
"You still haven't figured it out?" Klasz asked as he chewed.
"No, what is it?" Santarrosa asked with concern.
Klasz told him to turn around, something Santarrosa did hesitantly. He heard Klasz take a picture with his phone. As he looked back to Klasz for answers, Klasz showed him the photo he had just taken of the back of his head.
Something broke inside Santarrosa when he saw the photo.
"You were right Steffano, it was funny."
"What did I tell you? You have to listen to me more."
"Do you think he'll be angry?"
"Probably, but it wasn't a big deal, either."
"Well, now he's walking towards us with a very angry look on his face."
"Yeah, he looks angry, what's that in his hand?"
"I don't know, it looks like- AAAAH! RUN!"
"With a laser?"
"Yes, sir."
The facility's security head reported the incident to the chair of the Site-34 Ethics Committee, Borja Dowell, because the site director was not available that day. Dowell was extremely disappointed to hear what had happened.
"But why did he do it?" Dowell asked despondently.
The security head handed him a photo explaining why the incident had occurred. When Dowell saw it, he wanted to shoot himself in the head.
A Little Prank
Santarrosa was in the site's break room. He was trying to relax, to prepare his breakfast, a black tea with milk, but he couldn't. He felt extremely humiliated and embarrassed by everything that had happened. He felt that his reputation had been destroyed forever. He felt he had screwed up in such an unbelievable way and there was no going back. He didn't know how it could be any worse at that moment.
"Hello? Excuse me?"
Someone spoke near him, snapping him out of his thoughts to see who it was. When he looked up, Santarrosa found himself face to face with the Site-34 director himself, Doctor Jacobo Merlin.
"Hello, sir, how may I help you?" Santarrosa said quickly to his superior.
Santarrosa didn't understand what the most important man in the entire facility was doing right then and there. And all the reasons he could think of that involved him were not very good for him. He felt his blood pressure drop and went pale in front of that man, waiting for him to decide his fate. Then, the director spoke: