It had started out as a nice day. Lyra had woken up feeling refreshed and energized for a change, even before her first cup of coffee. She’d awoken on her own a good twenty minutes before her alarm had gone off and had felt alert enough to hop out of bed instead of rolling over and trying to squeeze in a little extra sleep.
Since she’d managed to get up early, she allowed herself to spend some extra time in the shower, luxuriating in the stream of apparently endless hot water that the Harmonics compound provided. The heat left her muscles feeling loose and relaxed, and the steam cleared out her sinuses nicely, leaving her feeling both awake and well rested, an unusual combination for her in the early mornings.
A deliciously filling breakfast of fruit and oatmeal with honey along with her morning cup of coffee taken in the outdoor cafeteria had nicely rounded out her morning. She’d been filled with a sense of inner tranquility and good will towards all.
That mood had lasted about twenty seconds once she got to her office in the Magical Research department.
“Lyra! There you are. I need you here!”
Lyra slumped at the sound of the reedy voice coming from the office directly across from hers. Her good mood evaporated like fog in the sunlight.
“What do you need, Spectral Charm?” she asked wearily, her ears folding down.
“I can’t show you from there!”
She sighed and walked into his office. The stallion was frowning at his computer screen and using his hoof to move the mouse around randomly. As Lyra approached, he turned and held the mouse up in the light-blue aura of his magic.
“This blasted device refuses to work once again! I require assistance.” As Lyra frowned at it he added, “And there’s no need to sigh at me like that. It’s not my fault that we are required to use this bizarre technology!”
Lyra marshalled her patience as best she could. “Humans use computers for everything,” she pointed out. “They’re very efficient.”
“As are books and scrolls,” Spectral Charm said with a sniff. He was sitting on a low, red-cushioned bench in front of the large screen. Like Lyra, he had to use a keyboard and mouse, as touch-screens didn’t work well with hooves. Unlike Lyra, he had no patience for learning how to use them.
“What is it you’re trying to do?” she asked.
“I was attempting to find documentation regarding all of the gateway research gathered so far by the humans. But this infernal device refuses to work properly!”
He jiggled the mouse in her face once again.
“Quit that,” Lyra snapped, pushing it aside with her own magic. “If you want my help, fine, but don’t shove things in my face!”
“You’re the one who requires your staff to use these devices! If I had my way—”
“If you had your way, I’d be printing out everything for you so you had paper copies of it all,” Lyra said, twitching her tail irritably. “Which is not only inefficient, but is also counter—”
“You can make paper copies of the information I need? Splendid! Please deliver them to my desk as soon as you are able. I believe I’ll take a short constitutional while you do so.”
Without another word, the stallion brushed past her and trotted out of the shared offices, leaving Lyra gaping after him, too stunned for the moment to be outraged.
The moment passed.
“Why, that little knock-kneed, crupper-breathed, swaybacked, bucktoothed son of a bot-ridden nag—!” was how she started. What followed after that was a display of Equestrian-specific cursing which managed to not only cover Spectral Charm’s appearance and demeanor but also his parentage, social standing, and her observations on variously physically improbable things he could do to himself, many of which involved the use of props. “—and shove it up there, hard, with a splintered wooden spoon!” Lyra finished, seething.
A slow clapping from the next cube over cut her off, and she blushed a deep red as one of her human co-workers, a young male named Adam, came walking out of his own office.
“That... was magnificent,” the human said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Sorry,” Lyra replied. She looked down and shuffled a forehoof across the carpeting. “I know that wasn’t appropriate. Am I going to get into trouble?”
“From me?” Adam asked before bursting out laughing. “Nah. I’ve heard... well, okay, I’ve never actually heard worse, so bravo. But still, I’m not going to rat you out for a little colorful language. Becky, on the other hand...”
“Oh, ha ha,” her other employee said from her own office. “I’m not going to get Lyra in trouble for that. I didn’t even know what half of that meant!”
“I’m a little curious, myself,” Adam said dryly. “I should have taken notes.”
“Kinda glad you didn’t,” Lyra muttered.
“Yeah, like when you said he had crupper breath. What does that mean?” Becky asked.
“It’s… er… It’s part of a work harness that can get really stinky,” Lyra said, wishing the conversation would just end. No such luck was headed her way, though.
“Still,” Adam said, running a hand through his black hair and grimacing slightly, “you want to be really careful with that kind of language. Especially in a team lead position.”
“I understand,” Lyra said.
“Oh, I see!” Becky wasn’t paying attention to anyone else in the room, instead looking at her tablet. “So, it’s sort of like a jock strap, but for ponies.”
Lyra shuffled her hooves again for a few seconds, not sure what to make of that observation. She settled on just ignoring it. “Um... Any thoughts on how I should deal with this situation?”
Adam folded his arms and smiled at her. “Tell you what. When he gets back, I’ll work with him and show him how to print off the documentation he’ll need. I’ll even show him how to refill the paper on the printer. He’s probably gonna need a few reams of it if he’s going to print off everything.”
“Oh, thank you!” Lyra said, feeling so elated she actually bounced on her hooves for a few seconds.
“Actually, not all of it can be printed,” Becky said, leaning backwards in her chair enough to poke her red-haired head out of her office. “Anything over grade-12 clearance is print restricted. And he’s got to remember he can’t leave these offices with any of it.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Adam replied, waving a hand. “I’ll go over that with him.”
“Ideally, though, we want to get him trained to use the computers properly,” Lyra said thoughtfully. “He’s not going to be able to collaborate if he can’t.”
“I’ll see if I can work with him on that,” Adam said. “It may take some time, though.”
Lyra was about to reply, but that was when Spectral Charm decided to return. He took one look at his desk and then, frowning, turned to Lyra.
“Excuse me, but where are those documents I requested?” he asked, sounding puzzled.
Lyra was inflating her lungs for a comeback when Adam’s hand gently touched her muzzle.
“Tell ya what, Specs,” he said, “I’ll walk you through the process of printing out whatever information we can.”
With that, Adam started walking into Spectral Charm’s office, with the unicorn trotting along behind him with a sour look on his face. “My name is Spectral Charm.”
Lyra watched them go, trying to push down the resentment she was feeling. Once they were out of sight, she turned and walked into her own office. She hopped into her human-style seat and immediately slumped down, massaging her temples with her forehooves.
“This is absurd!” Spectral Charm protested loudly from his office. “Why is it so difficult to acquire these documents?”
So much for a nice, quiet day.
~~*~~
Lyra sighed as she looked out of the cafeteria window. Once again, it had just randomly started raining, with no announcements or anything. Which meant no eating outdoors and enjoying the weather. Not that the cafeteria wasn’t comfortable for her, but it could get a little crowded and noisy when full.
She had really wanted to get outside today, especially after the earful she’d gotten from Maggie earlier. Lyra had only intended to make a quick comment about how hard it was to work with Spectral Charm and had, instead, ended up dumping all of her frustrations out on her boss for nearly five minutes straight.
Maggie had let her finish, steepled her fingers under her chin in that fashion that Lyra knew meant that she was about to be serious, and had told her, “You’re the boss, Lyra. Put your hoof down and deal with it.”
And now it was raining out, meaning that Lyra couldn’t even get the relative escape of having green grass under her hooves instead of the bland pinkish-grey tile that was spread throughout so much of the facility.
“That’s a bummer,” a voice from behind her said.
Lyra turned to see a brown haired human male of medium height standing there and staring out of the window with a frown of his own.
“Hey, Mark,” she said, smiling.
“Howdy, Lyra,” Mark said with a twang in his voice that reminded her of the Apple family back in Ponyville. “Guess I’m eating inside, today. Want to sit with me?”
Lyra frowned up at his hopeful grin. “That depends,” she said. “Are you going to pester me about Ascent again?”
“Nah,” he said, his brown eyes twinkling. “I get it. You don’t want to take a bath in the grey goo.”
“I’m amazed that anyone does,” Lyra said as she maneuvered her way through the mostly-full tables. Lunch was in full swing, leaving very few open spaces.
Mark tapped her on the shoulder and pointed. She walked in the direction he’d indicated and found a table with several people just getting up to leave, all of whom smiled at her and waved. Lyra smiled and waved back.
“Good job finding a table,” she said to Mark as she set her tray down and took a seat. Mark sat across from her with his own tray of food. Lyra’s eyes flicked over it. An apple, a “cheeseburger” with potato fries, and a paper cup that probably held some sort of soda drink, which humans seemed to love.
“Yup,” he replied. ”It helps bein’ a nice, tall biped instead of a tiny little pony.”
Her glare didn’t even dent the mischief written all over his face. “I told you I don’t want to talk about being humanized,” she said reproachfully.
“I didn’t bring it up,” he replied with a shrug. “Ain’t my fault bein’ a human has so many benefits.”
“Why are you so interested in turning me human, anyway?” she demanded. Mark shrugged again. Lyra nabbed a bite of her salad while he was replying.
“We really want to figure out why Erin couldn’t use magic in that last build. It was basically an earth pony body altered to look human, but we obviously messed up somewhere.”
“Yeah, that’s a comforting thought,” Lyra said, rolling her eyes. “So, I could lose my magic if you ‘mess up’. No, thanks.”
“We could always put you back just the way you are now.” He heaved a sigh. “But, I guess if you’re too scared...”
Lyra stared at him incredulously for a few seconds before laughing. “Oh, that is so not going to work on me,” she said.
He looked almost offended for a moment before grinning sheepishly. “Didn’t think so, but it was worth a shot.”
They ate in silence for a minute or so. Lyra flinched as she bit into a particularly bland slice of tomato. Most of the Earth vegetation she’d tried was pretty close to Equestrian, with the exception of the tomatoes for some reason. Those were usually just nasty.
“You know,” she said thoughtfully as she jabbed a slice of cucumber with her magic-wrapped fork, “we do have another unicorn for you to pester these days.”
His eyes brightened back up. “Yeah, I heard about that. You think he might be interested?”
“Hmm.” Lyra thought about it while chewing. “Nope.” Mark’s face fell. “But it would be just hilarious if you started bugging him about it.”
The human’s chuckle was contagious. Lyra found herself laughing, too. “I may just ask him, then. Just for laughs.”
“Make sure you call him ‘Specs’, too. He loves that.” Lyra struggled to keep her face straight.
“You don’t say?” Mark replied, quirking an eyebrow.
Lyra just winked at him over the top of her salad.
“Right. Figured as much.” Mark chuckled. “Well, still wouldn’t hurt to ask him, I suppose. Still, I’d rather it be you.”
“Why is that?”
“You’d make one pretty human lady,” he said with a grin.
“Pfft, right.”
“I’d make sure of it,” he said with a wink.
Lyra laughed in spite of herself. “Heeeyyy... wait a minute, is that going to turn out to be a Human Resources thing?”
“Oh, no! Not Human Resources! I’ll be good!”
His wide-eyed panic was so comically false that Lyra had to laugh again. Mark joined her shortly after.
~~*~~
“Hey, boss, what’re ya working on?”
“Oh, hi Adam,” Lyra said, looking back over her shoulder. “Not much. Just working on a theory.”
“What theory?” the human asked. He pulled a chair into her office, spun it around, and sat in it backwards, his folded arms resting on the backrest.
“My theory is that there’s some deeper connection between my world and yours,” Lyra said. “It started with noticing the similarities in music. Then I noticed that you guys have similar countries. We have Prance, you have France. Germany, Germane. Saudi Arabia, Saddle Arabia. Even the languages sound similar from what I remember, though I only speak Equestrian, so I can’t say for sure. It goes beyond coincidence and straight into ‘damned spooky’ territory.”
“Okay. That’s not technically a theory, though.”
Lyra frowned at his grinning face. “Okay, I’m not a scientist. It’s… it’s a hypothesis, right?”
“At this point it’s just an observation. It’s an hypothesis when you have an idea as to why that might be the case.”
“Oh.” Lyra turned and frowned at the document she’d been writing up. “I like the word ‘theory’ better than ‘observation’. Makes it sound more official-like.”
“Does ‘collecting data’ sound better?” Adam asked, eyes twinkling.
“I guess.” Lyra sighed and spun her chair back to her co-worker. “Anyway, what can I help you with?”
“Becky wanted to go out Thursday night. It’s our six month anniversary. We were hoping we could leave a couple of hours early, if that’s okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Lyra said, waving a hoof. “It’s not like there’s a whole lot going on here, anyway.”
“True. But it does mean that you’ll be stuck here alone with Spectral Charm. No buffer zone, nobody to help you when he decides that computers are ridiculous and that he’d rather use ink, quills and scrolls.”
Lyra shuddered. “Maybe I can leave early, too. Anyway, are you two planning something nice?”
“Becky is in charge of all that.” Adam said with a smile. “I just have to show up. So far, I know that we’re going to dinner, then we’re going for a walk in a park. I’m hoping I can convince her to see a movie, but I doubt she’d be willing to go to the new Spider-man reboot. She’d probably want to see something romantic and cheesy.”
“Romantic and cheesy, huh?” Lyra said with a grin. “What’s wrong with romance?”
“Ah, you know,” Adam replied with a grin. “Chick flicks are all the same. Sappy dialogue, unbelievable reactions, people falling unconditionally in love at the drop of the hat. I think they’re pretty stupid, but she loves ‘em, so I pretend to put up with them.”
“Stupid, huh?”
Adam’s grin turned sickly and slid off of his face at the sound of the voice behind him. He stood and turned to find Becky, her arms folded under her breasts and a fierce scowl on her face.
“Uh, I can explain…”
“Hmph!” Becky turned on her heel and stalked out of the offices. Adam stared after her helplessly.
“Go after her, you idiot!” Lyra said, leaning forward in her chair and shoving him in the back with a hoof.
“But what do I do? She’s mad at me!”
“Now, yes. Later, she won’t be. So get out there and mend some fences!”
“Right. Thanks. Sorry!”
Lyra watched the human speed off after his annoyed love. She shook her head and sighed. It had been long enough since her last relationship that she’d forgotten how easy it was for a couple to fight over the most ridiculous of things. But those two really seemed to fit well together. She was sure they’d get past this.
In the meanwhile, she had an hypothesis to develop. With a long-suffering sigh, she turned back to her computer and opened up her browser window, once again searching through various aspects of human society.
There had to be a reason everything was so similar. There had to be. And Lyra was going to find it if it took her the rest of her life.
I'm waiting for the moment Lyra loses her cool and yells at Specs that he has to adapt or leave.
If Specs starts getting "harassed"...
I don't think anybody will mourn if he decides to leave.
Oh jeez, laughed for a minute straight there.
Please! Please get someone (or pony) to say that to his face!
Right....Not creepy! Not creepy at all!
It's definitely time for Lyra to put her hoof down, hard. Preferably somewhere between Spec's withers and crest...
Demanding your boss print out several hundred pages of documents for you, then strutting out of the room.
Whatever else can be said of him, Mr. Charm's got some serious guts. Or absolutely no clue.
I'm kinda glad that Lyra hasn't discovered religion yet. I mean, how would she react to our history being full of violence in the name of this god or that god?
Poor HR personnel avoided and talk about like the plague ...
4081393
I used to work in an HR department (as technical support, but still...) so I like to tease those folks from time to time
No! That is not how you speak to your direct superior, young stallion. Do you want to be fired? Because I think she may totally be able to do that, once she figures out how the whole "authority" thing works.
The next chapter's going to be explosive, I can sense it. Definitely looking forward to it.
It would be hilarious if Spectral Charm got fired from a sexual harassment claim. He lied about why he wanted to work there. Turns out he reeeeally likes bipeds.
Specs really doesn't seem to understand how this chain of command works.
Lyra needs to bring up the "Respect mah athoritay!" speech with Specs. He acts this way because he doesn't respect her. She's from an inferior school and he already pointed out she effectively has nothing more than a liberal arts degree while he has something more like a Doctorates or multiple PhD in magic. I bet if he was allowed to, he'd all but say he's the next best thing than having Twilight Sparkle on staff!
I predict it'll come down to a choice. He can either submit to Lyra's authority and command, or he can leave. Lyra also needs to put her hoof down or this will just go on till she does something actionable like that tirade, but in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Then again, this is ponies. Heh, this might turn into a Project:Sunflower-themed version of The Office.
Another excellent chapter. And very eager for Lyra to put her hoof down on Specs.>: )
4081354 Or he could just be stupid. Considering how high up his nose is in the air, I'm surprised nobody has climbed to the top and planted a flag yet. That would also explain the stupidity, as the air is quite thin up there, so he's not getting enough oxygen to the brain.
Oh I just want to bash Specs' head in with a rust pipe right now. You don't do this to your boss, ever.
Oh man, I have worked and lived with people like Specs... Good job Lyra for keeping it cool!
And this was fun, nice slice-of-life, I like it. Kinda surprised Lyra didn't suggest to mark that he take a dip in ascent though.
Good so far, an interesting dynamic of personalities, a good initial conflict with Specs refusing to consider that the methods he knows now may not be the best methods butting against Lyra's willingness to explore new venue's. Also some interesting elements for moving forward - Specs reaction to being approached could vary from Lyra's strong "I want to stay as I am", to "I'm not interested in changing myself . . . But do you have a few scrolls on what you're trying to do? It sounds like something I'd really like to understand myself," to "I'm not. . . But that process really sounds fascinating, and I suppose if being a test subject is the best way to figure it out I'd be willing to try."
Plus Lyra's fascination of how the two worlds seem to be mostly sharing a single set of Platonic Ideal Forms could be quite interesting.
I have a feeling a certain conversation should happen soon, and it will go roughly like this:
"Look, you 90 day temp, I'll call you Spectral Charms when you earn it. Until then, you may address me by my name, which is 'Yes, Ma'am, Right Away Ma'am' if you don't want to find yourself out the door with my hoofprints on your flank. Now the first thing we're going to get out of the way is your use of the computer, or more accurately, your non-use of it. For the next three days, your whole life will revolve around that touchpad and screen, and if I catch you with one single level 12 document on the printer, you're going to be eating it for lunch. Do I make myself clear?"
4081665
The thing is, expertise is also worth respect, and he supposedly has that.
I kind of want to see human Lyra in this story, too.
I think I really hate Specs.
Good job!
EDIT: Whoops double post.
I have this suspicion that Spec's is not on the level given what information he is trying to access I look forward to finding out if I am proven right or wrong as this story arc continues
Congratulations Specs! Probably the only reason you've not been fired is that there's no way to deport you too till next month!
Hmm . . .
"Actually I might have the perfect thing to help you out Specs."
"My name is . . ."
"You see, there's actually a reactive tutorial program built right into the system that's designed to see when you're having problems and automatically help you out. I just . . . need to . . . Activate it . . . There!"
". . . Is that a . . . Paper clip with eyes?"
"They call him Clippy."
Note to self: In the future, humankind will forget how to make touch screens that respond to a stylus. Darn.
*ponders* I can see why hooves wouldn't work with touchscreens. I wonder if it would be possible to make a "hoof glove" that was electrically conductive enough to enable touchscreen use. There are drawing styluses that work with touchscreens; if you took the material out of one of those and built it into a hoof-glove, you'd have a pony-accessible touchscreen. I don't know whether that would be more comfortable than a mouse for a pony to use, but it would be worth a try.
Of course, if the fabrication team hasn't gotten around to making Lyra a chair, experimenting with such an idea is probably down their list of priorities a ways.
4082986 I think the issue with a hoof glove is that hooves are much wider than finders, and I have enough trouble on my phone with my small fingers.
4082971
Actually they gave Celestia and Luna two stylus optimized tablets, so it's probably more about the bureaucracy of procurement than anything else - Plus most of the jobs at the facility probably are the sort that would just work better with keyboard and mouse.
Though considering that the facility is supposed to be for cutting edge research, it is surprising that Lyra hasn't done much to take advantage of the availability of 3D printers to fabricate a whole bunch of pony optimized devices. I mean considering that modern 3D fabrication can make bridges, and rocket engines, and internal organs, cutting edge Fabrication in Sunflower's time frame should be even more impressive in what it can do (Even before Ascent entered the picture).
Whatever else he is, Spectral Charm has a proven scholarly record. That means he can be taught. He can accept a challenge presented to him by an authority figure, and overcome it. I'd guess Lyra needs to learn how to be an authority figure.
4082399
I speak from personal experience when I say expertise only goes so far if you're a prick to coworkers and can't work in a group. Specs is the sort who leaves the rest of us with incomprehensible legacy code that bites us all in the arse every time we have to upgrade things for the next ten years and breaks every time standards change because he was trying to be a unique snowflake.
4082986 That's easy to do, you just need something that conducts electricity (gloves that you can use on touch screens have metal in them). You can use a teaspoon as a stylus if you need one. The problem with a pony glove though is that they are to big for the touch areas on the screen. Try controlling your tablet or phone with your knuckles.
4083696 To take advantage of that you need the knowledge for how to build things properly, and the skills to use the software to make the 3D designs for the object you want to print. So Lyra would still be dependent on at least someone learning her all that and everyone being willing to give Lyra access to a 3D printer. I'm not sure if I would do that.
4084973
Well let's not forget that Lyra can talk to the Engineering department in her capacity as the head of her own department, and justify 90% of conceivable fab requests as being "Likely to yield results highly beneficial for the diplomatic efforts." or something.
Hmm, I have to wonder if the right researchers could crack the secret of using CAD to fabricate objects that are partially or fully enchanted purely through design.
This week is Lyra week for fics so I'm glad these are being updated around the time I should have a day off so that's cool. I haven't had time to read yet and would rather read these chapters when I'm not in a stooper from lack of sleep so I'll leave a proper comment sometime later probaby Sunday night or Monday morning. Going from your last few blog posts you mentioned that the sequal is behind a bit and thats okay, all your doing is building hype that im sure the story more then deserves. I appologize for the poor spelling and grammer for this comment and wish everyone a good night.
A Lyra not obsessed with being human is a refreshing Lyra.
She's also pretty lovable in this.
I've revised my opinion from "Specs needs some friendship" to "Specs needs some friendship delivered upside his head".
But seriously, I see the problems in this chapter as existing on both sides of the issue. Specs has no idea how to be an employee, but Lyra has limited experience in being a boss, and from the sound of things zero experience with handling a problematic employee.
4081583 is that the chain he will be beaten with until he realizes that Lyra is in command?
I have a friend who is just like him, expect he does not have multiple PhDs or Sherlock level of expertise, bites him in the flank most of the time
Hmm, this chapter makes me wonder how many times Spider-man has been rebooted between now and 2038...
I'm assuming the Adam mentioned here is the same one that volunteered, then backed out of Project Insertion (before it was renamed Sunflower). It makes sense that he would get a job in Harmonics since he couldn't exactly go back to squinting at a screen for 12 hours a day. Although, I suppose they could've moved a couple computers into his confined quarters to crunch numbers on.
4081665
Read your own quote again. Exactly why should he respect her?
She has the power to fire him. She does not have the wherewithal to earn his respect, in a department named "Magic Research".
>>>Most of the Earth vegetation she’d tried was pretty close to Equestrian, with the exception of the tomatoes for some reason. Those were usually just nasty.>>>
Probably not fresh Jersey tomatoes!
We rock at growing tomatoes.
We suck at everything else. It's a Jersey thing.
(Snookie want smoosh-smoosh!)
>>>There had to be a reason everything was so similar. There had to be. And Lyra was going to find it if it took her the rest of her life. >>>
Lyra died that evening, choking to death on a horrid Chinese-grown tomato instead of enjoying and surviving with a proper Jersey tomato.
She never found out that the reason the universes were the same because God did it, and He likes to troll the omniverse like that.
4083696
To have someone use 3-D printers to make things you need, first the 1890's era mare needs to be told such things exist...
"What? We totally thought you knew about these things! That wasnt on your initial tour? Why should we have told you?"
Kind strange that you said this was the "calm before the storm" I liked this chapter more than others oddly enough.
Lyra's rant reminded me of this
4202504
I disagree on that. You don't need to have those specialised skills to lead a team (and Lyra is the team lead, first and foremost).
My previous team lead (unfortunately he decided to leave the company at some point) was the best boss I ever worked for. Everyone in the office respected him hugely. He was not the most tech savvy or knowledgeable person there by far (we have outright geniuses there), but he had the people skills and integrity to be a great leader. He had the common sense to make the right decisions after having someone explain all aspects of a problem to him, he always kept things constructive instead of getting emotional when things went wrong, and trusted the opinions of people working for him, using their experience to decide correctly. It was that all that made everyone respect him, and nobody cared that he didn't have a diploma in the field he was working in, or the greatest knowledge.
In fact, just today another colleague of mine told us about the best project manager he had ever had, at a company he previously worked for (games industry, just like our company). She was a physio therapist by education. She had no idea at all about programming, or games in general. But that meant that, contrary to some other higher-ups , that she didn't ever try to micromanage her team, or even feel she had to take up coding stuff herself, thereby neglecting her managerial duties.
And that's exactly why he should've approached Lyra and especially Maggie with respect. They might not have had his qualifications, but how was he to know what other strengths they might possess?
Not respecting someone based on a checklist of accomplishments and rankings you're aware of is a really bad idea. Plus: it's always best to stay humble anyways and never to consider yourself superior, even if you might – in whatsoever aspect – be. You can still show your 'superiority' by delivering outstanding work, after all.
4081583
Chain of command? Is that the chain Lyra goes and beats him with until he understands who's in frickin' command here?
Sigh... Why is nearly everyone from Canterlot such a colossal prick?
Is the Adam in this story the same as the guy from the beginning of Project Sunflower?