The long hallways blurred into one long, unending line of white. Her employment contract was still in her clenched hand as she struggled to stay in the group. She had never left home before but this was too big of an opportunity to miss. The colony did not often need new citizens. She was lucky to have been selected. After all, she didn’t have the schooling expected of her age group because of her mother’s agoraphobia. She had missed school so many times and because of it they wouldn’t let her graduate, even though she had passed every test they’d given her.
Yet here she was, approaching the shuttle that would take her up to the orbiting space colony where she would have the opportunity to learn from the best. They hadn’t been very clear about what she would be doing but only the smartest, top of the class were allowed to study there.
“Lenroe, Tierney.”
“Here.” She called and hurried to the front, clutching her bag of clothes and boarding ticket.
He nodded toward the door the others were disappearing through once their name was called. “Take the stairs down, follow the hall to the door. Board the shuttle and find a seat. No wasting time.”
“Yes, sir.”
The whole ride up was uneventful and entirely boring. No one spoke to anyone else and most of the other passengers fell asleep. Never had she been more relieved to disembark. The same man who had called their names to board stood at the front of the shuttle now.
“Listen up. Most of you have been assigned to duties already. Those who have not need to proceed to the lobby where the work board is set up. You can choose from anything on there that you are qualified for.”
Tierney hesitated. She had no idea what she would qualify for on a space colony she had never been to before. Then again, they were all in that position. They were bound to have something though. Right?
A few minutes later she was staring at the board and took it back. They had nothing. Not unless she wanted to be an ‘exotic entertainer’. Even she wasn’t dumb enough to take that, she could read the underlying message there. She came to learn from the great minds working up here, not to entertain the lowlifes who didn’t have a life.
She scanned the board again and sighed. Turning to the group’s escort she smiled. “What if we don’t really qualify for anything up here?”
“Something will be chosen for you.” He gruffed, barely glancing at her. “Just pick something and get going.”
Trepidation flooded through her as she went through her choices again. She could either be a janitor at some research facility, an assistant to an assistant, or a housing coordinator. She didn’t know what the last one was but none of them seemed promising.
“If you haven’t chosen something, do so now. We meet the employers downstairs in 5 minutes and we leave here in one.” Mr Grumpy Gruff hollered.
Tierney snatched the assistant paper and hurried over to join the others. They were on their way downstairs.
None of it took very long. Tierney was impressed by how efficiently the sorting and introductions were achieved. Little fuss and less confusion. In less than 15 minutes she was in a car and on her way to figure out what she would be doing as an assistant’s assistant.
As soon as she climbed out of the car she was greeted by a man in an impeccable deep blue suit. He flashed her a grin. “Come inside. Let’s talk.”
He motioned her over to a cluster of comfortable looking chairs.
“Are you the assistant I am assisting?”
He grimaced. “No. My name is Jesic Parse. I came to steal you away to be my assistant. My father’s assistant is perfectly capable and doesn’t need their own assistant. However, my father thinks I need a babysitter. Hence the new hire.” He pointed at her. “Now, I wanted to get a few things straight before you meet the man himself.”
“Alright.” She nodded and pulled out the pad of paper and pen she had found in the car. “Go ahead.”
“I don’t need a babysitter. So you have a few choices. You can either be my girlfriend and you get paid to be nice to me and look pretty or you can be my assistant and actually help me get my real work done.”
“Real work?”
He shrugged. “My father doesn’t think I do anything and I’d like to keep it that way. So I’m not telling you any more than that until you agree to keep quiet and get paid double what you were offered.”
“Well there’s no way you are going to pay me to be your girlfriend.”
He broke in, sitting up with that charm oozing from him. “You mean, you’d be my girlfriend for free?”
She flashed him a smile with enough charm to match his own. “No. I’ll be your assistant but you don’t have to double what your dad was going to pay. I don’t even know what he’s offering to pay me.”
He shook his head. “I’m not paying you double. My dad will pay you a normal salary to be my babysitter which you will agree to in order to keep him off my back and then I will also pay you a normal salary to be my actual assistant.” He paused. “Are you sure you don’t want to be my girlfriend instead? I really wouldn’t mind.”
She shook her head sharply and glared. “You don’t even know me. And I don’t know you. I’ll take the assistant option.”
“Alright.” He offered his hand. “I’ll walk you to the elevator so you can meet my dad.”
As the elevator was closing with only her inside it, he spoke again. “And we’ll revisit the whole girlfriend thing once we get to know each other.”
That left Tierney chuckling and shaking her head as the elevator rose to where the elder Mr Parse would be waiting.
