The following is a bit of alternative fiction based on certain characters from the Xenaverse. It is not meant to infringe on anyone else's rights.
They lay together, bodies entwined and sweaty. Their breathing hard and fast. She felt so very connected, and for a very real moment they were, deeply and powerfully so. Eyelashes turned gold from the sun hid hazel eyes sparkling with with passion's release. She looked up the column of neck, past the love bite, to chin and lips gone soft and plush with all those kisses. Finally their gaze met and she melted into a dream made of
Blue.
Those eyes, almost hidden behind the requisite safety glasses would be blue. I knew it as sure as I could hear the frantic way my heart was beating. My first impulse was to throw myself against her and find safety in her arms. My second, probably best one, was to hold still and let them take a gander at me.
I knew it was the right decision as soon as one swiveled and fired a shot, away from me. I flinched with the echoes that ricocheted in my eardrums. They had those funky earmuffs on. I didn't. I stretched my jaw a bit and cleared the passage, then I waited.
I felt myself drift, considering the possibilities that were behind those eyes and pulled myself sharply back.
No, I wanted to be lucid for this. I wanted. . .to know who and what I was about to encounter. I held my peace and waited. The woman with the long dark hair removed her goggles and smiled brightly at me. Then, with an accent so lusciously southern and achingly familiar that my curls nearly soaked, she asked, "We're about to have tea, would you like some?"
There was nothing but friendly recognition in her professionally interested gaze. My heart shattered into a zillion pieces, then I put on my neutral, but friendly, face and picked those bits up from the bottom of my soul. It was time to play the game. To play my life as if it were real.
"Yes. Thank you."
------------------------
There were parts of me that wanted dire vengeance on Sal, for setting me up like this. I'd asked her, practically begged, that she find me a job that gave me some leeway. I'd had my doubts about whether they would want someone who was on the bare edge of reality, but she'd said that it shouldn't matter. There were, "laws," about that kind of thing. Then she'd quoted me something about Genius and Insanity. It was a good thing she was my friend.....
Still, I knew I'd go bonkers if I wound up as part of some upperstory cubicle farm, and she was my best resource. I had a hard enough time dealing with reality and it would be too too easy to disassociate as part of the rat race, medication or no. Plus, I had those damn student loans hanging over my head. I needed a job that would pay those off, right? With enough money that I wouldn't have to visit a plasma joint for a little extra cash. That would be nice. I'd gotten tired of getting needles stuck in the hollow of my arms every other day.
So they took me to tea in a big big comfortable looking office. I stayed standing until invited to sit, then chose the seat that gave me a view of most of the room. The brunette seemed to approve. Mel.......I..didn't even know her name...my... no.. ..I. .. ..I... she poured the tea. I grabbed frantically for my sanity when her fingers touched mine, and I found out that I *wasn't* here for an interview. The whole thing left me breathless. I managed somehow.
So, I was already hired. Apparently I'd even signed the paperwork. I didn't remember signing on, but when they handed me the contract with "$75,000, and benefits" spotted liberally through out the text and what looked like a shaky, but accurate rendition of my signature, I had to wonder. Then they'd handed me a company car key and an office key.
They sure were trusting, I thought to myself. But I pocketed that key right quick and took sugar with my tea, thank you. I was told I'd be given the grand tour after the tea. They liked to relax a bit after using the "Range." Well, they were the bosses. They could do as they pleased. I got a grip.
You see, the blasted woman...I mean Sal, that ingenious life saver, who should be throttled..I mean patted on the back...Okay, so I feel ambivalent about my good fortune... was as good as her word. (And I sure wish I could recall just *when* I'd signed that paper? Did Sal give me some when I wasn't looking?) She'd found me a company that wanted *me* on its payroll, and which was definitely *not* going to leave me running in the cubicle cul-de-sac for the next thirty years. She'd found me a dream job and signed me up, quick as you please. She just forgot to mention it to *me.*
So, during our discussion I learned many things. They were happy to talk to the new whiz kid on their team. I tried to explain that while I did know a few things in my field I was hardly....I was cut off by the powerful looking brunette. Her regal features were stern. "We know *All* about you," she said, not so reassuringly. In fact, she scared me a little and she leaned on her desk, and stared straight at me. "ALL about you."
I used the moment to take a sip of tea and gather my thoughts. "Oh," I said. The cup trembled in my hand and my......not lover..not wife..no such thing..not even my friend...my...boss, looked on with sympathetic azure eyes. Madness. They knew and they still wanted me? I nearly laughed. Who was crazier? "So," I set the cup down, "what do you want with me then?"
I got an earful of facts.
Okay then, so....
Amazon *was* into aggressive recruitment, a testimony to its senior chairperson and managing director, and was looking at taking a commanding role in both private and public sector R-and-D and training contracts for electronics. Turned out it started drawing seven- and eight-figure contracts out of the Pentagon just after Desert Storm. Initially the funding was for research into improved command-and- control systems and networks, then it changed and funding went towards decoding and transmission systems. These quickly branched off into ones out of the civilian side of the government; NASA, NSA, the National Reconnaissance Office, et cetera. Again, mostly stuff dealing with encryption and satellites.
I realized, in a bizarre fashion, that I really was understanding what they were telling me. I drank my tea, ate my biscuit and nodded my head as if I'd known this stuff all along. I knew I did. As I listened, I found myself getting more comfortable. Things were starting to make sense.
Anyhow, Amazon managed to hold its own without hiring new brains for a few years, mostly because the stuff was strictly at the theoretical level and lots and lots of indecipherable mathematics. Lately, however, they had taken on a few contracts required a bit more application than their past affiliates. Hence their sudden hard-on (so to speak) for new blood.
That would be me.
The idea of blood caused me to have a vivid memory of a needle plunging into my arm. I just couldn't identify, in my head, from where..... I fought the impulse to run to the bathroom, tear off my clothes and search for every scar.....Instead I took another cup of tea and dumped in several spoonfuls of sugar. And they wanted me? They must be pretty desperate.
Lt. Colonel Georgia Eponin (retired, US Army) and Dr. Melinda Evangeline Pappas, respectively Chair of the Board and CEO of Amazon, Incorporated, didn't look desperate though. In fact, they looked quite collected as they tasted from their own cups. I found it reassuring that the Lt. Colonel dipped her cookies and interesting that Dr. Pappas took her tea black.
So, after they explained this all, with great equinamity considering the topic, I asked again, "What do you want with me?" As I waited for their response, I made a mental note to seek out Sal and give her (at least) a good shake! And then a huge hug.
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ŠJUNE 1998
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