“Oh! Aliens. I didn’t think about that.” Viera rubbed her face. “If the aliens become known, magic will surely follow. It’ll be the Big Bang of massive amounts of work. No wonder you all wanted me to join your crew.” Smiles and laughter followed her words. “My one other question is, you all live all over the world, but Betsy and I are both here. Is that okay?”
There were some shrugs and eye shifts, then Ania sighed. “It doesn’t really matter where we’re located. The work is what matters. Betsy has been working with the chanzii and a lot of her day-to-day responsibilities have been piling up. Having you there to learn from her and help will be fine. Once you have your own duties, having you both in the same office won’t matter. When we need to meet, we teleport. We have the technology, even without the chanzii around.”
Marco winked. “Do you feel like you're ready to start your job?”
Eyes widening, Viera slowly shook her head. “Not even a little.”
Chapter 7 - Sky’s Clear - Until They’re Not
Betsy
It didn’t take long for the full complement of Pillars to finish their discussion and end their call. Everyone liked Viera. Having another person to help, increasing their numbers by twenty percent, no one was going to be upset by that.
“Are you freaking out yet?” Betsy rose to get Viera a mug of coffee. Her friend had sat still during most of the meeting, a smile plastered on her face. Even without a sensing proficiency, she knew Viera was nervous.
“Yes? No? I mean, that call gave me an idea what the job is, but I really don’t know what you do, besides make a huge mess in here.” She took the coffee and drank deeply. “God! This is good.”
“Well, bring it with. Let me show you around.” Outside her office, she pointed to the right. “The first door leads into a janitorial closet. The cleaners come to vacuum the main hallway and conference room. I don’t let anyone in my office. We’d deny access to the level if we could, but the owners of this building don’t allow that.” Maybe if I let them in, they’d see all my stacks of paper as recycling, and it’d cut my workload down. She smiled at her thought and waved her hand to the left.
As she spoke, Viera nodded, taking it all in. They turned to walk. “Across the way is a huge conference room. We sometimes use it for our group meetings, though we have other options as well.” At the end of the hall, the corridor turned right, hugging the large group space. “There are three doors along this hallway. The first is the restroom. Then a kitchen. And finally, at the end of the hall, is a second office I’d been debating using for a storage unit for my piles of paper. I may still do that, and let you deal with all the crap … I mean very important documents.”
Viera chuckled, but it sounded more like a nervous laugh.
Since Viera hadn’t planned to start working today, they did a quick look into each space, then headed back to Betsy’s office. “That’s it for today, unless you want—” A ping on her computer interrupted her. “Hold that thought, let’s see where this goes.” Opening up the communication app, she connected with the chanzii ship. “Horax, this is Pillar Doeth. I have Pillar Kor sitting in with me, if it’s private.”
Horax’s deep baritone voice rumbled through her tiny laptop. “Nothing private, Pillar Doeth. The long-range sensors have picked up a ship. We believe it’s krottel. There’s no immediate indication it’s heading this way, but I wanted you to know.”
Annoyance and dread fought within Betsy. Despite her emotions, she kept her voice calm. “Thank you Horax. I know the chanzii ship is heading off to Torville Station Number Six on Monday, but would you be able to take me and a few others out to check that before you leave?”
His large blue qynad head, so like the dragons of legend, slowly nodded. “If we head out today, we should have the ship back, ready to prep for the ride by tomorrow. It’ll be tight, but I can make it work. I’d need approval from Flower Prancer or Commander Firoza.”
“Thanks, old friend.” She signed off and prepared for another call, one she was less happy to make. Before she dialed, she turned to Viera. “Okay, that was the easy part. Next, we call the Earth authorities. I don’t need their approval, but they need to know what’s going on. I’ll have to submit paperwork as well.”
Viera’s mouth twitched. “Are you calling that asshole? Juk Purple… wait, what was his name? Juk Asskisser?”
Betsy laughed. I’m going to love working with Viera! “Juk Hopkins.” She resisted rolling her eyes like a teenager as she picked up the phone and dialed his number directly. The ability to call into an office of that government building shouldn’t be possible, but age had its privileges.
“Juk Hopkins, how can I help you?”
“Hiya, Juk, Ms. Doeth here.”
“Betsy … ah, Ms. Doeth. How did you get through to me without contacting our operator?”
Betsy huffed out a laugh and waited. She figured his brain would catch up before too long; he did end up as her handler after all.
“Er, I mean, it’s nice hearing from you. How can I help you this fine Friday? At least, I assume it’s fine where you are … I mean, I don’t even know where you’re located. Are you in D.C. like us? I mean, you don’t have to divulge that, I was just. Gah! Can I start over?”
Viera’s hands were over her mouth holding in a laugh. The kid’s nerves were taking over worse than any of her other contacts. She didn’t want to get a third person, but this kid was awful. “Juk, I’m just calling because a krottel ship was picked up on long-range sensors.”
There was a small gasp. “Do we need to … I mean, I’ll have our people focus our searches. We haven’t picked anything up.”
Betsy massaged her temples. This kid was going to give her a migraine. “I’m going to take the chanzii ship out to the edge of our system to see if we can get a better idea of what’s going on. No guarantees. They are leaving Monday for Torville Station Number Six, so this will be a quick mission. I’ll include any findings in my report. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.”
“Um…”
“Good-bye Juk.”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Ms. Doeth.”
Betsy hung up before he could say more. She leaned back in her chair. “I think you should sit this one out. I don’t think it’ll be interesting. Go home, relax, pack, and prepare for the trip.”
Viera slouched but didn’t argue. “Okay. I guess that makes sense.”
“It does. You just ended a big part of your life. You need some time to reflect before jetting off into space. Now, go, take some time to decompress.”
Though Viera didn’t look happy, she squared her shoulders and gave a quick nod. Then she stood and walked out of the office with a wave good-bye.
Once Betsy heard the main door shut, she picked up her phone and dialed Thorn. “Betsy, I didn’t expect to hear from you. How can I help you?”
“Hi, Thorn. There is a situation. I’m not sure if you’ve been filled in, but I need use of the Ziner to check out a situation Horax found on the radar. Could I get your approval, and could you join us?”
There was a moment's pause then a muffling sound. “Miracle Max, get off the curtains. Inigo Montoya, so help me, you mangy ven, get down. Be like Buttercup and Westley; they know how to behave!” Thorn’s voice came back stronger. “Sorry about that. These babies are learning to fly, and I am going crazy. I’m starting to wonder if they’re half phoenix.”
Betsy laughed. “Your pups are adorable, and you know it.”
“Do you want one?” The hope in Thorn’s voice made Betsy smile.
“They can’t leave their mom for another few months; ask me then. Though, you should ask Viera first. If you give away her precious Fezzik, she may skin you alive.”
