Selected Assistant Read online

  Credits

  Thank you to my beta readers, Brisa, Charlie, Laurie, Lindsey, Lori, Martha, and Stephanie. Their tireless work ensures the highest quality I can achieve. What’s amazing are the odd errors they help me fix. Thank you so much, all of you.

  And, as always, thank you, gentle reader, for your continued support.

  Selected Assistant

  I stepped into my boss’s office. Rona took one look at me and stood up. “Ah, good. We’re meeting with Finley.”

  “Why?”

  “He didn’t say, but he specifically asked for you.”

  I wouldn’t say that the CEO of Hunt Robotics, Finley Hunt, didn’t know my name. After all, he had interviewed me three months ago. But I was the newest employee of the company, and in spite of my doctorate, about the lowest on the corporate totem pole. “Did I do something wrong?”

  “Not that I’ve heard,” Rona replied. “Relax, Taisha. It’s just a meeting.”

  “Right,” I thought. I didn’t let my sarcasm show on the outside. I kept it inside, where it counts.

  Rona was a decisive woman, and once she got going, I scrambled to keep up. She led the way through the office until we reached one of the conference rooms. The door was open. Finley Hunt, our CEO, was already there along with several of the top hardware and software folks. I was definitely the odd woman out.

  “Please close the door,” Finley said as we stepped in. I took care of that then was ready to follow Rona, but one of the über geeks said, “Taisha, sit here.” She indicated the chair next to her.

  She knew my name? Felicia Hooper knew my name? But I slipped around the table to sit down beside her, then woke my tablet, ready to take notes.

  “Put that away,” Finley said. “In fact, turn it off. Phones, too, if anyone has them. Everything.” That took a minute. Everyone had something. Then Finley actually went around the room and asked each of us, one by one, whether we had any electronic equipment with us that wasn’t turned off. One by one, we told him, “No.”

  “Good. All right. Everyone knows everyone. Most of you know vaguely what this is about.” Then he turned to me. “Some of you don’t have a clue. Amanda?”

  Amanda was Finley’s wife. She got up from her chair and walked around the table until she stood behind me. She leaned into the space between Felicia and me and set a piece of paper on the table, sliding it in front of me.

  It was an NDA – a non-disclose agreement. I glanced at it. “I signed one already.”

  “This one is specific to what is being discussed,” Finley said. “And the consequences are more extreme if you talk about anything you learn here.”

  I picked it up and read it carefully. I looked up, and everyone was watching me. Everyone.

  Momma didn’t raise an idiot. “What’s going on?”

  “Sign that and find out,” Finley said.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then we’ll ask you to vacate the room and invite our second choice.”

  Felicia leaned to me and whispered sotto voce, which means everyone actually heard her, “Taisha, you really, really want to sign that.”

  I looked her square in the eye. But like I said, Momma didn’t raise an idiot. “I don’t want to be involved in anything illegal, immoral, or for the department of defense. And this feels like one of the three.”

  “It’s not,” Finley said.

  “Then give me a copy that specifies I’m free to spill my guts to law enforcement if I learn about illegal activities.”

  “Hand write that stipulation,” Finley said.

  And so, I did, writing carefully. Then I signed it. Amanda took it back and returned to her seat. Finley continued to watch me. “Have we impressed upon you the very, very private nature of this conversation?”

  “I believe you have.”

  “We did a favor for the aliens.”

  “May I ask what sort of favor?”

  “We shared some of our technology with them. They could have stolen it, but they wanted it legally.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” he said.

  “We could do something they couldn’t?”

  “We did it in a fashion they liked,” he said. “There was an agreed exchange of tech. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t give us any alien tech, but we’ve gotten some advances out of the deal, coming strictly from a human programmer who is using our tech.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Seriously,” he said. “I’ll repeat that. The improvements we received were relatively minor but rather brilliant programming enhancements to our system, and the coding was done by a human programmer. We haven’t received any alien technology.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly.

  “Since that agreement, we updated some of our hardware.”

  “Using this tech?”

  “Yes, but it was already part of our plan. We sent them an update, and there seems to be an interface problem with their systems.”

  “Okay.”

  “They aren’t willing to send us their system. It includes alien tech. But they’re asking us to help solve the problem. Which means we’re sending a small team.”

  “Me?” I squeaked.

  “Perhaps.”

  “Why me? I’m nobody.”

  “No one working for this company is a nobody, Dr. Saint-heart” Finley said, stressing my fairly new title. I hadn’t been “doctor” very long. “What you mean to say is that you’re a very junior member of our team. And you’d be going as an assistant.”

  “To the space station?”

  “No, no, not quite that exotic.” He smiled. “Africa.”

  “Beginnings?”

  “We’ll come to that in a minute. I haven’t completely answered your first question. Why you? The aliens gave us a list of our employees, the people they would accept as part of this project. Your name was one of very few people who didn’t already know about the project.”

  “That just makes me ask, ‘Why me?’ again.”

  “I imagine it’s a trust issue,” Finley said. “But who knows how the aliens think?”

  “So, we’re all going?”

  “No,” Felicia said. “I’m going. You’re invited as my assistant.”

  “There is no obligation,” Finley added.

  “Do you really think I’m going to turn it down?” I asked.

  “No,” he said with a smile. “Work will be at their facility, but when you’re not working, you have a choice of housing. You may stay at their rather secretive facility. It’s underground, and you’ll be confined to quarters.”

  “Or?”

  “Or you may stay at the resort.”

  “And I’d stay at the dreary underground facility instead of the most amazing resort on the planet, because?”

  “Because everyone staying at Beginnings is subject to the same rules,” Felicia said. “You do know what those rules are, don’t you?”

  “Where are you staying?”

  “Beginnings,” she said with a smile.

  “Sounds good to me,” I responded.

  Travel

  “Why me?” I asked Felicia a half hour later.

  “And you think I have a more informative answer than Finley gave you?”

  I tried a different tack. “Why was Amanda in that meeting?”

  “Because when the aliens want to nudge Finley, they call her.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. Okay, we don’t know what’s wrong. It could be hardware. It could be software. It could be interference from the alien tech.”

  “Is that likely to be as big a bitch to figure out as I think it might be?”

  “Yeah, especially because we don’t know what it does, and they won’t tell us.” She grinned. �
�I love this job.”

  “What can you tell me?”

  “This is heartbreaking,” she said. “And it’s why they call Amanda.” She paused. “Let me tell you why they’re using our tech.”

  I sat quietly when she was done telling me about a woman named Muriel. I asked a few, “You’re kidding, right?” questions.

  “That…” I said at the end.

  “Sucks,” she finished for me. “It totally sucks. It doubly sucks, because she’s fucking brilliant. Taisha, if Muriel can’t find it, it’s not code. It’s hardware.”

  “Which is why you and I are going.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “We need to bring pretty much everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yeah. The aliens are giving us a ride. We’re bringing everything. We have three days to pack up a mobile lab.”

  “Oh, shit,” I said. “Three days?”

  “The guys will help, and we’ve done it before. What I need from you is to know where everything is. Everything. It’s going into two big crates, if we can fit it, organized into smaller crates so nothing is sliding around. The aliens probably have everything we could bring, but so much of it is their tech, and a lot of it doesn’t speak English, so we need to bring our own.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “This takes priority, so feel free to steal anything we need.”

  I laughed. “Sure.”

  “Let’s talk about some personal stuff for a minute.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly.

  “You know the rules at Beginnings.”

  “You’d have to live under a rock not to,” I pointed out. I grinned. “Hoping?”

  “Can you imagine?” she asked. She fanned herself. “You’re going to need to bring a variety of clothing. It’s up to you, but here’s what I’m doing.”

  * * * *

  It took pretty much every minute we had to prepare. Yes, we had two crates, two exceedingly large crates. Everything was packed very carefully, with the various tools and instruments we required in special, foam-lined cases specific for each of them. Felicia and I went through everything, doing the best we could to make sure we didn’t forget anything. And then along with Finley, we wandered through our facility, checking if we were inspired by the sight of any equipment that was still lying around.

  To the best of my knowledge, no one hid anything from us so we wouldn’t snatch it from them.

  On a more personal note, let’s just say I didn’t under pack – or underspend during my emergency shopping trip to the mall. When was I going to get another chance to go to Beginnings, after all? And as I wasn’t even paying for the trip itself, I definitely splurged when shopping for it.

  * * * *

  I pulled into the parking lot at work. It was still dark, another half hour or so to sunrise. There were already a few other cars around, but I recognized Felicia’s Tesla Model 3. I parked beside it. It took a minute, but I hauled my bags out of my car. I had two large rolling bags, a duffle, which I set atop the larger rolling bag, and a purse. My laptop was inside already, packed in one of the crates. I had an iPad for the trip, although I would discover I wouldn’t touch it.

  I rolled towards the doors, dragging my bags with me.

  I didn’t head to my desk; we had a loading dock, and that’s where I found Felicia, Finlay, and Amanda. I struggled to pull everything through the door, and by the time I had, they had all turned towards me. Seeing me struggle, Finley stepped forward and took one of the rollers and my duffle from me, and together we brought them to Felicia’s stack.

  “I thought I was over-packing,” I commented.

  “What are you talking about?” Felicia asked.

  I gestured to my bags then to hers. She laughed.

  “I’m going with you,” Amanda said. “If the aliens snatch either of you from the beach, I’m going to video it.”

  “Thanks,” Felicia said. “We appreciate the support.” Then she smiled at me. “Is that a dress, Taisha?”

  “Um. Is that wrong?” I asked. I eyed both of them.

  “Not as far as I’m concerned,” Amanda said. She did a little pirouette, holding the skirt of her dress widely as she did so. I got a good look at the bare skin of her back. I laughed, shrugged out of my shawl, and then copied her.

  My back was as bare as hers.

  “But I brought business clothes,” I said. “Should I change?”

  “No,” Amanda said. “I’ll be wearing summer dresses.”

  “Most of them backless?” Finley asked.

  “Of course not,” Amanda replied. “All of them.” She smiled at me and offered a little finger gesture towards me. “I have to ask. Did you pick this dress for the same reason I picked mine?”

  “Well, I don’t know if you picked yours for the beach,” I said. “I picked mine because I’ve been watching videos.”

  “I want to clarify that. You are hoping for a Catseye hug?”

  “Have you had one?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I have. Yes or no?”

  “I wouldn’t say ‘hoping’,” I said. “I’d say open to the idea.”

  She nodded. “Good.”

  Felicia looked back and forth between us and then said, “I’ll be right back.” She grabbed one of the suitcases and hurried towards the main part of the building.

  I looked down at my dress. “Is this okay?” I asked. “I mean… We’re going to be working.”

  “Finley can’t comment on how you dress,” Amanda said. “But I can, can’t I?” I nodded. “This is fine. Lovely, actually. Taisha, you wouldn’t be going if we weren’t convinced of your devotion, but everyone knows this could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you, and we don’t expect you to ignore that.”

  “My wife is right,” Finley said. “Make the most of it. And if you get a chance, steal a little alien tech for us.”

  Amanda backhanded his arm. “Finley! She might think you’re serious.”

  “I am!” Finley said, rubbing his arm. “And ow!”

  “Don’t be a baby,” she said. She pulled out her phone. “We should open the doors.” She didn’t wait but stepped over to the side of the large loading dock and hit the green open button. The door began to clatter upward, making the usual racket. I stepped over and looked outside, Amanda joining me.

  “Are they sending a truck for the crates?”

  “Something like that,” Felicia said, stepping up to my other side. I looked over to see she was wearing her own backless wrap dress. It was hard not to stare.

  She looked absolutely stunning.

  “Amanda, are we being presumptuous to dress like this?” she asked.

  “Not at all,” Amanda replied. “If anyone reads anything into it, it’s only that you have an open mind. Taisha, I don’t know if anyone has talked to you about this. Some of the aliens don’t care to be touched.”

  “Like the little Loris,” Felicia said. “God, he’s cute.”

  “Bay. Yeah, he is,” Amanda agreed.

  “Loris?” I prompted.

  “Four feet tall, furry, very slight, with big eyes,” Felicia said. “They look like a loris from Sri Lanka.”

  “They are about the cutest thing you can imagine,” Amanda continued.

  “Totally,” Felicia agreed. “But if he were human, we’d say he was on the spectrum.”

  “Ah,” I said. Everyone understood what that means.

  “Absolutely brilliant and an incredible artist,” Amanda continue. “He’s the one who makes the robots, and some of them are unbelievable. My point is simple. No touching anyone without permission, and if you feel the need to ask, quietly talk to one of the humans and let them negotiate for you.”

  “This is a very strange conversation,” I observed.

  “Yes,” she said. “But I can almost promise you, if we didn’t have it, you would end up touching him.”

  “He’s not a pet,” Felicia said. “But damn, he looks like one. No clothes.”

  “Fur, though.”
>
  “Yeah. And I can’t tell him and his wife apart.”

  “Oh, she’s very sweet,” Amanda said. “If you ask one of the humans, and if Cedar is around, she’ll let you pet her arm, if you’re polite about it.”

  “I’m really going to meet some of the aliens,” I said.

  “You really are,” Amanda confirmed. “Although I don’t know whom.” Then she gestured. “There’s our truck.”

  I looked out into the parking lot, then past it to the road. I didn’t see any trucks approaching. Felicia and Amanda both chuckled, and I felt I was the butt of a joke.

  And then it was obvious why. It wasn’t a truck.

  I stared.

  And stared.

  And stared long past the point the alien spacecraft turned around and set down, directly in front of us.

  “Truck,” I whispered. “Some truck. How does it fly?”

  “Who knows?” Felicia said. I looked over at her. She was grinning her head off.

  Just then the back of the craft opened, a ramp descending and coming to a rest right at the edge of our loading bay, the distance exactly perfect. I leaned closer. The ramp didn’t rest on the loading bay floor, but instead was about a pencil’s distance away, and appeared to be exactly level. We’d be able to roll the crates right inside. I stared at that. “Precise.”

  “They’re show-offs,” Felicia said. Then she gestured.

  I followed her gaze and saw a human walking towards us. And behind her…

  One of the aliens.

  “Audra!” Amanda said. “Posey! Welcome to California.” Then she lowered her voice. “The Catseye prefer formal introductions. Please wait for me to introduce you.”

  I nodded, half hearing her. I couldn’t take my eyes from the alien.

  And her tentacles, arrayed in the air about her.

  The two closed the distance to Amanda, who offered a hand. She and Audra did a simple greeting with a handshake, but they exchanged words warmly. Then, while Audra and Finley did the same, the alien and Amanda greeted. This was far more intimate, beginning with a handshake, but it progressed into an all-out hug. As an observer, it was as if the alien – with her tentacles – swarmed forward to envelop the human, wrapping around her to the point it was difficult to even see her, she was so covered in tentacles.