Neighbors

by Brian Whiting

  BRIAN VVHITINC.

  NEICiHBDRS

  BOOK ii:! OF THE

  GALACTIC STARTUP SERIES

  Copyright © 2018 by Brian Whiting

  First Edition

  ISBN:

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer, except in case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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  Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s edges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks are not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Chapter 1

  Orientation

  THE NEW UEF Headquarters, dubbed ‘The Complex,’ was located in

  an arid location in northern Nevada. The headquarters was built after the

  American government destroyed its previous incarnation by crashing a

  cargo plane into it, in a misguided attempt to either take control of or

  destroy the UEF. After their plan became public knowledge, the govern-

  ment was forced to pay for the Complex to be rebuilt as part of a large apol-

  ogy strategy, assisting with the creation of a tight and rigid campus where

  expense was not much of a consideration. It had only been a couple months

  since Alex decided to wait on providing information on the UEF activities

  during the attack.

  Jackie entered a room filled with several rows of seating waiting to be

  filled. Everything was new and fresh around her, the walls and furniture

  various shades of grey and purple. There was a large screen at the front of

  the room, which displayed a rotating UEF emblem and UEF Orientation

  beneath it. Jackie sat down at the far end of the first row as instructed, as

  more people filed in behind her.

  As soon as it’s over, come to my

  office, I have to prepare for Alex’s

  speech tonight, and I needed

  you yesterday.

  Jackie glanced at Renee’s text message again. She was surprised to learn that Renee selected Jackie to be her Executive Assistant. She had some

  college experience and some local city experience under her belt, but she

  did not have the national attention that so many other applicants must

  have had.

  Her eyes wandered around the room, and they came to rest on the

  poster closest to her, off to her right. It was a propaganda poster, featuring a woman in a UEF uniform, family members surrounding her impoverished

  children looking up to her. The woman was escorting them to their new

  residence, as the kids held their UEF ID cards close to their chests.

  The other side of the room featured a poster of a Zorn impaling a

  non-descript human against a wall with one of its legs as two UEF soldiers

  aimed their guns at the creature. At the bottom, the words They will be back dripped in red ink, a clear warning to the reader.

  “Good morning.”

  Jackie jumped a little and turned to see a man standing at the podium,

  smiling out at them. She redirected her focus on the speaker and settled in

  to listen.

  “My name is Macky, with a ‘y.’ I am the lead onboarding representative

  here at the Complex. The first thing I want to say to all of you is to be flexible. The UEF is rapidly growing, and things are changing by the minute.

  Rules held dear yesterday may evaporate tomorrow. Do not get settled

  into thinking that whatever you end up doing is the new normal for you.

  Because in a month, you might be doing something completely different.”

  There was some general commotion amongst the crowd. The screen

  behind Macky changed to the first topic: UEF Life.

  “I am here to straighten out the things that you may have heard. I’m

  here to present to you the truth. For example, from this point forward,

  barring any separation issues, you will have everything you need and more

  provided for you. In exchange, you will work forty to sixty hours a week,

  depending on your specialization. There are a select few who will have

  more expectations.”

  Jackie readjusted her posture. She knew her position would be one of

  those select few requiring more than sixty hours a week of work. Jackie’s

  2

  hands were starting to sweat, and she tried drying them on her black dress pants.

  “Medical, dental and vision will all be provided. In fact, all areas of

  public service will be provided. We have our own emergency response

  team, teachers for your children, and even those who you can call to assist

  in whatever your needs might be. All your residences are equipped equally,

  large screens in every room, access to our entertainment database, all the

  appliances. You can even request themed decoration. There’s a bit of a wait

  limit on that, I believe, but we’re working on it. You can find informa-

  tion for any required services on the network for easy access and appoint-

  ment creation.”

  Jackie’s phone vibrated, and she looked down at it, tuning out the

  speech in front of her.

  Is it done yet?

  Is she kidding? I just walked in, she thought to herself.

  Orientation just started.

  A minute passed before another reply vibrated her phone.

  Okay, no matter where you are in

  orientation at 1045, you need to

  walk out for a bathroom break. We

  have a flight to catch.

  She looked back up at the screen. She missed the segue into

  transportation.

  “…on the red pads. It might be the last thing you do.”

  Several people chuckled, and Jackie looked around frantically, afraid

  she just missed a piece of important information.

  “As far as ground vehicles, there are a few types of vehicles on site, all of

  which have the keys inside them at all times. At no time is anyone autho-

  rized to remove the keys from any vehicle. Any vehicle that is green or blue,

  you can jump in a drive where you need to go. If you need to go off-site,

  you can do so in black vehicles, and you need the authorization to do so.

  Some professions will receive automatic off-site authority, and you should

  already be aware if that applies to you.

  3

  “Red vehicles are emergency response vehicles, and you are not authorized to drive those for any reason, nor are you authorized to drive gold

  vehicles. Those v ehicles a re n ot b etter e quipped o r s pecial; t hey a re o n standby for rapid transport for upper management, and mostly you’ll

  notice they will always have a designated driver sitting in them.”

  Jackie looked at her phone again, wondering what the time was. 10:18.

  “Don’t worry, ma’am, you�
��ll be in this room ‘til well past sundown. I

  wouldn’t think about the time too much.”

  Jackie froze, looking up at the stage. Macky was looking at her. She

  flushed red, and Macky gave her a slight grin before resuming his mono-

  logue. Jackie tried to blend into the chair itself as the entire audience peered in her direction.

  At 10:36, Macky was part of the way through delving into mealtimes,

  and dining hall etiquette. A visitor appeared on the stage with him, easily

  recognizable. Renee, in a tight-fitting p urple d ress w ith m atching s hoes, some of the brightest clothes in the room. Macky looked about to introduce her to the class, but she waved her finger near her right leg, mostly

  hidden from the audience. She walked up to him and whispered something

  in his ear, to which he nodded an affirmative.

  Renee glanced at Jackie and cocked her head to the side, indicating her

  desire for Jackie to leave with her. Jackie and Renee exited through a side

  door to the room that led outside to a small service street. A green vehicle

  with a driver was waiting for them to exit, both of the rear doors opened

  waiting for them. Renee and Jackie sat in the back seat, settling in as the car moved. The driver already knew where they were heading.

  “Sorry. I’ll make sure you get caught up to speed later, I just don’t have

  time for you to learn right now.”

  Jackie looked curiously out of the window and assumed her next few

  years were going to be just as rushed.

  “I need you to meet my media team and see where they’re at with the

  graphics for tonight. Don’t forget to watch the video segments and rank

  them based on how informative they are, and on content versus time. I’ll

  mostly be relying on you to choose which videos are aired tonight.”

  “I don’t have my ID card yet!”

  “Damn!” Renee leaned forward and reached out to touch the driver’s

  4

  shoulder. “I need you to get us to the human resources building first. I want you to literally get us to the front door.”

  “Will do!”

  The driver put the vehicle in reverse and accelerated quickly down a

  small one-way service road.

  “Are you taking notes? Or do you have an eidetic memory?” Renee’s

  eyes glanced at Jackie with zero empathy. A pen and small notebook quickly

  manifested in Jackie’s hands, having pulled them from her blouse.

  “I knew I liked you!” Renee looked down at her phone. “I also need

  you to have lunch ready for six at one in media conference room 2A. You

  need to become an expert with the video camera sitting on my desk. You’re

  my permanent backup camera operator. The manual for that bloody thing

  is…” Renee hesitated, as though trying to remember where she put it. “You

  know what, just Google it.”

  The battery-powered vehicle they traveled in spun around and lurched

  toward a parking lot area in front of human resources.

  Renee’s phone rang. “Yes?”

  Jackie looked out of the window to see very tall white buildings sur-

  rounding the parking area.

  “If you can keep it at eight, it would be better. Four PM is just too early

  for a good showing.”

  Jackie could hear a male’s voice on Renee’s phone but had no idea who

  it was or what they were saying. His voice was garbled.

  “Hi!”

  Jackie started and turned to face Renee. How could the guy on the phone

  know that I was attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation?

  “Hi!” the driver said, and Jackie realized that she’d heard him speak,

  not the man on the phone. She smiled into the rearview mirror, trying not

  to move her head too much.

  “Oh, hi!”

  “First day?” He pursed his lips together, clearly realizing it was a fool-

  ish question.

  “Yeah. How long have you worked here?”

  “A few weeks. They’re bringing people in by the hundreds every day. If

  you work for Renee, your ID card will work on the gold cars, too.”

  5

  “Hua?”

  “To get inside a vehicle, you have to pass your ID card under the door

  handle. If you’re authorized to sit in or drive said vehicle, that particular

  door will open for you.”

  “Oh…Thanks.”

  “Seven o’clock,” Renee said disparagingly, fiddling on her phone. “A

  compromise, he calls it. I call it a compromise of work quality. I wonder

  what his hurry is this time.” She glanced at Jackie. “You’ll need to adapt

  quickly to the UEF data pads. My schedule has to move onto that format

  within the week, and you’ll be responsible for it.”

  Jackie felt overwhelmed with the responsibility she was being trusted

  with so quickly. The vehicle came to an abrupt stop, and Renee looked at

  Jackie again. “Did you get Dillon’s number?” Renee waved at the driver but

  didn’t wait for her to respond. “Never mind, get his number. When I need

  to go places, he’s the guy to call.”

  Renee climbed from the vehicle and headed to the building without so

  much as a glance backward.

  “You better keep up!” Dillon smiled towards Jackie as she rushed from

  the car. It took a few moments, but Jackie jogged and caught up with Renee.

  “I pulled him from gold service and put him in the circle,” Renee said

  without slowing down.

  “What’s the circle?”

  Renee looked at a confused Jackie, then she smirked at her. “It’s what I

  call those at the top, effecting real change. Now he drives for us.”

  “I thought the upper people all rode in gold cars?”

  Renee badged her way into the building and explained the situation

  with a steely looking guard at the front door, who insisted on following

  them to ID card services.

  “All the vehicles are the same,” Renee said, glancing at Jackie. “Most

  people who ride in the gold cars are in fact middle management personnel,

  I’d say. The ones at the top, people like Alex, Timmy, Jorge and the others,

  they ride in normal vehicles.”

  “Seems, unnecessarily complicated.”

  Renee sighed as she entered the elevator, the guard and Jackie climb-

  ing in as well. “One of the things we need to show the world are the goals

  6

  the UEF is setting for itself. Look around, and you’ll see doctors, teachers, nurses and plumbers. The UEF is setting itself up to be the provider of

  everything you might ever need in your life.”

  “Sounds like a clever way to disguise special treatment,” Jackie

  grumbled. It had been less than a day, and her image of the UEF had

  already shifted.

  Renee smiled patronizingly at Jackie, shaking her head a little. The

  clean, brightly-lit elevator door sprung open, and they took off again. “A

  middle school teacher in Florida might make forty thousand a year. In New

  Jersey, thirty. Some districts have teachers making sixty thousand, seventy

  thousand a year, all teaching the same curriculum. Does that sound fair

  to you?”

  Jackie didn’t reply, struggling to keep up with Renee.

  “Everyone at the UEF is paid on a five-stage tier system. Tier one is

  paid the highest, and tier five is paid fifteen percent above what is consid-

  ered povert
y level, all in addition to never paying for food, medical, elec-

  tricity or housing. That’s pretty damn good.”

  “Alex is, what, twenty-something? Lots of startups come crashing down

  due to false hope and bravado. How are you so confident this won’t happen

  to the UEF?”

  Renee walked up to a teller window, a young man facing her from

  the other side it. He wore a brown uniform, with brown socks and shoes.

  His hair was black and eyes brown, though it was hard to tell as his

  attention was focused on his display screen, and he didn’t look up when

  Renee approached.

  “This young woman goes by the name of Jackie Ambrose. She just got

  pulled from orientation, and I need her to have a badge now.”

  The young man behind the window glanced up at Renee and nodded.

  He stood up and headed to the back of the area, and returned empty

  handed. When Renee looked like she was going to snap at him, he smiled

  at her, clicked the mouse of his computer a few times, and vanished again.

  He returned a few seconds later holding Jackie’s ID badge, handing it to the

  woman with a flourish.

  “Here we go,” the man said with difficulty, in a thick South African

  accent. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  7

  Jackie smiled at the badge. “No. Thank you.” She looked at her new ID

  card, but Renee was already walking away, and Jackie once again had to jog

  to catch up.

  “Can extended family be brought here?” Jackie asked, pinning the

  badge to her shirt.

  “What do you mean?” Renee pushed the elevator button again and

  noticed the guard behind her.

  “I have no immediate family and was wondering if I could get someone

  else to come and take their place.”

  “There’s a process, but it is possible to include one other person in

  your residence that’s not a direct family member. I think it’s mostly used

  for romantic interests, as I haven’t heard of someone trying to get extended

  family in that way. Interesting.” Renee stopped talking, then stared off a

  little when her phone rang.

  Without noticing if Jackie was ready, Renee tossed the phone towards

  her. Jackie fumbled the phone a moment but managed to save it from falling.

  “Here’s another job for you: answer my phone and give me the sum-

  mary.” Renee pulled out her data pad.

  Jackie lifted the phone to her ear, glancing at Renee. “Hello, this