by M. Alan Marr
“Is there any particular . . . criteria you want to use to vet these candidates?” Chaz says.
“There is.” Dev turns his laptop around and slides it to Chaz, who sees the Tertian programs running. “We’ll conduct their background checks right here.”
“Are you plugged into the relay buoy?”
“I’m plugged into everything,” Dev replies.
The relay buoy Chaz mentioned is a piece of Crown technology Dev brought with him and deposited in orbit. The buoy is tapped into virtually every satellite orbiting the Earth, civilian and military. Dev’s laptop, once a common everyday MacBook Pro is now capable of connecting, through the relay buoy he left in orbit to Earth’s entire digital satellite network. Likewise, the shiny gold-plated iPhones he and Chaz carry are Tertian facsimiles; copies built on Dev’s world that look like iPhones on the outside, but are capable of much, much more. Their Ti-Phones, as they have come to be known, are also linked to Dev’s ship and the relay buoy.
Dev explains further, “I’m initiating a vetting program to cull all the data there is on each of the candidates on Steve’s list.”
“I wonder how legal this is.”
“It’s a background check,” Dev says, innocently. “An extremely detailed background check. We need to make sure they’re qualified and capable of handling other information.”
“Yeah, I suppose there is that whole alien attack thing to think about.”
“I’d call that a mitigating factor for the legal gray area we may be operating in.”
“How long will it take to program?”
“A little while longer,” Dev says. “Do you have anyone you want to look at?”
“No, most everyone I know is already flying for the airlines. None of them would ever leave the airline business for a private aircraft, no matter how much we paid them. Private aircraft are just a different animal.”
Dev works on the program until just before midnight. It was a long day for everyone, so a good night’s sleep is in order. Before bed, Dev starts the test program by plugging in Steve’s name and that of his old first officer, David Bush. The first vetting will take the longest. The dynamic program will learn as it processes the first test subject. The program will become more efficient for the second vetting, and so on. Dev will examine the results in the morning, fine-tune the program as needed, then run data on the other candidates.
Chapter 3
STARS ON PAPER
☆ ☆
0900 HOURS
Chaz makes a morning Starbucks run while Dev is still waking up. After throwing some water on his face, Dev puts on a robe and then moves to the living room to check on the results of the initial computer vetting.
When Chaz returns with the coffees, Dev looks up from his laptop. “I think it works.”
“Outstanding,” Chaz replies, and hands Dev his venti Pike. Chaz looks at the screen and sees a thumbnail picture of Steve’s former first officer, Dave Bush, at the top and a long string of information streaming below.
“That’s information about Dave?”
“It’s everything about Dave. Very interesting stuff.”
“He always struck me as being a little . . . off center. Was I wrong about him?”
“No, you weren’t,” Dev replies. “He’s sloppy. And somewhat of a loner. Not many names in his contact list; doesn’t call anyone with any great frequency, either. According to his cable TV lineup, he watches a lot of fact-free propaganda news, conspiracy theory programming, and end-of-the-world type stuff.”
Chaz laughs. “Yikes.”
Dev pauses at the irony. “I mean, I know we’re facing the potential end of this world, but I don’t want anyone distracted by it.”
“Or planning on it.”
“Right.”
Chaz has a thought. “How did Steve’s file look?”
Dev smiles with a nod. “We did really well hiring him. His college grades were good. He doesn’t seem to have an extreme political bent. Nothing worrisome.”
“What about his TV habits?”
“A lot of science programming. His news comes from a variety of sources, which suggests he likes to evaluate and draw his own conclusions. He seems to favor both the Discovery and SciFi channels. His DVR records Chris Mathews every night. He’s a registered democrat, and he provides financial support to his parents, who declared bankruptcy after falling prey to a real estate scam and losing their savings. They also lost something called a 401k during the financial collapse.”
“A 401k is a retirement fund.”
“Steve pays a lot of their bills and sends them money every two weeks.”
“Wow, he is a good man,” Chaz says. “How does the program say they’ll do if they figure out you’re not from Earth?”
“The program can’t tell us that directly,” Dev replies. “You handled it okay.”
Chaz bats his eyes. “Yeah, but I was smitten. May not be so easy with these guys.”
“One crisis at a time.”
“How long will the rest of the vettings take?”
“Now that we have a working model, not long. It’s a dynamic program; it will improve itself over time as it identifies common pathways to follow as it searches for relevant data.”
“Is it traceable?”
“Not by Earth residents.”
One by one, each candidate on Steve’s list is processed through the vetting program. Chaz is most expert at evaluating the professional information the program provides. Together, he and Dev delve deep into layers of information gleaned by a subjective look at the candidates’ day-to-day habits. The Tertian program, although invasive by American standards, helps paint a more complete picture of each candidate.
The résumés are slowly whittled down. The two airline pilots on the list are eliminated from the draft because of the differences in flight operations. Airline pilots are used to a fixed schedule, which will never be an option here, leading Chaz to believe their best options are charter/corporate pilots. Out of the ten résumés, the field is narrowed down to three finalists.
One pilot they want to meet is Harrison Franklin, a man Steve flight instructed with early in his career. Harrison lives in the Seattle area, and flies an older-generation 747 for an international cargo company. The next two candidates are Jen Spangler and Michelle Hazlewood, both of whom were in college with Steve. Each had excellent grades both academically and in flight school. Both have solid flying backgrounds, and both have similar political and social viewpoints as the group already assembled. Michelle flies an old 737 for a sports team. Jen flies a small and dated corporate jet. Comparatively speaking, Michelle has better flight experience. But with all of them, Dev has misgivings about the older flight technology each are flying. Chaz, however, is quick to explain that the older ‘analog’ stuff often makes for a better hands-on skill set, despite the learning curve adapting to the newer technology. ‘Steam gauges’ as they’re known in the industry are the old mechanical gyros and instrumentation that predates the display screens found on present-day aircraft. Chaz goes on to explain that transitioning from old technology to new is much easier than going from new technology to old.
Jen’s vetting indicates she was briefly married, and divorced shortly thereafter. She has no children and lives in the Los Angeles area. She flies for a family, who, Chaz and Dev learn from the Tertian program, is having financial difficulties and very quietly put her aircraft up for sale. Jen Spangler doesn’t know it yet, but she’s about to be unemployed. A flash in the Tertian program pulls up a new tag annotating that Jen’s jet, tail number N96135, has in fact been sold this very moment to an aircraft broker in Houston. Aircraft types aside, and everything else just about equal between Jen Spangler and Michelle Hazlewood, Jen is the only one who is basically unemployed at this point.
The idea that both Harrison and Jen are flying older equipment gnaws at Dev. This analog and digital divide doesn’t exist on Dev’s world and presents an unknown element in the equation. However, De
v trusts Chaz’s experience in Earthly aviation matters. As such, Dev begrudgingly defers to Chaz’s judgment, but still has reservations. That in mind, they decide to table hiring the fourth pilot for the time being, and instead, concentrate on the first three. Steve flies newer next-gen technology in the form of the BBJ. Harrison and Jen have not. Looking at a comparative analysis of their training scores may be helpful in hiring the fourth pilot.
Steve is summoned to the top floor, where he is notified of the two finalists. Dev and Chaz are very candid with Steve regarding their reasons for holding off on the last new hire. Steve, himself having little experience with analog aircraft, is thoughtful and respects their decision. He agrees that if there are any unforeseen difficulties with the ‘analog’ group, they can look for additional experience in the final candidate.
Chaz also informs Steve they have proprietary information that Jen’s aircraft has just been sold, but he is ordered not to reveal that knowledge. This will be a test for Steve as well. Will he tell her? Hopefully not. He says he won’t. He’s also told not to reveal anything about the aircraft until hiring decisions are made. His friends know he flies a BBJ, so he is told to just leave it at that.
Steve returns to his suite and first places a call to Harrison, inviting him to talk about a new job opportunity. Since Harrison lives in Bellevue, just across Lake Washington from Seattle, and is in town, he happily agrees to meet today over lunch.
The phone call to Jen is not so easy. Jen tells Steve she’s happy where she is, but Steve is doing his best to convince her to fly up to Seattle to at least discuss the prospect. Steve knows Jen, and took some preemptive steps before actually placing the call. It takes some doing, but Steve tells her he arranged a first-class ticket out of LAX, which is scheduled to arrive in Seattle this evening at 5:00 pm. Steve will pick her up at the airport, and will even have a room booked for her at the W for the night.
Jen Spangler is pacing around her tiny rental house in Van Nuys, California, while talking to Steve with her phone on speaker.
“Come on, Jen, you got something better going on today?”
Jen rolls her eyes, because she really doesn’t. “Ugh—fine—I’ll go,” she says with some attitude. “But I have to leave right now if I’m going to make the flight. I can’t believe I let you talk me into driving to LAX on a day off. You couldn’t have booked it out of Burbank?”
“I sent a car to your house. They should be there any minute.”
“What? You better not be jerking my chain.” Jen’s doorbell rings. She looks out the curtain. There is a limo at the curb and a chauffeur at her door. “I’ll be damned, they’re here.” She frets and gives in. “All right, I’ll be there in a few hours.”
“Thanks, Jen. We’ll buy you dinner.”
She sharply replies, “It better not be airport food.” Click.
***
The initial meeting that afternoon with Harrison is very amiable and productive. Although no one mentions the actual aircraft, Chaz made it a point to ask Harrison how he’d feel flying something smaller than his current 747. Harrison assumes they’re talking about another BBJ, since that’s what Steve flies, and he’s just fine with that.
Harrison appreciates the fact that Steve thought of him, and is glad his international experience would be an asset. Since he is looking to leave the cargo business and get back into passenger service, this call came at a good time, and he happily accepted the invitation to join the group for dinner and formally interview. He doesn’t realize that was the interview. Jen, on the other hand, will need convincing. Steve did not mention any of the proprietary information to her, meaning Jen is basically flying in blind.
***
Jen’s flight lands in Seattle half an hour late, due to construction delays at LAX. She exits the terminal curbside, where Steve is standing at the back of a limo. He sees that she brought only a small backpack and purse, and she’s not dressed to the nines either. They haven’t seen each other in ages and hug.
“Is that all you brought?” Steve says to her.
“I had, like, thirty seconds to leave my house.”
Steve shakes his head and ushers her into the limo. On the way into town, Jen gives Steve some guff about dragging her up here on her day off. But Steve knows how to handle her. Jen is part cynic and part time bomb, but a good person underneath.
“What are you complaining about?” Steve says rhetorically. “You’re getting dinner and a room at the W.”
“Oh, like we don’t spend enough time in hotel rooms,” she scoffs, then smiles. “But it is really good to see you, Steve.”
“You too, Jen.”
“So what’s the job?”
“Can’t tell you.”
More attitude. “What are we doing, then?”
“We’re heading into town to have dinner with the aircraft owners. My buddy Harrison will be there.”
Jen instantly gets irritated. “Your buddy Harrison?”
“Harr is up for the job as well.”
“We’re up for the same job!”
“We need two pilots.”
“You have two pilots!” she yells with a definite edge.
“Two more pilots, Jen,” Steve says in frustration. They actually need three, but that detail is not germane to the conversation. Jen can be a little abrasive at times—well, most times—and she tends to always speak her mind. When she’s not doing that, she’s usually being sarcastic.
“Listen, this is a job interview,” Steve advises. “Put a cap on the sarcasm.”
Jen rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Just as the car pulls up to El Gaucho restaurant in Belltown, Steve pulls out a confidentiality agreement from his portfolio. Jen initially balks at signing anything, but Steve tells her everyone, including himself, had to. Jen reads the page and begrudgingly signs the paper. Steve countersigns.
“What, are they paranoid?” Jen says, as the driver opens her door.
“No, Jen, they’re just very private.”
“Great, that means they’re probably into some weird shit.”
“They’re fine, Jen.”
“Well, I’m broke anyway, so go ahead and sue me.”
Steve shakes his head and follows Jen out of the car. It’s Friday night, and the restaurant is very busy. Steve and Jen make their way through the crowd to the hostess, who shows them to a private room off the main dining area. Dev, Chaz, Harrison, Franz, Annette, and Milo are already seated. This will be more of a conversation than an actual interview.
Chaz looks at Steve, who nods and taps his portfolio, indicating Jen signed the confidentiality agreement. Introductions are made around the table. Steve recounts the history flying BBJ for the benefit of newcomers Jen, Harrison, and Milo. Franz and Annette are all smiles. No one has revealed any other details about the job or the aircraft.
Dev and Chaz remain sort of a mystery, and they catch Jen eyeing them suspiciously a few times. They know she’s trying to size them up, and does a somewhat poor job concealing her distrust.
The owners are far younger and not at all what Jen expected. They’re dressed nice, but not like typical flashy rich guys.
Steve reveals Dev and Chaz have, in fact, bought a Boeing 767, to the astonishment of all the new people, minus Jen, who is at least trying to act unimpressed.
“Did you say 767?” Harrison nearly gasps.
“I did,” Steve replies. “It’s a 767-400 series, in fact. This is a very large aircraft. In airline configuration it holds almost three hundred passengers. This one is very comfortably configured for less. There are four principal cabins: main lounges, staterooms, dining room, and a crew area you won’t believe. The dining room, main galley, and crew areas are on the lower deck, fully utilizing the space otherwise used for cargo. This is an absolutely amazing aircraft, and the owners have named her Constellation Oasis.”
Steve continues to describe the aircraft in terms of range, engines, and capabilities, then invites everyone to see the aircra
ft the following day. That at least piques Jen’s interest. She’s never been aboard a large private jet before. Neither has Harrison.
The excitement of the prospective job is starting to be felt by everyone. Even Dev seems more relaxed now that he’s met the candidates in person. This is a group of young professionals, all with very different personalities, but who share a common interest. He sees interesting qualities in each of them and quietly imagines how they might translate in his world.
A variety of appetizers are brought out by the waitstaff, and everyone orders dinner from the menu.
Each candidate and flight attendant talks about their flying histories and whatever else they want to share while they eat. Jen is affable and bright, and isn’t treating this evening as an interview at all. As far as she is concerned, she already has a job and is only there as a favor to Steve. Harrison is six feet tall, almost dark bronze in appearance, weighs about two hundred pounds, and is all muscle. He is funny and upbeat and seems to go with the flow. Annette is starry-eyed watching him. Harrison notices her more than once himself. And although they just met, Jen and Harrison seem to have a good rapport with one another as well. As does Franz’s partner, Milo, with everyone present. Annette just loves Milo’s thick Roman accent and his tendency to use Italian, then translate into English.
“I have-a cinque fratelli,” Milo says, “Five-a brothers. They all-a work in la cuccine, in-a the kitchen of the ristorante. Raphael, Alphonso, Giovanni, Aroldo, and Antonio. Alora, I have-a also the three sisters, Valentina, Maria, and Lucia.”
“Your mother had nine kids?” Jen says incredulously.
“Si, si, Jen-a, mi mama, she’s a . . . busy woman.” Milo laughs.
“I love the name Lucia,” Chaz says. “I actually know a Lucia from work. Crazy woman.”
“Si, Signori Chaz, so is-a my sister.” Milo taps his head. “Una pazza.”
Chaz addresses the pilots. “Listen, I know how hard all of you worked to get to your current positions. We need three flight attendants and four pilots, five if you include me, to stand ready to fly.”