Ascension Discovery

by Amy Proebstel

  “That’s right; you came highly recommended for this position by Ahn. Did he provide a letter for us?”

  “Oh, yes. I have it right here,” Amanda reached into her pocket, pulled out the envelope, and handed it across the table into Riccan’s waiting hand.

  “Thank you. Just one moment while we read through the letter.” He ripped open the envelope and reviewed the two pages. When he was done, he made sure each of the interviewers had a chance to peruse the contents before he began again.

  Amanda felt a moment of discomfort as Riccan seemed to stare at her while the others read the letter. He did not seem at all embarrassed to be caught looking at her, but instead smiled when she made eye contact. She grinned back and hoped the letter did not exaggerate her skills too much.

  “Do you have any questions for us?”

  “When will a decision be made and when will I be starting?” Amanda decided to pose the question as though she were the obvious choice which she hoped would demonstrate confidence rather than arrogance in her qualifications.

  “We hope to have a decision made before the end of the day, and we’d like the person to begin as soon as possible.”

  “That sounds good,” Amanda said lamely. She really wished she knew what Captain Ahn’s letter had said since it seemed the interviewers did not have any more questions for her. She hoped if they had any concerns they would address them before she left.

  “Well, Amanda, thanks for your time. If you haven’t already done so, please leave your contact information with the front receptionist on the way out. Once we’ve made a final decision, we will be contacting all of the applicants to let them know our decision.” Riccan stood up, and everyone around the table did as well.

  Amanda made it to her feet almost as fast and managed to not knock over her chair in her haste. Each person leaned forward and offered their hand in a farewell shake, and Amanda grasped each hand and thanked them for their time. She was just turning to leave when Riccan surprised her.

  “Let me walk you out of the building.”

  “Thank you, but it’s not necessary.”

  “I know, but please allow me anyway.”

  “Okay, if it makes you happy.”

  The other interviewers filed out of the conference room and turned in the opposite direction from the elevator. Soon Riccan and Amanda were walking alone, and Amanda was feeling at a loss for anything to say. Finally, she spoke the first thing which came to mind. “I met you a couple of anons ago at the telepod races. I’m sure you wouldn’t remember, but the races were very exciting.” She hoped he did not think she was trying to win him over by talking about his personal passion for racing. She was sincere in her praise.

  “I’m sorry to admit I didn’t remember you specifically at first, however, now that you mention it, I’m pretty sure I do recall seeing you outside my pit area. I do find the racing to be quite exciting and I’m glad you enjoyed the show.” Upon first seeing her sitting in the hall, he had a nagging suspicion he had met her before, but at the time he could not remember where, so he had convinced himself he had been mistaken. They had reached the elevator, and Riccan pushed the button to call the elevator. He was disappointed with the immediate opening of the doors.

  Amanda entered the elevator first and turned around to press the button just as Riccan reached over to do the same. Their hands bumped together causing Amanda to pull hers back as though she had been burned. She had never felt such a reaction to another person before and wondered about it being some sort of static charge special to Tuala because they were so in tune with the elemy. She could feel him staring at her, and she laughed nervously and mumbled, “Sorry.”

  “No problem,” he assured her as he stood close to her for the short ride down. The doors opened, and he gestured for her to precede him to the receptionist desk. He wished he had more time to talk with her. The interview had been extremely short, but further questions had seemed unnecessary after reading Captain Ahn’s letter. He was fairly certain the other interviewers had felt the same way, too.

  As if reading his mind Amanda said, “I thought the interview would have been longer. I imagine there are some internal candidates who would have more experience. Thanks again for humoring Captain Ahn’s request to interview me. I really appreciate the consideration.”

  “You don’t know what Ahn wrote, do you?”

  “No. Why would I? The envelope was sealed when I got it.”

  “His letter thoroughly detailed your experience while working with him. It seemed redundant to go over the same questions when we had just read all of the answers from him. Believe me, you have just as good, if not better, of a chance as the other candidates.”

  Amanda smiled up at Riccan and said, “Thank you for telling me. I was really nervous you’d ask me a bunch of questions I wouldn’t know how to answer. Then I felt almost as bad when there wasn’t anything asked. Well, I guess all I can do now is wait until everyone decides which person is best for the job.”

  Riccan leaned on the receptionist’s desk as Amanda faced the girl and said, “I’d like to leave my contact information if you don’t mind?”

  “No problem at all. Go ahead; I’m ready.”

  “My patil call sign is +amandacov.tua.”

  “Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll send it up to the Engineering Department so they can contact you later today.”

  “Thank you,” Amanda said and turned from the desk to get Juila from the daycare.

  Riccan followed her expecting to open the front door for her. He was slightly confused when she turned and went to the side door instead. Belatedly realizing she must have a kid, he rushed forward and opened the door ahead of her. “I didn’t know you had a child. Is it a boy or a girl?”

  Amanda felt a sudden rush of pain because Jena was lost and she could only claim the one right now as she said, “I have my daughter, Juila, to pick up.”

  “What a pretty name. How old is she?”

  “Almost two.”

  “Wow! I would not have guessed.”

  Amanda signed her name in the check-out column to release Juila from the daycare. The woman at the desk then went to the back room and returned a minute later holding Juila’s hand as they slowly walked to the front room. Juila finally saw her mother, giggled with glee, let go of the woman’s hand, and ran the rest of the way.

  Amanda leaned down and caught her daughter mid-leap and cuddled her into her hip. “Did you have fun, honey?”

  “Yes. We played with blocks.”

  “That sounds great. Are you ready to go home now?”

  She nodded her head as she spotted Riccan waiting beside Amanda. “Who’s he?” She pointed her finger at the man she had not met yet.

  “His name is Riccan. He’s the one needing a new worker.”

  Juila smiled at something she just thought and said, “He’s the one I told you about!”

  Amanda smiled with embarrassment because she was not exactly certain what Juila was talking about, but she also knew she did not want to ask her to explain in front of Riccan. She swiftly looked toward Riccan pondering what he thought about her daughter’s outburst, but he just had a small smile as he looked at Juila. Amanda wondered if he had children of his own since he seemed so interested in Juila.

  She turned around and started to leave, but was once again surprised when Riccan hurried ahead of her to open the door. Knowing chivalry was not dead made her smile to herself as she walked through the opening and said, “Thank you again!”

  Wishing there were more to be said, Riccan pushed the front door open for her and watched as she walked down the sidewalk toward the marketplace. He wondered where she lived, hoping it was not too far considering the afternoon heat and the fact she was carrying a small child.

  With nothing left for him to do in the lobby, he turned around toward the stairs, eventually sitting down in his office to resume work. He still had to review all of the candidates and their qualifications, hoping all the while that Amanda would end up
becoming the obvious choice.

  Chapter Thirteen

  AMANDA CHECKED HER patil first thing when she arrived home. She knew it was ridiculous to think a decision might have been made in the time it took her to walk home; however, she also knew herself well enough to know she would continue to dwell on it until her curiosity was satisfied. It had to be her imagination that the patil’s start up process lasted longer than usual, but eventually, all the programs popped up onto the screen. It took her a moment to register there was an unread message on the screen which she eagerly tapped with her finger to open.

  An unknown woman’s face, which seemed vaguely familiar, filled the screen and spoke, “Amanda, hi! My name is Rasa. We haven’t met yet, but I’m your cousin. I’m sorry I missed you at home, but I had a few minutes between classes, and I thought I would try to get in touch with you. Anyway, I should have about an hour this evening if you wanted to get together. I was really excited to hear my mom finally found some of her family and I’m eager to get to know you, too.

  “Okay I don’t have much more time right now, but if you do want to meet with me send me an instant message and we can meet on the north end of the marketplace by the cucumber vendor at six o’clock. I’m hoping you’ve at least had a chance to go there since relocating here. I found a few benches where we can sit and have relative privacy to discuss your problem. Talk to you soon! Bye!”

  The screen went blank and then another box popped up asking Amanda if she wanted to send a video reply. Amanda touched the no button and then selected the instant message option. She typed up a quick message affirming her desire to meet that night and then hit send.

  The day seemed full of positive surprises. She looked over at Juila playing on the floor of the living room and recalled her daughter’s cryptic remark about Riccan. Deciding to get to the bottom of the mystery while she was waiting to get news about the job, she walked over to where Juila sat on the floor and knelt down next to her.

  “Juila, what did you mean about Riccan being the one you were talking about?”

  The little girl turned her big blue eyes up to meet her mother’s gaze and smiled as she said, “He’s the one who was going to think you were beautiful at the meeting.”

  “But how did you know it was going to happen?”

  Juila’s shoulders raised up to her ears, and she said, “I don’t know. I just know sometimes.”

  “Is it anything to do with how you talk with Jena?”

  Once again she shrugged, “I don’t know.”

  Deciding to leave it alone for the time being she asked, “Do you want to practice playing with the elemy?”

  Juila, eyes rounded with eager delight, broadly smiled as she nodded her head enthusiastically.

  Amanda picked up a block from the floor and said, “Put this block on top of the other blue one.” Immediately the block disappeared from her hand and reappeared on the blue block. In the next instant, all of the other blocks from the floor were arranged in pairs of matching colors. Amanda, impressed with her daughter’s skill, clapped her hands in delight and praised, “That was amazing, Juila. What else can you do?”

  Juila squinted her eyes in concentration, suddenly remembering a game she had seen Jena playing with her dad. After only a moment of thought, one of the blocks was surrounded by a sphere of elemy which then floated from the floor and across the room. Juila jumped up and, with giggles of unabashed glee, started running around the room chasing after the ball of energy.

  Once again, Amanda simply marveled at her daughter’s amazing control of the sphere. She wondered where Juila had learned to do it since Amanda believed she had been present during all of Alena’s assessment and training sessions. When Juila finally allowed the sphere to pop and release the block next to her mother, Amanda had to ask gently, “Where did you learn to do that?”

  “I saw Jena’s dad teach her and I wanted to do it, too, so I just did it. It’s okay, Mommy, isn’t it?” Juila started to wonder if she had done something wrong since her mother did not seem as happy about this latest activity as she had when she had rearranged the blocks.

  Seeing her daughter’s enthusiasm vanish from concern, Amanda hugged her daughter tightly to her chest. With a tickle, she pulled her back far enough to look her straight in the eyes as she said, “It’s more than okay, it’s wonderful. I want you to do everything which makes you happy. This game made you laugh, and I loved it.” She tickled Juila’s belly a second time making her giggle all over again. “Show me some other things you’ve learned. I want to know everything!”

  They played their new elemy game for several hours. Juila’s enthusiasm to show off seemed inexhaustible. As soon as Amanda heard the patil make a dinging sound of an incoming call she exclaimed with excitement, “Oh, Juila, there’s the patil! Please be really quiet for a couple of minutes; Mommy needs to take this really important call.”

  Amanda raced over to the screen and saw the incoming call was from the Telepod Engineering Company. With her future on the line, she was inexplicably nervous to answer it for fear they may tell her no thank you. Without waiting for another instant, she touched the accept button on the screen and was surprised to see Riccan himself on the other end.

  “Hello, Amanda. I hope this is a good time.”

  “Never better, Mr. Stel.” She smiled, hoping to disguise her nervousness.

  Riccan had a very fleeting look of confusion before he smiled in return and said, “I’m pleased to say we would like to offer you the job of Engineering Resources Analyst if you are still interested.”

  “I would be very pleased to accept!” She could barely contain the happy dance which was threatening to burst forth.

  “Wonderful! We are willing to pay 546 taj per anon. We pay weekly so it would amount to ten and a half taj. Are you willing to accept the offered wage?”

  Amanda managed to keep her jaw from dropping at the proposed earnings. It was fully two hundred more taj per year than she expected. After only a moment’s pause, she managed to say, “I think I could work with that.”

  “Great! The last thing to be agreed upon would be the start date. We’d love for you to start tomorrow, but I’m sure you’ll need a little longer than that so how about next Senin?”

  “Actually, tomorrow works perfectly, if you don’t mind.”

  “Really? Are you sure it won’t be an imposition?”

  “None whatsoever. I just moved here two days ago, and I really do need to start making money as soon as possible.”

  “Well okay. I guess I’ll let everyone know to expect you tomorrow at eight o’clock!”

  “Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow!”

  The screen went blank, and Amanda screeched with delight. She rushed over to Juila, scooped her up off of the floor, and twirled around in circles until she fell onto the couch with dizziness.

  “Did the man tell you something good, Mommy?” Juila had never seen her mother react in such an exuberant manner and she wanted to make sure she was okay.

  “That man just made Mommy very happy, Juila! I got the job, and I start tomorrow. You’ll get to play with those little girls at the daycare every day. Isn’t this exciting?”

  Juila nodded her head up and down with exaggerated movement and smiled broadly, loving to see her mommy so happy. It was going to be a different life spending the whole day at the daycare, but she was content to play with new children.

  Amanda checked her timepiece and saw there was just over an hour before the meeting with Rasa. She would have just enough time to put together a dinner for the two of them before they had to head over to the marketplace.

  “Let’s practice our cooking skills for dinner, okay?” She stood up and held out her hand to take Juila’s. They walked the short distance to the kitchen where Amanda picked her up and set her on the counter next to the sink. “What would you like to eat?”

  “I want a chicken salad sandwich.”

  Thinking fast about whe
ther or not they had all of the ingredients she murmured, “Okay, we’ll need bread, chicken, mayonnaise, mustard, celery, salt, and pepper.” Amanda was slightly startled when each item appeared on the counter. She should have known Juila would love the opportunity to use her powers to help in the kitchen. “Well, I guess we do have everything after all! Thank you, that was very helpful, Juila.”

  She started to cut up the raw chicken so it would cook faster when suddenly all of the chicken was cubed. Amanda pulled her hands back in surprise, glanced swiftly over to Juila, and asked, “Where did you learn to do that?”

  Juila merely shrugged and replied, “I just thought about it, and it happened.”

  “Hmm.” She wondered if Juila could cook the chicken and decided to ask her, “What if I wanted the chicken cooked? Could you do that as well?”

  “I don’t know. I can try.” Juila’s face became very still as she focused her concentration on the chicken. Within an instant, each piece of meat was perfectly grilled.

  “Wow, Juila! Very impressive!” Amanda picked up a cube and broke it open with her fingers to make sure it was cooked throughout. Satisfied, she moved the chicken into a bowl and sprinkled it with salt and pepper.

  Amanda looked up at Juila and said, “Now I need a large scoop of mayo and a small squirt of mustard on top of the chicken. Do you want to try to do that?” An instant later both ingredients were in the bowl. “Can you chop the celery into small chunks and add it as well?” As soon as it also appeared, Amanda smiled at Juila’s easy ability and picked up the spoon to stir the mixture together.

  Taking four slices of bread out of the bag she laid them out on the counter and scooped a generous amount of the salad onto two of the pieces. She smoothed the mixture and set the other pieces of bread on top of the sandwiches. She got out a knife and cut her own sandwich in half and Juila’s into four pieces. After plating the meal, she scooped Juila off of the counter and set her down on the floor.

  The two walked over to the dining table and sat down. Amanda set Juila’s meal down in front of her. They said a prayer over their meal and began eating. Only after she had eaten the first half of her sandwich did Amanda notice she had overlooked getting any beverages. “Oops, I forgot the water!” She scooted her chair back and started to get up when Juila took the matter into her own power by producing the requested drinks on the table.