“I think we’ve indulged Amanda’s fantasies long enough.”
Jasmine instantly became alarmed at the fanatical look in Dr. Gascon’s eyes. She could only imagine what twisted things he would do to make Amanda progress faster. They were already meeting with her for more than four hours per day; it was unethical to do any more than that.
“I’m going to switch Amanda’s medication to something stronger and more compelling.”
Jasmine shook her head and tried to form a coherent argument to stop him from going down this dangerous path. “But, Dr. Gascon, I really think she’s getting ready to tell us what we need to know. Please hold off changing her medication for two more days. Two days, it’s all I’m asking!”
“It’s not your call, Dr. Medin. I’m the Director of this facility, and she is under my direct care. She is young and resilient, and I’m sending in the order today.”
“Please, just one day then! Let me have my afternoon session today, and I’ll switch my schedule to bring her in first thing in the morning. If I can get her to talk, then you won’t have to put her at risk!”
“I think it’s worth the risk, but I will give you until lunch tomorrow. Don’t disappoint me!”
Jasmine jumped up from the leather chair across from Dr. Gascon and said, “Thank you! I’ll go get her right now.”
She grabbed Amanda’s next dose from the nurse’s station before rushing to Room 426. She was too excited to knock and just opened the door. “We don’t have any time to waste, Amanda. Come quickly!”
“What’s going on, Dr. Medin? Has something gone wrong?”
“Not yet, but it soon will if we don’t get busy. Dr. Gascon gave me until lunchtime tomorrow to get to the bottom of your case. Please hurry.” Jasmine found she was close to tears with desperation for helping Amanda and yet not knowing exactly what she was going to do differently. She really did not believe Amanda knew anything about Nealand’s disappearance. She had to get Amanda to finish her story before all of Amanda’s rational mind was ultimately lost with Dr. Gascon’s new plan.
They entered Dr. Medin’s office, and the doctor turned and locked the door behind her. “Make yourself comfortable; we need to get right to business.”
“I still wish you’d tell me what’s going on. I might be more helpful if I knew everything you needed to know.”
Jasmine shut her eyes for a moment before she nodded, deciding in that instant to tell Amanda the whole truth. When she opened them, she spoke rapidly, “Nealand Taivas has been missing since you two went sailing. His parents believe you know where he has been taken. They’ve given Dr. Gascon three weeks to find out before they withdraw their financial support for the hospital. You’ve been here for fifteen days. If I know Dr. Gascon, which unfortunately I do, he will decide to give you what basically amounts to truth serum as well as heavy-duty narcotics to get you to divulge whatever information you know.”
“But I already told you Neal’s at home. He came to see me at my parents’ house right after we got back from the hospital in Mexico. How can he be missing this whole time if we all saw him at my house the day after I returned?”
“I don’t know, Amanda. We can only go with what the Taivas family has provided for information; according to them, you are the key.”
“Why would they be doing this to me? I thought they liked me? I was going to marry their son for Pete’s sake. None of this is making any sense!” Amanda’s fists clenched the edges of the cushion as she tried to process this new, bizarre information.
“I’m sorry this news has upset you, Amanda. However, now you know what we’re up against, so let’s get started. Try to relax and take a deep cleansing breath…”
Amanda arrived early for her first day of work. Because her nerves were working overtime, she had struggled to sleep all night. She gave up at first light and began getting ready. Luckily Juila had no trouble sleeping, so she was bright and fresh for her day of playing with her new friends. After dropping Juila off at the daycare, she checked in with the receptionist at the front desk.
“I’m glad to see you’re back!”
Amanda grinned before stating the obvious, “I’m a little bit early. Is there paperwork I need to fill out?”
The girl looked at her strangely and shook her head. “We don’t use paper for that anymore. Once we get to your desk, you’ll be able to log in to your patil where everything you’ll need to fill out will be available. Riccan is your point of contact for assistance or if you have any questions. I’m sure another office person will be assigned as a back-up, but for now, it’s just Riccan.”
Amanda nodded understanding and recognized she had just made another mistake in Tuala. She should have asked Bryon more detailed questions about how business was handled. Hopefully, it would be her only blunder, but only time would tell. “Is Riccan available so I can know where my desk is located?”
“No, he got tied up in an off-site meeting, but I can take you to your assigned location. Just one moment while I lock my patil.”
Amanda waited while the receptionist tapped out a few keystrokes before she stood. She was taller than Amanda had imagined, her shoulders were at the same height as the top of Amanda’s head.
“Do you want to take the stairs or the elevator?”
“Stairs, please. I have a little extra energy to burn off before I sit at a desk all day.”
“Right this way then.” She walked briskly toward a side door and held it open for Amanda. She caught up to Amanda on the stairs and continued talking, “Your security badge will be in the top, middle drawer of the desk. It will give you access to the office area as well as to your patil. Your security clearance is pretty broad since you will be interacting with almost everybody in the building. If you encounter any difficulties accessing any location, simply bring it to me, and we’ll get it straightened out right away.”
They reached the second floor, and again the woman opened the door for Amanda. Walking past the conference room where Amanda had been interviewed, they continued past several more doorways until they reached the end of the hall. The receptionist used her security badge to unlock the door, and they entered together as the door slid sideways. Several turns later Amanda was shown where her new desk was located.
She was surprised to see she had a window office where the view was pretty spectacular. Eventually, she would have to find out if she could see her house from here. She realized she did not yet know the name of the receptionist and felt badly she had not already asked. To rectify the situation, Amanda cleared her throat and said, “I’m sorry, I never did get your name.”
“That’s okay; I’m Lana Gurdin. I’m glad to have someone else working here who’s near to my own age.”
“Thanks, Lana. I really appreciate all of your help.”
“No thanks necessary as it’s my job and all.” She grinned impishly then continued into Amanda’s office. She switched on the patil and opened the desk drawer to show her the badge.
Amanda picked up her official badge and wondered how they had gotten her picture on it already. She looked up at Lana with a puzzled expression as she held out the badge. “How did this happen?”
Lana smiled broadly and informed her they had a state-of-the-art security system which took her picture the day before when she entered the building and met with the receptionist. She then sorted through each shot until she got one which looked good enough to use on the badge. Of course, if none were sufficient then she would have had to arrange a separate time to get a presentable one. It was one aspect of her job which she enjoyed; surprising the recipients with her expediency.
“Go ahead and sit down at the desk since the patil is ready for your input. Put your badge up to the screen and wait until it turns green. Okay, now follow the directions on the screen to go through all of the forms which need to be filled out and submitted today. Don’t let anyone put you to work until all of them are complete, okay?”
“I can do that; if they want anything from me I’
ll send them to you!”
“I like the way you think!” Lana smiled down at her as she started to move away from the desk to return to the receptionist desk on the main floor. “I’ll leave you to it then while the office is still quiet. I’d hurry if I were you. These people have wanted this position filled for quite a while now, so they’ve got a lot of things for you to do.”
“Thanks for the warning! I’ll begin right now. Thanks again.” Amanda wished she could have more time getting to know Lana, but saw the wisdom of her words. She began filling out the biographical form which popped up first.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riccan wished he could have been at work when Amanda first got in so he could welcome her properly to the company. There had been such dissension with his final selection of Amanda he was concerned the other staff members could possibly make her feel less than comfortable. He had insisted the best-qualified person be hired for the job, rather than just somebody who already worked for the company who really wanted the position. He hoped she had found the welcome note he had left on her desktop. There was nothing he could do about this emergency meeting other than solving the problem speedily so he could return to the office and begin her training.
He rushed through the design flaws and figured out how to create workarounds so the machinery could at least be functional until a permanent fix could be made. He wished he could have seen this design before it had gone into production considering the error had been so basic it should have been caught by even the most novice engineer at the company. There were going to be new safeguards put into place because of this incident so he was at least thankful something good would come of the issue.
Finally, everyone in the meeting was in agreement there was nothing more to be done at the moment. He excused himself with the barest courtesy and ran up the stairs to the rooftop where his telepod awaited him. After palming the exterior door, he activated the telepod, verified each green light, and then moved to initiate the processor for mental steering. Within moments he was back in Durseni.
Now more than ever he was grateful for the ability to land on the top of the office building and not have to wait for a transport on the ground. A concession had been made for the Telepod Engineering Company when they decided to build in Durseni. Each pilot was skilled enough to pop into existence just above the rooftop landing field which meant they did not have to fly over anybody’s house in order to park.
Riccan rushed through the shutdown procedures and left the telepod faster than he ever had before. He almost wished he had learned to translate himself so he would not have to waste time taking the elevator down to the second floor. He chided himself for the thought since it was considered extremely rude to display the talent except in extreme instances. The elevator seemed to take forever to get to the rooftop, and he contemplated taking the stairs just as the doors slid open.
He stepped into the elevator and pushed the button to the second floor at the same time. Riccan tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator car stopped on three other floors before reaching his desired destination. The doors opened slowly, and Riccan emerged with barely enough room for himself. He walked with purpose down the hall and badged his way into the secured section.
Without stopping in his office, he made straight for Amanda’s cubicle. He slowed his pace when he could see her alone at her desk. He assumed she was filling out the new employee forms and was glad to see she did not seem confused by anything. Riccan let out a breath of relief when she was obviously still at work and had not been made to feel unwelcome.
Once he reached her office, he paused and tapped quietly on the open door. He smiled at Amanda when she looked up to find out who was stopping by. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to get you started properly. Did Lana get everything you needed?”
“I think so. Don’t worry about it. I’ve been busy filling out so many forms! Who knew there could be this much information needed just to be able to work?” She looked down onto her desktop and picked up the note Riccan had left and remarked, “I got your message. It was a really nice touch since you couldn’t be here.”
Riccan smiled and decided he would take a seat in her office. He pulled the guest chair around the desk until he faced her patil. “Which form are you working on now?”
“Let’s see,” she said as she scrolled to the top of the page, “this one is for insurance and dependents.” She looked over to Riccan and saw him smiling. “What? Did I do something wrong?”
“How long have you been here, Amanda?”
She looked at her timepiece and replied, “Just over an hour. Why?”
“I should have known you would have been really early. That’s the last form, and it usually takes a new employee until at least lunch to get through them all. Captain Ahn was right about you.”
“You really are going to have to let me read his letter. These forms aren’t hard; there’s just a lot of questions. Anybody could fill them out fast.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Go ahead and finish. When you’re done, I’ll give you a tour of the building.” He sat back in his chair and watched as Amanda carried on with the final form.
Amanda felt self-conscious with having an audience while she worked, but then she thought she may as well get used to it now. It was safe to assume some of them would watch her work while they anxiously awaited the results since she would interact closely with just about everybody in the building. Luckily she only had two more questions to answer before she finished with a final tap on the screen to submit the form. The screen flashed green, and then the icons for regular work appeared for the first time. She sighed deeply and announced proudly, “Done!”
“Perfect, let’s take a tour.” Riccan stood up and waited for Amanda. “Be sure to use your badge to lock the patil every time you leave the desk. We have very sensitive information, and it only takes a second to lock it down.”
Feeling as though she had made her first mistake, she hurriedly held her badge in front of the screen and saw it go blank. She was glad she had seen Lana lock her own patil so she would not look to be a complete novice in front of Riccan. She turned toward him and followed him out of her cubicle.
He immediately guided her out of the department and to the elevator. “I thought we’d start with the roof,” he said as he turned to see her confused expression. He smiled mischievously and pushed the button to call the elevator. “I assume you found out right away about the ban on telepod flight over the island?”
Amanda nodded, “Yes, I was a bit concerned about how to get all my stuff from the landing pad to my house. It wasn’t as though I wanted to carry everything and Juila, too!”
The elevator came, and they took it up to the rooftop. The doors opened, and Amanda gasped as she saw a fantastic telepod parked on the roof. “Wow,” was all she could think to say. She looked over at Riccan and saw his smug expression. Her reaction was exactly as he had planned and she had to smile at his audacity. She began walking toward it ahead of him to satisfy her curiosity about the telepod structure.
This design was nothing like any other telepod she had seen. She wished they could take a ride in it, but thought it would be a bit presumptuous to ask. Wishing to see inside, she raised her hand to the palm switch and looked back at Riccan to make sure it was okay with him. After receiving his nod, she reached the rest of the way up and rested her palm over the switch.
The door came forward and rested on the ground to create a nice ramp to enter into the craft. She peered into the interior and was again surprised to find there were several rows of seats covered in an expensive looking fabric, maybe leather. She stepped into the interior and ran her hand along the back of one of the seats and nodded approval at the smooth, soft texture. All of the interior was covered in either fabric or plasfilm, so none of the metal framework showed, even on the floor.
Amanda continued into the craft until she got to the control panel. It came as no surprise none of the panel looked even remotely familiar. This must be
the sort of work Riccan created which made him excited to come to work each day. She turned around to address him only to be startled to find him directly behind her. She asked, “I take it this telepod is your own design?”
“Yep, she’s my pride and joy. She has all of the latest technology, most of which has yet to be seen by anyone outside of our company.”
“I guess I should feel honored to be counted in the elite group. This is really pretty spectacular.” She ran her fingers along the sleek dashboard and wondered what her dad would say about it. Knowing Riccan liked to race she asked, “How fast does she fly?”
Riccan’s face lit up as he answered, “Faster than anything out there commercially. I haven’t had the opportunity to really test her paces, but I imagine she’d surprise everyone. I discovered a new way to align the crystals, so they’re more responsive even when a lesser crystal is used. The control panel is mostly handled the same way as the conventional telepods, but the displays are all located within the plascreen. On other telepods, each function has its own light on the board. This one integrates them all to one screen, so there’s less chance of missing something vital. There’s even a built-in safeguard against pilot error which is almost equivalent to an auto-pilot.”
Riccan suddenly stopped and swiftly looked at Amanda as though he said something which would seem strange. His brow furrowed when Amanda continued to look at him as though nothing were amiss. He had not meant to include any talk about Earth’s aircraft functions, but his excitement made him blurt something which should have been kept secret. He shook his head and stammered, “I’m sorry to carry on so about this telepod, I just love talking about her to a new, appreciative audience.”
Amanda smiled reassuringly back at him and said, “I liked hearing about it even though I didn’t understand everything which you described. It doesn’t take anything away from how exceptional a telepod it is.” She purposely turned away from him to lean toward the front window to envision the view the pilots would have from the operator seats.
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