by Viola Grace
Too old, too bitter, and ready to retire? Why not have your genes altered and shoot yourself across space to a new world and new career.
Amber has always been waiting for her time. Her moment. When she gets to the age of fifty-five and finds that her moment has not shown up, she decides to take on an offer from three decades earlier that has recently been renewed and get her ass into space.
Well, she needs a bit of prep for the journey, and the reset involves rejuvenating her hair, skin, eyes, muscles, organs, and gets her into the best shape that her genetics will allow.
At the request of the Avatar of Terra, Amber agrees to travel the star systems to become the governess to the imperial princess of the Possitt system. The imperial regent is the princess’s uncle, and it was him that had the idea for the governess from an alien world with certain modifications. Being able to punch through steel had not been in Amber’s original specifications, but she is adapting and learning to enjoy her new position in a world where she isn’t allowed to meet anyone’s eyes. It is a minor inconvenience that she is willing to live with for the chance to help a scared young woman become the empress she was meant to be.
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Imperial Governess
Copyright © 2021 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-4874-3216-4
Cover art by Angie Waters
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Imperial Governess
Terran Reset Book 1
By
Viola Grace
Prologue
Alyla looked at the files on her mother’s computer. “Mom? Who are these women?”
Minerva-Gaia walked up to her daughter and looked at the file that her daughter was pointing to. “Ah, those are women who had the signs of a developing talent, but it never emerged. They were removed from consideration at the time, and I haven’t found anything that I can do with their applications.”
“What about the huge stack of requests for Terrans that are coming in every day, Mom? Some of them have to be viable choices now.”
“Honey, they are in their fourth, fifth, and sixth decades. Some of them were too old when the project started.” Minerva smiled and waited for her daughter to tell her what she already knew.
“Why can you just do a regeneration treatment? We do it for candidates who need to be calibrated to their new species. So, just reset them into their best possible condition, and you have some folks who can fill those vacancies that are cropping up around the sectors.”
Minerva hugged her daughter. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you already did, which is why you have them matched up with a variety of placements?” Alyla chuckled as she opened the first file. “It looks like Amber Huffner has an offer to be an instructor in the Possitt Empire. Seven worlds. Very nice. When are you going to contact her?”
Her mother laughed. “She will be coming by the embassy for the departure pass today. I think she just needs to wrap things up at work.”
* * * *
The group of twenty finished singing For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow, and the cake was settled in front of her. Amber sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She smiled and blew the candle out. “Thank you.”
Happy Retirement Amber was emblazoned on the frosting. She took the knife and cut the cake equally into nicely cubed chunks. She set the pieces on the plates, and they congratulated her on her retirement, patted her on the shoulder, and walked back to their desks, smiling about their involvement in this banner day.
Amber looked at the spot where the cake had been. Twenty servings, twenty plates, and nothing left for her. Yeah, that summed it up.
Thirty years at the same company, she was lucky to retire at fifty-five, but her soul felt a million years old.
Her cell chirped, and a slow smile spread across her features. She left the breakroom and headed for her desk.
Barb from HR came to meet her at her desk. “So, how was the cake?”
Amber snorted. “How would I know? They didn’t buy enough for me and didn’t leave me a piece. Excuse me. I am heading out now.”
Barb blinked. “Don’t you leave at five?”
Amber looked at her and smiled slowly. “As you know, I have been banking my time so that I wouldn’t have to stay this afternoon. If you don’t want to pay me for the last four hours, I don’t care. I have sent in my timesheet, and I am done.”
Harry, the VP in charge of the department, popped his head around. “So, Amber, Jane will be calling you on Monday for information on the Hemmerson account.”
Amber sighed and gave him a feral grin. “You might have missed it, but I am retired, not on leave. The company isn’t paying me anymore, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about the Hemmerson account. Jane could have learned about it anytime in the last three weeks when I tried to show her, but she was too busy. So, now she can figure it out by herself.”
Harry frowned and stood straight, towering over her. “Now, Amber, you need to be more of a team player.”
She laughed, grabbed her purse and jacket, and left the cubicle, pushing past Harry. “Get out of my way, you dick. I don’t work here anymore.”
There was some loud calling and then outright shouting as she left the floor and passed the warren of curious faces who were staring at her in shock. She didn’t blame them. She never stood up for herself. She was better at standing up for others. From the offer she had accepted three weeks ago, she was about to get the opportunity to do that for a living.
The elevator doors closed, and she looked at herself in the mirror. Mid-fifties, sixty pounds overweight, grey hair, sallow skin, and haunted eyes. She wasn’t a catch by any means, which her co-workers liked to mention anytime there was a new baby or engagement in the office. She had thought she was done, and then, Recruiter Norz had contacted her and offered her a chance to live her life in the stars. There was a job for her, and if she agreed to a few minor alterations to her physiology, they were going to send her off to be an educator somewhere deep in space. She was willing to take and pass every course she could find to make sure that that posting materialized.
She walked out of the office building and breathed deeply, feeling as if a band had snapped off her chest, and she could finally taste the air.
An SUV was parked in the loading zone, and a uniformed alien stepped out and inclined his head. “Miss Huffner, I am here to take you to the embassy.”
He knew who she was and where she was going, so she got into the vehicle and took the drive to her future.
The woman in the elegant business suit smiled and gestured for her to have a seat. One of the alien servants b
rought in a tray filled with small cakes.
“Recruiter Norz will be with us shortly. Would you like some tea?” The woman leaned forward.
“Please.” Amber felt awkward. No one ever served her.
“Sugar?”
“One, thank you.” Amber fidgeted. “Do you know why I got an acceptance after all these years?”
The woman chuckled and handed her the cup and saucer. “You were ready. You were not ready before. You are now.”
The woman had strange eyes. She looked human, but her eyes swirled with a green light. “Please, have some of the cakes. Today is an important day, after all.”
“Thank you.” Amber took a macaron and set it on her saucer while she sipped at her tea. “Are you Recruiter Norz?”
The woman chuckled. “Occasionally. I am Minerva, but Norz is a construct that I can send my mind into. You are about to leave the Earth and go striding across alien worlds. It helps if people think they have met an actual alien first.”
“So, you are human.”
Minerva inclined her head. “I am.”
“But you are something else.”
“You are very good at this. I am an avatar. Despite what folks tell themselves, some of the worlds with sentient beings on them are sentient themselves. Gaia was jostled awake recently, and she fused with me. So, we both take up space in this body, which is fine, as my husband is the avatar for a black hole. Stars take a very long time to die.”
Amber nibbled at the meringue treat, and she tried to wrap her brain around what she was listening to.
“Don’t worry about it. You will gain it in your education. We have had several offers for your services, but this one has the most potential.”
She sipped at her tea and tried to remain calm. “You know what I will be doing?”
“You are a caretaker by nature, so we have decided that you will be suitable for the position as governess to an imperial house in the Possitt system. A young woman has recently been left orphaned, and she requires a friend, companion, and teacher. Your physical reset will begin when you get to the Lunar Base, and you will be transported during your medical process. By the time you have arrived, you should be ready to begin your duties. The information you need, histories and subject matter, will be delivered to you while you reset.”
“What does it mean to reset?”
Minerva picked up a small cake. “We use tech to find your optimal physical conditioning and then use a variety of techniques from different species. The fun part about the Volunteer Project is that it has gotten participant races from unlikely sources to assist us medically. What we are doing will never be offered to the population at large, but the resets are all exceptional and deserve a chance to show what they can do.”
“Optimal physical conditioning. Hm. I don’t suppose there is a chance to make me taller with long hair? My hair has always been brittle.”
“You can redesign your whole body if you like. When you see the average citizen of the Possitt system, you can create a body design that will straddle the lines, but you must remain genetically Terran. That is important. That is what the contract is for. The changes will be permanent but cosmetic.”
“That’s fine. I am just tired of being me. I need to be someone different. If I am going to change the way I look, I want to go all the way.”
“Very well, but once you alter things like your height, you aren’t going to be able to go back. Your balance will change, and you will need time to work on getting control of your limbs again.”
Amber sighed. “So, if I get taller, I might stumble a lot. Right.”
“The hair is an easy fix. You have rather pretty eyes. We can definitely fix your vision so that you don’t require glasses.” Minerva smiled.
Amber sipped at her tea. “That would be nice. I have worn them since I was twelve.” She finished her tea and the macaron and set the cup on the table. “So, when do I start?”
“Right now. You will take a little nap, we will install the learning module, and you will be on your way.”
“A little nap?” Amber looked at Minerva, and the woman’s eyes started glowing. Her body was suddenly levitating, and the strange woman came over and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Be whatever you wish to be, daughter, and guard those in your care.” The spot that Minerva’s lips touched flared with a warmth that spread through all of Amber’s joints. She relaxed and let herself be carried off as she was warm, comfortable, and floating. It was definitely a great way to start retirement.
Chapter One
Amber sat up in bed when she heard a soft chime. A cheerful woman with grey skin and black feathers instead of hair came through the door before Amber had a chance to look around the room.
“Good day to you, Amber. My name is Alyla, and I am the head of this facility.”
Amber looked at the woman, who couldn’t be more than twenty years old. “Hello. Where am I, exactly?”
“You are at the Lunar Base. My mother had to knock you out, as your physical condition would not particularly be receptive to the stresses of leaving the Earth’s gravity. You might be feeling a little bruised.”
“Your mother? Minerva?”
Alyla smiled. “Yeah. She said you had met, and she apologizes for the sedative.”
“She’s immune to it? I am guessing she spiked the tea.”
“No, the treats. She never disrespects tea. The treats on your side were brightly coloured, so that is how you can tell the difference.”
Amber looked down, and she was wearing a medical tunic. “Why am I wearing this?”
“The transport window is opening up in two days, so we need to get you prepped and in the tank for your trip to the Possitt system.” Alyla sat next to her and handed her a tablet. “Pick your hair colour and any secondary pigmentation.”
“What do the people in the Possitt system look like?” Amber rubbed her short hair.
“Oh, good question.” Alyla moved her fingers over the tablet, and there was a variety of colours of skin and hair, but the one thing that was common was a pigment mask that covered half the face from forehead to cheekbones, occasionally rising up the bridge of the nose.
“So, the mask thing is common?”
“It is in ninety-nine percent of the population.”
“Will it be on the face of my charge?”
“Ah, the Lady Emera. Yes, she has a silver mask, crimson hair, and orange eyes. Check your database. We wired you up while you were sleeping.”
Amber paused, and she touched the back of her neck, finding a small nodule where there hadn’t been one before. She looked at the tablet and thought of the people of the Possitt system, and images came up similar to the ones that Alyla had shown her. She looked for height specifics and paused. “So, I am not as short as I thought. I only need four inches to make it to average Possitt height. I will blend in. Well, with a few adjustments. I am going to keep my eyes but correct the vision.”
Alyla nodded, and a tattoo moved under her grey skin. “Hair?”
“Blue at the crown fading to green at the end. I would like to start with waist-length hair or longer.”
“It sounds lovely. Send me an image when you are decanted.”
“I will try if I figure it out. What about learning all the subjects that I need to learn before I get there?”
“You are going to have a constant stream of info and a matching vid display for when you are awake, you will know what you need to know, and your formal wear will be ready when you are.”
“Formal wear?”
“Yes, young Lady Emera is related to the leader of her community, so you will need to be formally introduced, and then, if you are accepted, you are good to start. If not, we can change the hair and mask and bring you to the second choice.”
“There is a second choice?”
“Of course. And a third and a fourth. When you complete your contract with the Possitt, you may be able t
o seek other employment in the nearby systems.”
Amber looked around, and her stomach growled. “Can I get something to eat?”
“Nope. This is best done on an empty stomach. If you can get up, we can go.”
Alyla grinned and picked up a robe. “Come on.”
Amber got out of the bed, and when she stood up, she stared up at the other woman. “You are very tall.”
“Friat genes mixed with that of a Terran. I am the result. You will meet my father or, at least, see him through the tube. He is going to be transporting you and the other four resets to their respective assignments.”
“What are the others having done?”
“I believe they are all getting an age refresh. The different adaptations are going to take place after that based on the requirement of their placement. The youngest of you is forty-five, and the eldest is seventy-five, but she is the scary one.”
“Scary?”
“Never mind. We will run your suggested changes through Possitt and see what they will allow. I believe the imperial household has rules about the appearance of aliens within their household.”
Amber shrugged. “That’s fine. I am used to managing expectations.”
Alyla sighed. “Don’t worry, you will still get to do the last three decades over on a whole new world, but it will have its challenges.”
“I spend my days looking for challenges and screwups, as well as instructing an endless array of new people. I can manage this. Or, I guess I get returned to sender, and I try again.”
Alyla chuckled. “Don’t worry about that. My mother and father have both looked over your files and spoken with the household you are entering. They are eager for you to take over from the nanny’s tutelage. It is time for the lady to learn more about the worlds around her.”