Dommik hardened. “There is no job.” He grabbed the back of her shirt, tore the bag out of her hand and threw them both off his ship.
Chapter Three:
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Kat stumbled out onto the airfield in shock. She glanced back at the Cyborg but he had already turned around and disappeared into his ship. The strange off-world animals in the snow-filled glass cube shuffled and hopped around. Three androids moved throughout, preparing the strange menagerie, importing and exporting materials.
She was determined to be hired as his assistant. Something in her gut, in her boring lifelong existence as a middle-class land-dweller, wanted to be on the spider-ship. She was curious about the Cyborg, the monster-man, and why fate would taunt her with overhearing this job opening, on this day, at that moment, where she had been standing?
Kat was a home-nurse, a hospice care provider before her grandmother got sick. She had been around death her entire life, first with her parents, then with her patients, only to end up closing the eyes of her nana.
Her parents had died from the same illness.
The one she was afraid of flowing through her very veins as she stood there gawking.
She knew what this man did for a living, and if she could be on his ship, be a part of the research of the specimens he provided. She might just find a way to save herself, where she could not save her family. Why else would the opportunity present itself?
Why else would I be here?
Kat picked up her bag and walked back up the ramp.I’m doing this.The Cyborg was nowhere in sight.
One of the androids stopped what it was doing and approached her.
“Please state your business.”
“I’m the new hire.”
The robot cocked it’s head while its face flickered. “There is no new hire. There are only resumes. Please state your business.”
Kat dropped her bag and opened it, pulling out her console, she projected the screen and pulled up her resume. “Here is my resume.” The android pulled it from her projection and into its own system. “I was just hired. I might not be in your system yet.”
“Very well, Katalina Jones. Your file has been added to the list. Our master has not authorized additional personnel but we are not cleared for takeoff until we have a new unit. It is possible.”
The android appeared to be thinking.
She had never dealt with an android before, not of this caliber at least. In the medical field, she had seen many operate and work med-slats and cryo-pods from a distance. She had been a lowly care provider with a certification to run the instruments and provide psychological relief. It had allowed her to take care of the sickly at homes and hospices but no more. Some people still preferred a human over a machine.
“I was hired by voice contract, minutes ago,” she lied, watching the bot. “Why else would I have clearance to be on the airfield or on this spacecraft? Or why I have my luggage next to me?”
The android blinked with a series of numbers.
Kat rubbed the tiny key-chip in her pocket. She looked at the other two androids that were ignoring them.
“The ship is readying for takeoff. The probability is higher.” The machine stood there unmoving, undeciding.
A voice called out behind her, the man and the woman from before were at the end of the ramp. “Who are you?” the blonde with the tablet called out.
“The new hire,” Kat answered, beginning to sweat.Oh shit. I’m going to get arrested.
Her bag was yanked out of her hand for the second time that afternoon. The android walked further into the ship with her belongings. “Come this way, Katalina Jones. Takeoff is in commence.”
“He hired you!?” the blonde guffawed. Kat looked at her and then back at the android. The ship came to life with a buzz.
“He picked my resume out of the list,” she turned to the humans and answered. The man narrowed his eyes.
He spoke up, “You’re not an EPED employee. Your resume isn’t on that list. Who are you?”
The gate began to close.
