“That tells me several things. One, he is a loose cannon in some sense because nobody trusted him on that stage, including me. Two, he can’t be seen as a threat, or at least not a great threat, because he was allowed on stage in the first place. I will not undertake a role as serious as this one only knowing half of the facts, and as you should know, it wouldn’t be smart of me to do so. Whether you were planning on telling me the whole situation or not is irrelevant. Unless I know all of the facts around my coming into this role, I cannot take it!”
It is dead silent. I’m shaking on the inside, but refusing to let it show. I look each of them in the eye to show that I’m serious. Nobody talks; they don’t even look at each other for a while. Then of all people to speak up it is Peter. “Very well said, and you are right in saying so Rosaline. This is a very serious matter and one that we are still trying to work out a solution for. We will all break for lunch and the council will come back together and discuss it. Once we have come to a decision we will let you know. In the meantime, try to get comfortable, we will have someone show you around, bring you to your new quarters and get you acclimated. We will meet tomorrow morning to discuss the matter with you. If we feel it is best to not disclose anything further, then you may pick whichever job you would like and we will part with no hard feelings. However, if we feel it is in the best interest for everyone involved we will tell you, but we need your word and signature at that time that you will willingly take on the role of President. Does this sound fair to you?”
Wow, that was a lot to take in. He had a point though, and it did actually sound fair. “Yes, I think that is fair. I will think about it tonight and I will be here tomorrow to discuss it with everyone. What time should I be back?”
“We will send someone for you at 8:00 in the morning at the fountain.”
“That sounds good. Thank you everyone for the time you gave me, and for answering all my questions. Also, thank you for having so much faith in me. I’m not sure I see what you do, but it’s nice to know that people see the best in you.” Everyone smiled back at me, at least I'm leaving on good terms.
“I’ll walk you out.” Annabelle offered. I smile at her with thanks.
We walk out of the room and to the end of the hall in silence. She stops right before we get to the cylinder tube thing, I really do need to find out what this is called. Maybe Wes knows.
“You know Rosaline, you were meant for this.” She is smiling as she says this, but pure conviction backs her voice. “I’ve been through two presidents. Both were amazing in their own right and brought a lot to the table. I feel like we were successful with those, but with you…” she trails off in thought, so I stay silent and let her think about what she wants to say. “I’m not even sure how to articulate it, but you were just so...presidential in there. You were able to set your nerves aside and think clearly. You said exactly what you wanted, and you stood your ground, refusing to give in based on moral ethic! I’m so proud of you Roz.” This shocked me. I thought for sure all of the council members were upset with me for speaking my mind and demanding so many answers.
“You mean you aren’t mad at me? I was sure everyone would hate me now after challenging them.” She threw her head back and laughed. She had a great laugh, full of joy and it took years off of her face. “Oh sweet girl, of course they don’t hate you. That’s what a good leader does. They challenge people! They make them work for it, and in doing so make them earn it! We are going to get along just fine. That was very intimidating in there, you up against the ten of us. You handled yourself perfectly, strong yet graceful! I’m so proud of you Roz!” With this, she surprised me by giving me a hug. Maybe this job won’t be so bad after all.
Chapter Eight
I made my way down so many hallways, corridors and floors, I have no idea how, but I finally made it to the cafeteria to get some lunch. Even the café was beautiful, not to mention huge. But I guess it would have to be pretty massive to be able to feed everyone here. There were so many things to choose from, it made my head spin. I decided on a chicken salad sandwich, side salad and a pear. After that meeting, I was starving. On my way to the table I spotted jars of chocolate milk and I couldn’t pass it up. It was a hard morning, I earned it. I had just sat down to eat when a familiar duo walked in. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until I saw Wes again, as I knew he would, he radiated excitement. I’m glad he had a good morning. I was worried what would happen if it started out bad for him.
“Roz, oh you’ll never guess what we did today, seriously Roz it was amazing I can’t believe how awesome it was to be able to tour the train!”
He was about to say more when I cut him off with my hand. “As much as I’d love to hear about your day Wes its past 1:00 and I know you haven’t had time to eat, why don’t you go get some lunch, eat a little and then you can tell me all about it, ok?”
He looked like he was about to protest when Aspen cut in, “I’d love it if you could grab me a cobb salad and an iced tea, thanks.” And just like that, Wes was off to do her bidding.
I sat there stunned for a moment. “Wow, you handled that like a pro,” I said to her in total awe. “It’s literally taken me years to handle Wes like that.”
“I’m a quick study. I learn people and how they work, and the best way to go about working with them.” She says this like that isn’t next to impossible to do. Already this girl has earned my respect.
“So how did today go? Was Wes ok?” I had gotten so wrapped up with the council that I didn’t have time to worry about him.
“I couldn’t believe how amazingly brilliant he actually is Roz, I mean it. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. While getting his first tour ever of the train, never having seen a cargo area in his life, in less than 30 minutes, he had already come up with new adaptations and modifications to save hours, even days off of production time, it was bloody fantastic. The man is a complete genius. 100% banana bonkers, but total genius!” At this I almost sprayed chocolate milk out of my nose, as it was, I was choking and wiping my face as Wes walked up to the table.
“You ok Roz?”
“Hmm, oh yes, yes I’m fine.” I shoot Aspen a mock scowl, which was completely lost on her since I burst out laughing.
Wes once again was too caught up in his excitement to notice this. He handed Aspen her tray and sat down to start eating. He only got about three bites in before he couldn’t take it anymore. It was three more bites than I thought he would last, so I was pretty proud of him for lasting that long.
“Roz it was amazing. I couldn’t believe just how awesome it was.”
“Yes, so you’ve said. Would you like to share why?”
“Oh I wouldn’t know where to start. I met Miles, he is a pretty cool guy, maybe a tad bit territorial, but cool.” This caused Aspen to snort.
“Territorial? Seriously Wes, this has been his baby for years. He eats sleeps and breathes his design and in 30 minutes you tore it to shreds.” Wes went to protest but she stopped him. “I’m not saying it wasn’t founded or that you weren’t completely brilliant in your findings, but I also think Miles was being great about taking your criticism. As constructive as it was meant to be, it came off a little harsh.”
“Oh come on, I wasn’t that bad.”
“Not that bad. I believe one of your nicest phrases was ‘even an ignorant knave could have figured out a better climate control than this.’”
“And your point?”
Aspen threw her hands in the air, “I give up!”
Their interaction has me thoroughly amused by now. But I decided to bring us back to topic. “So your ideas, do you think they are going to use them?”
Wes grinned from ear to ear. “Yep, Miles is already working on it back in the lab.”
“So are you going to enlighten me on this amazing insight of yours?”
“Well it wasn’t that amazing Roz, it just made the most sense. You see they have been using the trains as cargo for the food. Since we
grow all our own food and need to deliver it to the different zones as quickly as possible and keep it fresh because we don’t use any chemicals or pesticides, they were using one train to make several stops a day. The train has a schedule it goes by when it picks up the nuts and beans, dry goods mostly, then the vegetables, fruit, dairy; lastly the meat so that it doesn’t spoil. But when you do it like that you are limiting how much you can bring on, it doesn’t make sense at all. I proposed to use climate controlled boxes and have a designated box for each individual product. You can pick up more products at one time this way without having to freeze it. Why nobody thought of this before is beyond me!”
I couldn’t resist teasing him a little. “Maybe because they are all ignorant knaves!”
“Exactly!” Well looks like the teasing was lost on him…again.
He just continued on his rant. “So I figured out a way to design each box based on the exact temperature for that particular product to retain the most freshness. If you make the cargo area for the meat just under freezing temp it keeps the best, and if you designate a whole train just for the meat you only need to make one trip, plus you completely eliminate cross contamination. The trains are making fewer trips while getting more products.” He said finally taking a breath.
“Yep, still brilliant, glad I brought you along!” I smile at him.
“Well it’s good to know I’m useful for something.” He said taking another bite of his sandwich.
“So you guys had a good time then, got along alright?” I ask trying to sound casual. Truth is Wes tends to have a hard time making (and keeping) friends without me running interference. Once he becomes friends with someone they are friends for life, he grows on you quick, but he’s not great with first impressions.
“Oh yes, Aspen and I got along great. Besides the name and the fact that she’s a personal assistant, she is surprisingly smart.”
I just died! I’m literally horrified for her that this came out of my best friend’s mouth!
“WESLEY SANDERS!”
Wes looks up perplexed? “What?”
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“What? I paid her a compliment.”
“That was not a compliment, you need to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Now he is looking down right confused. “Apologize for what? I said she is smart.” He said looking a tad hurt.
“Apologize after you insulted her name and job.” I tried not to sound like I'm scolding him, but really…I am scolding him.
I look back at Aspen to gage her reaction to his thinly veiled insult. Instead of looking hurt she looks…amused? Forget like this girl, I’m pretty sure I love her.
Wes looks at Aspen. “I wasn’t trying to offend you, I’m sorry if I did. I meant it as a compliment.”
She gave him a little smile and said, “Most guys call a girl beautiful when they are giving compliments Wes.” The fact that she was batting her eyelashes at him in a mock flirt had no impact whatsoever.
“Well you are beautiful. If you were just beautiful, I would understand the personal assistant thing.”
I groan. When will he ever learn?
Aspen throws her head back and laughs. “Why Wes, you just called me beautiful and smart!”
“Well. that’s. because. you. are.” He said like he was talking to someone slow.
“Yes, but you noticed.” She winked at me and slid her chair closer to Wes, “I’m also single you know, so you can add that to the rest of your data about me.” She confidently stood up and took her tray, as she turned to walk away saying over her shoulder, “A beautiful assistant's work is never done.” With that she walked off.
Wes stared after her for a few seconds and then said, “Girls are so weird! I don’t think I will ever understand them.” He said, continuing to eat his lunch like the last fifteen minutes didn’t happen. It looks like working here is going to be entertaining to say the least.
Chapter Nine
Wes and I used the rest of the afternoon to wander around and look at the beauty of the buildings and check out our new surroundings. It was then that I realized we haven’t been told what to do now. All I know is that I’m to meet at the fountain at eight tomorrow morning, so what do we do until then?
“Hey Wes,” I stopped mid step. Wes continued to walk until he realized I was no longer next to him.
He turned around to look at me. “What?”
“Did Aspen tell you what we are supposed to do now?”
“What do you mean?” He asked.
I sigh, “I mean, where are we supposed to go, where are we staying for the night…what now?!”
“Oh. No she didn’t.” He said, seeming completely unfazed.
“Great! So we are just supposed to wander around like lost puppies. I don’t want to look incompetent on my first day, and I can’t go back to Annabelle and ask her; I’ll look totally ridiculous for not mentioning it earlier.”
Wes ponders this for a moment I'm sure after working out the calculations in his head. “You don’t want anyone thinking you are incompetent, neither do I. So what we need to do is find someone who already questions our competence to begin with, therefore, this can’t change their thinking of us.” Wow, I have no clue how his mind ever gets to where it does but the backwards thinking actually makes sense…somehow.
“But who could already question us, we’ve hardly met anyone!” At the same time we look at each other and both say, “Masters!”
Now all we had to do was find Masters, which in a place this size could take until past eight am tomorrow morning. It’s time to put on that fake confidence and act like I own it. We decided to go toward the lobby area where we first came in. There is a welcome desk with a woman in her early 20’s whose job, I would assume is to answer phones, direct people to departments and field the crazies. Perfect!
I walk up to her with purpose and give her my most confident smile. “Hello, My name Is Rosaline Thatcher. My friend Wes and I need to find Masters to help us get squared away, It’s my first day and to be honest I still haven’t gotten all the departments figured out and what not, so if you wouldn’t mind calling Masters to get us, it would be very appreciated.” There, that wasn’t so bad. Direct, confident, honest and polite. Although judging from the look on her face and slightly raised eyebrows, Masters, isn’t someone usually summoned. I try not to let the confidence slip, but the longer she stands there looking at me with disbelief the harder it is not to squirm. I thought about having her call Aspen instead, but then I’ll look like an idiot to three people and not just one…well now two.
“Just one moment.” She says, with a little more edge to her voice than I’d like. Yep, she definitely thinks I’m crazy! She is for sure going to the top of the coronation ceremony list so I can be the smug one then. Wait, is it even called a coronation? Who knows if there is a ceremony? They seem pretty no nonsense to me, but somehow the people are going to have to be informed aren’t they. A very loud, very annoyed throat was cleared directly behind me breaking me from my thoughts. I turn slowly knowing only one person who can sound that annoyed just at the sight of me.
“Oh good, Masters, Thank you for seeing us.”
“It’s not like I had much of a choice now did I, when Rochelle paged that there was a crazy fan girl in the lobby demanding to see me!” he said with that annoying smirk he has.
What?! Crazy fan girl?! OHHH, Rochelle is it?! I’ll have to remember that! I give her my just you wait smile and turn back to Masters.
“Well this crazy fan girl needs a place to sleep tonight.” His eyebrows shot up in surprise and I immediately turn beet red realizing how horrible that sounded. Even Wes shot me a ‘what on earth are you saying’ look. “I-I m-m-ean,” great and the future President stutters. This is going just peachy. I make a mental note to remind myself never to take advice from Wesley ever again. “Oh blast it all! No one told us what to do or where to go from here on out, since you so graciously met us here this morning we assume
d you would have some idea on where to put us for the reminder of the evening, I assume there are some type of sleeping arrangements for Wes and I? Or are we to go back home and come again in the morning?”
He studies me for a moment and then puts up one finger motioning for me to stay I assume, and turns his back he speaks quietly into some type of device I can’t really tell what it is. That’s when I see the wires tucked behind his ear. He is head of defense, of course he would have all the fancy equipment. He turns back around just as abruptly, with a slight nod of his head he continues walking.
“Well I guess that’s our cue.” I whisper to Wesley
“And you say I have bad people skills.” He whispers back to me
We follow him down the hall and to the cylinder thing again. This is the perfect time to find out exactly what it is called. I’m too afraid to ask Masters anything at this point, and Wes happens to be a walking fountain of information so I whisper in his ear, “What is this thing called?”
“You mean the PVE?” Huh, that’s an odd name, which is exactly what I tell Wes.
“It stands for Pneumatic Vacuum Elevator.” Ah, now I see why they abbreviate it, wow, what a mouthful. This time we take it down several floors all the way to the bottom. Once the doors open, I nearly have to jog to keep up with Masters. I’m sure he is aware of my panting by now, but makes no point to slow his strides. I’m only 5’2 and I have the legs of someone who is only 5’2. Wes is a good 6’3 and Masters is what I would normally say is giant- sized but my guess is around 6’6 or so.
We finally reach what I’m hoping is our destination because I’m ready to curl up on the floor panting right now. This area has a very welcoming and homey type vibe to it. It smells of cinnamon in the hallway and there are several vases of flowers on small wooden end tables leading to an open space. A young woman smiles as she walks towards us. She has her light brown hair pulled back in a braid that goes down her back. She has glasses that hide her eyes and a shy look about her. She stops when she reaches us and puts out her hand. “Hi I’m Andi.” She shakes both Wes and my hand and turns to Masters. “I can take it from here, thanks Kevin.”
United (The United Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
