“I imagine she must be a dream to fly,” Amanda mused as she turned to check out the rest of the interior.
“Would you like to fly it sometime?”
Amanda was glad she was facing away from him because she was sure her face turned red as she had to answer, “I’ve never learned to fly. Although I’ve enjoyed every flight I’ve taken.”
“I could teach you if you want to learn.”
This time Amanda did turn around and looked at him seriously. Flying this telepod would be something she could hardly imagine but would love to try. She could just see herself telling her father all about learning to control the most advanced aircraft in Tuala. “I would love it, but I’m sure you have better things to do than teaching me. For all we know, I’d be a dunce which would surely be a disappointment for both of us.”
“With what I already know, I’m certain you’d be an excellent student. The offer stands, just let me know when you want to start.” Riccan hated to leave his favorite topic, but he looked at his timepiece and noticed they should probably continue their tour. “Do you want to meet some people and find out who you’ll be working with directly?”
Amanda nodded a little less enthusiastically. She preferred just spending time with Riccan, enjoying his easy manner. There was no way around the upcoming meetings, so she was at least grateful for Riccan’s introductions rather than blundering through new acquaintances on her own.
They took the stairs down to the thirteenth floor where all of the Executive’s offices were located. As they were all in a meeting, Amanda got to meet the secretaries, but none of the Executives themselves for which Amanda was both relieved and disappointed at the same time. Riccan did show her the office of Ela Nena Dunless, the Executive Vice President of Customer Operations, and also Riccan’s boss.
The next floor down housed several departments, but the most important was Accounting. Riccan described the functions of the department as a whole and said, “You will only be working with the heads of this department since all of the other people report to them anyway. Oh, Teden, I’m glad you’re around. This is our new analyst, Amanda. Amanda, this is Accounting Manager, Teden.”
Amanda shook his hand and said, “I’m glad to meet you."
The tour continued down to the eleventh and tenth floor which housed the Business Continuity and Corporate Security and Purchasing departments. Riccan told Amanda she would most likely not have anything to do with anyone in the first department, but he thought she should at least know where it was located should anyone ask her for directions. Amanda was particularly glad to meet many people in the Purchasing Department since Riccan had told her they worked closely together with Engineering.
They then visited the ninth through the sixth floor in descending order which housed the fitness center, the cafeteria, Business Development, and a giant conference room where Riccan said they held company-wide meetings. Amanda had been impressed with the fitness center since she had not seen one since coming to Tuala. There were many pieces of equipment which she wondered what they could possibly do as she had never seen anything like them before; eventually, she would have to find out. Equally impressive was the cafeteria; especially after Riccan told her all of the food was available at no charge for employees. Apparently, the company believed a well-fed employee would be more productive, Amanda had to agree the concept had definite merit.
The fifth floor held their equivalent to Information Services while the fourth floor contained both Human Resources and Payroll, both of which Riccan agreed she would be spending a lot of time creating reports for. The third floor had Customer Account Services and Billing, neither of which held any interest in Amanda’s job.
They skipped over the second floor since Riccan pointed out they would end there anyway. They took the elevator down to the basement which was considerably smaller housing the Receiving Department as well as their Office Services. Riccan said Amanda’s only interaction with Office Services would be to pick up the engineering plasprints and to get office supplies.
Together they returned to the elevator where Riccan once again checked his timepiece. “Wow, it’s lunch time already. Let’s go up to the cafeteria and get something to eat.”
“That sounds great. I was afraid you could hear my stomach growling earlier!”
“First test…which floor has the cafeteria?” Riccan pointed to the buttons for her to make a selection.
Amanda thought for only a second before she pressed the button to the eighth floor.
Riccan nodded his head approvingly and asked, “How did you remember?”
“That one was easy since it’s a play on words, floor eight is where you ate.”
Riccan laughed out loud at her unexpected answer. “That’s a good one!”
The elevator doors silently slid open to reveal a nearly empty room. Amanda looked questioningly at Riccan before asking, “Where is everybody?”
“I thought we should be a little bit early so you could look over the food options before there was a large crowd in the way. Plus it will be a bit quieter for us to talk.” He walked over to the first buffet line and picked up a plate. He knew where all his favorite dishes were located, but he walked slowly beside Amanda as she took her time making selections. Riccan was a bit surprised when she asked him what some dishes were as they were quite common and well known.
Finally, with full plates, they selected a secluded table for two tucked behind a pillar next to a window. Amanda sat down wondering how the view compared with that of her office or if this were on a different side of the building. They had traveled so much around each office she was unsure which direction was which anymore, not that it really mattered much, because the view was spectacular.
As if reading her mind Riccan spoke, “You can see the best sunrise on this side and sunset on the other.”
“Hopefully you don’t see both in one day when you’re here!”
“It actually happens quite a bit for me, but I don’t mind. I love my job, and the people who work for me are great.”
“I’m sure it helps, but surely there’s a family waiting for you at home.”
“Nope, no family for me yet. I still have to find the right woman.”
“You never will if you spend all your time at work.”
“That’s the same thing my mother tells me. She’s been bugging me for anons to settle down so she can have grandchildren.”
“You should listen more to your mother.”
“Not you, too! It seems like everyone is ganging up on me lately!” Riccan’s expression showed mock horror, only partially as a joke, before he started eating his lunch.
Amanda tried to maintain a stern motherly look but rapidly gave it up in favor of sampling the new dishes. Riccan seemed like a nice man who had a great job. She wondered why he was still single.
Amanda suddenly recalled her daughter’s declaration that Riccan was the one who thought she was beautiful. Could he have been waiting for her? She shook her head at such a ridiculous idea since she was planning on going home once she had Jena. Besides, Riccan would want someone closer to his own age as he appeared to be around a decade older than herself.
“Is something wrong with your food? You look very serious all of the sudden.”
Amanda almost choked at being caught thinking about him. She shook her head and covered her mouth. Once she swallowed she temporized, “The food was just hot; it’s okay now.” To add credence to her words, she picked up her glass of water and took a long drink.
Riccan was certain the food was not what she had been thinking about, but decided not to press her for the truth. There would be plenty of time to get to know how she thought since he was going to be working with her so closely during her training period. He had only known her for one morning, yet he was eager to see how she worked with the rest of his crew of employees. With Captain Ahn’s letter he was convinced she was the best person for the job, but now it was up to her to prove herself to the rest of her teammates.
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“I should probably tell you that there was someone from the office who also applied for this job. There was some tension in the office because I picked you and not her, but as I told my team, I want the best-qualified person for the job. You were that person and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
Amanda almost wished Riccan had not told her about the office drama so she could form her own opinions about the people, however she supposed it was best to be forewarned of any animosity aimed at her. She was nervous enough about starting her first real job, but now she had the added pressure of proving her worth and making sure she did not disappoint Riccan.
“Thanks for the warning. I’ll do my best to show you were right!” Amanda smiled at Riccan and then resumed her eating. Since she had no idea what she would be working on, she hoped she was telling Riccan the truth. Time would tell, Amanda thought and had to smile inwardly at how insufficient the phrase seemed in light of her upcoming task.
“I don’t know if Lana told you, but I’m going to be your main point of contact in the office. Feel free to ask questions of anyone in the department, but if you get held up on anything, please come and ask me. I’ll also be doing most of your training, but I’ll also have Denana show you the final details of working with the standard forms. She wasn’t the person who wanted the job so it should go smoothly.”
“Lana told me you were going to be my contact person, but she didn’t say you’d be training me. I hope I learn everything fast so I don’t take up too much of your time. I’m sure you’re very busy.”
“Don’t worry about my time; I’ll still get everything done. Are you ready to start learning your job?”
Amanda set down her fork and replied, “As ready as I’ll ever get.”
They picked up their dishes, depositing them over to the automated wash booth before they made their way back to the elevator. Riccan pushed the button on the wall and asked, “So what do you like to do for fun?”
Amanda had not been expecting any personal questions and then suddenly realized she had not done anything simply for fun since arriving in Tuala the second time. She had to say something, so she hastily replied, “Juila takes up all of my free time. She’s just learning how to do everything, and it’s been pretty entertaining to witness.”
Riccan nodded although he really wanted to know more about Amanda. Since she was the mother of a young child, he supposed all of her free time would be taken up caring for her. He wondered where the child’s father was since Amanda never seemed to mention him. Eventually he would find out the answer; however, he decided to bide his time. He did not want to appear rude by being too pushy about her private life.
They rode the elevator down to the second floor in silence and walked side by side down the hallway to their department. Riccan badged the door open and led the way to Amanda’s office. He imagined she might not know her way through the office to get to her work space. “Did Lana show you around the department?”
Amanda shook her head.
Instead of heading directly into her office he turned to the right and started pointing out the important features around the department. She took note of Riccan’s office location thinking it was good for it to be relatively close to her own. Another important place to know was the bathroom, which was just beyond Riccan’s office. He also showed her the desks of all of the team members, who were eating lunch at this time, so she did not get to meet anyone personally, which worked out well in her mind. The final spot on the tour was the break room where there was a small kitchenette if she wanted to make steena tea or have a cup of java.
They worked their way back to Amanda’s office where she placed her badge in front of the patil screen, bringing it back to life just as she had left it. Riccan sat down in the chair on her left-hand side causing Amanda to feel slightly uncomfortable with the close proximity needed for him to read her screen also. She was sure she would get used to it once she got to know him better, but she was not quite there yet.
“Okay, let’s do a quick tutorial through the different programs on your screen. Go ahead and click on this first one.”
Chapter Sixteen
ALENA COULD HARDLY believe how lonely the house had become with both Amanda and Juila gone. She actively sought out new patients to keep herself occupied. As a relatively new wise-woman she should have earned a larger client base long before now; however, she had spent so much time working with Amanda in looking for Jena and teaching her and Juila how to use their birth crystals she had neglected her calling.
She spent a considerable amount of time training her children with the elemy so they would be prepped for school. The training should have started several mesans before, but again she had been preoccupied. Alena finally broke down and allowed Kyelon to participate in birth crystal training with Justan and Andera, mainly because they were not advancing as swiftly as Juila had been. Alena did not want her children to be so far ahead of the other students as to make them stand out and feel awkward. Kyelon had been so happy to be included she was sorry she had ever denied him the opportunity.
The children were missing Juila almost more than Alena since they had spent so much time with her since birth. Alena guiltily used the distraction of learning to use their skills to keep them from asking when Juila was coming home. It still had not occurred to them their guests were not going to be returning.
Dinner seemed to be the second most difficult time for the family. The two empty places at the table was an ever-present reminder, yet nobody wanted to talk about it. Conversations were awkward, mostly consisting of the progress in the children’s training and anything interesting going on with either Bryon’s or Alena’s work.
Not surprisingly the hardest part of the day was during story time after dinner. The children stood in front of their parents and started singing the Unity Song:
Crystal around the neck,
Follow the next step,
Changes today,
Changes tomorrow,
We all become one.
Andera began to cry as the song ended because they were not all one anymore. Alena held out her hands for her daughter to comfort her as she sat on her lap. The boys then looked at one another trying to decide where to sit since Juila usually sat on Bryon’s lap. Now the spot was conspicuously empty and they did not know who should fill it. On the first night of their absence, all of the children cried themselves to sleep which made both of their parents feel terrible simply because there was nothing they could do to ease the pain.
After brooding over the idea for several days, Alena decided she would have to sit down and use her memory recall techniques to replay the images she had seen during Jena and Juila’s birth crystal ceremony. She had promised to review everything to see if the images seen were those on Earth or Tuala.
Each image flashed through her relaxed mind as she carefully noted the scenery. Finally, she had to admit there were some troubling pictures. She could no longer deny the scenes from Earth and knew both children would one day return to the land they had never known. Her heart was heavy with the idea of them leaving. Alena decided she needed to make arrangements to visit Amanda sometime soon to discuss the implications with her. She imagined Amanda was settled into her house and probably feeling lonely as well. Alena already felt better simply from deciding to visit them both.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rasa had pondered the situation about getting a message to Amanda’s parents and determined it was worth a try. She thought she might even be uniquely qualified to get a message through the Gate since she was half-Tualan and half-Earthling. The best possible chance would be to send the message to Shemalla since she knew exactly where she was located based on Elder Vargen’s confidential, approved plan for the Roswell cover-up. Rasa was once again grateful for her unlimited security clearance as one of Jehoban’s students since she would not have had access to the file otherwise. Also, Rasa was thankful the file contained a picture of Shemalla so Rasa could visualize the recipient as she
was sending the message.
Distance notation would be the best method for communicating since it was untraceable and relatively secure. Now the only consideration was how to get the message to Shemalla without anyone noticing it appear. Since Shemalla worked at the museum until five o’clock, she decided she would most likely be home by six o’clock. After calculating the time difference between their locations using an advanced formula on the patil, taking into account the possible shift in time between the worlds and Shemalla’s particular agreement for slowing time, she determined she would be able to send the message in approximately two hours.
Since she was going to have some time before she would send the message, she decided to work on tracing her life-line. Once Elder Debbon had explained the process the actual procedure of finding the life-line was relatively easy. She had feared when she started the wise-woman training she would always be the furthest behind since healing had always been so difficult for her to grasp. Her hope had renewed since Elder Debbon had expressed the importance of the life-line, the class might not be such a trial after all.
Suddenly Rasa gasped as she made an intuitive leap from her own life-line to Jena’s. If her idea worked, then she would be able to link with Juila’s life-line and trace it over to Jena. She was not sure if it were possible to link to a life-line from any sort of distance, but she was certainly willing to try. Then the thought struck her that she may find Jena’s life-line, however, it still would not tell her where the child was located. Disappointment overwhelmed her as she realized her newest idea still would not get Jena home, yet she could not let the idea go entirely.
She looked at her timepiece and saw it was late enough to reach Amanda at home since it was well after she would have gotten out of work. Rasa touched the screen of her patil to create a video connection with Amanda. After about thirty seconds Amanda opened the link on her end, and her image popped up on the screen.
Ascension Discovery Page 72
