Chapter Two: Administration

The next morning, I woke to a bonging sound. It sounded like I was staying in a monastery. Bong…Bong…Bong… I got up, and was able to find the sound quickly enough; coming from my PIC, Naira must have programmed it before she gave it to me. It was 6 am, or 0600, my personal alarm wasn’t supposed to go off for another hour, but since I was already awake I took a long shower while coffee brewed. After brushing my teeth and hair, I sipped coffee while studying the Boutique program further. I defiantly loved that I could invent my own brand of clothing- Original was my middle name.

I only had the clothes I’d been wearing the day before, and I didn’t want to wear those again. I picked out a white long-sleeve t-shirt and sleevless dark shirt to wear over that, and some pin-stripped pants. I figured I should probably dress as though I was actually appling for a job.  After trying them on, and finding they fit ok, I wandered around the room. I was just starting to get bored when my PIC started buzzing, from the front; I saw a picture of Naira.

“Hello?” I said, pushing the answer button.

“Oh, goodie! You’re up. Meet me for breakfast in 15 minutes.”

“Um, ok.” Naira had hung up already. I rolled my eyes and looked at the mini-Burbank map; it showed that the Burbank Café was just down the hall to the right. I took my purse and then went and stood by where the screen was, staring at the panel for a moment before pressing the open button.

I headed down the hall with more appreciation than the night before. The walls were a light brown, but they also had pictures every few feet. I stopped and looked at one that had a creature with a long nose snorting something black, with a rich green forest in the background.

“It’s a Suckersoot.” A familiar voice said from behind me. I turned to see Captain Crossbark looking at the picture. He looked down at me and smiled, “They're a native animal from Galigox, this tiny reddish-green planet the Phelpians have trading rights with.”

“Ah.... how many planets would you say they’ve been to?”

‘Probably hundreds. I don’t know the full count- if your really interested, I'm sure the administrative secretary, Nancy, could look it up for you.’ He looked down the hall toward the café, “Guess I’ll see you in a bit. Enjoy breakfast.” Nathan said, grinning mischievously. Wonder what he means by that? I thought, as I walked in the opposite direction.

The café was pretty standard. Buffet style on the left for those in a hurry, on the right, menus set on the tables for if you had time to sit and relax. A board at the entrance announced specials for both humans and phelpians. I looked around, but didn’t see Naira, so I wandered over to the buffet, seeing different colors and textures than normal- must be phelpian cuisine, I thought. There were normal sorts among the odd, bananas beside orange “apples”, a jelly pudding next to crystallized flowers. As I looked at the different foods, a phelpian in a kitchen uniform came up to me, watching me for a moment until I looked over at him… her. Wasn’t sure yet how to defecate the two genders.

“We are uni-gendered.” He said, stepping up to me, looking slightly doubtful. Aw, geeze, I’d forgotten about that telepathy thing, “I am sorry, I should have realized you were new to this ship, and would not have mental training yet.'

“It’s ok,” I replied, seeing Naira walking into the café, “I’m just getting used to it is all. Excuse me.” I met her at a table near a window that showed the moon- the moon was huge, I guessed we must be close to it.

‘Good morning!’ Naira exclaimed as I sat down, and turned my coffee cup right-side up.

‘Morning, Naira- that phelpian just told me they were uni-gendered… is that what I think it means?’ I asked looking back to were the phelpian was tiding up the buffet.

‘Sure. Hermaphrodites. I know, it sounds weird, but you’ll eventually get used to the idea.’

‘So, they don’t mate?’ I asked, awkwardly.

‘Well, yea, they can mate with themselves or with others of their species… they don’t openly look for mates, though.’

I thought about this for a couple minutes while looking over the menu.

‘Don’t worry, at some point, this was all new to everyone of us.’ She told me, looking around, ‘I would love some coffee!’ she caught the eye of a phelpian worker, but he didn’t come over, he seemed to be writing in his digital device.

‘Isn’t he going to come take our order?’ I asked, frowning.

‘Oh, he's just programming our robo-servers, it'll be along in minute. Here we are.’ The middle of the table began ascending to reveal a rounded computer screen. Naira tapped on the screen, indicating she wanted English.

‘How can I help you today?’ it asked in a slightly mechanical but humanoid voice.

‘What are today’s specials?’ Naira asked, winking at me- guess she’d seen the special board and was now just showing off.

‘Human special; Eggs Benedict with a Hollandaise sauce, Phelpian special; Nevo eggs served poached with a klistian sauce.’ As the machine told us the specials, pictures of the entrees appeared, and Eggs Benedict on fluffy English muffins with a yellow-red dotted sauce, the Nevo eggs, blueish in color, but resembling an extra large egg, with a light green, smooth sauce.

‘Mmm,’ I said looking at the Nevo eggs, ‘That is different. What is a Nevo, anyway?’

‘Type of bird from Phelp,’ she said, shrugging as she looked over the other menu items, ‘ I’ve heard they’re a bit like ostriches, except smaller.’

‘Are they edible for humans?’

‘What? Nevos?’ she asked, looking up, ‘I suppose, I’m not sure I’ve tried Phelpian food before. Phelpians are Humanoid. Here, let me ask.’ She got the attention of the phelpian attendant that stood near the door. ‘Is Phelpian food edible for humans?’ she asked as he came nearer.

‘Oh,’ the Phelpian said, sounding a bit surprised, ‘I believe so, mostly they are not poisonous to humans…’ he replied, thoughtfully, "I would be cautious of allergies, though, and stick with mild seasonings."

‘Ok,’ I said, my mind made up, ‘I’ll try the Nevo eggs, then, just be ready to shoot me full of benadril or anti-allergy meds.’

Naira looked a bit taken aback by my casual attitude, but just nodded and put our orders through. A short while later, a Phelpian brought over Naira’s omelet and my eggs. The Phelpian food did smell a bit strange, but looked like an over-sized chicken egg that had been poached. Naira just stared at me until I decided to bite the bullet and try it. I had unconsciously closed my eyes as I took the first bite…

‘Hmm.’ I said, amused, ‘tastes like chicken.’

Naira’s jaw dropped as I took another bite, then she started giggling, ‘Might have known!’

I grinned at her and tried the green sauce, trying to not be discouraged by the unappetizing color, ‘This sauce reminds me of grass, though. Needs a bit of salt’

‘Anya, I think you will love it aboard Harmony. Especially with that attitude.’

‘Maybe. It’s almost 0900, we should hurry- wouldn’t want to be late for my appointment.’

We finished eating and then headed down toward the Administrative floor. It seemed as though there were more people out and about, quite a few giving me agitated and curious glances.

‘Don’t worry about them,’ Naira said as we neared the Captains office, ‘They just have trouble when rookies come aboard and can’t shield they’re thoughts as well. They should have the training to block out your thoughts, but try thinking of a brick wall whenever you feel like you need additional privacy.’

I nodded as we stopped outside the office doors, brick wall, brick wall, brick wall, I was getting a bit tired of people being able to see or hear what I was thinking. Naira led me to an open door,  steping through, she knocked on the open door.

‘Ah,’ the captain said, sitting behind one of those big mahogany desks, looking up from some paper work, ‘Naira, thank you- you’re to report to HR immediately. Nothing bad, just work to be done.’

She nodded and gave me a hug. ‘Suppose I’ll see you aboard Harmony- I'll be done with my internship here in just a few weeks.’ She said before she left. I sighed and looked at the Captain.

‘Always optimistic. One of the most potential in our crew, though. Have a seat.’ He said waving to an old red leather couch. I sat down, setting my purse on the floor as I looked around.
The room was an office, but had a sense of home to it. There were pictures scattered on the walls, Nathan with what looked like Phelpian Ambassadors, on different planets, with human senators. A vase caught my attention. It was sitting on top of an antique book case, just looking at the worn pictures and words scattered across seemed to calm my nerves.
"That's a Matazu vase." Nathan said looking across the room at it.
"Reading my mind?" I said cautiously.
"No," He chuckled, "you were staring at it. It's a common welcoming gift from the Phelpians. The Phelpian ambassador gave it to me when I first met him- they have a realxing effect, something to do with the clay and the technique they use to make them. Very useful when first learning how to meditate."
"And what of those?" I asked, looking at a pair of old army boots sitting next to the Matazu.
"Those are to remind me where I've been," he said walking over to the book case, "these were the boots I was wearing when the Phelpians first approached me. I was in Switzerland, attending the winter Olympics- off duty, of course. But these books used to be very comfortable."
"I'm not sure I could get used to that..." I said, trailing off as I thought about the man in front of me being over a hundred years old.
"Well, time passes pretty quickly aboard Harmony." He said walking over to his desk and sitting down, "which is why you are here, what do you think?"
"I think I'm interested enough to just do it." I said grinning at the old saying. "My dad passed away when I was younger, and my mom and I aren't that close. I don't have any siblings, I'm not dating anyone right now and I don't have kids. I feel like I'm in a spot where I'm just waiting for things to happen- I guess this is it."
'Harmony becomes your family,' he said moving to sit behind his desk, 'No one ever forgets their biological family, of course, but the project we're involved in is so in depth and enduring that the members become very close. Especially your team members.'
'Team members?' I said, thinking of when I was in high school and working in biology lab.
'Not like that- sorry, hard to ignore sometimes. Team members are your partners while your working with Harmony.  Your team members are the people that you bunk with the first phase of the project, they work beside you in classes. Administration always puts 2 or 3 new recruits with older trainees, so that they can help you along and answer your questions.
"Harmony is a life long job; you work with us as long as your able, if you were to decide to leave for one reason or another, then as time permits before we introduce Harmony to Earth, we would do what I explained before about wiping your memory, except that you would also get a "bonus", probably a winning lottery ticket or to something to that degree. So, your sure you want to join Harmony? It's a big decision."
I thought about that for a moment, and then looked at his brown eyes, "Yes. I know you'll wipe my memory if I decline, but I feel like I would still regret not doing this."
"Excellent." Nathan said, smiling, "Today, you'd need to sign these forms.' He said moving some papers toward me, and waving at someone behind me. I turned and saw a phelpian, different than yesterday, "This is Luikia, she's the human resources director on board Burbank."
'She?' I questioned, thinking about Naira and my conversation earlier.
'That is not entirely accurate,' she said sitting next to me in a chair, 'when some phelpeans meet other gendered species, we may choose which we prefer to be called among them. I appear and feel more feminine then some of my fellow Phelpians, so I chose to be called a female. It tends to make your fellow humans more comfortable when we refer to genders within our species.' I nodded to this, understanding.
'So, paper work?'  I said, looking toward Nathan and lifting the top sheet. There were probably 20 beneath it, the top one indicated that the Harmony Project was in no way liable for anything I may witness or be told while in the Harmony Project, "What does this one mean?" I asked, showing Luikia.
"That is clarifying that anything you are taught or see on Burbank, Harmony or any of our affiliated sites is not to be repeated in anyway to anyone not within in our classified personnel."
"Yep, very top secret" Nathan said, moving his eyebrows up and down and grinning, "you'll need to look all of these over, and sign the bottom of each." He said handing me a pen, "Do you want anything to drink while going over these?" 
"Coffee with cream would be nice."
"Ok, we have the best coffee around, shipped right from South America- and no trees are harmed in the process. We try to be very enviromentally positive. If you have any questions, Luikia can brief you on anything. I'll be back in a few moments."
As Nathan got up and left I looked toward Luikia, she was looking over the papers, and then she looked up at me, "Mostly you'll find disclaimers, access to varies classified information, your general information and a sheet to fill out mental and hospital information. On the general information sheet, we'll need your home address, and any close relative addresses so that, even though we have your current information, we know where to send the checks for your working with Harmony. We usually put the checks down as life insurance or interest earned from a previous job- and they will be sent periodically so that they do not arise suspicion , sometimes without your name and with varies reasons of explanation, also, we have a bank that works for the government- Bank of the United Nations, if you wish to set an amount or percentage aside there." 
We spent the next 40 minutes reviewing papers and then me signing and dating the bottom. There was one that was like the W-2's you have to fill out for employment and another that was close to what you would have to fill out to be a new patient at a clinic or hospital, and a release of information for my current doctors office. Luikia explained that these were all necessary. I would be working for Harmony United, and they had a hospital on board for emergencies or acute care- it's just easier to gather all information now instead of later. They would need a full medical background for their physicians.
Nathan had returned and was going over the finished paper work, I sipped some coffee and handed him the last page.
"How do credits work? That's like my paycheck, right?"
Nathan nodded, but Luikia responded, "everyone on board gets the same credits to use as they wish; food, clothing, housing and medical treatment are free, funded by the UN, since you work and live with Harmony- so the credits you earn would be used on your off base trips or to put into your savings for later. You may be awarded additional credits for good work, and as you move further along in the Harmony project."
"That's a really good deal," I said- I think my jaw dropped just a bit because Nathan laughed.
"There's others perks too, for working with Harmony, but we can go over those later. You have a 10 o'clock meeting with our psych adviser, and Luikia will need to submit all of these before you can head out to our Harmony base." Nathan got up and handed the finished papers to her before turning to me, "It's just down the hall, I can take you."
"Well, thanks for your help, Luikia." I said, she bowed slightly saying, "good luck." and headed out the door.