Tasha flew the aircar in toward the Midgard Research Facility, Anastasia in the passenger seats behind her. They'd managed to get their flight certifications last week that let them legally fly atmospheric vehicles. It would still take further training and passing more tests before it would be legal for them to fly an interstellar vessel, but this was sufficient for the moment.

Tasha brought in the car and landed it in the parking lot, and the two of them climbed out and headed inside. The place was sterile and clean, but at least everything here was labelled in English. For all the crash course they'd taken in basic Norse, only Anastasia had any real working knowledge of it now. Tasha was lucky to be able to ask where the nearest bathroom was. She wasn't at all bitter about Anastasia being "smarter" than her, like Jannika had seemed - if anything, she was amused about it. What was really the big deal, anyway?

"Good evening," said the secretary at the front desk. "What can I do for you ladies tonight?"

"We've heard that you're hiring employees for the night shift?" Tasha said tentatively. From what she'd heard of the work they did here, it sounded like a great time.

"Ah, yes." The secretary tapped a few buttons on her console. "Please fill out the applications and testing on the terminals in the room to your right. Thank you."

Tasha nodded politely to her and headed off into the room indicated, labelled 'Public Terminals', Anastasia following. It was a small room with several terminals set up, each displaying cheerful, friendly welcome messages to visitors and happily animated screens. Tasha smirked faintly at one of them and took a seat at the far end, Anastasia grabbing the one beside her.

"Nice place," Tasha said in amusement, looking down at the bouncing animated robot figure waving hello to her. She selected 'Job Application' from the menu and went in to start filling out the form.

"Do you think they'll hire us?" Anastasia asked.

"I don't see why not. Admittedly, they wouldn't recognize the college I went to, of course, but I did go to college. I majored in biology. I know the sorts of things they're doing here."

"I am certain you will have no problem getting the job, Tasha. But your knowledge of the material and technology they use is far beyond mine. I can surely learn, but it will take time."

"Relax, Nastya. You're smart. You'll figure it out quickly enough." Tasha chuckled softly. Once the basic application form was filled in, it directed her toward a test on the subject matter of the job she was applying for. The questions listed were quite simple - First year biology, mostly. She had already finished the test and put in her application when she glanced over to see that Anastasia was still struggling with the test.

Anastasia sighed. "I am sorry. I do not even know this material. I never learned it, and this is not particularly my area of expertise. They are working on advanced biology far beyond anything my world ever dreamed of. It would be dishonest if I asked you for help with it, though."

"How about a crash course in basic biology?" Tasha said with a chuckle, getting up from her seat and circling around behind Anastasia's terminal. She leaned on her palms against the desk and looked down at her with a grin.

"I am listening," Anastasia said, leaning back in her seat and looking attentively up to Tasha.

Turning to the larger display on the far wall for assistance and reference, Tasha proceeded to give a rundown of her first year in biology at school. She didn't think it would be so bad if she didn't just answer the questions, but taught her a little about the material as well, though she suspected that someone might get suspicious if they were in here for too long.

"I think I get it now," Anastasia said. "I still do not know if I can do the work, but that should cover the test at least."

"I'll try and teach you what I can in the meantime, but I'm a biologist, not much of a teacher," Tasha said. "Let's go, before somebody wonders just what we're doing in here."

"It is much appreciated," Anastasia said, rising from her seat and heading for the door with her.

"Thank you for your applications," the secretary in the lobby said, smiling at them. "We'll message you when we review the results. Did you find everything you need?"

"Yes, thank you," Tasha said, smiling back. "Have a nice night."


Jannika climbed down from the tower, wiping her brow with a cloth and looking up at the newly-repaired sensor tower. The lights were steady now and it appeared to be reading properly again. That should do the trick, if something else didn't fall out of the sky to slam into it.

"Central control, this is Jannika Kai," she said into the comm device. "Sensor tower 87 is again online and functional and should be transmitting data properly. Are you reading?"

"Affirmative," came the reply. "Good work, Ms. Kai. Those meteor impacts have been hell on the sensor grid. That's the third one this year that disrupted service."

Brushing off her hands, Jannika headed back to the house. She glanced up at the sky and saw her aircar was returning home, and braced herself briefly against another crash. Tasha, however, appeared to have the matter well in hand and came in for a perfect landing in the hangar, and Jannika breathed easily again. Chuckling to herself, she trudged off down the dirt path to the house, and waved at them at the entrance.

"How was town?" Jannika said with a grin.

"Didn't go to town," Tasha replied, chuckling as she headed inside, peering about in a paranoid manner for Jannika's mom.

"Oh? Don't tell me you were hanging out at the Research Center, were you?" Jannika smirked. "Told you no good would come of it."

"Yeah, but they look like they do such interesting work! It's right up my alley."

Tasha looked so excited and hopeful that Jannika felt bad dashing her hopes about it, so she bit her lip and kept quiet. She would certainly see for herself soon enough, and maybe things would work out better than Jannika feared, anyway. "I got the damned sensor tower up and running again," she said. "Now I can safely ignore the thing until it breaks again. Which will probably be tomorrow, but hey."

"Shall we get some dinner?" Anastasia said.

"I don't see Maddie around anywhere to force-feed me peas, so sure," Tasha said with a smirk.

"She's probably in bed by now," Jannika said, heading for the kitchen.

"So is that all you do all day?" Tasha asked. "You keep the sensor tower online?"

"Pretty much," Jannika said with a shrug. "It's a living, and it lets me work with machines. Even bloody annoying ones that break constantly for no good reason."


"Hey, girls," Jannika said. "I got a message in for you from the Midgard Research Center. Congratulations, you got the jobs. They want you in from twenty-two hundred to oh-five hundred, starting Monday."

"Great," Tasha said brightly, practically bouncing with excitement. "I get to play with DNA!"

"You know, your whole fascination with biology is a little bit disturbing, Tasha, especially coming from a vampire," Jannika pointed out.

"Bah, I picked biology as my college major long before I became a vampire. Back when I was all wanting to do something with my life and learn things, even if I did spend entirely too much time at college partying."

"Doesn't everyone?" Jannika said with a smirk.

"I did not," Anastasia put in helpfully.

"They still had functioning colleges on your world?" Tasha wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Of sorts," Anastasia said. "Admittedly, I primarily wound up running what there was in my area."

"Reading books and exploring the internet doesn't really count as 'school'," Jannika commented, poking her. "If it did, they could count me as having had more than my lifespan worth of general schooling on various subjects."

"I was so excited at one point about learning biology in school," Tasha said.

"But then you realized there's more to biology than reproduction?" Anastasia chided with a wry grin.

"Hey, I do not have a one-track mind!"

"Oh, right, there's the biological responses of pleasure receptors as well."

Jannika cleared her throat lightly. "You know, you two really need to get a room sometimes."

"What?" Tasha said innocently. "It's just witty banter!"

"Uh-huh."


"Ah, the new workers are here," a man in a lab coat said to greet them when Tasha and Anastasia arrived at work on Monday. "Welcome to the Midgard Research Center. I am Mr. Ian Woon, and I will be your supervisor for the night shift. Here, you'll need these." He tossed a pair of fresh, clean labcoats to them. "Put them on."

They pulled the labcoats on around their clothes. Tasha asked, "What is our assignment for today, Mr. Woon?"

"That's Mr. Ian Woon. Never Mr. Woon, nor Ian Woon, and Odin forbid you dare call me merely Ian or Woon. Mr. Ian Woon. Got it?"

"Yes, Mr. Ian Woon, sir," Tasha said sheepishly.

"Take these datapads," Mr. Ian Woon said, handing a datapad to each of them. "They contain information which you need to know about our current projects, which frankly is not particularly much at this point, as well as the information which you need to know about your current assignments. Be sure to complete your assignments before the end of your shift. If they have not been completed by that point, you will remain here until they have been, for no extra pay. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Tasha and Anastasia said.

"Good. Now get to it, and don't let me catch you slacking off until all your work is done." Mr. Ian Woon turned and headed out, leaving them to their work.

"Nice chap," Tasha said dryly, heading off to the room indicated on her assignment listing, while Anastasia went off down another hallway. She found herself in a chilly storeroom with various samples being kept in sealed vials for long-term storage. "Right, sort these, dispose of those, and move those other ones to another room," Tasha muttered to herself, reading out the display. "I suppose everyone has to start somewhere, even if it's just scientific janitorial work."

She shrugged and got to work. It didn't really bother her overly much, although it was a bit disappointing, but she figured the higher-ups who had been around longer and had more experience would be the ones getting the interesting jobs. She was done with most of the work in about an hour, and, wondering what they had assigned Anastasia to be cleaning or sorting, went off in search of her.

Tasha found her in another lab, frantically browsing over files on a nearby terminal, and looking positively relieved to see her. "Oh, Tasha, you have no idea how glad I am to see you."

"What's wrong? Got bored with cleaning?" Tasha asked, chuckling softly and coming up behind her to take a look at what files she was perusing. "Catching up on your biology studies?"

"That is precisely the problem!" Anastasia said. "I have no idea how to do the work that they have assigned me to do."

"Oh, it shouldn't be too tough for the first day on the job. They just had me cleaning and sorting some things. What's your assignment?"

She pulled up the clipboard and read carefully from it, "I need to analyze the biological test samples from the blood of thirty-six white mice in order to determine which variant of the... the... something compound is most effective."

Tasha raised an eyebrow and snatched the clipboard out of her hands and peered over it. "What? They have you doing actual biology work? Did I teach you too well the other day?" She chuckled softly.

"But I have no idea how to do this work! I don't even know what I am looking for!"

Seeing that Anastasia was on the verge of panic here, Tasha put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder. "Relax, Nastya, relax. I'm here and I'll help with it, okay? I'll show you how to do it."

"Thank you, Tasha. I knew I could count on you. I have merely been sitting here reading and hoping that you would show up, or I would not be getting anything done tonight."

With Tasha's help, they went through the test results in due order and got done with the work well before the end of their shifts, perhaps much to the appreciation of the mice in question, who were most inconvenienced by the requirement of taking samples of their blood for testing. Anastasia headed out to the water fountain for something to drink before their shift ended as they didn't have any further assignments at the moment.

"I just have to wonder why they gave you that assignment, but left me to do cleaning," Tasha murmured, leaning against the wall as Anastasia sipped her cup of water.

"I cannot say," Anastasia said. "Perhaps I had answered their questions better than I had thought."

"Shift's almost over. We should head home before it starts getting light out. Good thing Maddie, as irritating as she is, doesn't seem to mind us still hanging around too much."

They headed out to the car and flew back to the Kai residence and parked in the nearby hangar. Tasha took a glance at the mostly-dissasembled spaceship on her way to the stairs. Jannika must have been busy taking it apart to see how it worked. She had to wonder if the girl could actually put it back together again, but that wasn't too big of a concern just at the moment.

They found Jannika in the kitchen, munching on a bag of cheese-flavored potato chips. "Hey, girls. Welcome back. How was work?" Tasha could swear that she had some sort of smug, sarcastic look on her face.

"Jannika, is there something you haven't been telling us?" Tasha asked, pulling up a seat across from her and leaning on her elbows on the table.

"What, me?" Jannika said, feigning innocence.

Anastasia went over, picked up the bag of chips, sniffed at it, then tossed it disdainfully back on the table before heading to the fridge. "Sometimes the things you eat baffle me," Anastasia muttered. "I do not believe that is even natural."

"You're starting to sound like my mother."

"You're not answering my question," Tasha said. "When we got to work, Anastasia was assigned to analyzing blood samples, while I was set to cleaning. I wound up pretty much having to do her work for her. I thought it might have been because Mr. Ian Woon didn't like me or something, even though I hadn't really done anything, but the assignments had been drawn up for us because we'd even met him."

Jannika signed and sealed up the package again and shoved it into the cupboard. "Yes, Tasha, there's something I wasn't telling you. There was a good reason why I suggested steering clear of the Research Center, and it wasn't just because they might discover you aren't really who you say you are. I doubt they'd even care too much unless they found out about the ship."

"What is it, then?" Tasha asked. Anastasia pulled a banana out of the fridge and sat down, peeling it.

"It's because Anastasia is Class-S, and you're only Class-M," Jannika said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tasha wondered in puzzlement. "I knew how to do the work and Nastya didn't."

"We did slightly cheat on my application test," Anastasia pointed out, taking a delicate bite of the banana.

"Still."

Jannika shook her head. "That has nothing to do with it. Even with identical credentials, they'll still pick the Class-S for a job over the Class-M. Yes, they're biased. They don't honestly believe that, all other things equal, that Class-S and Class-M are capable of doing the same jobs."

"That's ridiculous," Tasha spat. "What kind of a screwed up system is that?"

Jannika raised her hands helplessly. "I didn't set it up. Now you know why I'm sitting out here twiddling with a damned sensor tower. It pays well enough and gives me enough time for freelance activity that doesn't care what sapience class I fall under."

"This system is not particularly efficient," Anastasia commented. "Although the application tests were inaccurate, I am not inherently more capable than Natasha at executing a particular task. With a few years of learning, perhaps I would be more skilled than her in the field of biology, but that does not preclude the fact that she is still capable nonetheless."

"Exactly," Jannika said, grinning at her. "You would think that being 'smarter' would make the Class-S people realize what took you five seconds to figure out. But they've started to really like the fact that they're considered 'superior' than us peons. It's become something of an 'old boys' club', only it's a 'smart people club'. Now you see my dilemma."

Tasha snorted softly. "Well, I'm certainly not going to stand for it. Is there any way around this system?"

"Not unless you're planning on getting a less-than-legitimate job," Jannika said. "I hear the Space Vikings don't really care about your sapience rating." She smirked at Tasha.

"Well, maybe there's a way to falsify the test results or something," Tasha said. "You said someone would have to be Class-S to understand the system it uses anyway, and hence it wouldn't really benefit them to cheat their own test results, but what if a Class-S tweaked the test results of someone else?"

"Theoretically possible, but where are you going to find a Class-S that both understands how the test system works and is willing to let 'dumb people' into the old boys' club?"

"I certainly do not understand the system," Anastasia helpfully put in. "I am afraid that it is far beyond my level of comprehension. It may as well be magical for all I know."

"Do you know anyone that might be willing to help, Jannika?" Tasha asked. "Anyone at all?"

Jannika shook her head. "Even if I did, they wouldn't be willing to do it anyway. Just give it up. There's no use fighting the system."

"What kind of an attitude is that?" Tasha snapped. "If the system is bad and wrong, it should be fought and subverted at any turn that doesn't bring down consequences you aren't prepared to deal with. Surely there is some Class-S somewhere or another that is willing to subvert even a system that benefits them. It's hardly an unheard-of thing. Don't tell me that every last one of them believes in this stupid 'old boys' club' crap?"

"Look, Tasha." Jannika slapped a hand against the table. "Even if there were someone willing to help, you wouldn't want his help anyway. The sort of Class-S that is willing to subvert the system tends to be extremely unstable and unpredictable. You'd have no idea what he might do."

"So you do know someone!"

"No, I don't. Forget I said anything," Jannika said, rising to her feet in such a force that the chair was knocked to the floor, and stormed out of the kitchen.

"What the hell was that all about?" Tasha wondered, peering off at the door after her. "Was it something I said?"

"Perhaps. We'd best head downstairs. It's almost dawn." Anastasia casually dropped the banana peel into the garbage on the way out.

"Right," Tasha said, nodding as she headed for the door herself. "But I'm not going to let this matter die that easily."

They headed down to the bedroom, where Tasha lay awake for a while before sunrise even though Anastasia pretty much fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. She'd been such a dreamer when she was younger, so bright-eyed and motivated, but she'd lost sight of those dreams along the way, caught up in nonsense that didn't really matter, until she became a vampire. Then, everything changed and life took on a new meaning. She suddenly had very good reason to put her heart into things, lest those who had made her decide she was useless.

It wasn't all fear, of course, as she bore no particular grudge against them. But it had given her the impetus to try for the dreams she had abandoned before. She had jumped at the chance to get aboard the Perplexity, and if it hadn't been for Anastasia, she would have been crushed about things not quite working out there. And now, she thought she would finally get another chance at it all. Were her dreams always to be dashed before she could realize them? Not this time, damn it all. Not this time.