The next morning it hardly came as a surprise to Dashi that the majority of the candidates had gone. Clearly couldn't hack it, she thought to herself as she stretched and yawned.
"Morning!" She jumped, then smiled as she saw Peso smiling at her. "Did you sleep well?" He asked.
"I'm not going to lie, I have slept better." Dashi admitted. "But then again, comes with the job doesn't it?"
"The job we haven't got yet, yes." Peso said, looking around. "Let's see how many did put up with it..."
The answer was; not many. Dashi and another two candidates - both polar bears - were the remaining photographers. Peso was left with Georgia and another artic fox who went by the name of Sylvia. For the engineers there was only two, a rabbit who went by the name of 'Tweak' and a polar bear who went by the name of Conrad.
They made there way back to the same place where Barnacled had bid them farewell yesterday to see him, his sister and Inkling standing in a huddle and talking. Spotting them Bianca nudged Benjamin and pointed. He turned and smiled at the small group. "Good to see you all!" He said, warmly. "I trust the night was not to hard?" There was a beat during which the group realised Barnacles was actually expecting an answer and all murmured various versions of 'It was fine.'.
Barnacles smiled and adjusted a clipboard in his hands. "I'll just confirm who's actually here and then we'll show you the base." The list completed Barnacles, Bianca and Inkling took the small group to what appeared to be a giant metallic octopus that was sticking out the top of the ocean.
"Holy moly!" Tweak burst out, unable to contain herself. "That's sweet! What's it made off?" She directed this question to Inkling who chuckled and explained to her its components and the fact it was covered in water-proof paint and great effort had been made to make sure it was completely waterproof.
"Now." Barnacles said, regaining control. "We have to get into the water and swim under in order to get in. Just follow me and you'll be fine." And with that he dived into the water, Bianca and Inkling following him immediately.
Dashi and Peso were the first to dive in - Peso with more grace than Dashi, it has to be said - and the two of them saw Inkling's tentacles disappearing into the monstrosity.
After a glance Peso and Dashi followed them.
Inside it was much warmer and much brighter. It took their eyes a few seconds to adjust to the artificial lighting, but when they did they were in owe of how nice and clean everything looked.
Barnacles waited until all the group had come up before explaining that this 'thing' was called the 'Octopod' and it had been designed pretty much completely by Inkling.
"Wow!" Tweak beamed, as she drank it all in. "This is great!"
Barnacles gave her a slight glare and Peso, who happened to be standing next to Tweak, gave her a discreet nudge and nodded at Barnacles. Tweak grinned at the bear.
"Come with me and I'll give you a tour." Barnacles said, a touch stiffly and took them all on a tour of the Octopod. It was a lot bigger than it looked and the room connected via some tubes that Dashi couldn't quite get her head around.
"If you got the job you would room in some of these." Barnacles explained as they were shown round a empty room. "We haven't decorated them yet because we thought the candidates might like to personalise them. The only exception is the engineer, who would room down in the launch bay in order to give them easy access to the machinery, but the room would be set up much the same as you see here. Thought it is, I must admit, a touch smaller. Would that bother you?" He asked both Tweak and Conrad.
Tweak shook her head, but Conrad frowned. "Is it...temperature controlled?" He asked. "I'm used to Artic temperatures, as I'm sure you can appreciate."
As Barnacles gave a somewhat stiff smile, Inkling stepped in. "The temperatures can be adjusted in all rooms yes. And they're completely cut off from each other so the temperature of one won't affect the others." He smiled kindly at Conrad, who nodded in response. "The rest of the Octopod can, likewise, be temperature controlled. It needs to be so we don't risk going into shock when we go between extreme temperatures. We'll be going all over the ocean."
"...And-" A timid Sylvia asked. "-Just how long would we be away from our families and such?"
"From our biological/adopted families - pretty much all of the times. You'll get some holiday times - 2 weeks per year - during which you can visit your families if you want. If we're passing in their direction we may also be able to say hello. But for the most part your fellow co-workers on the Octopod will become your new family. So just to clarify out of the three of us that would be myself and Inkling. Bianca must get back to her day job, right Bianca?"
Bianca nodded. "I'm a chief member of the Polar Scouts." She said, proudly. "And also I have two cubs, so..." She shrugged.
"So...you'd be in charge" Conrad asked Barnacles, not sounding entirely thrilled by the prospect.
Barnacles looked at him - picking up on the slight challenge - and confirmed. "Yes. And Inkling would be the Professor/Advisor." He sighed. "I AM also looking for a second-in-command, but goodness knows where I'm going to find one of those." The older bear stared dreamily into the distance for a few moment before being elbowed and glared at by his sister.
"Ah, right, yes - sorry. Erm...please follow me. We're going to go back onto the ice and then myself, Bianca and Inkling will decide who we would like to offer the job. Follow me."