Just Another Commodity

By: X

X0832001@yahoo.com

Rated PG-13 for Cursing

Disclaimer: I own nothing and am getting no money

The building in front of Beka was utterly huge. There was a large central building as well as wings that branched off like the arms of an angry octopus. It was actually the only structure on this little moon. The owner of Personnel Unlimited Inc. owned his own moon. If that wasn't a showy display of wealth she didn't know what was. But, this organization was respected and she had heard good things about anyone who had used them.

A fight with some Neitzchien pirates had left the Maru barely flyable. Beka's piloting had kept their butts alive; but the Maru was in bad shape. Her ship was in bad shape and she lacked 1 resident engineer. The last guy had quit 3 weeks ago without notice when he got a better deal. Beka had still owed him 300 thrones back pay. Well, he certainly wasn't going to see that money. Beka had come to this moon to spend it on a substitute.

Crossing the threshold into this building she saw at least 60 people in the large main room, most of them moving around hurriedly. A grand desk was in the center of the room. Behind it a woman was typing furiously, occasionally glancing at her screen. Beka approached this desk. The receptionist looked up. "Can I help ya doll?"

"Yeah, my name is Captain Valentine. I need someone to help me." The woman laughed

"Oh, you need that kind of help. We should be able to help you out. Are you into blondes or brunettes?" Startled, Beka responded

"Not that kind of help! An engineer!"

"Well Missy, you need to specify! We have people that do everything around here." The woman typed in a few commands. "Any job specifically?"

"My Slipstream Drive is offline"

"Any other way you want me to narrow this down?"

"I just need a good engineer. I don't care about any other qualifications"

"Well Captain Valentine, we have 154 employees that meet that query. 154 is a lot of files to review."

"They should be able to take orders well."

"128"

"Have experience- at least 2 years here"

"74"

"Still 74?"

"Yes"

"Speak Common"

"68"

"You have 6 guys who don't speak Common? Never mind, obviously you do. How about a smart fellow; read, write, at least an 80% the standard aptitude tests."

"42"

"At least a 90%"

"30"

"95%"

"10"

"Human" she didn't mind aliens by any means, but she had to get the number down.

"4"

"Excellent, that's enough" The secretary pulled out a small pile of papers.

"Fill these out and 523 here will pull the files." She absently gestured to the back of the room lined with file cabinets and specifically a girl opening and closing a few drawers.

The folders were pulled and set on the desk by the wreck of a girl. She was about 12 years old, thin as a rail and dark circles helped the sharp protruding check bones to shadow her big green eyes. She dropped the files, pivoted on her heel and headed back to her wall of file cabinets located behind this main secretary's work area. Beka watched the girl go, poor kid. Opening the 4 files in front of her she spread their contents over the desk. She saw the faces of 4 more poor kids.

Beka took a deep breath. But, just because life dealt you a tough hand didn't mean she had to hire them. She'd had hard times too, and she'd have harder times if she wasted her money on a no talent engineer. So Beka read through the files. She was a little surprised to see how much work these fellows had done. It actually looked like they were competent.

On the left side of the folder was a photo. On the right were there recent jobs, history with the company, notes made by other people who had hired them and a very short note on their life before the company. They were very complete records. Beka was pretty impressed so far. She noticed despite the fact she hadn't specified age all 4 contenders were young. Looking around at the people bustling about the room she noticed everyone here was young. She pushed her observation to the back of her mind and looked through the papers before her.

349211 was hot. No other way to describe him. He was a man in his mid twenty's with beautiful green eyes and jet black hair. She wasn't picking an engineer based on cuteness though. Bobby was hot but a terrible engineer. One pretty boy per ship was all she needed. The kid's qualifications in the engineering department looked a little exaggerated. A little more reading let on why. 09211964 was a little more experienced in another area; the area of overnight companion. Beka was not a shy girl but she blushed at the rave reviews. Beka closed that file and pushed it towards the side of the desk to focus on the remaining 3 applicants.

082420 was a dirty, scrawny kid of about 19. Sparkling blue eyes and crooked smile looked surreally out of place in the boy's thin, sallow face. Fresh stitches were only slightly covered by the kid's blond shaggy hair. He was listed as a "weapons expert extremely well versed in all areas of ship repair and a generally creative thinker".

"That means he's a Crackpot" muttered Beka. He was a crackpot with good reviews though.

771983 was a girl; about 17 in Beka's opinion. She was petite and waify. She seemed to have the most experience. Reading the file Beka also noticed 771983 had recently shattered a portion of her right scapula as well as cracking her ulna and currently had little use of that hand. Well, she hadn't specified "uninjured" or "healthy" so she couldn't really be surprised 00771983 came up in her search. Well, no use for her. Hopefully she'd recover use of that hand and find work. Beka pushed the file over with that of the industrious prostitute.

71018 was her final choice. Another young man, 71018 was qualified. His specialty was Slipstream drives. The Maru's drive was in bad shape. He had a spotless record and had never been disciplined or given a bad review. He was described as "A reliable, capable young man".

"Dull as a stone" Beka translated.

Before her were a dull guy and a crazy guy. Her options suddenly looked a lot more limited. 082420 was from Earth, 71018 was from Equinus Prime. So one was from a hell-hole the other a boarder line hell-hole 71018 had graduated from an engineering program, 082420 had no education listed. She had to pick one. It seemed pretty easy. Yet for some reason she leaned towards the crackpot. His file said he was competent, and if Beka had to spend the next few days with this guy he might as well be interesting. Besides it wasn't like she would have to put up with him for the next 5 years or anything.

"This one" she finally said, handing the file to the receptionist. The woman nodded and tapped her keyboard. She leaned forward to a microphone on her desk.

"82420, report to the lobby, 82420 lobby". 82420 arrived in less than a minute. The photo had been pretty recent. The stitches were out but a trace of them remained as a pink line drawing attention to the upper right corner of his forehead. He smiled his surreal crooked smile at her. "Good Day Ma'am"

"It will be if you live up that record of yours"

"I wouldn't worry about that." he assured her. The secretary cut into their casual banter.

"You pay by day, day ends at 2300." Beka nodded. Her employee was already halfway to the door. He knew the rules.

Beka looked at him in the light when they got outside. He was thinner than she had thought. Picking up on their small talk she asked, "So, 082420, please tell me you have something shorter I can call you."

"Well Ma'am, people around here generally call me call me 824"

"Somehow I doubt Mama 824 wants her baby called a number." He smirked.

"Well then to you and my dearly departed mother I am Seamus Zealazny Harper. Preferably just Harper; and you are?"

"Captain Beka Valentine"

"Nice to be workin' for you boss. What seems to need doing?"

"You'll see when we get to the Maru; we've been in a bit of a scrape."