It was lucky that I set an alarm on my omni-tool to wake me. But I never did get used to the awkward feeling of my arm vibrating me awake. I jolted upright at the sensation and quickly swiped at my omni-tool to relieve it with a huff.
Oh man, my first shift started in two hours. Fetching my wide toothed comb and my french twist clip to gather my wild, thick jungle of hair up to tie it presentably, and threw on some mascara after washing my face and teeth to look like I made an effort.
I'd purchased some white blouses and pencil skirts with ruching for the job, and flats under my skin tone stockings. They weren't worn in yet but ankle socks hidden inside would hopefully protect my feet.
My handbag with some emergency knick-knacks and my room card was ready on the counter while I checked everything in the full length mirror, I fidgeted over every minor imperfection, flattening my collar, tugging on the sleeves and then rolling them, untucking and retucking the soft white, flowy fabric into my snug skirt.
Humming discontentedly I dug into my jewelry box for my signet ring my father gave me. I still had plenty of time, but I wanted as much as possible to actually find my place of work without ending up late.
That turned out to be for the best as the chaos of the skyways at this time were anxiety inducing. I will never forget the first time I went for my skycar licence on Earth in peak hour. This was far worse.
My hands on the interface were shaking as I flew the car with a decidedly zero confidence attitude through the traffic, my eyes peeled on the information feeds floating above the headboard letting me know where the nearest cars were around my temporary car.
Someone going over the speed limit zooming past seemed close enough for me to feel the draft from inside the vehicle. "You got this, Leena." I chanted quietly to myself, as I took a turn where the GPS instructed me to. Weaving around the glistening sky scrapers tall like monoliths advertising their affiliations in colossal ads covering big chunks of the architecture in bright text.
I shied away from the more forceful drivers, who seemed to gravitate to flying higher than the more mild-mannered drivers, I fit in with them in my total lack of confidence in these routes.
I was careful to not mess up the directions being fed to me despite all my nerves. But I needn't have worried, Mortius Corp's building was more than substantial enough for me to see it from five minutes away. And so much traffic was filtering in and out of the building when I turned into a car port I was road-raged into moving along what felt like a conveyor belt of multiple levels of parking spaces hoping to find a drop off zone.
A winded whistle left my lips when I finally found a balcony to park the rented automated taxi. And once I'd transferred the fee invoice popping up on my omni-tool the car lifted up on its own to vacate smooth as silk, as if this hadn't been an absolute labyrinth of chaos to navigate.
I tucked frizzled strands of hair away behind my ears gingerly as I power-walked among the parked cars towards the visible elevator. Trying not to sweat about how all these cars were worth a hundred times more than my entire life had cost thus far. The chromatic finishes some had were so reflective I could count my pores.
Holding my breath when I stepped into the elevator, and pressed the button that had "information desk" labelled next to it. I was never told which floor I'd be working on, that made me feel wildly unprepared and in over my head.
"No backing out now." I tried to self-soothe. All I could do was my best. And I could also grip my bag strap way more tightly than necessary, which I was nailing. Finally, after what felt like five hours of listening to the pleasant but vapid elevator music the doors parted to unleash me into the stunning greeting hall like a restless racing hound.
Immediately it hit me like a sucker punch how much I stood out, I was the only human in a very busy room of Turians. And it being my first time seeing them firsthand up close, I admit I was a lot more intimidated by them than I thought I would be.
Tall, jagged avian aliens in stiff fabric suits that were various shades of white, black, silver and grey couture. I realised, me and my soft, squishy edges were absurdly underdressed and I felt my ears turn red at my underestimation for the kind of uniform that would be appropriate for the job.
My simple and approachable secretary look had zero business in a building as pristine as this. Nonetheless I marched, dragging my feet a fair bit towards the front desk. My eyes locked on the ground, not out of shame, but out of being distracted from my embarrassment by the fact that the glass I walked upon had sleek silver bioluminescent sharks swimming in bright blue water underneath. I was a little disheartened that I knew I wouldn't be working on this floor.
The Turian at the front desk was a humble beige colour, but their stunning chrome suit and white facial markings that almost looked like geometrical flowers stood out to me as quite lovely to look at.
"Uhm, hello," I leaned my fingertips on the surface of the high top counter she sat behind with her headset on and HUD alite. "My name is Leena O'Malley, it's my first day here—"
Without looking at me or even missing a beat in her typing she spoke into her headset and I realised by the feminine pitch of her voice that this was a female Turian from the sounds of it, I was very glad I hadn't called her sir.
"Lektus, I have your human here."
I drew my hands down in front of me and tried not to pick at my cuticles as I overheard another, huskier female Turian voice respond, "Thanks Pyx, send her up."
"Floor 320." She still didn't look at me, but I picked up that her pointed information was for me.
"Oh, thank you very much." I backtracked away from her as she kept at her work, and shied away from a Turian businessman, or woman? Walking by. I cursed myself at not remembering how the book said to distinguish Turian gender. Or whether Turians were even strict with gender conformity. If I misgender someone by accident and insult them that would be a nightmare.
Back in my confined elevator of safety, I tried some breathing exercises to still my racing thoughts. Turians are just like humans, and I'll treat them as so.
The help desk having only been on level 20, going all the way up to 320 made my ears pop. And it took a fair bit longer. It was still a lot shorter than I thought it would be. And I could tell this floor was a private floor that customers didn't get to see the moment the doors opened.
Unlike the busy lower floors, it was eerily quiet up here, and a lot more temperature regulated, I silently wished I'd bought a cardigan as I walked upon the red carpet, rimmed in polished mirror floor around the outline of the room. Decadent royal couches in avant garde shapes formed a sitting area with a view of the glittering Sector past the full wall window.
Framed awards were underlit with LED lights on the walls and contemporary metal art sculptures decorated the coffee table and lavish desk that excited me before I could control myself. Everything that a girl in the modern world could need to assist in running a company was all there and then some. Even the most adorable little blue VI drone awaited tucked by the seat in a little nook.
I entered the waiting spare mouth agape, daring not to make a sound in the silence, and almost jumped out of my flats when the Turian from the phone call linked her arm with mine from wherever she'd been hiding. The fabric of her sleeve was very sturdy but also silky, the thread count must be off the charts.
She was a dark dapple charcoal Turian, with bright red wine eyes and markings. And she was two heads taller than me at least. "You must be Miss O'Malley, correct?" In so little words I could tell she was a well spoken woman from the upper echelon of society, but she also gave off a very polite and approachable aura.
"Uh huh, I mean yes, that's me." I tried to match her, but I don't think I sold it very well.
"Splendid. Welcome, welcome," I could see her smile in her eyes, "I'm Auriga Lektus, I'm resigning next week so you've been hired to replace me. I'll be training you for your first week here. AKA, my last." She explained as she walked me over to our desk and sat me down with her.
"We'll start with the paperwork to get you started, and if you have any questions, shoot them my way."
My nerves all but melted in Auriga's presence. And as I went through the necessary red tape via a digital pad she handed me, she peppered me with tips and tricks about the office and the co-workers I'd be interacting with.
"Arietis and Korvus work in upstairs security so you'll see them often with the CEO, you'll also see our Tech Rep, Delphina Orius."
"Will I be seeing the CEO?" I found myself asking, having quite some curiosity as to the mannerisms of the person I was going to be working directly under.
"Not often," Auriga explained, "Mr. Mortius is a big workaholic. You're more likely to see more of his little brother, Morgan." I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, knowing that when Auriga left I'd be mostly on my own operating independently in a quiet office.
"do you know how to use BinaryHelix's Spread?" She sent a question my way and I lit up quite proudly,
"I do! I also know a little bit about Armali's VI optimizer for transmitting commands quicker. And I know how to operate a headset."
"Clever girl, I'm a lot less worried about the company falling to bits when I leave now," she chuckled and I found myself beaming back. "But that outfit isn't quite representative of the company, I recommend shopping at Menaelight when you get your first paycheck."
My face fell sheepishly. "Let me get the spelling for that," I was grateful to Auriga for helping set me up for success, and doing her best to make my transition into her job easy for me. I was feeling pretty optimistic throughout my first shift.
For now at least.