FREE STORIES 2012(48)

Thank you for your interest, and the best of luck in your search for employment.

Human Resources Form Number 3





Kara stared at this missive for much longer than required to master its contents. Not hiring? she thought. Or not hiring Liadens?

The thought made her angry -- and then frightened. If Hugglelans had bowed to the rising tide of politics. . .

She took a breath, filed the form, and looked to the next item in-queue.

It was from the Dean of Students office. Her stomach clenched, and her mouth felt dry, despite the juice. She put the pod down on the edge of her desk, and opened the letter.





TO: Kara ven'Arith, Candidate Pilot Second Class

FROM: Anlingdin Pilot Certification Office

Candidate pilots are required to attend a re-orientation session immediately following graduation. At the conclusion of this session, those qualifying will see the candidate status removed and their license properly registered by the Eylot Pilots Guild.

Please report to Gunter Recreation Area on. . .





Kara squeezed her eyes shut, and mentally reviewed an exercise designed to restore clarity to a pilot's tired mind. That done, she took six deep, calming breaths before opening her eyes again and re-addressing the letter.

Her hands were cold and she was shaking, just a little, though that was anger, because they had found a way to hold her license hostage still longer! She had earned her Second Class license! Earned it! And now, she was being required to complete some other requirement -- a requirement, she was certain was in place only for those who were not truly Eylotian! And what chance had she to qualify, to see her license properly recorded at the end of it all?

"Wait," she told herself, closing her eyes again. "Wait. Think."

She accessed another mental exercise, this to impose calm; then she did, indeed, think.

She had come this far. She had completed her coursework, gained her second class license, despite the oppressive oversight that had caused others of her classmates -- friends from the Culture Club, and various others who had come from outworlds -- to drop out and return home. Kara ven'Arith hadn't quit. She had been clever, she had kept her head down, she had kept herself informed of the changing requirements, and she had graduated.

She had done what was needed, and she could -- she would -- do whatever was necessary to clear this new barrier to claiming that which she had earned.

When she opened her eyes this time, her feelings were firmer, though they suffered a ripple when she saw that the re-orientation "session" was indeed a planetary month long.

And Gunter Recreation Area. . .was a wilderness campground, without even an air-breather landing field.

Her stomach clenched again, and she hurriedly closed the letter, marking it for later review, and opened the last file in the queue.

It was a personal note from Flight Instructor Orn Ald yos'Senchul, her academic adviser, inviting her to take tea with him -- in an hour.

Kara smiled with real pleasure. Pilot yos'Senchul had been a support and a comfort, subtle as he was. He remained at Anlingdon, so he had told her, in honor of his contract, which the new administration was unexpectedly too canny to cancel out of hand, having perhaps learned a lesson from the Slipper instructor's dismissal.

But -- good gods, the time! Kara leapt to her feet and ran for the shower.





#





"A tenday tour?" Kara took the paper Pilot yos'Senchul held out to her across the tea-table, and sat somewhat ill-at-ease, cup in one hand, folded printout in the other.

"Please," her host murmured, "take a moment to familiarize yourself. I thought first of you when I read it, and I am curious to know if you feel the same."

Immediate need. Codrescu Station, Eylot Nearspace. Student mechanic to tour, inspect, and repair station systems under supervision of Master Mechanic. Long hours. union   rates. Teacher recommendation or references required. First qualified hired.

Kara felt her pulse quicken. It wasn't a full-time job at Hugglelans, but it was far better than a walk in vacuum without a spacesuit.

She frowned, calculating. The graduation ceremony was in three days -- an empty formality since her mother had let her know that circumstances would unfortunately keep her kin from making the trip to Anlingdin.

"I have my ratings and references from my break-work at Hugglelans," she said, speaking aloud, but more to herself than to Pilot yos'Senchul. "A tenday tour. . ." She frowned at the print-out again. "Immediate need," she mused, and looked up to find his gaze very attentive on her face.

"If immediate means that I may start within the next two local days," she said slowly, "I can do the tour and return in good time to attend the re-orientation class."

"Do you mean to do so?" Pilot yos'Senchul asked.