Chapter 5-WCO

I took the short walk to the hotel, checked in, quickly unpacked, and then went into the bathroom to look in the mirror to make myself look presentable. As I stared at myself longer and longer, I realized what such a mess I was: I had dark circles under my eyes, and my face was flushed. I checked the time, and it was only 11 o'clock. I had plenty of time! I had scheduled an interview at 2, so I decided to try and rest for a little while before going. I set my alarm for 1, plopped on my bed, and almost instantly went to sleep. I was so tired that I didn't recall having any dreams, but when I woke up to my alarm, I felt much better. I finished getting ready and left a little early to grab a bite to eat. When I was done, I walked over to WCO's towering building, took a deep breath, and walked in, trying to display confidence. "Ok, Elijah, you can do this. Don't look like you don't know what you are doing," I said to myself. The entrance brought me into a massive lobby with marble floors and ceilings thirty feet above me. The light fixtures were very state-of-the art and fit perfectly in a building like this. At the other side of the enormous room, there was a desk with WCO's huge logo behind it, mounted on the wall. There were a lot of people there, some sitting on benches, some quickly walking to work. There was a woman sitting at the front desk, and I went up to her, trying to look confident about what I was doing. "Hi, I have a 2 o'clock interview?" I said, obviously not confidently. "Oh, yes, and what is the name?" she said. "Elijah." After a few clicks on the computer, she said, "go to your right, and you'll see an elevator. You will then go to the 86th floor," she said in a typical, pleasant intern voice. "Thank you!" I said, this time a little more confidently. I made my way to the elevator, and when I got in, a massive display of 127 buttons were there. I pressed the 86 button, took another deep breath, and began the ascent. The back of the elevator had a full glass window, and as the elevator went higher, I could see more of the city around me. Behind it was the Pacific Ocean, and when I had risen higher than most of the other buildings, I saw the tips of the submerged buildings from old Seattle in the ocean. The old space needle, which we had learned about in school, had broken in its thinnest part and was leaning against another shattered, decaying building. To see such ruin sent chills down my spine, knowing that this place had a very dark past. I didn't want to think about the horrors that went on in that city. Having to leave everything behind as the ocean consumed everything you knew was sickening. The digital elevator bell chimed, telling me I had reached the 86th floor. I turned around, and the elevator doors opened. I walked out, and what looked like a big studio surrounded me. There were a couple of miniature house-looking things, and there were people standing around them, writing something on their clipboards. Suddenly, a hand tapped me on the shoulder from behind. "Hello, you must be Elijah?" a tall man with an electronic device stood behind me. "Oh, uh, yes! Are you the manager of this place?" I said. Of course he was: his nametag said "Dan: Manager, 86th floor." "Yes! And you're here for the 2 o'clock interview?" "Yes!" I said, more confidently. He seemed like a pretty chillaxed guy, so I felt more comfortable. "Great, so tell me one thing. What are your opinions about time travel?" he said, "I have a major interest in history, so what better way is there to learn about it than to experience it? I would love to work for you and make our time change for the better," I stated. Nailed it! Just as rehearsed. "Well, then you're perfect for this job, so therefore I am offering you one!" he said. I could kind of tell they were desperate for anyone because that was the shortest, easiest interview ever. "I now just need to get some background checks in and then assign you to your disguise family. First things first. How are your physical conditions?" "I am very healthy, and I have never had any major health impediments," I said, "Good because time traveling can temporarily increase your blood pressure, so if you already have high blood pressure, that would not be good," he said. He asked me some other basic questions like if I had anyone specific I wanted to be in my disguise family. I told him I was alone, so he put me with a recently hired couple. He walked me over to a young man and woman, both looking eager and confident. "Hi, I'm Susan!" "And I'm Rob" the couple said. "Hi, I guess I'm your son now," I chuckled. They chuckled too, and seeing this first minute of their personality, I knew we would do just fine. Heck, maybe I would find a sense of happiness and community, but I had better not get my hopes up. Now, you're probably asking, "What is a disguise family?" It is the family you are to time travel with to whatever time period you are assigned to. You get to know them and train together to live with each other in your time period. When you are interacting with other people in the past, you are to act like you are in an actual genetic family together. Yes, this job involves quite a bit of acting and pretending as well as knowing your coworkers on a very deep level.