2

But, somewhere, my doubts still stirred. "Then? Sir, did I get the job? I am not sure by your actions. Your words say yes, but your body language says no."

"Do you not understand? Let me spell it out for you, wait for the badge and then it will be real to your primal beta mind."

A retort was on the tip of my tongue, but I nodded as he ushered me out.

=//=

I had finished another shift at the Italian restaurant when I finally checked my mailbox. I usually dreaded checking my mailbox as it was usually people asking me for money that I barely had to begin with. I could see the negative balance in my account that gave me so much anxiety.

But when I took in a deep breath and then tried to unlock my mailbox. My key was stuck and then somehow as it jammed, I shoved my shoulder into it and my box opened showing me the id card had been on the side which had caused it to become stuck.

I took out the id and looked at my own photograph. I didn't feel great as it wasn't the most flattering picture of me. But, as I had finally gotten my id badge, I could go into work tomorrow which was something that I did feel giddy about. I got the rest of my bills and returned to my apartment.

=//=

As I pinged myself in with my new ID card, I ran into Dr Dawson. He stopped and then pointed his finger at me. "You, come on over to this side."

I stepped through the barrier and he pointed out the people who were in his small group of people. "Look at all of theses faces, Ms. Spitz. They are all key members of the team that you'll be joining. They will get up to speed with our current project. Staffers, this is Livia. She will be joining our team on this current project. She will be my supporting assistant. There are guards as well, but there is no need for introduction of them. They don't respond to names."

I was confused by his casual demeanor when talking about the need for guards. That wasn't exactly in the project description that I had read in the email I had been forwarded. The group walked down the hallway that was very bare bones with only a strip of yellowing overhead lights guiding our way. It was dystopian feeling as I wasn't exactly sure about what I was to be working on, except that it had something to do with astrochemistry, which was my specialty, but it was classified. There were large parts of the documents that I had been emailed that were blacked out so it was just as if I had been told nothing about what I was actually working on.

It would have been better to know nothing and start today from a blank slate.

I was more confused than informed. I had gotten the gist that this was initially a government project that was happening through the university. Now, it had been handed to a private company which was held in large part by Dr. Dawson. 

It was a newly incorporated company so I hadn't been able to find out a lot of information. I had thoroughly researched Dr. Dawson, he didn't exactly have any business background which made any sense to why he had decided to start his own company. Even then, there was no patents or licensure that could give me a hint as to what I should brush up on. I had no idea what I was heading into so I felt like I was heading into unknown territory. I imagined some materials from unidentified aerial phenomenon or what I had read about reverse engineering from alien debris. As the non-disclosure agreement was a steep 100 years, as if, I would be alive by then to write the tell all.

My imagination went wild as I imagined meeting something with three fingers curling around every corner to surprise me. But it was the opposite as it smelled more like we were in a chemical lab that had just been cleaned recently with some very heavy bleach. There wasn't a speck of dust everywhere. I looked at Dr. Dawson wondering if he had some type of OCD as an alpha. I could make that one of my investigations in the future, but as I wondered this, Dr. Dawson stopped abruptly and opened a door, I hadn't even noticed was there.

It was the same texture as the wall, so it didn't even cross my mind as I saw the way he pushed the panel back and the the slid showed that there was a small staff area behind the space. It was ominous. But, so was my disappointment at the interior.

It was normal.

There was a half full coffee pot and sterile white mugs lined up like you would see in any hotel lobby. It had a child's painting on the wall with painted hands. It was a bit like a doctor's office in that way as the child's handwriting was scrawled dislexically. I looked at it as the only alien thing in the room, but it was really cute. There was a small beta male who was in scrubs eating something that looked like a burrito wrapped in deli papers at one of the booths. He had an open black lined notebooks which was covered in an untidy scrawl. I could only see diagrams of frogs before he closed it so I couldn't read it.

I wasn't exactly sure if it was me he was closing it for or if it was Dr. Dawson as I felt his presence beside me. The alpha aura radiating from him. I felt the group hunching away from him.

"Dr. Igarashi I'm so glad that I could run into to make the introduction," Dr. Dawson said as Dr. Igarashi chewed his burrito dryly. He didn't look all that excited to meet me or even that I existed. "I am so happy to have you meet the astrochemist, Miss Livia Spitz. Ms. Spitz, this is Dr. Bruno Igarashi. Your work will mainly involve my own data after you are trained. But your task set may also extend to Dr. Igarashi's data as well. He is mainly working with our female specimens."