I rang the doorbell tentatively.
The door swung open barely ten seconds later. Jessie’s amber eyes bugged in surprise when she saw me standing there, and in any other circumstance I would have laughed at the cute expression. But now my face was mirthless.
“Tani! What are you doing here?” Her gaze then fell to my blue uniform and she frowned.
“I could ask the same of you,” I replied, pulling her into a ferocious hug. I breathed in, inhaling her scent. It felt like it had been ages since I’d spent quality time with my best friend, though, in reality it had only been a couple of weeks. Still, I was out of touch with what she had been up to recently. I knew she had managed to break through the job funnel by nabbing a mining assistant gig, which allowed her a greater variety of jobs,but I hadn’t had the chance to talk to her about what her life had been like since then—what other types of jobs she had taken on and what she thought of them.
She clung to me like a baby monkey would cling to its mother, hugging me back with equal intensity. Then she slowly pulled away and murmured, “Come in. Let’s sit down.”
I stepped into the house and made my way through to the sitting area while she closed the door. She shared the house with her family, so it was one of the larger buildings, like the one my aunt, uncle, Zina and Nico inhabited.
On my way to the sofa, I noticed the package the man had given her sitting on the dining table. She had already half unwrapped it.
I stalled in my tracks, staring at it.
It was a folded-up blue uniform.
I spun to look at Jessie, my heart in my throat. “Who was that guy who was with you just now?” I pressed.
She hesitated, that anxious expression on her face returning, as her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip.
“He… He works as a programmer here on Fairwell. He’s a ‘computer engineer’.”
I stared at her, and as I summoned a picture of the man again in my mind’s eye, remembering how he had seemed strangely familiar, something suddenly clicked.
“What’s his name?” I asked.
She furrowed her brow at me. “Gerard,” she replied slowly.
“What’s his surname?” I asked.
“Springs.”
My breath hitched. The guy was related to Anna. It was why his broad facial features, thickset physique and russet brown hair had all seemed familiar. Since his gender was different, my brain hadn’t made the connection immediately. Anna had not mentioned having siblings, but my guess was that hewas her brother, given his age—late twenties or early thirties—and sheer likeness to her.
“How do you know him?” I pressed, my heart pumping harder. “Where did you just come from?”
She hesitated, her face growing paler. “Tani, I… I think I…”
“Can’t tell me,” I concluded softly, as my mind reached a chilling conclusion.
She nodded, gulping.
I paused, staring at her, and was tempted to just spill the beans and ask her outright if she had been recruited by him, too.
I wasn’t sure what someone from the computer department would be doing recruiting a settler for the Course. I had assumed that the Course would solely involve managers from the outreach department. According to what Anna had told me, the Course’s very purpose was to prepare us to go out into the Old World and help people, while navigating any dangers we might face out there. But maybe that assumption had been incorrect. Maybe any manager could participate if they were high-ranking enough.
Jessie had followed an almost identical route as me, albeit a little later. She had distinguished herself from the crowd by accepting a more dangerous job before the recommended time frame, so maybe Gerard had noticed her on the leaderboard, just like Anna had noticed me, and selected her as a mentee.
Why else would we both suddenly be returning home during the day with blue uniforms? Anna had mentioned that managers would finish choosing their new mentees over the next few days.
Did that mean Jessie had already gone through the pre-screening, too? It would explain why she looked so on edge.
My heart ached at the thought of my friend undergoing that ordeal.
“Jessie,” I said quietly, reaching out to grip her hand. I brought it closer to me and squeezed it as I considered what to say next.
She looked over my blue uniform again, and from the expression on her face, I just knew we were both thinking the same thing:Can we talk to each other about this?
