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1
DARCY
The one sound Darcy Taylor hadn’t wanted to hear on her first day at the new job was the sound of the door slamming shut behind her. The metal clang reverberated throughout the entire research lab.
Her heart dropped somewhere near her ankle boots as all eyes in the spotless laboratory turned toward her.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Darcy mumbled with a painful smile as she tugged on her dress. The massive metal door looked like it belonged in a vault, not a company. It had been too heavy for her clumsy hands to bear the weight of closing it properly.
Seriously, why not have a sliding door like every other building on Earth nowadays? This company was run by Deruzians, right? Super advanced, tech-savvy aliens that kind of looked like gargoyles.
Or maybe the door was this heavy to keep any volatile experiment gone wrong sealed inside.
Darcy could only hope. It had been so long since she’d stepped foot in any laboratory worth its robot parts.
Everyone kept looking at her, curious eyes scanning her from the top of her short, brown bob and bangs, down her red dress that probably matched the color in her cheeks right now, to the few worn spots on her boots.
If the marble floor opened up and swallowed her whole, she would appreciate it, thanks.
Universe, she’d fought so hard for this job andthiswas the entrance she made? It wouldn’t surprise her if they’d fired her on the spot.
After all, in the few short years since Deruzians had arrived on Earth, they’d come to be known as highly efficient and organized. Darcy didn’t think banging their stuff ranked high in the list of qualities they wanted from recently hired employees. She didn’t see any Deruzians around, but they had super hearing, right?
One of the human employees raised his massive brows as Darcy turned around, lost and jittery. “Renner, I’ve told you a million times you need to put some pistons on that door. Just because Mr. A'Cryth can open it with his Deruzian super-strength doesn’t mean we all can.” A lanky guy rushed toward Darcy with the sort of haughty pace that matched the sour look on his face.
“I was conducting an experiment,” an amused voice said from the other end of the lab. “And the boss already knows about it.”
The lanky guy rolled his eyes so hard, Darcy was afraid they’d disappear in his scraggly black hair. He waved impatiently at Darcy, already turning his back to her; Darcy didn’t know if she should be grateful or annoyed.
But she couldn’t afford to be annoyed. Literally. She was one month away from losing her apartment–and maybe love even more, if her asshole of an ex’s threats were to be believed.
“You’re Taylor, our new technology integration specialist, right?” the guy asked when she caught up with his hectic pace. He had the air of someone who took himself a bit too seriously. “I’m Walter Hyde, Mr. A'Cryth’s assistant.”
“Yes, I’m Darcy.” She raised her palm to shake his hand, just like her parents had taught her.Alwaysput your best foot forward, love, and the world will smile back. “Nice to meet–”
Walter grimaced and kept on walking, not bothering to look at her outstretched palm. “We’re on a tight schedule.”
Darcy raced after him, trying to keep up. Which wasn’t all that easy with her five-foot-two frame and feet that seemed to take pleasure in tripping her at the worst times.
But if she had to run for this job, she would. If they asked her to stand in one arm, she’d do it–poorly, because coordination wasn’t her strong suit, but she would try her hardest, that’s for sure.
Shereallyneeded this job.
As if someone had broken the spell of her awkward entrance, everyone returned back to whatever they were doing before Darcy had dragged their attention away from their work benches. And what they were doing was loud. People kept fleeting between the lab tables that were scattered around, each piled high with cables and robotic arms. One even had a glowing sphere levitating above it. It zapped crimson light on a three foot perimeter every few seconds.
Darcy forgot all about her mortification as her curiosity took over. This. This is where she belonged.
Smack dab in the middle of Alien Inc.’s research and development lab, Earth’s first–and so far only–alien company. It handled intergalactic shipments between Earth, Deruzia, and countless other planets. It had the most advanced technology available anywhere in the Solar System.
But there was one teensy problem–humans weren’t super adept at using Deruzian technology, and Deruzians didn’t know how to make it easier to use for other species.
That’s where Darcy came in.
At only twenty-four years-old, she’d already had internships and worked in some of the best labs and tech hubs this side of the Atlantic. Including the one at Archam Tech, the biggest one in North America. But Darcy didn’t want to think about that heinous job. Especially now that she was starting her dream one.
She got to study alien technology and make it more friendly for humans. How cool was that?
Verycool. Don’t mess it up, a small voice inside her mind said.
