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But the general vibe of the lab was so different than what she’d imagined or seen before. No stark lab coats, for starters. Just goggles and the occasional protective gloves; though one person wore what looked like a bullet proof vest as he poked a dark box with the end of a pole, standing five feet away and sweating.
Nobody hunched over their desk, the life sucked out of them. People here smiled. Darcy even heard a laugh or two between the questions flying around.
“You have a lot of people in this department,” she said.
“It’s just for now, most of them work on other floors. Things are a bit hectic. Everyone’s getting ready for the intergalactic event coming up in a few weeks and all departments need to contribute,” Walter said. Boy, he liked to walk with his back as stiff as that rod, didn’t he? “Especially ours, since we’re the most important, of course. We need to wow the other aliens that will come to the event.”
“Morealiens?” Darcy asked, amazed.
“News of Deruzia’s success on Earth has reached the corners of the Nine Galaxies and they all want what Mr. A'Cryth has given to his own planet by single-handedly opening the portal between our worlds. They’re after intergalactic business opportunities and cooperation.” Walter looked at Darcy out of the corner of his eye. “And it’s important that you do your job and do it well until then.”
“I’m planning to.”
“Good,” Walter said. “Rules are simple. You come to work on time, you don’t blow up the lab, you don’t bring food inside, and you don’t bother me or the other scientists unless it’s something very important. But given your integration specialty, I doubt it.”
This Walter guy kind of didn’t really like her, did he? He didn’t know her. But he didn’t like her. “I make technology accessible to consumers. That’s the whole point of a business, right? To actually sell stuff?”
Walter pursed his lips.
“The information you discover here cannot leave the building,” he went on, as if he hadn’t heard her. “Deruzians are very private and want to keep it that way. The rule against human-Deruzian fraternization at the workplace has been stricken, but romantic relationships still aren’t encouraged between colleagues.”
Darcy shuddered. After the fiasco at her last job, the absolute last thing she wanted was an office romance.
A metal door loomed at the end of the rows, flanked on both sides by smoky windows that only let shadows pass through. Written in gold letters was the name Nazyn A'Cryth. Darcy’s heart began to pound as she saw a dark figure moving beyond the door.
Nazyn A'Cryth.
The genius.
The Deruzian who’d opened the portal between their worlds.
The scientist who could charm an entire world.
Darcy wanted to meet him so badly and pick his brain. Five minutes, tops. She could speak really fast when she had to. He was the closest thing Earth had to a celebrity scientist. Well, apart from her former boss.
And she was curious. She’d never seen a Deruzian in the flesh before and had no idea how Nazyn looked. Beyond the windows, she could see the faintest outline of his massive horns. He seemedtall.
Her pace slowed–and Walter noticed.
“You don’t go inside Mr. A'Cryth’s office. He has very important matters to attend to and can’t be disturbed,” Walter barked, snapping Darcy out of her reverie. “Unless he calls you in, which he never does, or you set up an appointment. Through me, of course.”
Darcy tripped slightly as Walter stopped abruptly, in front of the only free desk. It was hidden away in a corner of the lab. It had a simple black box on top of it, next to a rectangle of overgrown grass that looked like it had been directly transplanted from a lawn. “Your station. And your first assignment.”
Darcy looked from the box to the grass, excited to get to work. Her first piece of alien technology, she couldn’t believe it. “What does it do?”
Walter folded his hands in front of his stiff shirt and smirked. “You’re the integration expert. You tell me.”
The polite smile fell from Darcy’s lips. Yeah, she really wasn’t a big fan of this Walter guy. She’d had to work with a pompous douche for two years and still had nightmares because of it.
But she also wasn’t the confrontational type. She liked to work on her robots and codes and algorithms and have people leave her alone to do a good job.
“How does it help if I don’t know what I’m working with?” she asked. Knowledge was always powerful. At least that’s what she used to tell herself when all her high school classmates were going to parties and she was reciting tomorrow's lesson until her braces hurt. “That doesn’t seem very efficient.”
Was this some weird sort of hazing? A joke? The final test before sheactuallygot the job?
Or just Walter throwing his weight around with the newcomer?
Either way, Darcy was screwed. She couldn’t lose this job.
