Bennu Station, 205:6
I wasn't really ready to supervise people after only a little more than two weeks on the job. But when the entire division is removed due to indiscretions that Shah won't elaborate on, it opens up a few positions past the fast travel perimeter.
Mine for instance. Although I was the first hire post cleanup, Shah wants to put a fully functional team back together—one that can accommodate sick leave and time off and the synchronicity of several large ships pulling into port on the same day.
I fully agree with the sentiment, but I can barely find my way to the lunch room unaided—it doesn't seem right that I help interview for a position I can't fully describe.
Shah told me no to worry about it, and he just wanted my feedback on the "feel" of the candidates. But he still wants me to interview everyone without him present. He said if he was around, people wouldn't be themselves. I don't know why they would be with me, as the situation seems equally intimidating from my perspective. If someone has never met me or Shah, we may as well be the same person to my line of reasoning.
But I guess I was wrong.
The first person I chatted with (it wasn't an interview) was named Fana, and we got on right away. She wore her red hair straight from the dryer, and it buzzed and snapped, discharging electricity every time she turned her head or ran her fingers through it. But it wasn't distracting like I have found it to be with everyone else who has adapted the practice around me. It suited her personality.
Every question she answered was like an arcing gap, her tongue ensuring the opposing poles of her lips were maximally conductive.
She told me of her childhood on Council Cluster, and then her dad being transferred to one of the new perimeter stations during the last expansion. She danced around naming the station specifically, but some remnant of accent has stayed with her. I've never heard someone pronounce my name quite like she does. When Fana speaks it, the hard "k" sounds like a live wire hitting metal. I've spent every free minute alone since then saying my own name out loud like a lunatic, trying unsuccessfully to replicate it.
A few months after her father's transfer, the whole family moved—her mom, two brothers, and caretaker—just in time to meet her Dad's new partner. She said it was such a cliche that she's worked continuously since then to make sure her life is anything but.
I believe her. Despite the charged appearance, she enjoys order. It doesn't even require speculation as to why that might be, but rules are very important to her. She says a job where she can force people to comply with what is right—she never mentioned the law—or deny them access to the core is a dream job.
What can I say, we all have different dreams. She might be here for the paperwork, and I might be here for the unknown. I have found that beauty flees the routine and coalesces around points of unpredictability. Fana just adds evidence to this conjecture, and I hope Shah ends up liking her as much as I do, because I would love to have some routine excitement in my day.
I'll tell you about the others after my shift. A compliance officer's first duty is to comply with the terms of his contract!