Star Child

Twenty-Four - Aftercare

"Remind me again why it was me who was assigned this crap job?"

Richard sighed, sparing Landon a glance. They both collected their cleaning supplies as they finished with the current hotel room. Inside was a neatly cleaned room ready for its next temporary residents.

"You encountered the alien already." Richard stated. He hung the sanitizing spray on the cleaning cart's hook.

Landon huffed gruffly, "It almost killed me! It's goin' to see me and it's goin' to annihilate me  on sight! No thoughts. My ass will be toast!"

"Yes, a great distraction.."

"Yeah, well, I'm ready to ditch this whole operation and go home. The bitch isn't worth it!"

The hall was brightly lit, paintings hung every few hundred paces to fill the empty space on the wall. A well-dressed couple entered the elevator as the two men moseyed their way from room to room. So far they had cleaned four floors and the whole time Landon had done nothing but complain. It was all he could do since their dear leader had chosen to once again let them do the dirty work. Richard had been sent alongside Landon to keep him on track. Or to make sure he didn't go awol.

Landon had reached his limit and was close to calling it quits. Losing his life for Weyland-Yutani just wasn't worth it. They didn't pay him enough!

"For a man in his thirties, you act like a whiny teenager," Richard sighed.

Richard wouldn't say it aloud, but he had reached his limit himself. Still, Landon wasn't making this easier. Instead of complaining, he could be keeping a low profile and doing his job better, more convincingly. A little optimism never hurt either. Soon Ashaki Sawyer would be in their custody and they could finally get on with their lives.

Meanwhile, Richard already had his resignation letter written up. He wanted a nice, quiet life on a colony planet where he could put his talents to use without imminent danger.

Hell, anything was better than this. He was in his forties. This line of work wasn't good on his aging body. One of his knees had already been reconstructed surgically and his other ached on a daily basis without medication. Life had been hard and it was about time he moved to something easier.

Being the quiet observant one in the crew had allowed him to really see everything. Unlike Carlos and Landon, who were often boisterous and loud, he was more reserved. He had seen how terrible Kade was at being the leader of the crew. Many mistakes had been made that could've been avoided if they had spent more time on formulating better plans. Dennis, the only one he had formed a deeper bond with, was going to resign as well. Both of them had agreed that Kade was a man who didn't care about their lives, preferring to worry more about the final paycheck.

The day was coming to a close, so they moved through two more floors before returning to the Housecleaning office in the basement. Richard herded Landon to their allotted room where they could take a break.

"Did we get a message from the boss man? We need to hurry up before the alien whisks her away again." Landon rubbed his feet while his meal cooked in the tabletop oven.

Their room was small and nondescript. With four white walls, beige carpet, and single hotel branded linen that covered their beds, it was basic and livable. A small bathroom was nestled in the rear with a small shower and dim lighting. The two had used bogus identities to snag this job and survey the patterns of security and hotel staff. So far the room had been their base of operations.

Richard swiped the screen of his tablet and found a few messages from Charles but not Kade.

He shook his head in the negative.