For Rent

Chapter 2: Housing Crisis Plan Over Fried Toilets

After Xerrid gets confirmation from Billerica that Karine is hired, she only needs to wait a few minutes while Xerrid files the paperwork for the work contract to become effective. Upon receipt of the paperwork, Billerica then contacts Xerrid, asking for Karine:

"I'm Billerica, your new boss. Welcome to Wonderlic. You're obviously new to this world. For this reason, I don't want you to face the customers directly unless absolutely necessary"

"Ok, Billerica, but surely I would need to get on-site every now and then" Karine retorts.

"It won't be necessary since we have drone cameras"

"Let me make that clear: I will only work for you until I can pay my way back to my home world. Now, Xerrid mentioned that you were insolvent; what does that imply for my pay?"

"I'm afraid you will only get paid after a portion of our current debts are repaid"

Karine sighs. I wonder if some crimes could result in me being banished or extradited from this world. Obviously I don't want anything to do with jail, but I know nothing about what constitutes crimes here, nor sentences, so I might not want to commit one just yet. So I feel trapped. I have no choice but to bear it and work on this world to return to mine. At the same time... she keeps ruminating.

"Because of that, I wonder where I'll live while on this world"

"It would be much simpler if you lived at my place; after all, it is common courtesy on our world in this situation"

"What else should I be aware of, beyond the scope of contractual obligations?"

"I take care of getting tenants, but you will need to take care of buying and selling homes as needed, on top of assigning tasks to construction bots! Before there's any housing start, I will tell you exactly what's relevant to you" Billerica answers her while waiting for the answer from the government.

Because of how easy the boss makes out the purchase and sale of homes to be here, I have the impression that so many on this world treat homes like commodities, Karine is made to feel like people don't hold the same attitude towards home ownership on Taladu vs on Earth. On Earth, it's not uncommon to treat a home as an investment property.

"I wonder how much do materials cost, how much properties are worth, as well as the cost of construction bots. I feel these are going to be our main expenses"

"Materials and construction bot costs are on a sliding scale" Billerica explains to her before picking her up.

When going for a ride to Billerica's home, Karine is left wondering how else this world is going to differ from her corner of Quebec she lived in back on Earth. Some of the buildings feel like they were built with molten metal, others have futuristic domes, but Billerica's home has clearly seen better days.

As she enters her Taladuan boss' home, she feels like it's a wooden cabin built in a horror movie set, complete with the home being in the middle of a forest. And the trees feel like they're out to get her. The creaking floor is not helping her. The more I see of this world, the more I feel like these aliens want something much more unsavory out of me, she starts trembling at every step she takes in this cabin's living room.

"This is my home. Please apologize for the poor condition the home is in, rent is sky high in the main cities, and forget about home ownership unless you want to either bankrupt yourself or live in rural areas" Billerica explains to her.

"You're describing a situation not unlike my home corner of my world" Karine feels like the cramped quarters will make her job harder. "Is it me or the floor needs repairs?"