Skyborn The Divine

10: Megaton

"Friend, I find it really, really suspicious that a real government office is willing to hire a pretty, young girl without a college degree," speculated Christine around a mouth full of noodles. "Are you sure they're not just hiring you for your looks? As, you know, an office decoration?"

"It's not like that," Alice reassured her as she fumbled with her chop sticks. They were having lunch in her favorite Chinese restaurant, her mom's treat. Alice was able to convince her mom that her new job was worth celebrating in a place worth remembering. It was, in Alice's opinion, the greatest Chinese restaurant on the planet. Red, lacquered tiles painted with tiny golden dragons covered the ceiling, and a smoky, glass partition etched with koi fish separated their booth from the rest of the other diners. The air was heavy with the scents and sounds of the Mongolian grill and the buffet. From where she sat, Alice could see the conveyor belt carrying tiny plates of sushi around the sushi bar and considered grabbing another one of the little rolls filled with coconut shrimp, but she decided to grab another plate of General Tso's chicken instead.

"I've taken computer applications classes, so I already know about typing memos and using Excel. Plus, they needed someone willing to work really odd, long hours. They're even sending me out of town for training for a few weeks. Apparently, it's a really serious job where I'll be working with fire departments and paramedics and stuff."

"Will you be actually going out with them?" her mom said as she looked up from her own bowl of stir fry. Alice could tell that her attempts to assuage her mom's fears about her new employers weren't yet enough. Her mom was still a little too quiet, a little too stern in her tone to be at ease.

Alice shook her head. "No, but I might sometimes work kind of like a dispatch operator. I'll be safe, but I need a lot of training before they'll let me do it."

"Whatever," Christine said with a mouth full of pot stickers. "Just don't let anyone treat you like you're just a pretty face to make the workplace look good. You're my friend, and you deserve better than that."

Her mom, of course, knew the truth about the terms of her new job. Alice had told her as soon as she'd left her secret meeting with Clawson. Maryanne seemed determined to respect her daughter's choice, but she was no less concerned for her.

Later, after Christine had gone home, her mom came back to the apartment with her. As they made steaming cups of chicory tea together, she opened her mouth to finally say what she'd been thinking all evening.

"Look, honey, I still think this whole thing is still too dangerous. I think you should just stay away from them."

Alice frowned. She knew what she had chosen to do was a risk. But she wasn't sure how to convince her mom it was a risk worth taking.

"But they might be able to tell me more about who I am," Alice reminded her. "You know that's important to me."

Her mother gave her a sideways glance that seemed to say You are smarter than this.

"There is more to who you are than what you are. If you feel a need to discover yourself and your potential, that's fine, but don't let these people convince you they've discovered some secret that you need to know. You don't need them. They need you, and they might lie to you or manipulate you to get what they want."

Alice looked hard at her mother, at the suspicion in her eyes. She knew her mother was telling her the truth, yet...

"Mom, I'm not a child anymore. I'm not saying that because I don't want you to tell me what to do. I'm saying it because I think that, even though you're right, it's my decision, and I think something is drawing me towards these people. This is something I think I have to do, even if it's dangerous."