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"I must admit, you two, in all the time that I've been here, I've never met anyone quite like you. Hazel and Cha-Cha, for example, are talented, certainly, but they can't see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well, it reminds me of a great deal of myself, if I may be so vainglorious. If things work out for you here, you could potentially make fine successors, Five, Jane. You know, pick up where you left off," The Hander led Five and Jane around the various hallways of the main commission building. Jane looked around at the familiar fashion sense and wondered what happened to make the 1950s their main period. She blindly followed The Handler next to Five, keeping close.
"I'd like to discuss the logistics of my family's safety at your earliest convenience. As well as our body replacements," Five shot back immediately.
"Such chutzpah. It's refreshing, I'll admit. Slow down, Five. All in good time. In fact, now that you two have finally agreed to work with us, we've got all the time in the world. The Commission works in support of a delicate balance between the timeline of events and mankind's free will." They stopped near a window that looked into a room with a surplus of briefcases and gasmasks.
"The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You're management now just as Jane had been before. One of us. All the people on this floor are case managers, each one responsible for one major event at a time." Jane took the time to look around at 'Homebase' and it lived up to its name well. It was much larger than the other facility they had thrown Jane into. She took a glance into a large room with about fifty people all stuffed inside working in cubicles.
"So many of them," she mused. The Handler smiled proudly at the compliment, a light blush dusted her face.
"Impressive, isn't it? Being part of something so grand. Come along. Whenever someone chooses the wrong path and the timeline is changed, the Commission gets a report from field agents on the ground. These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager. They determine if anyone needs to be removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should. Based on that determination, the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to temporal assassins like the both of you formerly were. Any queries so far?"
"Yeah. Who was the case manager handling us?" Jane asked as politely as she could. She had never liked the Handler despite the bond she thinks she and Jane once had. This was the only way to gain her trust... to regain her trust.
"Ah. You mean the apocalypse." The Handler led Jane and Five to another office room, this room held fewer people and felt more like a classroom. She stopped at a desk where a woman sent typing away.
"Five, Jane, meet Dot." The woman at the desk looked up and gave a bright smile at the couple.
"Oh, hi!" The smile she wore made Jane's insides swirl. No one should be that happy in this type of work. She had seen it before at the other office in the sixties, the coworkers were much too friendly and touchy. She never understood how they got anything done sitting and chatting away with one another or why they would want to.
