Perchance to Dream

by David Silver

53 - Day at Work

As I came into the office, I saw the secretary at her desk. It wasn't the old one that had given me odd looks. The new one smiled and wriggled her fingers at me. "Oh, hello there! You're Miss Frohein, right? Who's that with you?"

Starlight peeked out from behind me. "Hello. I'm Starlight Frohein."

Oof. I hadn't meant to keep that fib going. "She's needed on the big case."

The secretary smiled broadly. "Oh! Hank won't stop talking about that. If she's here to help that, then she's welcome here." She offered a hand towards Starlight. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sally."

Starlight went for it, but balled up her fist and bounced it off Sally's confused fingers.

Sally took it well though and burst into musical laughter. "I never did a fist bump before. You're full of surprises." She reached for her papers. I had something for you, Linda. Can I call you Linda?"

I had a feeling I'd like Sally. She had a good attitude. "You may. What do you have?"

Up came a slender collection of paper in a manilla folder. "Here you are."

I accepted it even as Starlight tried to peek over my shoulders. "I'll give this a look over. Thanks."

"Any time."

I led Starlight off to my new office. "Welcome to work. Here is where I jump through a thousand legal hoops and keep others from getting stuck in a thousand bits of red tape behind me."

"Why were you so scared of the law then?" asked Starlight with a grating innocence in what could easily be taken as a barb.

I tensed. "When I do my job right, no one comes into contact with that law. When we do, it's not my job to pull us out. Contracts, regulations, requirements, that's where I thrive. Once we're down to litigation and enforcement, you're pulling me right out of my comfort zone."

"The laws of the land must be dizzyingly complex if you can, quite comfortably so far I've seen, live in a corner of it." Starlight shrugged as she kept pace, and even grabbed the door for me. "After you."

I slipped past her and gestured to the second chair that was still there. "Get comfy. I have to review this and whatever email showed up. It'll be nice when we get the internet working at home." Sinking into the chair, I popped open the folder. Unsurprisingly, it was from the director. It was a welcome packet. It went over the terms of being in their organization, asked for a cancelled check and a copy of my ID. It was... charmingly banal, as if I were accepted to work anywhere else in the world. Forms to fill and the like. They weren't going to pay me what I asked for, which made me annoyed.

Negotiation tip #1, if you give the other person what they want without resistance, you make them feel like they should have asked for more.

It had a second collection of papers inside labeled for Kevin's filling out, and a third... for Starlight? The pay rate was high. Not as high as the ransom I charged, but higher than Kevin's. We hadn't discussed that...

"So..." I began, looking up at Starlight who was looking at me with bursting curiosity. "Ever want to work for a bunch of aliens?"

"What?" She tilted her head faintly. "Wait, they want to hire me?"

I leafed through the pages. "I can only assume that includes becoming a properly documented citizen, or things would get complicated, fast." I frowned with thought. "Of course. They want to hire you, then sponsor you."

"Sponsor me, as in giving bits?"

I had to laugh. "They're offering a lot of those, American bits that is, but I actually meant legally." Now immigration sponsor forms? That I knew. I also knew they weren't doing it quite right, wait, no, this was fine. You could petition for a non-resident alien worker just fine. I just didn't normally work at that angle, but it was entirely legit. I just wondered what documentation they expected from Starlight. "But is that something you want? To stay here, that is, instead of going home."

Starlight lifted her shoulders. "Can I quit when I get bored? Does it mean I can be a pony instead of having to hide like this? Say yes to those two and it sounds like it might be fun to try. No on either and eh..." She folded her arms. "Especially the first one. I'm not looking to become anyone's slave, no matter how well paid." She suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. "Besides, what use are your bits back on Equestria?"

That one I actually had an answer for. "They wouldn't be, but you could buy things with them before you left."

That made her brighten. "Good point. Mmm, sure, provided they don't mind me cutting and leaving when I get tired of it, which I will."

A knock came from the door before it cracked open. "Hey." It was Kevin. "All clear?"

"Come in." I waved him in as he scooted inside, then held up his collection of papers. "Congratulations. You're one bit of red tape away from being an agent of the United States of America. I hope your history's clear, since I did see something about that. I haven't given it a thorough read-over, so look but no signing yet."

He took it quickly and began flipping through it. "Holy shit."

"What?"

He tapped the page. "Top Secret clearance? Isn't that... well, top?"

I hiked a thumb at Starlight. "Oh man, I wonder what huge secret they may want us to be a part of. It could be anything..."

Starlight reached for her packet and tried to decipher it, but it was clearly beyond her and she quickly put it down. "I'm trusting the two of you to make sure this is done properly. Now, this aside, do you have other work you should be doing?"

That was a fine question. I woke my computer up and dove into the email. Junk, junk, junk, yes, no, hell no, yes, definitely yes, let me research that, no, yes. They were a lot of quick questions with quick answers. Then came one from the boss man. Apparently word that the deal was closing had already reached his ears and he was beyond excited.

It made me wonder again what exactly he was seeing from his angle. What was being offered to the company that put him in such a good mood? I decided to find out. I hit the reply button and asked just that, point blank. I noted we were on the right path to closing the deal, but the specifics of the payment between the two companies had not been made clear to me and routed through the financing department. I asked for a heads up, just to be sure I wasn't promising anything that'd cost the company money in the end.

Kevin was leaning forward a little. "You have that look."

Starlight nodded in agreement. "You can tell when she's on the hunt. Everything alright?"

"Everything is fine." I sat back. "This--" I waved over the folder and papers that came with. "--This has become our job for now. Until the deal's sealed, they're not giving me a lot of other work I can't bang out almost instantly. I do have one question here that I need to look into, but I don't predict that needing more than half an hour to be sure."

Kevin adjusted his footing from one leg to the other. "So what am I doing right now?"

"What you usually do." I tapped the paper. "I'll go over this with a fine-toothed comb, for all three, to make sure there's nothing in there waiting to bite us in the ass, beyond what we know we're dealing with."

Kevin departed, not entirely satisfied, but I didn't blame him for that. It was a huge step for him. It was a huge step for me! I had the advantage of approaching it with some measure of knowledge.

There was something that bothered me. "Time to write a letter."

Starlight gave a musing 'hmm' of a sound. "Who to?"

"The director, the one that seems to be in charge of this." I got to typing. "Getting security clearance is a lot of things. Fast is not one of them. How quickly does she expect us to even think about starting this, assuming it all goes smoothly?"

"And the odds of it going smoothly?" asked Starlight in a skeptical tone. "Let me answer that, close to zero."

"I can't wait to see what the military review of your paperwork says when they see your nation of origin." I felt a smile coming on, imagining some poor military desk jockey, not that far from myself, having to deal with a paper that appeared to be filled out by a mad person with little notes saying those parts were verified. "They must have gotten this to work once at least."

"Why do you say that?"

"They had a pony with them." I described the blue pegasus and how he changed.

Starlight stiffened. "They had a changeling with them?"

"What?"

Starlight paused to think. "Major event, major event. Do you have an episode where I save the kingdom from a bunch of them? That was pretty important. Did they make an episode about that?"

So, there I was, at work, looking up My Little Pony episodes. It was for reference, seriously. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I performed serious research into a children's television show. While it played, I returned to leafing through those papers. They needed some serious research. Nothing could be assumed...

"There!" Starlight jabbed a finger. "See?" She pointed to where Twilight and her friends had been standing and turned into insectoid creatures that were busy talking to a floating green window.

"So that's a changeling? They're... bad?" I mean, sure, they were in that episode. But that would be the same as assuming any given movie was an accurate depiction of any race ever.

Starlight folded her arms. "Maybe. We don't even know if it's a pre or post evolution changeling. Still, if he's shapeshifting, like that? I feel pretty safe saying they're a changeling, and I'd guess pre. If he's loyal to their Queen, he's bad news. If not... Well, he's a person, I guess."

I liked to think my government was doing its job. Ideally, a battery of psychological exams required to have security clearance would dig up if the applicant was being dodgy and reject them. That was, alas, an ideal situation. We were far from one of those. Hell, we had someone rather famous have clearance for a record-breaking short time before being outed as a spy. We lived in interesting times...

"Let's take this slow and easy." I sat up. "I've tossed the ball back into their court. Until then we research, we learn, and most importantly right now, we live." I reached and set a hand on Starlight's. "We'll get through this."

Starlight burst into a smile. "Look at you. I'm not a lost little foal. I know this is an... interesting situation, but it's alright. I'm an adult." She sat up tall. "I'll handle this with you. Kevin's the one you should watch out for. He's so far in over his head, I can see him drowning."

Despite her tough words of bravado, I felt they were just that, a false front of confidence. She was nervous. Then again, I'd think she was crazy if she wasn't at least a little nervous.

Author's Note:

Paperwork, legalities, and streaming episodes of MLP at work! Wait, is that last one a typo?

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Comments

[Emtu]

The new one smiles an wriggled her fingers at me.

smiled and (tense mismatch + missing letter)

[David Silver]

8048130 Missing Ds everywhere.

[scootalooftw]

8048157 It seems they want the D.....

[Booster Spice]

But I Am working Boss. 6 Seasons, 4 movies, and a Wooden Toaster.

Would you like any toast?

[tsaukpaetra]

Yeah, considering the last time changelings were even mentioned was like four seasons ago?
They're certainly fast tracking them at hyper speed, we've never SEEN a government move that fast except when it was less that 20 persons!
And their apparent preparedness in doing Starlight puts on some questions on how much they've prepared for this and how many contingency plans they're keeping on standby...
Keep going! ;)

[Luckyfanisaac]

They weren’t going to pay me what I asked for, which made me annoyed.

Is it were or weren’t because I don’t understand why she is annoyed?