Chapter One
Megan Brooks looked up from the papers on her desk to see a naked woman standing in front of her, head bowed, right shoulder thrust slightly forward. Megan sighed and lifted her company cell phone, tapping it against the cell phone strapped to the woman's right arm and listened to the soft chime signifying that a message had been transferred. "Thank you, Five. That's all now."
The naked woman recited in a monotone, "Mailgirls are not to be thanked for doing our jobs. Mailgirls exist to serve." But she said it with a grin, knowing that Megan would only sigh at the familiar litany. Megan had spent two years of her life as Mailgirl Number Two at Sloane Guaranty & Trust. The previous Five, a tall, willowy brunette, had been Megan's best friend among the other mailgirls; the new Five was a short, somewhat chunky redhead. Megan couldn't understand how this Five managed to maintain her roundness after nearly a year of a carefully controlled diet and a steady regime of twelve to fourteen hour days of racing about SG&T's Maryland campus delivering parcels and messages.
Five turned and left Megan's office. Megan knew that Five's immediate destination was a mat next to the receptionist's desk. There she would wait kneeling until the phone on her upper arm, known as a Mailgirl Management Unit or MMU, directed her to her next task.
Megan read the message on her cell phone. It was from Jeremy Digness, the Assistant Director of SG&T's Community Relations Department:
Megan, can you meet with me about the Corporate Challege 10k. Jeremy.
Megan wondered why he just hadn't called her or requested a meeting via SG&T's calendaring program. His sending a message via mailgirl had to have some meaning. Megan knew Jeremy because of last year's Corporate Challenge 10k. It took place just six weeks after the end of her contract as a mailgirl and she had still been adjusting to a normal life. Jeremy was the stuckee to recruit SG&T's team for the Corporate Challenge. When one of the women running for SG&T sprained her ankle the week before the race he had called Megan and persuaded her to run. Megan had run track in college and competed in road races when she worked as a financial analyst for SG&T in Chicago, but had no opportunity to race after transferring to Maryland and then becoming a mailgirl. SG&T's mailgirl program was a 24/7 commitment which didn't allow an outside life. Still, running between offices on SG&T's sprawling suburban Maryland campus had probably put her in the best shape of her life. In the race she'd been hampered by the unfamiliarity of wearing shoes to run in - mailgirls wore neither clothes, nor shoes - but her 4
th
place finish among the women was number one for SG&T and she'd even beaten a number of SG&T's male runners. She decided Jeremy would explain in his own time and used the calendar app to set up a nine o'clock meeting on Wednesday.
She put consideration of what Jeremy wanted out of her mind and focused on finishing up her current task. She was determined to leave on time today. If she managed that she could stop home and change before meeting Sam and Sarah for dinner in Columbia. The idea of going home and then out to dinner with friends was still faintly unreal to her. As a mailgirl her off-duty hours were spent in the Mailgirl Lounge and the Mailgirl Dormitory in the basement of the main SG&T building. She now slept on a queen-size bed in a spacious two bedroom condo; as a mailgirl she slept in a niche in the wall of the dormitory. She did miss the simplicity of not worrying about what she was going to do (whatever she was told) and what she was going to wear (nothing) that defined a mailgirl's life. She could somewhat understand the four SG&T mailgirls who had signed up for a second two year stint; four of the eleven who had thus far completed their mailgirl contracts. There was also the sexual buzz brought on by the enforced nudity and non-stop humilation of the mailgirl life. Megan's current lifestyle was strangely flat. She expected that Sam and Sarah would be accompanied by a friend. Sarah kept trying to fix her up, but Megan didn't really know where she wanted to be.
* * * *
The traffic on Rt 29 heading north was kind thanks to a lull in the seemingly never-ending road construction. Mailgirls didn't commute or get stuck in traffic, a big plus in Megan's mind. Her re-entry into the daily grind of driving on overcrowded roads rife with impatient motorists was a downer. Maryland drivers were no better than those in Chicago.
Sam and Sarah had snagged an outside table at the Columbia Ale House and yes, there was a tall, slender stranger sitting with them. Sarah stood up and hugged Megan and said, "This is Brendan, he works with Sam; he runs too."
Brendan saw a petite, snub nosed woman with soft blonde curls. He stood and put out his hand "Sarah tells me you used to work together."
"That's right, I'm a financial analyst at SG&T in Rockville. Sarah moved on, but I expect to stay at least the next few years."
Megan hadn't known Sarah during the short period she had occupied a cubicle in SG&T's East Coast headquarter complex after transferring from the Chicago office, lured by the exciting prospect of being part of SG&T's new corporate stand-up. The women met when they became two of SG&T's initial cadre of six mailgirls, specifically Mailgirls Two and Five. They went through the mailgirl training program at Dumpster Dawg Enterprises together and then spent two years living together along with sixteen other naked women in the mailgirls' dormitory. They had really gotten to know each other when they became the initial participants in the Mailgirls' Holiday Program, spending a week at the Juniper Resort. That's where Sarah had met Sam; Megan had been the one to comfort and support Sarah during the ten long months of separation while Sarah finished up her mailgirls contract and Sam continued to do something at Fort Meade. The two lovers only contact was via infrequent Sunday phone calls and Sam's access to the Mailgirl app where he could keep tabs on all eighteen (now twenty-four) SG&T mailgirls. Once Sarah's mailgirl contract was up she lost no time doing two things - moving in with Sam and finding a new job. She felt she had no credibility in SG&T's legal department, feeling that the whole legal staff still saw her as a naked, kneeling menial.
"My degrees are in math, but these days I spend more time working as a computer geek."
Sarah broke in, "Sam had Brendan check over the Iphone with the Mailgirl app for malware."
Megan blushed, thinking this stranger had seen the nude photos and video of her as well as the log of mailgirl life: deliveries, demerits, punishments, orgasms ...
Brendan said, "He just had me analyze the software, he wouldn't demonstrate the app for me. So, I know all about how the app works and how it builds a VPN to connect with a server, but I was strictly enjoined not to run the app or try to break into the server. Since it's an American company on American soil that would be legally very questionable for me, even working from home as a favor for a friend. I didn't even need to consult a lawyer," he glanced over at Sarah, "to figure that out.
"Sam tells me you're a runner, I don't remember seeing you at any of the local races."
"I run, but I've only run one race since I moved here from Chicago almost three years ago. I did okay there, but haven't felt the need to compete. I think they've going to try to talk me into running the Corporate Challenge 10k again; Sam also ran that last year."
Sam chimed in "SG&T is hosting the Corporate Challenge this year. I'm sure they'll want to make a good showing and since you were their top finisher last year they'll want you to run again."
Conversation became more general, food and beer were ordered and consumed; there was no talk of mailgirls. At the end Brendan asked if he could see Megan again and they exchanged phone numbers. It was a very normal meeting of four young professional people.
