Hi all, you may have read this as Karo under my old account, I've made a new account to keep ym account names in line across several websites.
All characters are 18+ of course. This is mostly going to be a slow-burn, story driven work with some sex sprinkled through.
I have also been using AI Art generators to create the characters, places, etc - head to DeviantArt and look me up (awalters060) if you'd like to see them - no login or cost or any nonsense like that to view the artwork.
Hope you enjoy and please leave a comment!
Congratulations. You have the job! Please open the attached contract and sign it upon reading.
Karo couldn't believe it.
Two sentences - barely - in an email. And those two sentences had completely changed his life.
"Watch it, dumbass!" someone snarled, barely avoiding bumping into him. Karo ignored the man. The street was crowded, as always, and Karo had stopped walking suddenly - the fault was entirely hie own - but right now he did not care.
Feverishly, staring still at his 'top, he triple checked the senders address. It was legitimate, the email address of the recruiters. He re-read it.
Congratulations. You have the job! Please open the attached contract and sign it upon reading.
It
couldn't
be real. Millions of people -
millions -
applied to these jobs with Lacaille Corp. The biggest mining company in the cluster and the most technologically advanced corporation ever, the lowest tier job - drone engineer, of all things - commanded a salary in excess of ten million G's. Karo had his engineering degree, he'd done quite well, but these jobs went to the alumni of the big universities and colleges on Earth - Sunshine, Yale, Harvard, Peking, those sort - not the mid-range University of Centauri!
Congratulations. You have the job! Please open the attached contract and sign it upon reading.
Karo shook himself and looked around the crowded street. He needed to get off the footpath, Landing City - he hated the lack of originality in the name - had a massive problem with transit as it was. Standing in the middle of the walkway wasn't helping.
He squeezed his way off to the side, walking amongst the masses until he found a crowded bench to sit on. Uncomfortably close to another man - their legs almost touched no matter what - Karo, hunched to be smaller, clicked to open the attachment.
He scanned the contract, then went back to read it again. It was...short. Way shorter than he was used to seeing. Still long, of course, but compared to a standard T&C contract for a TV? It was a tenth the length. It took nearly an hour to properly go through the contract - Karo didn't even notice as the people beside him changed, or the light of the sun started taking on the bluish tinge of evening.
It looked legitimate. It was, as far as he could tell,
completely real
. But he didn't
want
to believe it, he realised. The moment he thought it was real, the job offer was real, it would be snatched away, like all good things...
The contract was clear. He would be required to move to the Lacaille system, there to perform any and all duties necessary for the optimal operation of the drones, as well as performing any reasonable duties expected of him by his manager ('reasonable' having been thoroughly documented in Corporate Charter section Nine, or by Executive Tribunal if needed). He would work for the benefit of the Company, keeping all knowledge about the Company to himself and colleagues. His allegiance would be to the Corporation for as long as he worked for it, and he would be expected to keep silent on trade secrets after leaving or suffer 'consequences' (section two of the Charter). In return for his hard work, he would be paid a base salary of five million gold grams per year, plus performance bonuses, as detailed in section eight of the Charter.
The rest was very standard.
Five...five million...
Karo had a bog-standard job, as he thought of it, at a fast food joint currently. It paid forty thousand grams. The sort of jobs he'd applied for as a graduate engineer sat around a hundred thousand.
But Lacaille Corp had money to burn. Five million. He could work there for a few years and be set for life. His whole
family
would be set for life!
Karo accepted the contract and sent it off. He still couldn't believe it, but a moment later a new alert.
Graduate Engineer Karo, welcome to Lacaille Corp! Please find attached details of your relocation and signing bonus-
Karo almost fainted.
Signing bonus?
* * *
"So when are you leaving, fucker?"
Karo grinned at his best friend, Orassi. "Three weeks. They paid for everything! I have first class tickets, meals included, a place to stay at the spaceport the night before..."
"And when will you be back?" the golden-haired girl asked, tapping on the ordering screen. "Ooh! Actually Finnish Vodka! Yes
please
."
"Oras! That's thirty grams a shot!"
"Yeah, I know. Good thing you're paying," she replied flippantly. "Didn't you just say it was a hundred kilo signing bonus?"
Karo grinned. "Point. Order me one too."
"Seven it is then."
"Seven doesn't split between us evenly, make it eight."
"You said one! The other six are mine."
He cocked his head, looking intently at Orassi, but her green eyes avoided his own brown ones. "Oras? What's up?"
"Nothing. Gonna celebrate
properly
."
"Don't give me that shit! What's wrong?"
"Ugh! You're fucking
leaving
is what's wrong, dumbass," she snarled, poking the ordering screen harder. "What, you thought I'd be super happy at it? Yeah, I'm happy for you! Of course I am. Let me wallow in selfishness for a bit though."
Karo's heart melted. Orassi was tough - they'd become friends twenty years ago when she'd beaten up a bully who picked on Karo - but she was, under it all, a loving person. She hated to admit it, and only generally did to Karo. It was nice to know she'd miss him. She was always so guarded.
He sidled around the table. They were in Ferrix Bar, their long-time haunt. It was always clean, lively, and had
plenty
to look at. While the bar didn't spring for actual human waitstaff - robots were still slightly cheaper than living labour, even with the overpopulation crises - it
did
spring for living dancers. Strippers both sexes - and a few gene lines - danced every ten meters or so, protected in glass tubes. The dance floors were always crowded, but separated by sound-proof walls, so here, in the bar, the patrons wouldn't go deaf. The music was still loud, of course -
just
loud enough to hide a conversation from prying ears without requiring them to shout.
Karo threw one arm around his slim friends' shoulders. He knew, logically, he'd miss her immensely, enough to crush him. But currently he was running a high of getting his job.
He stabbed the 'cancel' button on the ordering screen.
"
Oi,