Chapter 9: The Party

~~ Delta - Nov/02 - (Earth - May/2095) ~~

I spent the rest of the Thursday getting through a pile of work.

I sorted out the times to interview the people on Alec’s list over the three days I’d be in Clarksville. Many of them had indicated they would be at the party and asked if it would be easier to meet me there and I had agreed.

I learnt the heads of the four Earth colonies would also be there and asked them if they would like to meet up with me as well. After a bit of round-robin, we decided a lunch meeting tomorrow in one of Nick’s conference rooms was the best solution.

Dr Trish Benson said she’d set it up and I was grateful for her taking this chore off my hands. I flicked James an email and informed him of the meeting if he wished to attend and wasn’t too busy. I also sent him a list of times I’d set the interviews up for and the questions I planned to ask and invited him to sit in on them as well.

I was a bit pissed when I didn’t get a reply back from him by the next morning. I guessed he was still sulking. This didn’t bode well for him or us. I got the impression that many people thought I was straight out of college and had no managerial experience.

True, I had only finished my second Masters before Christmas at home, but I had completed my Biology degree and its Master’s project the first year I was working at the Zoo. By the middle of my second year there, I was running the Reptile Department and ran it up to when I quit.

I completed my Palaeontology degree while I worked, as I had decided that it was what actually interested me. The reason I was broke was the costs of going on digs was bloody expensive because you had to provide all your own gear and pay for your travel arrangements.

I also had to take unpaid leave on several occasions to go, and the pay was lousy in the first place. The fact I had been trying to pay off the exorbitant fees accrued from completing two masters and two degrees in just six years and support myself hadn’t helped either.

I was so pleased to get this job, I never for one minute believed I wasn’t capable of doing it. When I got back to the office, I got the distinct impression that Barb may have been talking about me to her co-workers.

There was a noticeable shift in attitude. I had a feeling that they may give me the benefit of the doubt and see how I did things. Since I was away the day before, we had a late staff meeting. I believed that it went well, and I asked for input on the positions available.

I asked for their thoughts on the places I should fill first that were not on my wish list. I think they were surprised that I wanted their input. A couple of them even mentioned names of people they thought might fill the positions. We adjusted the list of jobs.

I decided I had enough suitable candidates for the six original positions we’d agreed were a must. I’d advertise the other two positions and hold off on the two I wanted, depending on who we got. I might get lucky and be able to cross-fill them for now with the people I got.

I learnt Barb, Jill and Foxy had received invitations to the party as had most of the single girls from Earth that were here. I had noticed that at least a dozen of them were already shacked up with a local boy.

Many of those girls didn’t get an invitation. We believed the whole idea of the party was to bring singles together, so they weren’t to put out, having already achieved that objective. I met up with the other people travelling to Clarksville early the next morning.

Kale was coming with me. He had family there and winked at me that he had prospects as well. I had to smile and reminded him that he owed me a vid. This cracked him up, and he said not until he got mine. It looked like I wasn’t going to get to see faerie porn in a hurry.

I normally didn’t watch much porn anyway, and I didn’t have a strong desire to. I had the vids in my mind of James and me and decided they were the hottest vids I’d ever seen.

I hoped he got over his sulk by Wednesday.

------

We hadn’t stopped in Clarksville on our way to Rubyvale.

What they had done to the place was fantastic. I had every intention of getting on the roller-coaster when I could. They had set up the entertainment, so it was like an Agricultural Show back home.

The festive air was contagious. We were here to have fun, meet strangers and explore new relationships. I was in a tent with Barb, Foxy and Jill. Several other people were with us, and we simply picked a room and hung our second tag on the door flap to our room.

I added the GPS location of my room, so I could find my way back and headed off to find my lunch party and ensure the room I had booked for the interviews was available. The Pix, whom I guessed was running the Hotel, assured me that all was set up.

He informed me that I could keep the conference room as long as I required after lunch, to have my interviews in. This suited me just fine. I deposited my PC on a lectern and inspected the room. It was designed to hold about thirty people comfortably.

Up the front of the room was a small stage set up to be used by a presenter and a huge 3D screen for presentations. I soon found that I could wirelessly link the screen to my PC and could display anything I wished on it.

Barb had scanned my flying critter, and I hadn’t had a chance to really look at it, so I popped it up on the screen. I was early, so now was a good a time as any. I told the PC to play her vid and then stood there and watched as the pictures rolled across the screen.

“Oh my,” I said out loud and stopped the vid. I inspected the image I had frozen.

I was startled when a voice said, “Bloody hell, it’s him, isn’t it?”

I spun to find James behind me. Many emotions raced through me. Desire, he was just bloody gorgeous. Relief, he had come. Anger, he hadn’t bothered to answer my email. He looked down at me, and I guessed he saw all of my reactions to him being here beside me.

I schooled my face and turned back to the screen. “Yes, I believe this critter is one of the current descendants. I believe he is from the Black sheep’s line.”

I looked sideways, and he nodded. “I think I need to look at the higher levels again,” he said. I nodded in agreement. There were several new adaptations in this specimen that weren’t present in the last sample James had found, and this guy was much bigger.

We were interrupted when Barry and Trish Benson from the Anzac Block joined us. Professor Roslyn Gilberto and Ray Leyland from Aurora were behind them. As they walked in, Maricha and Jean Le Rothe from Unity entered, and the leaders from the Slavian Block, Professor Valeriya Zhuk and Dr Klimit Bilous were with them.

We were all surprised when Alec, Justin, Kim and Professor Essco, with Queen Lee and her husband Sean, also entered. Professor Essco had originally come from Earth. He now ran the University in Ogilhinn on the continent Queland on Utopia. He was married to their King and Wizard, Zan de Nar, and they had a Pix woman named Dye as their wife.

Introductions were completed, and Lee spotted the picture on the screen. It had started scrolling again and was showing the creature on the scanner bed.

“The Queen of the dragons, Aronha, told me that those creatures are flying rats. They are scavengers but will also hunt other flying creatures if they are smaller than them.”

I smiled and said, “That probably explains why they have been around for a long time.”

Lee looked at me, obviously wishing to know more. I glanced at James. He suddenly realised that I had no intention of stealing his thunder. “Can I link to your machine?” he asked me.

I nodded and linked him up. Everyone else quickly grabbed chairs wishing to see what we had. James flashed up a picture of the specimens, as I had laid them out on the tables. He explained the ages we had dug out and pointed out the features we had identified in its evolution.

Personally, I could have sat there forever listing to his sexy voice. He was a brilliant presenter. He fielded questions from a very attentive audience.

Trish asked, “Why aren’t they in your database yet? This is brilliant work.”

James looked at me and grinned, “My Boss, has recently pointed out that I can’t just dig it out and not record my findings. We hope to get more information into the system in the next week or so.”

“I’d not put most of it in the system because I hadn’t solved where that little guy on the end there fitted in. Again, my boss, pointed out I don’t have to solve everything and sometimes a little help can go a long way.”

“What did you do?” asked Lee, looking at me.

I glanced at James, and he nodded. “When I visited the dig, I noticed he didn’t have them in the correct chronological and species order. Once we reordered them, it became evident that we were missing one of the important evolutions, and fortunately, we found the missing link.”

Lee looked at James and me. She then turned to Alec, “If they keep working at it, they may have to visit Watson Island.”

James gasped and looked at me. “No,” he said. “I will not marry again, not even for that.”

I suddenly had a feeling that they were talking about something else entirely. I looked at Alec’s grinning face. “The longer you fight it, the more it will hurt,” he told James.

“No,” he said more violently and stormed out.

“Okay, what the hell was that about?” I asked Lee and Alec.

Lee stood then she came and gently touched me, “Don’t give up on him. He needs you as much as you need him.”

I looked at the door that James had exited from. Need him? I was in love with him, and his rejection of me had stabbed like a knife. Lee patted my arm again and then turned as lunch was being served.

-------

I tried to push James to the back of my mind.

As we ate, we discussed the areas we were all working on, and an animated discussion followed. I was amazed by how these people had accepted me into their fraternity. They all seemed to consider that my team and I are as much as an asset to the project, as anyone else was.

I informed Alec and Justin of the change in the positions I wanted to fill, and they agreed it was my department, so if that’s what I wanted, they were cool with it. Justin said to just add the other two positions, as my budget should more than cover them.

He also told me to add a couple of extra shields for my workers, and Snore and Yves could be attached permanently if I wished. I was more than happy to keep them, as they were an asset, as far as I was concerned.

The doubling of my department would be more work for me. I was more than happy to have the workers, just to cover the projects we already had in the pipeline. I had more than enough room for them.

Lunch broke up as we all had other commitments, and I was left in an empty room. The hotel staff came and cleaned up lunch and left me tea and coffee facilities and a tray of snacks.

My first interview turned up, and the next two hours flew by, as I conducted the interviews alone. I had more of them to do over the next two days. The most interesting interview was with a bloke called Brandon Gillard.

I had to stifle a giggle when he walked in. He was the hunk I’d said would do in a pinch to the girls on the ship. He wasn’t as tall as my hunk, being about 210cm. He was quite handsome with his blonde curly hair and blue eyes. He had broad shoulders and a nice, tight arse.

He also had a sweet smile, and I liked him. If I hadn’t met James already, I possibly would have given him a shot. He was applying for one of the positions as an ecologist to study the effects of time on soil carbon and nutrient cycling.

We had a friendly chat. I didn’t have a problem with Brandon’s credentials, and I told him I’d get back to him. I watched him walk out and definitely had to admire the tush. My next candidate turned up, so it was back to business.

I was still pissed at James for deserting me. I was packing up when the object of my ire returned. I glanced at him when he leant against a table and watched me as I tidied up my material and packed my precious computer away.

James came up to me and turned me around. I looked up into his face and found myself blinking uncustomary tears. “Shit, shit, shit,” he muttered. He folded me into his arms and kissed me on the top of my head.

I didn’t hug him back. While I did like being in his arms, I was upset and not ready to forgive. I felt the tears fall down my face and sniffled several times. He groaned and hugged me tighter.

“Damn it, Trixy, I’m not worth your tears. I’m a bastard to live with. I’m never home, and we’ll end up arguing and then we won’t be able to stand the sight of each other. It won’t work Trixy.”

I pushed him away. I was spitting mad now. “Fuck you! Have I asked anything from you other than for you to do your job? I agreed to have sex with you if I wanted it that was all, not a God darn thing more.”

I poked him in the chest, “I asked you to turn up to help with the interviews, to do your fucking job. I didn’t ask you to come here, so we could get lovey-dovey and ride off into the sunset.”

“If you don’t wish to work for me, then fine. Do your own fucking thing. Apparently, that’s what you’re good at. If you want to post your findings, then fine. I’ll find a Deputy-Head to replace you, who will do the work they are hired to do.”

I whirled away from him, grabbed my backpack and slinging it over my shoulder, I stormed out. I wondered if I should call Alec and ask for a lift home. I was no longer in a festive mood. I got back to the tent and headed into my room.

I hadn’t unpacked anything as I had dressed for the meeting in a skirt suit when I left Rubyvale. I decided to change first and then find a wizard and beg a lift home.

“Oh, go, Paul, harder,” the voice moaned. I stared at the wall and realised it was Foxy’s voice coming through the thin wall. In spite of myself, I grinned. I could hear their bare flesh slapping together and recognised the sounds.

I could almost picture Paul on his knees behind Foxy. She was shorter than he was, so I guessed missionary wouldn’t be their favourite position, but I had learnt thanks to James, that there are still quite a few other positions that they could enjoy.

The timing between the slaps was getting shorter and the grunts, groans and encouragements louder. Foxy keened, Paul grunted very loudly, and the slapping stopped. I heard them flop onto the low bed we had been provided with.

“Bloody hell girl, I’m going to have to convince James that we need to get back to the office more often.”

I heard Foxy giggle, and it snapped me back to my situation. I decided if James pulled the pin, I’d have Paul return to the office, he could have James’ job. There were other sites that we could go dig on our half week, and Foxy could always come along. James could do his own fucking thing.

I changed into my togs and a loose semi-transparent sun robe. I picked up my gear and headed to the hotel. I’d noticed the billboard that advertised spare rooms for the weekend. I didn’t feel comfortable in the tent. I had decided that it was my weekend off, except for the interviews, and James could go to the devil.

There were a lot of single guys available, and there was no reason I couldn’t find someone to accommodate me for a fun weekend. I wouldn’t mind a swim either and had seen the parade of flesh around the pool and the bar area.

I arrived at the billboard and looked at what was still available. There were not a lot of options left, and I decided to just pick one, at least the walls would be thicker. I put up my hand to unpin one when my hand was pulled down.

“My place,” James said. I found myself being towed across the street behind James. Once he had me in the elevator, he released me. I moved to the corner away from him but said nothing. We ended up on the top floor, and he waved me out of the elevator. I didn’t move.