Mickey McKenny

Mickey’s morning was off to an unrelenting start. She had just arrived at the company's hydroponic farms when a fire broke out. The sprinkler system they paid for did its job, so the damage to the crops was minimal, but she should have seen that as a sign that her day was going to be anything but smooth. After averting disaster with the plants, Mickey was called into the remodeled storage closet that was currently their office space. Sitting at the head of the room was Minnie, the self-declared CEO. The corners of her emerald lips kept curling up against attempts to stay neutral. Mary took a seat in front of the desk, sitting eye level with her

“Minnie, why did you call me now? We just had a fire, and I need to ensure everything is fine.” Mickey asked, tapping her foot against the ground.

“Well, about that Mickey,” Minnie pulled out a manila folder. She stopped forcing the smile away. “I'm sorry to say we have to let you go. Don't worry, you are still receiving your stock options.”

“What justification could you possibly have for my removal?”

“We have reason to believe that you are undercutting the business. Selling our product below the market rate.” Minnie opens the folder to show pictures of Mickey at her home sharing ground marijuana. The photo is poorly cropped, with a hand around Mickey’s waist visible.

“Wow, just wow. You don’t want me around that much. YOU WERE AT THAT PARTY!” Mickey pulled up the photo on her phone, revealing the hand around her waist to be none other than Minnie herself. “Fuck if you want to do a hack job, do better. What is this actually about?”

“Bud, look, you are great at growing the stuff, but you don't have business sense.” Minnie’s smile had completely fallen off, not expecting her bluff to be called. “We can’t make it into the big leagues with how strictly you grow things, if we just expanded the…”

“We have been over this countless times, a bigger harvest would be bad for the health of the plants and strain our ability of our staff. We started this with our own money, so we don't have venture capital vultures crawling down our backs, right?”

“Correct, that's why we are in this position. We are making a surplus, but that is only in DC. Our product could go nationwide.” Minnie stood up from her desk, raising her voice.

“We don’t need to,” Mickey screamed, “every time one of these plans of yours starts making money, you keep pushing things farther until it breaks. Not this time, we both have equal ownership of this thing between us and the others. If you plan to keep pushing this point, I will bring in my lawyer.” Mickey turned her back on the CEO and retorted loud enough to be heard as she left the room, “I miss my friend.”

After that harrowing conversation, Mickey retreated to a nearby ice cream shop, hoping to cool down from the confrontation she had just suffered through. After ordering strawberry ice cream, the botanist looked through her email. Something that stood out immediately was an email from the online dating service she had joined a couple of months ago. It was for a space dating event in the area. It's not like I have anything better to do today. Upon confirming her registration, Mickey vanished into a pink light.

Ice cream in hand, Mickey found herself in a pink room. There was an indistinct sound coming from the single exit out of the room. The botanist took her time walking through the exit. There was no need to rush, and she was enjoying her ice cream. After a short walk, she found herself in a lecture room filled with people. Taking a moment to survey her surroundings, Mickey turned to the only person she was somewhat acquainted with.

“Katie, where are we?” She asked in between licks of her ice cream cone.

“There is no easy way to say this,” Katie began, looking off to the side with one arm scratching the back of her head. “We are on an alien dating and sex show, and you are one of the contestants competing over me.” She then pointed to the orange nudist, “That's ELEECE, she's the one running this.”

With a slow nod, Mickey absorbed the information presented to her, finishing up the last bits of the waffle cone. Licking her fingers, the redhead turned to ELEECE, staring directly into her eyes, not paying her nudity any attention, “So is there anything you need from me?”

“I was waiting for you to finish. Please give your name, age, occupation, cup size, and last sexual encounter.”

“Mickey McKinney, 25, Botanist and Chief Agricultural Officer of Veilments Weed Dispensary, DD-cup and none. I was too busy during undergrad to date,” the redhead relayed with annoyance more than anything.

“ELEECE can you answer how many more people we have left? And why Mickey?” Katie turned to the botanist apologetically. “No offense intended, it's just weird considering the others have been my best friends and a coworker of two years.“

“None taken, getting too involved with customers is bad practice anyway.”

“We have two contestants left to introduce. With regards to how I pick contestants, the process is a trade secret, but I select for variety and who I think will create the most surprising show.” The host replied.