First Interview

Cathy Cumin looks the list over: “Nice big list… Eh… I'm kind of sour on commercial design at the moment…” she moves a few over to the “maybe later” column for that.

She then keeps going, “As for the rest: A local theater troop wants a special effects manager, my holograms could handle that easily; a bouncer for The Local Dive, yeah, I could get into that with the right shell; underwater surveys, yeah, I already have an air- and water-tight routine with carbon dioxide cracking, a shell with swimming capabilities and pressure support isn't hard; no, I don't think I want to be on stage….”

She goes through the remaining list that way, sorting them into “Schedule interview”, “Maybe Later”, and “No” groupings, having Dinah write cover letters and tailor the resume for each in the first category, and gets to work setting up demos for each of them: A program for her “Cell phone” hologram to trigger a nice light show for the effects position, a “Bouncer” shell for The Local Dive (her own appearance, but with a muscle suit on top and reuse of the strength amplification code from “Daemon”), a “Mermaid” shell for the underwater surveys, and so on. She does, however, leave the “Daemon” shell as the auto-switch for handling high-speed impacts: It worked very well for getting her out of trouble last time, after all.

That done, she finishes her beer, and goes back to the kitchen. The woman warms up a “beef stroganoff” frozen dinner, eats it, washes up, puts on her pajamas, and goes to bed. The next morning, she gets up with her alarm (having forgotten to cancel it), washes, puts on a suitable outfit for going under her holographic shells, and warms up a breakfast (“sausage and veggies” per the label).

While eating, she queries her assistant, “Dinah, any responses to the resumes?”

The prototype responds, as always, with text on her HUD: “9 am appointment for underwater survey work. Negotiations in progress on Bouncer and Theater jobs.”

“Wow that's good luck,” the unemployed woman blinks a few times, “and so quickly. Well… I'm glad I forgot to cancel my morning alarm…” chuckling, she finishes her breakfast. She then walks out into her backyard, and the trees behind.

“Dinah, activate Lethe Protocol, enable Daemon, and flying directions to my appointment,” the woman relies on her AI assistant.

She gets the expected messages as the river and camera icons come up, then the Daemon skin covers her body, and she gets a position and distance indicator on her HUD… so she takes off, and flies in an essentially straight line to the indicated address, keeping low enough to avoid commercial air traffic, high enough to avoid trees, and simply dodging around the drones that effectively can't see her.

Landing on the building roof, she checks the time… “Another half hour, huh? Okay. Dinah, give me the resume and cover letter we sent here, as well as my appointment details and all correspondence.”

Cathy Cumin takes time to read what ‘she’ sent her prospective employer: No actual lies, but some stretching of the truth… par for the course for resumes. Satisfied enough, she flies down to an ally, switches to business attire, and walks calmly to the front door of the building: An old, five story brick building by the bay, with a floating dock that extends into it, a nice-looking yacht moored there.

Practicing her smile, the tech heroine walks over to the door, glancing at the sign: Seahorse Inspection Technologies. It's a business, and she's expected, so she simply opens the door and steps inside to the lobby. It's a nice lobby, if small; a thick carpet, a couple of plants, an aquarium built in underneath the reception counter, and three actual recliners for guests.

The brunette in a red blazer with matching skirt and shoes (visible through the aquarium) behind the desk smiles, “Thank you for stepping in SeaHorse Inspection Technologies. What can I do for you?”

Trying not to laugh, the redhead walks up to the desk and extends her hand, “Hello, I'm Cathy Cumin, and I have an appointment for an interview.”

The woman shakes Cathy's hand, “Ah, the new Underwater Inspector. Yeah, the drones we use can't get things out of the way when needed, so we always have to send down real people to get the actual pictures.” The woman smiles, “Nice to meet you, I'm Beatrice, and we're just starting up this branch. The interview is a practical exercise; this way, please.”

The heroine follows the woman in red out the back of the lobby, through a short hallway, out the back of the building, and to the boat, where there's a big box labeled ‘Diving Gear’. Beatrice continues talking, “Okay, so this is a timed exercise: There's an old city water treatment plant outlet pipe in the bay under this building. Bring me a clear picture of it.” She pulls a stopwatch out of her pocket, and clicks it.

Cathy looks at the box, “Do I need to use your equipment?”

“Well, no, but…” Beatrice begins.

She trails off when Cathy simply jumps directly over the side into the water.