Young Writers Society

“I have no doubt Agent Hardy,” said Curly Hair. “Well. I’m reporting a problem from Section X4 – C.”

“Alright. That’s. That’s a boring one, although interesting…” She chuckled. “…if you were there a few centuries ago. Although you might call it more terrifying than interesting really. Those creatures are an acquired taste.”

Curly Hair exchanged a horrified look with Glasses, their earlier laughter now long gone at that opening from Agent Hardy.

Maybe noticing their silence Agent Hardy continued. “Sorry I’m probably boring you with those things. You don’t need to keep that nonsense in mind.”

Curly Hair and Glasses exchanged another look.

“So about that,” began Curly Hair, “we’re calling you because that section of the map that’s been abandoned since forever just lit up with a notification. The map is back on the active setting and there where sounds I have never heard before coming from the console.”

“Well… I jinxed that one hard,” said Agent Hardy. “Don’t worry. I’ll send someone to look at it. Special attention does have to be given if only to verify if this warning is legitimate. Right. Right. Don’t worry about what happens next unless the people I send actually tell you to be worried about it. Stay put.” The line went dead.

“Well… I guess we know for sure that we did the right thing,” said Curly Hair, with a shrug.

“Yeah,” said Glasses. “Let’s keep an eye on that console. I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well.”

“You said that about Glen’s birthday party.”

“I have bad feeling a lot okay, get used to it.”

Curly Hair rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

(Serafina)

Serafina almost sighed in relief when Ray cleared his throat behind them. She was starting to feel more and more like a fool the longer she ended up looking at the machines in front of her. It wasn’t like she didn’t know what they did or why they were here. She was fully aware of exactly what each of them was capable of. That was part of the problem though. It was all familiar things she’d seen a million times in practice. When Ray said this was a low tier room he wasn’t kidding around. Either that or the agency wasn’t as high tech as everyone expected it to be. It was definitely not the latter, not if that door from earlier was any indicator.

She was broken out of her spiral from the second clearing of Ray’s throat. She whirled around to see two new people standing by him. She looked around for Safi and nearly jumped back to see her standing quietly to Serafina. How was this girl so clumsy but at the same time so quiet when she wanted to be. She was also staring at the newcomers.

Ray, on seeing that he had both of their attention, stepped forward.

“Ladies, let me introduce you to your companions for the next… well that depends on how well you do.” He waved a hand in the direction of the two.

“That’s Stacey Laarve,” he said pointing to a bespectacled girl that looked like she might somehow be shorter than Safi.

“And we have Jacob Verle.” The other one was of more normal proportions and surprisingly thin and wiry looking. No one she’d so far was that skinny. It was impossible to be that skinny when you went through the academy.

Both of them nodded in their direction. Serafina nodded in response, resisting the urge to glance at Safi to gauge her reaction.

“And you two, meet Serafina Gianova and Safiana Vialena. Our new trainees. Have fun. Do not send anyone to their deaths. And call me if anything need clarifying.” With that Ray proceeded to walk out.

The two agents exchanged a glance with each other before they walked over to them.

“I guess you guys had a bit of time to get a feel for things,” started Stacey.

Serafina nodded. “It’s pretty…”

“…much identical to what they have at the academy.”

“Yeahhhhh,” said Serafina.

“Yeah, first thought everyone has trust me. I think they just want to make sure there’s no actual learning curve when you first get into the job. Not the sort of thing where you can afford to make mistakes you know?”

“Right.”

“So, I go by Jake,” started Jacob, holding a handout to shake. Serafina took it. It was a firm handshake, not what she’d expected given the whole skinny frame situation.

“Serafina,” she said.

That started off the process of several more handshakes until everyone had been properly introduced to each other.

“So… I suppose we should be getting started,” said Stacey, moving to one of the machines.

“Yes. We probably just wasted like ten minutes there, “said Jake, “not that it matters too much out here. Barely anything actually happens in these sectors, but then punctuality is something they count.”

“Right,” said Serafina. “That certainly sounds like something that they would count here.”

Safi didn’t add anything. So far the only words she’d managed were her own name earlier at the handshakes.

“This here is my station,” said Stacey pointing to the one she’d moved to. It was the one right at the front on the left.

Jake pointed to the one next to it. “And naturally that one’s mine. We’ve got six more in the room, so feel free to pick whichever one you want, just make sure it’s the one you really want because you don’t get to change it.”

Stacey rolled her eyes. “He’s joking. You can whichever one you want whenever you want provided no one else is using it.”

“Fine. That is true. Although you probably should not be changing machines like every thirty minutes, that can get a bit annoying, and it also wastes a ton of time.”

“I pick that one,” said Safi, speaking up finally. It was the machine smack in the middle of the room. Serafina raised an eyebrow. That was very random. Unless Safi knew something Serafina didn’t.

“And I’ll take that one,” she said, jumping in right away and pointing to the one next to Safi. The girl didn’t say anything and the other two nodded.

“Cool. You guys know how to get it started and stuff right?” asked Stacey.

Serafina nodded.

“Right, let’s all get that done then. We can discuss other strategies once its all up and running.”