Page 10 of Thalen

“We’ll see you then. Bye for now, and Ms. Baines, I’ve transmitted the requested documentation to your office, copying your supervisor. Have a nice evening! Bye!” The call disconnected.

“Looks like everything is set for you then,” she said. “Anything else we need will be sent by them once you’ve taken your test.” She extended a hand out to me. “Good luck, Mr. Morales. He’s a fine boy and lucky to have the opportunity of helping shape a whole new world.”

I took her hand and shook it. Her grip was firm and dry.

“Thank you, Ms. Baines, for coming to let us know the good news so quickly.”

She gave me a wry smile. We both knew she’d had no choice, as her boss had sent her, and that I would have found out anyway thanks to the news broadcasts on the matter.

“I’ll go out this way,” she said, taking the back stairs. “My car is parked in the visitor’s section on the side anyway.”

I watched her go down for a few moments, then headed inside.

“Come on,” I said, my fingers already calling for an Uber. “We’re going out to Firefly’s for some burgers.”

“Yeah?” he asked, jumping up to make a dash for his sneakers by the front door.

“Yeah. We can talk about getting you a cat and maybe a dog tomorrow morning before we go to the center.”

He stopped mid zoom. “For real? I get a cat and a dog? What about a pony?”

“They don’t have those at the local shelter, and besides, we can’t take one of those into the testing center.”

“Oh, yeah. So I have to take a test too?”

“Nope. You can bring your Lego and a few other things to keep you busy while I take mine, how’s that?”

“Sounds great!” he started towards his shoes again. I grabbed my own pair and put them on.

“Oops! Our ride is already here! Let’s go!”

“Dad! You forgot my seat!”

“Turns out, you don’t need it; she just thought you did at first,” I told him.

“Yeah, I’m a pretty big kid,” he agreed and chuckled softly, as he was actually pretty average for his age in size, but I got what he meant.

We got inside the Prius that was there for us and buckled in. “We’re going to Firefly’s,” I told the driver.

“I know where that is. Great burgers!” came the reply as he put the car into drive and took us away.

6

EVAN

While we were in the car on our way to our delicious burgers, my phone dinged with a notification. A quick check had revealed it was a confirmation of my appointment. I’d smiled down at it, showing Jason, who let out a loud hooray, which had made the driver look back at us quizzically. I stared out the window, remembering it.

“I just had confirmation of our land claim appointment,” I explained.

“Yeah, we’re getting a farm on another planet!”

The man’s eyes widened. “Really? Your wife agreed to go? Mine told me no way, not unless there was a big city we could move to and I’d need to make sure I had a job waiting for me already.”

Jason giggled. “He’s not got no wife!”

The man’s eyes became comically wide now. “But, if you’re single, don’t you have to apply to be mate matched? Are there female Dragonii doing it?”

“Yes to the first question and no to the second. I have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting mate matched. So far, out of the five thousand approved applicants, over half were already married or engaged, so didn’t have to do the test, and the rest of them had all of eight matches. Though three of them were tested at the same time as Prince Jesse and included him, so he must have been a lucky charm.”