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Today, it seems as if it’s the most normal thing in the world to share breakfast with a very chatty grizzly-guy to my right elbow and a naga with a droll wit to my left.
The way Slater talked, these guys could barely carry on a conversation three years ago. Whoever was in charge of their education did a great job. Not only is it clear they’re bright, but most of them seem well read.
Someone’s going to show me to my new office after breakfast, and at some point I’m going to get a mentee. I’ve never had any desire to teach before. Some people have that gene. I do not.
However, the idea of teaching one or two of these guys everything I know about computers is pretty appealing. I’m not exactly sure what the colonel’s ulterior motive was for encouraging me to be here. What I do know is that someday, possibly soon, I’m not going to be sneaking onto the dark web, I’m going to get a written invitation.
Fun times.
I don’t need eyes in the back of my head to know when Slater enters the dining hall. The room quiets. First in one conversation at a time. Then it seems all the folks who didn’t notice the second he walked into the room are shushed into silence at the same moment.
Sure enough, when I turn my head, there’s Colonel Slater in his green and khaki cammies, striding straight toward me.
When he’s standing next to me, he announces to the room, “I assume everyone has had time to meet our newest crew member, Josephina—”
I interrupt to say “Jo,” loud and clear enough for there to be no mistake that I will not appreciate any name other than the one I call myself.
Slater lifts a confused eyebrow and in a hushed tone for my ears only says, “Sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I like Jo lately,” I announce to the group as if it’s a brand-new idea and I haven’t gone by this name for the last eight years.
“If you’re done with breakfast, let me show you to your new office. We might as well invite your new assistant along. I figure working with you might be a good fit for Chance.”
Before Slater’s gaze flits in that direction, I know as sure as I’m sitting here that Chance is the strikingly handsome dapple-gray centaur I met yesterday. The one with the long silver hair and tail and the shockingly blue eyes that have followed me since I walked into the room this morning.
Chapter Eight
Chance
Shit! No, what am I saying? This is great. No. This is terrible.
Jo. She said her name is Jo. She’s the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen, and she smells amazing, and she was so kind yesterday when she rigged a way for me to eat with everyone without dropping my food on the floor.
I’m not used to being around women, though, and I barely said a word to her because my tongue felt tied in knots. And there’s the matter of my cock. My cock that gets hard just thinking about her, which I did all night long.
“You’re burnin’ daylight, son,” the Colonel says.
He’s almost to the door, with his daughter close on his heels. I hurry to keep up.
They kept us mostly indoors in the southern barracks, and with my self-imposed isolation due to lack of clothing, I didn’t leave my new dorm room until Olivia hand-delivered my kilt yesterday.
My brisk walk from the dining hall to the military area is my first taste of sunshine in days. As I trot to catch up, I can’t contain my urge to lift my face to the sky and enjoy the warmth of the sun beating on my face.
The military area is behind the dorms. It consists of domed corrugated metal buildings. I assume the long ones are barracks for the soldiers. The small ones are single dwellings meant for the officers.
I thought it was just a rumor that Ty and Olivia are living in one of the small units. When I asked him, though, Ty couldn’t hide his proud smile as he admitted he and Olivia were living as a couple in the building meant for the Colonel himself.
I assume if they’re living together that he and Olivia have kissed. When I can scrape up the courage, I’m going to ask him what it’s like to kiss a woman.
The Colonel escorts us into one of the long metal buildings as he says, “This is the President Woodrow Wilson Office Building. Your office is right near the entrance.”
Although the building is bare bones metal on the outside, it’s nice and bright inside, with big windows and freshly painted yellow walls. I can’t complain after living in a cell or an underground bunker most of my life.
Since I never had a family, the only thing I know about it is what I’ve seen on TV and movies. I can’t quite figure out how Jo and her father interact. It’s not like those shows where the father and daughter talk a lot and touch each other with affection, that’s for sure. They haven’t exchanged a word this morning.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think they were complete strangers.
“Here are two HPE Cray EX computers. I thought you could show Chance some basics this morning.”
