6. Jesse
JESSE
This is it: after weeks of waiting, I’m finally going to get tested. And then I’ll be able to start my move to New Haven. I’ll have to start small, seeing as it’ll just be me and Buster to run the place until I can afford to hire a ranch hand, after I find out how to go about doing that.
The Mylos officer who’d met our shuttle stopped in front of a door, which he opened and motioned for us to go inside.
“Alec!” a guy already inside called out, spotting someone he knew.
“Um, hi,” he said, walking over.
“You had to wait for your test, too?” the guy asked him.
“Um, yeah. I thought you were mated to that Kit guy.”
Huh. For a moment, I’d thought they’d arranged to take the test together to provide each other with moral support, or maybe because they planned to run a claim together.
Now, however, the confused look on the Alec guy’s face indicated this was not the case.
They simply happened to end up signing up and getting the same testing session.
“Here to get it confirmed. I’ve never taken the test, and you know how it is. Until they are told, their minds hold them back.”
I rolled my eyes at this. That seemed to be pie in the sky to me.
He obviously had a huge unrequited crush on some poor Mylos and was about to get a major disappointment.
It surely couldn’t be a Dragonii, as they only just arrived and as far as I knew, they hadn’t mingled with the general population outside of these first few testing sessions.
Alec looked as doubtful about his assertion as I did, but instead of saying so, stammered out, “Um, yeah. Sure.”
His friend patted the empty seat next to him. “Here, have a seat. I was here before anyone else, and the nurse said the matching officer would come out at one on the dot and take us all to the area they’ve got set up.”
“Cool,” he said, plopping into the seat.
The guy smiled at me, gesturing to the empty seat next to him as everyone else moved to find an open seat.
Great. My usual umming and ahhing over which seat I should take had me looking like I was trying to make friends. Which would be pointless, as I doubted from what I’d heard so far that either of them were New Haven bound.
“So, you’re sure you’re mates, huh?” Alec asked his friend as if feeling the need to confirm what his friend had already pretty much stated, blushing as he did so.
“Yes. Some things you just know, even if certain Mylos miss the obvious and rely solely on these tests. Are you hoping to get matched?”
“Yeah. I’m tired of being alone, and hookups don’t really appeal, you know? I might only be twenty-three, almost twenty-four, but I’m ready for my happy ever after guy to show up so we can plan a life together.”
He looked down at his lap shyly. I could see how someone that bashful could find it difficult to put himself out there. Much easier to try this way if you didn’t mind marrying an alien and seeing if you hit the hubby jackpot.
“I get you. I didn’t know I was ready for that until I met Kit three years ago.
We were introduced, and it was like bazinga!
I realized fate had just played me good and I’d won the mate lottery.
Only the joke was on me as Kit was completely clueless, and his display never kicked off.
So I thought I was mistaken, right up until that kidnapping case last year, where it turned out one of the investigators had met his match and downplayed his symptoms and suppressed them until a doctor suggested he was mates with the guy.
And then the guy took the test and badda bing, badda boom! Achievement unlocked.”
Bazinga? Badda bing, badda boom? This guy had to be the most annoyingly perky guy ever.
And where had he picked up such expressions?
They sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place them.
Did he work with teenagers, maybe? They were always using slang no one could keep up with.
Hell, when I was a teenager, I couldn't keep up with all the new “in” and “out” slang my fellow students were using.
“Oh yeah. The teacher who was kidnapped during that Friendship Picnic event. He and a kid were taken by people pretending to be bus drivers, right?”
He shot him with a finger gun. Then, he turned to look at me, one eyebrow raised as if asking if I was here husband shopping.
I gave him a sardonic grin, shaking my head.
“Well, I’m hoping I’m not. I’m tired of being told what to do, as my old man won’t let me help run the ranch.
He’s still treating me like a regular ranch hand, not even the foreman.
So when I asked him last Sunday at dinner to at least let me help me select the new livestock, and he told me that he’d been meaning to have a sit down with me to let me know he was promoting my brother-in-law to foreman and would be handing him and my sister the ranch in a couple of years’ time, I’d had enough.
The announcement about the Dragonii colony offer came on the news, and I signed up.
I’m here to take the test and then get assigned my piece of land so I can go ahead and skedaddle off to my new life. ”
“That’s terrible!” Alec said. “Why would your dad do that and not at least make you and your brother-in-law and sister equal partners?”
There was no way I was going to word vomit the entire sorry tale, so I gave him the abbreviated version.
“Because, in his actual words, ‘This is Oklahoma and there’s no place for no Brokeback Mountain shit in this town’.
I’d always thought he was okay with me being gay as long as I didn’t kiss and hug all over anyone in front of him, and that he’d get over it if I did find someone special.
Ya know, get him used to having the guy around, and after I took the ranch over, extend that to overnight stays, and let it go from there.
But no, he’s just a bigot who was biding his time.
My sister told me I was welcome to stay and that she and Ted were sympathetic, but that Dad was right and the ranch would have issues if it came out. So, I left.”
Sympathy immediately filled both men’s eyes.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he said. “I’m Carl, by the way.”
“Alec,” Alec added with a cute, tiny wave.
“Jesse,” I inclined my head in greeting. “Nice meetin’ y’all. Hope you get what you’re after.”
“You too,” Carl replied, and dang, if he didn’t seem to mean it. Maybe if he had been going to New Haven, he’d have been a good guy to get to know after all, him and Alec both.
A Mylos officer wearing a sash over his bare torso appeared. “Those for the mate matching service, please follow me.”
I pushed down a feeling of irritation at having to get up and go somewhere else yet again.
Why the hell hadn’t they just taken us all straight to where they wanted us?
I wasn’t the only one displeased at the sudden reshuffle of locations, grumbles sounding around me as everyone got up to follow him out.
He led us to a room that held more chairs, a desk I assumed belonged to the testing officer, and a machine in the back of the space.
This time, we all simply filled the seats from farthest to nearest. Which of course meant I once more was sitting next to Carl, who had Alec on his other side.
The Mylos officer smiled welcomingly at us.
“Hello, my name is Hathrup. You should each have a form on your tablet’s homescreen.
If you did not bring your tablet, I will give you one to use that has the questionnaire on it, but you will have to key it with your thumbprint and retinal scan before starting. ”
I didn’t have a tablet since I’d only just taken the shuttle up. Hathrup handed one each to me and another guy. I looked down at mine. I was both surprised and yet not at how it looked very similar to a regular old iPad or Android tablet.
I guess there’s only so many ways to make these and have them be user friendly.
A flashing icon labeled Compatibility Questionnaire caught my eye.
I pressed my thumbprint to the area showing a finger.
The tablet gave a soft chime, one that sounded like it was telling me everything was good.
I tapped the questionnaire’s icon, and it opened up to show me a long ass list of questions.
At least some of them are multiple choice, I mentally sighed, looking them over. Here goes nothing.
After what felt like an excruciatingly long time, I finally finished, right after someone else, who got up and handed it in.
“I just need to take a cheek swab so we can run your DNA profiles,” he said in a low voice, I guess so he didn’t break Alec’s train of thought, which I thought was very considerate of him. “You can take your tablet back to your seat. Xeranos will already have your replies on file.”
“But this wasn’t mine,” I replied.
“It is now. You’re applying for a claim, yes?”
I nodded.
“You’ll be able to use that to interface with Galactic systems and software applications, which your earthen tech won’t be able to.”
“I can’t use my laptop at all?”
“If you have games and software on there you prefer to use, such as spreadsheets, they’ll work. Voltage appropriate wiring will be installed in your dwelling so you can use electronics and appliances you may decide to bring with you.”
Relief swamped me. Using the spreadsheet program I was used to sounded more reassuring than me having to try to learn a new one on top of everything else.
As for appliances, the only thing I had was a doggie water fountain I’d bought on a whim off a shelf full of clearance items, thinking I’d be finding a job in the city and renting an apartment for me and Buster.
Hathrup took out two sealed sterile swabs, like you’d see in a police procedural, and took a sample first from the other guy, sealing and labeling it before doing the same with me.