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People tended to guard the questioned by receptionist Once past a check point, the body and hts strayed to surface If she was guilty of anything, her relief at having made it this far would be apparent
She had to appear norhtly nervous before a job interview and Claire all owed herself so out of the ordinary
The elevator door slid open Claire stepped inside
The door closed and the aerodynaated flower bud, the Guardian Building contained an inner core of offices and working spaces, up the side of which the elevator now cli steel bearid, the outer surface of the bud Solar glass panels sheathed the diagonal spaces between the twisting beaht that set the polished granite floor of the enorrid ht, it seehtless It was so beautiful, it felt ic
Her memory served up the recol ection of her horey apartment, the steel and worn plastic of the spartan spaceship she’d boarded teeks ago She couldn’t decide if thosewith its bright colors and s people in vivid clothes was a lovely delusional dream
Deep inside, beneath her shields, anxiety churned
Making it to this planet had been a miracle If her shields failed, she faced io back Not after seeing this Besides, if she was deported back to Uley, she’d neverfor her at the spacecraft’s door
Below her people rey, the woht colors What must it be like to come to work here every day? Did they ever becohed, loathe to leave the view behind, turned and exited into a narrow hal way, its indigo, almost black, wal s reflective like a darkribbons of dark blue lue, ran paral el to each other, curving and twisting like three-dimensional current of a river The transparent floor reflected it, and as she walked down the hal way, Claire had an absurd feeling she i
The hal way opened into a wide charey rey couches lined the wal s Two men and three women sat on the couch cushions Her shield didn’t permit her to actively scan theirto their psychic enal, like a satel ite dish
The woht, with purple streaks in her black hair, had a loud hts floated around her like noise above a spaceport
An easy target The woman on the left was more restrained, but weak Of the three men, tere trained psychers, but both wereby the time she was fifteen The final man showed no psychic activity at all , his mind practical y invisible On Uley, he would be a dud
Here the tered woh the arched doorway at the end of the rooaze precise like the beam of a bio scanner
"Claire Shannon?"
"Yes"
The woh Claire’s surface thoughts with a laser precision and fell short of the shelThat was the beauty of hts over the shel - nobody realized the shields were there
"Take this," the wo her the tablet
"There are three tests loaded on the tablet Sit down and complete them You will be cal ed"
Inwardly Claire exhaled
"Rokero Grenali," the woman said
The older of the h the doorway
Claire sat The polished wal presented her with her own reflection: a severe grey skirt that clasped her narroaist, a conservative pale blouse, dul brownish hair pul ed away froes of clothes she was per, this was the best, ers occasions when she had worn civilian clothes in the last year
The other to at her One wore a slick silvery business suit, the other a vivid red and orange dress Their ed with superiority They felt prettier They were bright dahlia blossoms, and she was a drabher pride The emotions boiled inside and bounced off her inner shields Her face, reflected in the polished wal , was cal showed except for the mild anxiety, typical to any job applicant She had too h
She shouldn’t have been this unsettled First the anxiety fro through her skul , and now the realization that she stood out after a lifeti told to how important it was to perfectly fit in She attracted too much attention all those factors shredded her normal poise to tatters It’s the sensory overload, she told herself It will be fine She had over eight hundred combat missions behind her This was just one more
Claire slid a stylus from its holder on the side of the tablet and scanned the tests A written and ical questionnaire, and a card test
The virtual deck contained fifty-two cards in two sets, one red, one black Each card bore a single sy narrow rectangle The program dealt cards face down and the user had to indicate color and shape It was the simplest of psychic tests