Riss (2 page)

The changes that had been handed down were mandatory.
Four of the older protectors were to rotate around with several different humans over the course of their lifetime. Once one of the humans died, another would be added in to take their place. Some of the men that were in this project had been a watcher for decades to these people. But now they’d share the burden with their friends. Tholan looked at the schedule and wondered about them all.

Tholan had argued that there would be things missed.
Humans needed to be cared for twenty-four/seven. Like Riss had said, the world was moving at a much faster speed than when they’d started this, and there were a great deal more humans too.

Tholan looked at his computer.
There were thousands upon thousands of names in the roster, and even more humans to watch over. It was small wonder that his men were being burnt out. Riss wasn’t the first who had decided to end it all. He was just the first to be a good friend to him. Tholan got up to look out his own window.

“
What am I to do?” No one was there to answer him, so he continued to vent his heart. “I fear there will be more and more to leave the services. And when they do, who will watch over them? Who will guide them to the other life, the one that brings them to us?”

No one.
Closing his eyes, he thought of his own days as a protector. Few knew that Tholan had spent the better part of his younger days as a protector, and fewer still knew why he was now behind a desk and not out in the world. He had failed. Or so he’d told himself so often that he was the only one that truly believed. Though, now that he thought on it, he was the only one that felt he’d failed at all.

“
I failed my charge because I was an arrogant idiot and I couldn’t finish my job. I should have done my job instead of hiding out as I’d done. I should have told her what I’d done to her. I should have been killed for hurting her so badly.” Tholan felt the hurt of what he’d done, and a tear escaped as he thought about it.

He had gone to his human and was watching her. But she
’d fallen, something that happened from time to time, and he went to help her steady herself. But she’d been dead. Fifty-one years before her time. Tholan, in a panic, had lifted her into his arms and carried her to the holding station before the medics were to arrive. But when he arrived, she was not allowed entrance. He’d taken her too soon.

“
You’ll need to tell her.” Michael hadn’t been mad then, but he had gotten so when Tholan refused to tell his charge that he’d failed her. “Tell her that she can go back, but it will not be the same. She’ll be unable to dance and sing as she’d done before, but she will live out the rest of her days.”

Tholan hadn
’t been able to do it. And when someone else had had to come in to do what he couldn’t, he was demoted almost immediately and put to watch over the animals. It was decades before he was able to bid on the position that he had now. But he still thought of her.

Sitting back down at his desk
, he finished up his rotation until nearly midnight and stood to leave. When he looked up from his desk, he saw Riss there. He started to ask him how long he’d been waiting when Riss spoke.

“
I’ve talked to Michael. He is going to see about getting me released from my duties.” Tholan sat down after offering a chair to Riss as he continued. “I’m supposed to be in the rotation of this plan until he gets back to me. Michael said it won’t be long.”

“
You really are going to leave here?” Riss nodded. “I don’t know what to say to you. There are no words to convey how much I’ll miss you.”

“
They’ll end my life.” Tholan felt his heart ache for the man and nodded. “I will have enough time to put things in my life to rest. Then I will die. I came here to ask a favor of you.”

“
Anything.”

Riss got up to pace.
Tholan would do whatever he wanted, even end his life before the allotted time if that’s what he needed.

“
I would ask that you take my belongings and distribute them to my fellow protectors. I’ve no one to leave them to.” Tholan started to shake his head, but Riss continued talking. “I have my pay as well. A good deal of it. I’ve never…I know that some of the others have purchased homes and things on earth, but I’d never seen the need. Would you please see that some children’s charity gets it?”

Tholan nodded.
“Anything else?” Riss just moved back and forth on the carpet. Just as Tholan was going to repeat his question, Riss turned to him.

“
I would ask that you go to earth for me. I’ve…there is one human thing that I’ve gotten that I’ve never told anyone of. It’s a plot. A place to be buried. I know that you’ll not be able to take my body, but I ask that you bury this in the place I have set aside.”

He laid a ring on the desk before he continued pacing.
Tholan picked it up and looked at it. It was old, probably as old as Riss was. When he started to ask him where it had come from, he saw the inscription.

“
Your first charge.” Riss nodded. “I had heard that you’d taken something from her, but I’d never thought it to be true. She should have been buried with this.”

“
She gave it to me. Or who she thought was looking over her. I think from the very beginning she knew someone was there. At times I would hear her speaking, as if to me. I would laugh at her antics, cry when she was brokenhearted, and died a little when she did. I would like this to take the place of my body.”

Tholan nodded and put the ring on his
desk to put in the safe for later. They talked for a little while longer, and then Riss said he was going to rest. The man looked like he’d been run over several times and left for dead. Tholan thought he’d already given up.

Chapter
2

Kala Marrow sat at her desk for ten minutes just staring at the screen. Terminated. And not even in person. She’d gotten the email first thing when she sat down. And now…well, now she had to gather her things by ten o’clock and put them in a box that had been sitting on her chair with her name on it when she’d arrived today. The letter had also told her not to try to take anything that belonged to the company, for they would be inspecting her
leavings
when she did.

“
They’re not leavings. That’s shit, not my personal belongings.” She looked around when she realized she’d spoken out loud and started to sort through her things. There was a lot, too. When they spent ten years on a job, a person could collect a lot of “leavings.” Laughing a little, she thought it better than crying. When her friend Dan Carey came by her desk, she tried to ignore him, but he lifted her chin up to see her face.

“
I got one too.” She glanced at her computer, then back at him. “Today. I have until nine forty-five to get my things gathered up and ready to be inspected.”

“
Leavings?” He nodded and pulled a chair from another cubical to where she was sitting. “They told me to work until my time was up. Like I’d be able to help a customer get his remote lined up with his television for this company knowing that I’d never get another check from them.”

“
Yeah, mine said that too. Must be a form letter.” He looked around her area and leaned in closer. “I’ve heard that all but three from this department alone are going to leave today. What do you suppose they’ll do about keeping people’s cable running if we’re all gone?”

Kala
had heard rumors that the company was hurting. Just last week she’d had to argue with the accounting department about her check. It had been shorted nearly fourteen hundred dollars in commissions. And the paycheck before that she’d not gotten her attendance bonus. She was glad now that she’d had them pay her now instead of waiting until her next check. That was going to help her for the coming months.

“
Do you think we’ll get unemployment?” She shrugged. While she was glad it was there to use, she hoped to have another job before it became necessary to get her first check. Kala’s goal was to be as independent as possible. Never again was she going to be dependent on welfare and government help.

“
I have some money saved. Do you?” Dan shook his head. She didn’t think he would. His manner, of course, was to get it and spend it. She supposed that worked if you were thirty-six and still lived at home. But she hadn’t lived with anyone for all her adult life, and had lived in an orphanage up until then.

“
I have some things lined up. And then we’re going to get unemployment. They termed us. We didn’t quit.” He leaned back in his chair. “I guess you’ll go job hunting tomorrow?”

She would
, and today after she left there. Things needed to be paid, and they wouldn’t be if she didn’t have a job. Thinking about what she’d do, she started putting her things into a box that was entirely too small for what she had to stuff in it. She was pulling her pictures off the wall when Dan spoke again.

“
I want you to know that I still want us to be friends when this is over.” She nodded, thinking that while they were work friends, they’d never done anything outside the job. “Kala, do you suppose they’ll cut off our free cable and Internet, too? I hope not. I really like watching television, and so does Momma.”

“
I would guess they’ve already done that.” She thought about the little postscript at the end of the email. “Did you see where we’d be able to set up our billing for it? I think it said something about two hundred dollars a month for the package we have now. I guess I’ll be watching regular television from now on.”

She
’d never watched much in the first place. It’s not that she didn’t enjoy what she did glance at, but there really wasn’t a great deal of free time in her life. If there was an open slot on the schedule, she usually worked it. And more often than not, she would stay over her shift if someone was running late. Kala had raked up a great deal of overtime that way, and fat commission’s checks too.

“
I’m not going to be able to watch my shows if they stop it now. I have my DVRs set up to record seven shows just tonight.” Kala looked at Dan and frowned. He had that much time to watch seven shows? But then he rarely worked a forty-hour week. She supposed he’d have all kinds of time. Shaking her head, she continued putting her things in the box.

When he was called to his desk by security
, she finished getting her things gathered together. By the time she was finished, she had filled a second box and put a few things in her purse as well. When Dale with security came for her, she asked him if he could help her and he nodded, taking the heavier of the boxes.

“
I’m sorry this is happening to you, Kala. I thought they were just trimming out the lazy ones. We down there in the hot box never believed it would be you.” She felt tears well in her eyes and nodded at him. “We’ve all been waiting for us to get the axe too, but we found out yesterday that we actually work for the building as of last year. Nobody ever told us.”

“
You’re secure then? That’s wonderful news.” Kala hugged him as best she could. She really was happy that he’d be working. The man had five kids and a wife to care for. “Did you get to keep everything when they changed you over?”

“
Yeah, we got to keep our 401K, too, which surprised us all a little. I’ve been putting into that thing since you told me to.” She nodded, forgetting about her money she’d put in it. She didn’t want to ever touch it, but it was something she could fall back on. “My accountant friend told me that not many companies vest you anymore one hundred percent.”

She knew that too
, and she’d put the maximum amount she could in her account every paycheck. Kala would have to find a way to roll it over without penalties, but she didn’t think it would be today.

“
Do you know of any places that are hiring?” He told her no, and he didn’t mention her unemployment. They’d been friends since she’d been working there her first day, and he would know that she wouldn’t take it unless she had to. “I need to hit the streets before anyone else does. I guess they let go of a lot of people.”

“
They did, but I’m telling you right now, I don’t think you have to worry about them others looking for work this fast. Most of them will suck the unemployment out until the very end.” She had figured on that as well. “I gotta look through your stuff, honey.”

After he went through her things thoroughly
, she was out the door. Dale even helped her put her things into her car and gave her a huge hug. Getting in before she made a fool of herself, she handed him her parking ticket and drove off. Kala was sobbing by the time she made it to her little apartment.

It was so quiet in the place that she turned on the television
, and when she saw that her cable had already been cut off, she sat down and cried. It was all she could do not to scream out her frustrations. Lying down on the sofa with the television full of static, she closed her eyes. Kala told herself that in a few minutes she’d get up and make herself presentable, but right now her head was pounding and she needed to get rid of it before job hunting. In a few minutes she was drifting off into a restless sleep.

The dream started off strangely. She was in a really bright room with several chairs.
It took her several moments to notice the man sitting at the head of the table. When he nodded for her to sit, she did but kept her mouth closed. There was no telling what this dream was, and she didn’t want any monsters to come out and eat her, thank you very much.

“
You think I’m a monster?” Startled, she shook her head at him. “But you do not believe that I’m real, do you? I assure you that I’m very real, Kala.”

“
I think you’re a dream brought on by too much stress. I’ve lost my job today.” He nodded. Of course he’d know, it was her dream after all. “Where am I?”

“
Here, with me.” She frowned at him, but before she could get him to clarify what he meant, he continued. “I should like a word with you. It is about your future.”

“
Of course it is. But I’m not going to take a handout. I’ve got my pride, you know.” He smiled and nodded. “Do you have a job opening for me?”

“
I do as a matter of fact. One that only you can do for us.” Suddenly, a file was in front of her. “I’ve made some changes here, and some of the men are not happy with them. I would like for you to help me with one such man.”

She opened the file and looked at the blank pages before looking back at him.
“And how do I help this man? I’m not going to be his sex-retary. I have my pride too.”

“
Oh no, nothing like that. Though I must say you’ll eventually want to have him in your bed. I’m to understand he’s never experienced it before. Sex I mean.” She snorted. “He does that as well, though when he does, he does it quietly.”

“
I’m not here to impress you. I…actually, I have no idea why I’m here. You’re saying that I can help this man and will want him to fuck me, but I don’t think that’s all of it, is it?”

“
No. And I would say you’re a good deal smarter than I was first told.” He leaned back in his chair and regarded her. Kala just watched him. She had no idea what was going through his mind and thought that odd since it was her dream. “What if I told you that you’re the first of many such female humans?”

“
I would say that you’re nuts. Last I knew there were all kinds of female humans in the world. A good deal of them older than me.” She leaned forward, resting her hands on the table. “I’ve never been one to beat about the bush, as it were. Tell me what it is you want.”

He stared at her for a full minute before throwing back his head and laughing.
“I do not intimidate you at all, do I? Well then, we’ll get to it. I’m sending you such a man that you’ll never see any like him again. But I think I’ll wait a while before you actually see him. I don’t want him to know that we’ve been changing his life around.”

“
I don’t have a job.” He nodded at her. “Well, if you think I’m going to provide for him, this guy that I can’t see, then you’re going to be shit out of luck. I’m going to be broke soon if I don’t find something.”

“
You’ll be fine.” Kala had her doubts. She was having a dream that she seemed to have no control over. “You like having control over yourself, don’t you?”

“
Who doesn’t?” She looked at the open file again and saw that there was something sort of fading in. She picked it up to look closer at it and found it gave her a slight head pain. Putting it down, she looked at the man. “What is this supposed to say?”

“
You can read it once you agree to my terms.” She asked him just what they were. “I’ll give them to you when you’re more ready to understand them. But I will ask that you keep an open mind.”

“
This is a dream. I’m pretty sure that I’m about as open as I can get here.” He didn’t say anything, and she glanced down at the file again. This time she could see a word: “Riss.”

“
You still think you’re dreaming?” She nodded. “Then I would suggest that you wake up. There is someone at your door.”

Kala
sat up, startled. She sat on her couch for several seconds trying to get both her breathing and heart rate under control. But the pounding in her head just wouldn’t stop. It took her several more seconds to realize that someone was at the door. Getting up, she looked in the peephole and stared at the man standing there. She opened the door.

~~~

Michael looked at the woman standing in front of him and felt his eyes widen. Goodness, she was a beautiful woman. He started to tell her why he was there when she smiled at him. Michael knew then that this was the right choice for Riss.

“
I’ve been sent to give you your severance pay.” She reached for the envelope in his hand and he almost forgot to touch her. It was important for him to keep tabs on her now, and touching her would make that connection. “You’ll have to sign for it, I’m afraid.”

“
Not until I look at it, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to sign for something that is wrong. I’m sure you understand.” He nodded. Michael had been given this just a few minutes ago and was told that she had to accept it. If she didn’t then all was lost. She was being helped by his kind to make this work. Riss needed her.

“
Why are they getting this to me so quickly? I thought it would take them months.” Michael nodded. The truth was, Kala, like so many others at the cable company, were going to get nothing. Even her retirement fund had been pillaged by them. “They cashed out my 401K?”

Michael had no idea what she was talking
about until she held up her check. All he’d been told was to touch her, give her the envelope, and to get out. But she motioned for him to come inside, and he had to decline. Riss could not know anyone had been there.

“
I don’t know, miss. I was told to bring that to you.” She nodded and sat down. “Will you be all right?”