Jania paused on her way to High Command. “What are you so happy about?”
A sneeze came in response, followed by a head of bright blue hair and a twitching red nose peering through a shelf filled with old-school ledgers and boxes. “You know how I had one of those nightmare recruiters?”
She studied Anahita, datapad resting on her uniformed hip, and wished she hadn’t asked. But the other woman had been sneezing all over the records since nearly the moment she arrived. “It’s been a while. Something about not warning you that the archives weren’t digitized?”
The other woman tossed her hands in the air and shook her head. “Honestly, I should have known. This is the backup archive. But I wanted off planet. And it’s not like I realized how many sentient species there were before I agreed to catalogue all the basic records.”
Jania’s lips started to mouth a rote response. Her leg even twitched forward before she managed to stop herself. “Wait, your contract is tied to what?”
“I have to catalogue all the basic records before I can go to digital,” Anahita said, and followed her words with another sneeze. “All the initial discovery archives – that weren’t already done, of course – and then I can finally transfer. To digital. Sweet, sweet, non-dusty digital.”
“And that’s why you’re happy.” Long fingers tapped the datapad.
“Only twenty more to catalogue.” Aqua and teal streaks bobbed with joy, then sneezed again. “Files, fortunately, not boxes of files. I’ve been counting down for months.”
Jania slowly slid the datapad into her haversack. “Want some help?”
“Just make sure you let me relish the last one sliding onto the shelf.” Anahita gave her a curious look. “You’ve never talked to me for this long before.”
She shrugged and chose her words carefully. “Adjutants are always busy. I’m on my way to see General Panamat anyway, but it’s nothing time-sensitive. This is a big deal for you. I’d love to be there to see him stamp your new orders.”
And make sure he does, Jania didn’t add.
“There.” Delight sparkled among the dust motes. Another sneeze. “Cryptid Astronomica. The first discovered is the last of it.
“Then let’s go see the boss,” Jania urged. She could only delay her news for so long.
True to form, General Panamat sealed Anahita’s orders with old-fashioned wax and seal, which would be promptly digitized as soon as she left the archive wing and its wheezing air filters.
“There.”
Anahita gave a halfhearted salute and darted for the door.
Probably to change into a less dusty uniform before reporting.
“I’ll have the recruiters look for a new one, Sirrah,” Jania began, datapad already back in hand. The General receded to a slowly purpling blob of anger. “Earlier this morning, the wormhole explorers revealed a new section, currently called A4581B, Earth-normal and likely to contain sentient life…”
“It was worth the bollocking,” she told her husband a few hours later, curled into their cramped quarters. “After all, getting her out of the paper archives was the only sanitary option.”
***
Well, it needs more detail, but that’s all for now.
This week’s prompt was from Leigh: Twenty more left to catalog.
Mine went to PulpHerb: “Oh, what a diabolical idea. You should join my weekly writing plot group.” “You mean prompt?” “…No.”
