In general, the business considered deep space employees of little importance that were replaceable in just a matter of moments, and to ISOs Human Resources they were just stock items, who they had stacked on a shelf, like cans of beans. There were frequent and often unaccountable deaths or disappearances, which should have allowed the disappearance of Dover and Franklin to go unnoticed and would have done just that, but for the intervention of an overzealous Record-cleansing Clerk.

Because of the clandestine nature of the Rock Zones employment process, it was standard practice, to casually shelve any surviving dependents into a lifetime pension fund, which in the scheme of things was peanuts, siphoned off their salaries by ISO's Finance Division. In principle, it was a self-funding defence mechanism, specifically designed by ISO Finance to keep any, if not all the nosey parker earth-based audit authorities at arm's length, as they did not want any potentially damaging investigations to interfere with their operations.

The side-lining of dependents was all but automatic and would have been so but for the corporation's unwillingness to risk revealing that ISO considered their staff and their dependents no more than a number, which they had placed in the care of a computer. So, Human Resources delegated the task to flesh and blood clerical staff, selected purely for their unquestioning button-pushing aptitude. However, there had been a glitch in their selection process, which was nowhere near perfect as the clerk delegated with the task had uncharacteristically shown a little too much compassion, a flaw revealed when by emotion when she overruled her better judgment and decided to give the Charles family an individualized touch. In truth, on her part, this was not an entirely selfless act, for by coincidence her surname was also Charles, and Francesca Charles could not help but ponder the possibility that they were distant relatives. It was not that she intended to go any further and investigate that possibility as the system would detect any enquiry automatically and result in her dismissal.

But deep inside Francesca felt an uncontrollable urge, driven by a purely hypothetical family connection, she was intent on expressing her regret to the victim's family. But the system detected her action immediately and set off a covert alarm the moment she opened the Peer file in the Tech Lab, whose IT Security had been wise enough to anticipate that such a scenario could unfold. Unfortunately, they could not prevent Francesca from seeing that someone had deleted the Charles family's records from the Data Base and following the alarm things moved at lightning speed. And even before enough time had passed for her to respond, a message flashed on the screen, in bold red letters, that bluntly summoned her to the Tech Lab, for an impromptu security analysis. She knew better than to panic and after taking just moments to compose herself, logged out of the file, and deleted her access record. But not before authorising the pension funds dependency payment, even though a little surprised she still could and no matter what happened to her, and although the file was not visible, she pressed the button which would ensure the family would not suffer, because of her unprofessional curiosity.

Francesca had fully expected to be frog-marched before a kangaroo court, judged, tried, and hung out to dry without an ounce of compassion, but was surprised when warmly greeted by an unusually pleasant, albeit efficient-looking Tech, for like everyone else she was familiar with their overbearing arrogance. The Tech politely showed her into a side room, with comfortable seats and a low-level table, and offered refreshments, the Tech's out-of-character behaviour only succeeded in making her feel even more ill at ease. This was something which must have been blatantly obvious, so much so that the Techy who had taken a seat beside her, smiled sweetly, as she reached out, to gently squeeze her hand as she spoke.

"It's okay Francesca, we mean you no harm, please relax, we just want to ask you some questions.

All I ask is that you be honest, it's for your own good."

To say that the Tech's manner stunned Francesca was an understatement, she was well and truly gobsmacked. And although not related Francesca had no memory of anyone, not even her mother doing such a gentle thing, her upbringing was all about relentless drive and upward mobility.

Then with a break from protocol, the Tech introduced herself as Malinga Anglia and Francesca did not know whether to laugh or cry, but bravely managed to smile, not an easy thing to do when undergoing what was tantamount to an interrogation.

Although in this case, the interrogator was doing her best to make it seem otherwise and Malinga even took the time to ask her questions about her background and what had led her to a career in space. Of course, Francesca knew full well, that this was in her HR records, including the low-budget backstreet genetic enhancements performed on her at an early age, albeit at her parent's request.

Francesca was quick to answer her questions, word for word and all the while Malinga was scanning her scratchpad, and quietly noted, that at no time did Francesca refer to anything that related to compassion or feeling control. It was therefore quite clear to Malinga that she could competently manage her feelings even under intense pressure. Francesca was convinced that she was doing the right thing by not revealing an ounce of compassion, believing it would make her appear weak, as it would in any normal interview session.

However, in this instance, Francesca's resilience was not helping her case one little bit, for Malinga was itching to find even a trace of compassion, which would help her with a decision that would determine the fate of this intelligent young woman, whom she was secretly beginning to admire. But Malinga was a professional and knew that it was only a matter of time before Francesca would make a slip and persisted knowing it only needed to be the tinniest chink in her armour, that would allow her access to her psyche. It finally came when she asked her why she had pressed ahead with the pension fund after discovering that the family files were missing, and she let it slip saying.

"I didn't want them to suffer....."

Francesca was halfway through the sentence before realising she had let her guard down, and it ended abruptly with a tell-tale stutter, and in despair, she looked down at her hands expecting an immediate knock back from Malinga. But once again she was surprised at the way Malinga showed obvious signs of empathy toward the compassionate choice she had made, by simply stating.

"Now, that was a truly thoughtful thing to do, especially when you knew your career was on the line."

It was at this point, Francesca decided she had nothing to lose, now that her feelings of compassion had been revealed and Malinga knew her weakness, so she decided to go for broke, and in an attempt to get some answers about the deletion of the Charles Peer file, blurted out a rather long question, which might have been better if split into several.

"Okay, so the truth is out, I care about people, but before you fire me or shoot me out an airlock, I need to know why all the records of the dead Rock Worker Franklin Charles have been deleted from Control's Data Base, that's illegal even out here at the fringes of the Solar System?"

Malinga was unfazed, by her jumbled question to which she simply laughed and replied.

"That's more like it, young lady, now we are finally getting somewhere, but if I tell you a sacrifice is required and you will be left with two choices, there will be no turning back from either."

"Sacrifices, I didn't realise I had anything left to lose."

"Oh, you most certainly do young lady."

"I do, please enlighten me?"

"You must commit to doing exactly as instructed without question, and if the agreement is broken by default you will have chosen option two, you will have chosen to die!"

"So, I'm stuck between a rock and interstellar space, some choice!"

Malinga gave Francesca an ironic reply.

" That's right on the button, young lady, I couldn't have put it better myself."

Without reply, Francesca just slumped back in her seat, took a deep breath and clasping her head in her hands fell into a deep and thoughtful meditation, the room is in silence, you could have heard a pin drop.

Total Words: 1435

Running Total: 9909