Chapter 34: The New Guy

"Here we are, back to the lab again for another exciting day of work" Ethan said as Nikki and him entered the building through the glass doors. "Sister dear, are you ever going to, oh I don't know, get a job or something?"

Nikki shook her head. "No of course not. Following you around all the time is so much more fun. After all, who is going to keep everyone else in line if I don't?"

"What would we ever do without you" he said as sarcastically as he could.

She flicked him in the head with her finger. "You know you love me!" As they walked towards the lab assistant desk she asked "Who's that sitting at the desk?"

Ethan looked at the man sitting behind the desk. "I don't recognize him, he must be new. I'm going to introduce myself." Ethan walked over behind the counter and sat down in the open seat. "Hi, my name's Ethan. I don't recognize you, are you a new employee?"

The man turned around to face Ethan. "Yes I guess you can say that. My name is Jerry."

Ethan grinned. "Hi Jerry, are you a student worker here at the university trying to get some experience before you get out in the real world?"

Jerry shook his head. "Actually I'm a highly advanced robot sent from the future to protect you, the future leader of the human resistance. Goggle's network becomes sentient in the near future and declares war on Switzerland. It all kind of spirals downhill from there, with the near decimation and eventual enslavement of humanity. It all happens the same year that a famous TV judge gets elected president known infamously as Judge Judy Day."

"I don't think so." Nikki laughed. "I find your story unbelievable."

Jerry frowned. "Really, what part gave it away?"

Nikki responded "Nothing really, I just find people tip their hands really easy if you challenge them. And besides if you were really sent from the future to protect Ethan or whatever, where have you been. The boy is accident prone."

"I am not!" Ethan objected, "I think I just hang out with the wrong crowd. So Jerry, you're new here then?"

"No I've been working for IT for years now."

Ethan said "You haven't been working for our IT department, I know everyone that works in our department."

"I mean I worked for a different company before this" Jerry added.

"For what company?" Nikki asked.

"I worked at Mac-o-soft for 5 years before coming here."

Nikki said "One second, they post their employee records only, we can verify that in a moment." Nikki started to type away vigorously on one of the computers at the desk.

Jerry looked around nervously "Or I wanted to work there, but they were offering too little salary for an expert like me. My skills deserve a pretty sizable amount of money."

"Which is exactly why you took this close to minimum wage job instead" Ethan said laughing at Jerry.

Nikki went and found a seat at another computer and started to browse the Internet. A few minutes later, a girl came up to the desk where Ethan and Jerry were sitting. "Hi, can I get my laptop registered with your wireless network?"

Jerry shook his head. "Sorry, our network is full. We aren't accepting any new users. If you'd like, we can put your name on the waiting list. We'll also need you to write out a check for $100 to me to pay up front your initiation fees into the wireless network. "

She frowned. "Oh really? Let me get out my checkbook real quick and we can get things rolling through the process."

Ethan turned in his chair to face the girl standing at the desk. "There's no wait, I can get you registered real quick. We don't require any fees either." Ethan took the laptop and ran a scanner looking device over the top of the laptop. "There you go, all registered."

The girl took her laptop back and started to pack it up. "Thank you."

Ethan added. "I must warn you that people recently registered do experience occasional data loss. Our scanner works on industrial magnet technology. You should probably check to see if it works."

The girl turned her laptop back on to test the Internet connection. "Yeah the wireless is working, I seem to be missing my operating system though."

Ethan said "Yeah that happens on occasion, better go catch it" as he pointed to the exit. The girl picked up her stuff and ran out that way. "Another satisfied customer."

"So I wanted to come clean about who I am. I'm a disabled clone war veteran and times are tough even for me. That's why I took this job. You can't see it, but I actually have a mechanical device to help me breath."

"The force is all kinds of messed up with this one" Nikki said as she unplugged Jerry's computer. "Try again Jerry."

Jerry shrugged. "Talk show host?"

"No"

"Secret Agent"

"Nope"

Jerry asked one last time. "Pathological liar?"

"Ding ding ding." Nikki patted Jerry on the head and then went to go sit down again.