"Don't worry, we'll take care of you," he said as the doors opened into the verification department, my new home away from home.

For the first time that day, I wondered if I'd made the right decision.

seven

As magical as everything else I'd seen so far at MSI was, this department was about as drab as any office I'd ever been in. It was an open-plan office, without even the privacy of a cubicle, just desks lined up in rows. The cube in my old office looked palatial in comparison.

The desks were almost bare, with just phones on them, no computers. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen a desk without a computer on it. There was a larger desk at the head of the room, and that desk held a computer, a phone, and one of those crystal ball thingies that seemed to serve as a company intercom. Behind that desk sat a balding man with a bristly mustache.

"Gregor, here's your fresh face," Rod called out. Gregor looked up from his crystal ball and glowered at us. "About time," he muttered.

"She was meeting with the big boss. You know how that goes." Rod turned to me.

"Gregor manages the verification department. You'll be working under him."

Gregor got up and came around his desk to shake my hand. He wasn't much taller than I was, and he had a spare tire around his middle. He didn't look particularly thrilled to see me, but I couldn't tell if that was just his usual personality or if he had taken a dislike to me already. "We needed another person in here," he said gruffly.

"We're up to our eyeballs these days."

The other people in the office didn't seem all that overworked. A middle-aged man who looked like the sort of person you meet at a Star Trek convention—not that I'd know that firsthand—sat at the desk to the far right, reading a paperback thriller. A girl who looked like the sitcom stereotype of a Long Island girl sat at the desk nearest the door, painting her fingernails a bright metallic blue. The rest of the desks were empty. I supposed the other people must be out verifying.

"This'll be your desk," Gregor said, pointing to the one behind the nail polish girl.

"The drill is, you wait here until someone calls for verification. We send out whoever's up next, unless they request someone. First few days, we'll send you out with some of the others until you know what's going on, then you'll be on your own.

You might want to bring a book or something to do while you're waiting." He turned to the girl painting her nails. "Angie, show her around the office." Then he stomped back to his desk and sat with a grunt.

"I'll leave you to get settled in," Rod said. "Just let me know if you need anything.

You can reach me by phone, or come down if you have the time."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll see you around." He waved at me and left. I turned to see Angie with a scrunched-up look of distaste on her face.

"Who let the dogs out?" she said in a nasal Long Island voice. Even though I thought her remark was rude, it was nice to have my view of Rod's looks validated, after seeing so many others swooning at his feet.

"He's actually pretty nice," I said, putting my purse and briefcase down at the desk Gregor had pointed out. I'd almost forgotten how unattractive Rod could be, the more time I spent with him. When he wasn't trying so hard to play the charmer, he was much more appealing.

Angie finished her nails, then closed her bottle of nail polish. "Okay, I guess I'd better show you around," she said, waving her hands in front of her face. She held them out, her fingers spread wide, as she got out of her chair and headed to the far side of the office. "Over here's the coffee room. The pot with the orange handle's decaf. When you finish a pot, make a fresh one, and by finish we mean anything less than a full cup left in the pot. No leaving a tablespoon and claiming you didn't empty the pot, like certain people do." She raised her voice and said, "Gary!" apparently addressing the guy who still had his nose stuck in his book. "Creamer and sugar are in the cabinet,

and there's also tea. Hot water comes out of that spout on the coffee machine."

We walked farther into the coffee room, and I noticed that the sink was full of empty coffee mugs. "You'll want to bring your own mug, and you're supposed to wash up after yourself. Refrgerator is community property, but if you want to keep your lunch, put your name on it. Sodas are free. If there's something you like that we don't have, let Gregor know. He'll kvetch about it, but he'll order it. He's also supposed to get us lunch if we want it, but that just wigs out most of us, so we brown