THE MOMENT
“And then after the mid-morning feeding, it's pretty much repeating the same route again till dinner time. It's pretty easy, all things considered, just kind of walking around and checking on things,” Boyd summed up his duties to his best friend, Zeke. Boyd had just gotten home from work, with a feast of takeout from a restaurant Zeke hadn’t heard of, and said it was a celebration. After a two-week probationary period, he was officially hired for the job with full benefits.
“It sounds simple, but aren’t you worried?” Zeke asked. “With feral werewolves or giant spiders like you described, they only need to break out once. Maybe keep looking for something safer?”
“Nah, this job’s amazing!” Boyd grinned. “As a matter of fact, I think you should apply.” Zeke didn’t have a glamorous job, but he’d had steady employment for years; Boyd couldn’t say the same. The more dangers he described about his job, the guiltier Zeke felt for pressuring him. But, rent was expensive.
“I’ve already got some seniority in my favor,” Zeke shrugged. ”And, I don’t have to risk my life being around such dangerous creatures. I’m honestly not thrilled about you being there either,” he added.
“You say that,” Boyd chuckled. “But, you don’t know the whole story. I’m safer there than I am here at home,” his smile grew wider. “How was the food?” he asked suddenly.
“It was really good,” Zeke nodded.
“So, I talked to my supervisor about you, and since you’re a prospective employee, I got permission to give you a complete explanation about what we do.”
“I don’t want to work there…,” Zeke shook his head, but Boyd grinned and nodded.
“As far as I knew, until I got the job, I was applying for a government position. It’s a government owned building with appropriate federal security. Except, it turns out I actually got a job with a privately owned corporation named ‘Sharp Development’,” Boyd said.
“So you don’t work for the government?” Zeke asked. Boyd shook his head.
“I’m a Sharp Development employee, and currently Sharp Development is contracted to the government.”
“So, what’s a private company doing researching monsters like that?” Zeke asked.
“Running a scam,” Boyd chuckled.
“What?” Zeke tilted his head.
“Alright, so for now, just trust me. I can prove everything I’m about to tell you, but let me explain it first. The company I work for now, Sharp Development, is known as a ‘multiversal corporation’,” he said. “They have branches in billions of alternate universes.”
“And you’re telling me you can prove that?” Zeke asked. Boyd nodded, but kept talking.
“The government doesn’t know about the multiverse just yet. Sharp Development is bringing them in slowly. One of the first steps is advancing our technology here to catch up to the rest of the civilized multiverse, which is where my specific job comes in. I got plenty of advanced training to deal with any mishaps that might happen, but in general I’m just supposed to be around tending to creatures and keeping them happy. Which, they’re all mostly domesticated already anyway. But, the government hasn’t quite realized that yet.”
“It’s kind of hard to believe…,” Zeke sighed. “...but, you obviously believe it. I’m gonna start needing to see some proof soon.”
“I came home with it,” Boyd chuckled as he gestured at the open pints of food with his chopsticks. “Donna Chang’s is apparently the best Chinese food in the multiverse, and I’m willing to believe that too,” he said.
“You’ve been to another universe then??” Zeke asked. Boyd nodded and shrugged.
“Yeah. I mean, I’m definitely taking the ‘billions of alternate Earths’ thing with a small grain of salt, but I’ve seen a few different Earths already. So, the multiverse is real, at least.”
“Can I see another universe??” Zeke asked. Boyd grinned.
“If you’re a Sharp Development employee, you can.”