THE MOMENT
"Did I say something wrong?" Albert asked the red-haired man. He'd only been in orientation long enough to ask a question before he was sent out of the room and told to wait in the hall. After a few minutes, Phoenix appeared in a crisp white suit and introduced himself. He turned and added the suggestion that Albert follow him as he walked away. Albert gave up on keeping track of the twists and turns they took through identical white hallways and asked his question.
"Not at all," Phoenix shook his head with a smile in his voice as he led Albert. "This one was entirely our fault. Unfortunately, the realities of bureaucracy mean that sometimes details fall through the cracks. Normally, the people that reach this training are more informed about the company and what we do here. You still have some catching up to do, so I'm taking you to a one-on-one orientation. That way you can get your questions answered without holding up the rest of the group."
"Oh, okay...," Albert nodded; but, he still seemed unsure. "...so.. she was serious when she talked about rebuilding after alien invasions...?"
"Yes; but, actually no," Phoenix nodded as he turned a corner and Albert followed him into another narrow white hallway. "Alien invasion is a bad example because aliens don't exist; however, the scale of what we do here does fit. If aliens did invade, we would be the ones to help recover. The black holes, kaiju battles, meteor impacts, zombie outbreaks, and so on are actual cases we deal with regularly."
"Regularly...?" Albert stopped walking. Phoenix seemed to sense it and stopped several steps ahead before turning around. "Zombies weren't mentioned... and... none of these things have ever happened ... how are you dealing with them regularly...?" he was beginning to wonder if it was a scam somehow. Truth be told, he didn't even know where he was in the building anymore; it didn't even look as large from the outside as it felt inside. Phoenix nodded and gave him a friendly smile.
"Not on this Earth, they haven't," he said. "Sharp Development is a multiversal corporation. You'll learn more about it in your orientation; but, there are infinite alternate Earths out there, and there's always something going on where we can help."
Albert stood there in the narrow white hall with his mouth agape. The revelation was spoken so casually that he believed it. It took him a concerted effort to fight off what he assumed was his gullibility. Why should he believe Phoenix?
"Oh, okay, we're ready," Phoenix said suddenly. He pointed at the white wall next to them and a black portal appeared. "Sorry about the walk, I had to make some arrangements first," he gestured at the portal and Albert wasn't sure what to do. If it were a real hole in the wall, Albert assumed he would have seen the parking lot or some other indication of 'outside'. All he saw was empty blackness as if he were staring down into a bottomless pit.
"It's okay, I'll go first," Phoenix reassured him and stepped into the hole; then, disappeared. After a few seconds, his face poked out of the darkness and he grinned. "I don't mean to rush you, but I do have other work to get to..," he said as he pulled back and vanished again.
Well, that wasn't normal. Maybe Phoenix was telling the truth. Maybe he'd get to see other Earths. Albert had spent his whole young life so far waiting for the call of adventure. And now, he almost missed it because he was unsure. With a firm shake of his head, Albert mustered his courage and strode into the hole with confidence. He emerged into another narrow hall; but, this one wasn't white. It was a grey hall lined with numbered doors.
"Is this an apartment building?" Albert asked as Phoenix walked to a nearby door and knocked.
"Yes," Phoenix nodded as the door opened. A woman that looked to be in her late 20s answered the door and smiled at Phoenix first, then Albert.
"Kim, this is Albert; Albert, this is Kim, your trainer," Phoenix introduced them, then waved. He sank through another portal in the floor leaving them alone. Kim opened the door wider and invited him in.
"Welcome to Sharp Development, the best, most helpful corporation in the multiverse," Kim smiled. "Let's get you orientated."