From cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Subject: [Louis/Oberon, Inc.] You Never Know Until You Try Date: Sat, 8 May 93 06:25:11 GMT cosc19kh@elroy.uh.edu (Happy Mammal Department) writes: > cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes... > > >"Then how would you like a job?" Kevin asked. "I'm rather new > >around here, and I don't know much about this place. You've been > >here longer than I have and I assume you know your way around. > >I'll pay you...oh...how does 10 credits an hour sound?" > > Louis was silent a long moment. In the background, band members were > ferrying music eq onto the stage, and doing sound checks and things. > > Ten credits an hour? though Louis. (Louis never had much use for > money to really appreciate the amount involved just now. But then, > what sort of comparison was zero an hour?) > > "Uh, well," she said at length. "I dunno. There are people that > hire out for guides, but, uh, I don't think I can do that. I've > never even been in this part of the Complex until, uh, a week ago. > Maybe." > > "It'd, well, probably wouldn't do any good." "Hey, now. You never know until you try." Then Kevin realized how lame that sounded, and tried another tack. "Well, even if you haven't been around this part of before, you've lived on this planet for a while, haven't you? So you've got to know more about it than I do--I just got here a couple of months ago. Just give it a shot, okay? I promise that I won't hassle you, and no one else will either, if you work for me." Kevin noticed that people were staring at them oddly as they stood in the middle of the floor, kid and rat-girl, so he stepped over to a table (not the same table as he'd been at previously, that one was too far away and besides, it still had his non-alcoholic beverage on it) and sat down, motioning for Louis to do the same. "Besides...there are other things you can do for me besides being a guide. For example, if something happens, like new arrivals or something, people on the street tend to talk about it. It would be worth a lot to me to have a source who can tell me about all that." Kevin shrugged. "I guess I just don't want to see people go hungry. Besides, I think you remind me of an old friend..." > Donovan / Louis, rodent-of-no-measurable-job-skills You never know until you try...oops, that sounds lame, doesn't it... -- Chris Meadows | Robotech/RIFTS/Palladium fanfic author/editor CHM173S@SMSVMA | They Might Be Giants about Star Trek aliens: CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU | "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | on their real heads!" From cosc19kh@elroy.uh.edu (Happy Mammal Department) Newsgroups: alt.pub.havens-rest Subject: [Louis/Oberon, Inc.] Of rodent hiring quotas.... Date: 8 May 1993 09:40 CDT cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes... [Kevin offers Louis a job....] >> Louis was silent a long moment. In the background, band members were >> ferrying music eq onto the stage, and doing sound checks and things. >> >> Ten credits an hour? though Louis. (Louis never had much use for >> money to really appreciate the amount involved just now. But then, >> what sort of comparison was zero an hour?) >> >> "Uh, well," she said at length. "I dunno. There are people that >> hire out for guides, but, uh, I don't think I can do that. I've >> never even been in this part of the Complex until, uh, a week ago. >> Maybe." >> >> "It'd, well, probably wouldn't do any good." > >"Hey, now. You never know until you try." Then Kevin realized >how lame that sounded, and tried another tack. "Well, even if >you haven't been around this part of before, you've lived on this >planet for a while, haven't you? So you've got to know more >about it than I do--I just got here a couple of months ago. Just >give it a shot, okay? I promise that I won't hassle you, and no >one else will either, if you work for me." This was all starting to make Louis nervous. Not nerves nervous, more like uneasy nervous. Jack and Trenton had never really been impressed by talk like this; that was why they did their own... courier jobs. What would they think if the kid they'd taken care off all that time threw in with an outift like this? Well, okay, thought Louis, Jack shot me the last time he saw me. Though there were, err... extenuating circumstances. >Kevin noticed that people were staring at them oddly as they >stood in the middle of the floor, kid and rat-girl, so he stepped >over to a table (not the same table as he'd been at previously, >that one was too far away and besides, it still had his >non-alcoholic beverage on it) and sat down, motioning for Louis >to do the same. (So she did. She gracelessly pulled her legs up under herself and sat cross-legged in one of the chairs. Not a bad chair, really. Nice, generic bar-table-type chair. Her tail curled around one of her knees.) >"Besides...there are other things you can do for me besides being >a guide. For example, if something happens, like new arrivals or >something, people on the street tend to talk about it. It would >be worth a lot to me to have a source who can tell me about all >that." She nodded vaguely, thinking. That would make her a sidekick, right? On the streets? Wasn't that where people got beat up for their money? Who would talk to a little rat-oid? Was this going to require a semester of Info Gathering 1301? What if there was nothing to hear? Louis had never heard much about new arrivals to anything before, would that mean anything? The Godfather always had his network of hired guns; did this make Louis a flunkie, and Kevin the Godfather's right hand? Was this an offer that couldn't be refused? What about medical insurance? This didn't involve blood tests, did it? >Kevin shrugged. "I guess I just don't want to see people go >hungry. Besides, I think you remind me of an old friend..." "Weeelll..." she said, not really paying attention to a word Kevin said. "What if I do take this job? What happens then? Out of curiosity...." Donovan / Louis "Our biggest enemy is going space crazy through loneliness. The only thing that helps me maintain my slender grip on reality is the friendship I share with my collection of singing potatoes." --Holly, Red Dwarf II From CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu (Chris Meadows) Newsgroups: alt.pub.havens-rest Subject: Re: [Louis/Oberon, Inc.] Of rodent hiring quotas.... Date: Sat, 08 May 93 16:41:14 CDT In article <8MAY199309404485@elroy.uh.edu> cosc19kh@elroy.uh.edu (Happy Mammal Department) writes: >cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) writes... >>"Hey, now. You never know until you try." Then Kevin realized >>how lame that sounded, and tried another tack. "Well, even if >>you haven't been around this part of before, you've lived on this >>planet for a while, haven't you? So you've got to know more >>about it than I do--I just got here a couple of months ago. Just >>give it a shot, okay? I promise that I won't hassle you, and no >>one else will either, if you work for me." > >This was all starting to make Louis nervous. Not nerves nervous, >more like uneasy nervous. Jack and Trenton had never really been >impressed by talk like this; that was why they did their own... >courier jobs. What would they think if the kid they'd taken care >off all that time threw in with an outift like this? > >Well, okay, thought Louis, Jack shot me the last time he saw me. >Though there were, err... extenuating circumstances. Kevin watched the nervous expressions flicker across her face. >>"Besides...there are other things you can do for me besides being >>a guide. For example, if something happens, like new arrivals or >>something, people on the street tend to talk about it. It would >>be worth a lot to me to have a source who can tell me about all >>that." >She nodded vaguely, thinking. That would make her a sidekick, >right? On the streets? Wasn't that where people got beat up for >their money? Who would talk to a little rat-oid? Was this going >to require a semester of Info Gathering 1301? What if there was >nothing to hear? Louis had never heard much about new arrivals to >anything before, would that mean anything? The Godfather always >had his network of hired guns; did this make Louis a flunkie, and >Kevin the Godfather's right hand? Was this an offer that couldn't >be refused? What about medical insurance? This didn't involve >blood tests, did it? Kevin guessed at what she must be thinking from her expressions. "I'm not the godfather or anything..." he said. "Look at me, I'm just 18 terran years old. I'm just a kid who's looking for help doing MY job--the vice president of Oberon, Incorporated." He snorted. "Sounds like a big job, doesn't it? It's not, really. I just get to ride around on my Excal bike and do busywork like putting up fliers, while my big bro does all the work. Oh, and I have to help decorate the showroom, too." He grinned. "I just want to be of some use to my brother, and I think I'm going to need some peoples' help to do that. People like you." >>Kevin shrugged. "I guess I just don't want to see people go >>hungry. Besides, I think you remind me of an old friend..." >"Weeelll..." she said, not really paying attention to a word Kevin >said. "What if I do take this job? What happens then? Out of >curiosity...." Kevin shrugged. "Oh, not much, really. If you should hear anything interesting, you tell me about it, and if I need to find someplace and you know where it is, you would show me the way there." He added, "I could also find you a small apartment in the Oberon workers' 'plex if you wanted. It's not much, but it has a bed and a 'fresher, and locks on the doors so no one can get in unless you want them to." >"Our biggest enemy is going space crazy through loneliness. The only >thing that helps me maintain my slender grip on reality is the friendship >I share with my collection of singing potatoes." > --Holly, Red Dwarf II All right, I tried, but I can't come up with a suitable quote. The only thing I can recall is an admonition on the part of Lister: "Whatever you do, don't let Kryten show you his polaroid collection." And I probably didn't get it right anyway. -- Chris Meadows || Andrea & Sheryl CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET || [AU] thread, alt.pub.dragons-inn CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU || -------------------------------- CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU || A supporter of rec.arts.creative