Volunteer 2

Disclaimer:  balloony, inflatable themes herein - for mature audiences only.

*****

She had checked into CVTech's long stay dormitory earlier that afternoon and was sitting on the edge of the bed, perusing some of the educational material that the recruiter had left in the suite for her.  "Imagine never having to fear drowning in a shipwreck or from cramps while swimming" read the copy in the pamphlet she was holding.  "Imagine jumping from a burning building or a damaged airplane and landing gently on your feet."

RescuFlate was a revolutionary concept envisioned by several of CVT's top scientists.  So talented was the team that they increasingly thought of themselves less as scientists, doctors, and engineers but more as artists and magicians.  They had even self-titled the group with the whimsical code name of "The Magic Factory".  With these guys on the job, not only was RescuFlate possible, it was a sure-fire moneymaker.

With a knock on the open door, she looked up from her light reading.

"Hi" said a woman standing in the doorway.  "You must be Sandra."  The woman looked down at the clipboard in her hand to verify the room and name, bouncing on her heels as she did.  Then, stepping forward with an outstretched hand said "I'm Pam.  Pleased to meet you."

Sandra stood and offered her palm in return and the two exchanged pleasantries as they shook hands.  Other than the white lab coat with a pocket protector, Pam looked like some kind of flunky intern with her faded jeans, tennis shoes, and t-shirt.  A brief conversation, however, revealed Pam to be not just on the team, but one of RescuFlate's primary developers and, in fact, was in charge of the testing program.

"Roger says you handled the interview pretty well.  We've had a few volunteers run home screaming after having the details of the program revealed to them."

"I'll bet."

Pam chucklesnorted, smiled disarmingly, and pushed her falling glasses back up on the bridge of her nose.  "Well, it is a bit of an odd concept."

"I keep thinking it's some kind of practical joke and I'm being set-up." Sandra confessed.

"No joke - I promise."  Pam smiled wider and bounced on her heals again, clutching the clipboard to her chest.  "How about a tour of 'The Magic Factory'?"