“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Commander Pearl stands in front of the closet, staring down at Esther at the computer chair. After Shift left, she couldn’t go to sleep in the heat and decided to write some fiction and work on an essay for English.

Esther swiveled around in her chair. “What do you want, Commander Pearl, Sir.” Pearl continues to glare, and then crosses his arms and coughs.

“Are you not supposed to be getting the best rest your body can take? How are we supposed to give accurate information to immigrants if we’re not receiving the correct information in the first place?” he shouted.

“Please be quiet, Pearl, Sir. This house and relatives are sleeping down the stairs.”

“There is no excuse. For three weeks now you have been in a slump where the information you send is inconsistent and depressing. Please give better information for our scouters.”

Esther stood to look Pearl straight in the eye. “Commander, please give me some slack. One of my main IF’s have been out of order for the past while, and I can’t get a proper grip on reality. I’ll apologize for not relaying the proper information, but besides that, I cannot be sorry for.”

“Easy, easy, there, Marée. You’ve been useful to us in the past, so we’re not going to cut you--yet. Just start up some good stuff and the EO will be happy. Thank you for your time.”

Esther saluted Pearl off and he stepped back into the closet, disappearing into the X dimension. She sighed as she slumped back into her seat, an open Word document full of fiction tales on her desktop. “Deary me, what am I to do? Even the EO is after me now? You’ve got to be kidding… I’m going to have to go back to X soon to patch some things up.”