Intergalactic Exchange Corporation Ltd

It's another tedious and redundant day in the office. Anika is an Admin Assistant in a real estate firm. She's doing her usual tasks when her manager sends a message from Slack.  “Attention All Employees: Meeting at the Conference hall immediately. Drop everything you're doing and proceed now!” That's odd. They had urgent meetings from the past but not to the extent that they have to stop their tasks. She checked the other cubicles nearby. They are all walking the hallway already. She tried to catch up. The meeting is about new management since the owner already sells the company without prior notice. The new boss is taking over immediately, and he or she wants all of them to stay, but they have to be retrained right away. There are a couple of new faces Anika noticed from the conference hall. She suddenly remembered her coffee mug. She left it on her desk and she hasn't drunk any of it. She thought, if this is training, it will take longer. She decided that she will have to grab her coffee tumbler first and then join the rest. She heard the announcement anyway. The training will start after they sign the new contracts anyway. She has time to go back to her office first. Anika quickly went down to the 2nd floor to get her coffee. After less than 3 minutes, she's back to the conference hall, but nobody's around anymore. She panicked.  "Where the hell are they?" She decided to go back to the reception since they might have an idea where they went. "There you are." She looked around and saw the other woman from the new management. "Hi. Sorry, I just grabbed my coffee from my office, and when I get back, they're no longer here. Do you happen to know where they are?" she asked her as she already mentioned the reason for her absence. "Of course. Follow me," she said smiling. Anika followed her to the elevator and she punched the numbers so many times. It's odd that she has to do that. Maybe she's just in a hurry all the time. Their building elevator is a little crappy. But they normally press a number multiple times when they're almost late. But this woman punches several floor numbers as if she's entering a code. They're not talking until the elevator stops and opens its door. "Here we go," she exclaimed. "Now we have to take you another way." Confused, she still just followed her. She doesn't think it's a big deal being like 3 minutes late just to grab her coffee. By the way, she's not really late since she timed in like 2 hours ago before they show up. While they walk the empty hallway, Anika takes a good look with her companion. She's really slim and tall. She walked as if she's in a runway show. This woman is very beautiful. Very out of the ordinary since she has seen models and actresses before. But this one is perfect. "Are you OK?" the woman said to her. She blushed cuz she's like checking her out. She's not a lesbian or a bisexual. She just admires her physique so much because it's really perfect. She cannot even pinpoint any flaws from this girl. Which is really weird. "Yeah. Sorry for not following the crowd. I have a caffeine addiction. Can't live without it." she said, trying to make the atmosphere lighter. "Sure you're different. I'm sure we can use your personality better than the rest of your group," she replied as she opened the door from the right side of the hallway.  She didn't know that there's a door there before. She's been working for almost 2 years there and she can't remember seeing any door from the hallway. It's always after the hallway. Every floor in that building is just a duplicate of the other. She followed her and entered the door. She just shrugged as they didn't really go to this floor that much since it leads to the roof deck. They only do it when there's a company dinner. That's their venue for parties. Maybe they are trying to save money. "Please wait here." the woman instructed her. At last, she was able to see her name tag. Andromeda, that's an odd name. But her beauty is out of this world. Not that she's jealous or envious of her. She's just too pretty more than the prettiest woman around she knows. Although she's not the vain type, she's naturally beautiful. "The boss will see you now. Please come in," she announces. Anika felt a sudden confusion. The boss will talk to me right away because I have to get my coffee. Now that’s BS! But she still entered the room. It was dim, and there's nobody around but a huge screen. It's a video call. "Welcome, Anika! Have a seat." He looks like a Prince from one of the fairy tales. Not that she got a crush on him or anything like that. He's just really handsome and literally good looking. How's that possible? Anika takes the seat in the middle. It looks more like a home theater than a CEO office. She feels ugly now compared to these people she's meeting today. And she looks like a print ad model already. That's why she also handles the marketing department. To lure potential clients because of her brains and good looks. He speaks to her again. "You're really different. Do you know that?" "Maybe in some ways. How did you know that?" She asked him back. "First, you didn't just follow the crowd and still went ahead to get your coffee because you want to..." she supposed to protest, but she held herself. This is her new boss. She needs to behave. "Then Andromeda told me you never asked about weird questions. Some people will sit in the back row when they talk to me. But you've taken your seat now where you can be closer and see me face to face." he said, smiling. She doesn't know what to tell him though. Weird questions, why do I have to ask if I know it's already weird. And I sit here because I don't have good eyesight." she said to herself thinking what to reply back to the boss. Nothing... "Interesting...Well, I guess you've earned the right to know the truth then. I'll let you watch a video first and I'll get back to you." The boss said and switched it to video mode. It's like an infomercial about the company. It mentioned producing super workers by making superhumans. She saw a chamber like a booth where someone will sit and get injected by a huge tube at the top of their heads.  WTF is this? She can't believe her eyes. As if it was in a SciFi movie but she's not there to watch nonwork-related stuff right? She still keeps on watching though. She saw that once the person got injected, they changed the way they look. They suddenly appear so attractive and flawless. Whoa! It's like cosmetic surgery without the blades. The video stops. The lights went brighter than before. She saw the boss rotated from his swivel chair. Now facing her between the tables. So he's here physically all along? "What do you think?" he asked her. She tried to digest what she just watched. It looks horrifying to come to think of it. But she didn't want him to get offended. "Is this mean that your company sells cosmetic surgery or something?" she asked thinking that it can be the rational explanation of the video. He laughed. "No, we're not! We're producing new technology. We are manufacturing workers. Superhumans as I may say."  Is that a joke? She waited to see if his expression would change. It didn't. He looks very seriously more than ever. "That's fine. You'll see how it is as we proceed. Thank you for your time. I enjoyed our little chat." he pressed a button, and Andromeda entered the room. "Take her to the transformation room so that she can start functioning," he ordered her. Wait, is he referring to me? Anika thought. Mean. He thinks I'm useless after praising me that I'm different and all. What an asshole.  Since she doesn't like her very handsome boss, she didn't say anything anymore. She just follows that weird named girl out of the room. Maybe they are giving a makeover to all the employees to live the brand.  Why not? I can be prettier if I have to do it. But that tube straight into my skull, no thanks! When they arrived in the transformation room, it looked like an ordinary room. But it's really colorful from the walls to the floor, it's very artistic. She was instructed to take a seat again. "Please review and sign your contract. I'll give you time while I prepare everything for you." She said and handed her a tablet & stylus pen.  They really went all out with the paperless policy. Unlike the old owner who gave them as many pages of the contract to sign. She didn't know if for a job or for their support with polluting and wasting the planet's resources. Like every contract, she just looks for her name and the compensation section. Whoa! $1.5M per month for the first 3 months. It will go up to $2M afterward, and it keeps on adding up depending on the tenure ship. $1.5M to get a makeover while working on the same task? Sign me up now! She said to herself. But her mind is giving her a bad signal. She hesitated and started reading the contract.  It reads:  To Ms Anika Rogers, We'd like to extend our offer to you for our new company. After reviewing your qualifications, we are promoting you as the Directress of Operations and Galactic Control. Thus, your compensation package rate will be applied as of today. Once you sign this contract, you will be provided with your check with your signing bonus of $3M. You will then immediately proceed with your transformation and start with your new role immediately. We're looking forward to having you onboard. Again, welcome to the Intergalactic Exchange Corporation!  Signed by: Astro B234 Confirmed! I've been pranked big time!  What kind of contract is this? She wants to scream because of frustration. Her eyes are full of range and she wants to hurt someone right now. Andromeda entered the room. "Is everything alright, Ms. Rogers?" she asked. "No, everything is not fine! I don't deserve to be treated this way! If you want me to quit, just say so!" she said in a very angry tone, almost shouting. She fell back to her seat and started to cry out of frustration. "I'm so sorry if you feel that way. Let me help you with that. I'll talk to the boss about the offer if you're not satisfied with it." she said apologizing. "Haven't you read that contract? It says you'll pay me $1.5M in a month! Then it was signed by Astro B234. Who's that? Astroboy's brother?" she's still angry about the situation. Andromeda looks like she finally gets it. "Oh, I see. Don't worry, I'll make sure that the compensation package will be fixed. The signature is actually the boss's code. He doesn't sign his real name in contracts since the system cannot decode it." she explained. Anika wanted to scream to her face but didn't. She pitied her. A very beautiful face with an empty head. Fine. I'll just play along with it. Better make sure to just take out two zeros on that paycheck or I'll quit if it ends up to $15,000. It's a promotion after all. Andromeda offered her a cup of coffee. She didn't notice that she's holding it when she got back since she was in a rage. "Here, I bought some coffee for you. It looks like you left your coffee tumbler from the boss's office earlier. I'll get it back when he's no longer there. You can call me Andie by the way." "Thanks, Andie." she's calmer now. She took a sip of coffee and suddenly she felt lightheaded. Whoa, what was that? She thought she got drained by her rage earlier. It happens to her most of the time, especially if she has to shout. "Try to relax now Ms. Rogers. You can just sign your contract at a later time once we have it amended." she heard Andie said as she took the tablet & stylus from her. She feels more relaxed now and takes another sip from her cup.  She noticed that it tastes better than the usual office coffee they brew before. Maybe they also improved on it as well. She drinks it all up and then all of a sudden everything goes black.