Contributor (Contributor Trilogy, book 1) (4 page)

"Hey, Mom, do you need a hand?" Dara asked, as she walked into the kitchen.

"Thank you, sweetheart. Could you carry that basket of bread out?" Leona asked, peeking into the oven.

"Roast chicken!" Dara exclaimed.

Leona beamed. "With all the trimmings!"

"I thought we wouldn't get a whole chicken for months yet. And champagne?"

"Oh, your father and I turned in a couple of our privilege vouchers," Leona said, as she basted the bird.

It had taken her parents months to save the vouchers, and they had done so with the intention of treating themselves to a night out in honor of their twentieth wedding anniversary. "But you must have used all your vouchers!"

"It was worth it," Leona said, her voice firm. "Today is a very special day. Besides, your father and I were thinking of putting in some extra hours anyway, so that we can brush up on our skills."

"Thanks, Mom." Dara launched herself at her mother and squeezed her firmly.

"Ooof," Leona laughed. She took her daughter's face in her hands. "We're so proud of you. I hope you know that."

"I do," Dara assured her. Her stomach twisted even further at the thought of letting her parents down.

Fortunately, her mother was so caught up in her good mood that she didn't notice her daughter's anxiety. "Good. Now, could you take the bread out to the table and ask your father and Jonathan to sit? I'll be right out with a salad."

They made lively conversation as they shared the delicious meal. Dara had tried champagne once before, two years ago on New Year's Eve. Her father's superior had given it to him as a gift, and her parents had allowed her one small sip. Most wine grapes had succumbed during the Great Famine, when thousands of plant species had gone extinct. Though a few varieties had been saved, they had proved very finicky, and the agricultural engineers of Zhang Agritech Systems were still trying to figure out how to genetically modify the plants so that they would thrive in the domes' hydroponic gardens. As a result, wine was quite rare.

As they drank the champagne with a dessert of berries and custard that had no doubt cost many more vouchers, Dara savored every sip. Between the food and the conversation, the tension in her shoulders eased, and she began to feel better about her day.

Jonathan helped her with the dishes while her parents discreetly retired to their study, affording Dara and Jonathan some privacy. She made tea, and they settled on the family room couch to discuss their day.

"You seemed kind of disturbed when we left headquarters today," he said, an expression of concern on his face.

"I'm competing against Ryan LeTour and Javier Gutierrez," she replied.

He winced. "Shit."

"Exactly," she sighed.

"It doesn't matter. You're better than both of them, you know you are. It's going to be you, I know it."

"If I make it that far, you mean."

"Look, I'm not going to lie and say it won't be rough for you—we both know it will be. But you can't let them psych you out like this or you might as well hand it over to them."

She bristled, but knew he was right. "You know what Ryan is like, Jon. He'll do everything he can to ruin me."

"I know you're worried, but maybe this is for the best." His expression softened as he looked at her. "I'm not excusing LeTour, you know that. I'm just saying that this is part of life. Facing adversity now will give you the skills you need to thrive."

"I guess," she replied grudgingly.

"You're going to be put through the wringer. To pretend otherwise would just be denial. But you can do this, Dara, you can." He squeezed her hands insistently, until she looked up at him.

"I just had a rough day," she confessed. "Andersen is so...exacting. I'm afraid he thinks I'm an incompetent idiot."

"You're always so hard on yourself. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as you think it is," he insisted, kneading the tense muscles in her neck.

She closed her eyes and let out an appreciative groan. "I don't mean to whine. You know I like a challenge. He's just...different somehow. He has this way of studying me that makes me feel like he's measuring up all the ways in which I'm inferior. Maybe he should have had a career in Quality Control," she joked half-heartedly.

"My dad says Andersen is one of the hardest superiors to please but, when he is pleased, his subordinates reap the rewards."

"Really? Actually, that makes sense. Letizia is so young, yet she works very closely with Andersen, and she told me that she used to be his assistant."

"Is that so? Well, then it's doubly fortunate for you that she's your master."

"I guess so," Dara said, with some reluctance in her voice.

Jonathan stopped massaging her neck and leaned forward a bit, meeting her eyes. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know. I mean, Letizia is so hard to read. I'm not sure how she feels about me."

"It won't be long before she realizes how talented you are."

"Thanks. It's just that... Never mind. Maybe I'm overreacting." Her inability to explain her worry to him frustrated her. He was so reasonable and logical that it made her doubt herself.

"I think you may be," he said gently. "Look, you've worked hard to get where you are, and I think you're just afraid that you'll make a mistake—but that's ridiculous. By the time your apprenticeship is over, I bet Andersen will wonder why he ever thought Letizia was anything special."

Dara couldn't help but smile at that. "I don't want to trample all over her in my quest to cement my position."

"Of course not, but we both know we can't forget that everyone is competition. No matter how much you like someone, there will likely come a time when you're going to have to fight them tooth and nail for the position or recognition that you both want."

Jonathan wasn't saying anything Dara hadn't already heard countless times from her instructors, her parents, and her fellow classmates. Still, there was something kind of unsettling not just about the words, but also the intensity with which Jonathan spoke them.

"I'm sure everything will look better in the morning, after a good night's sleep," she said. The words sounded lame to her ears, but she was eager to change the subject.

"That's the spirit," Jonathan said approvingly.

The rest of the evening passed pleasantly enough, but Dara was glad when Jonathan left. She was exhausted, emotionally wrung out from her difficult day, and she wanted nothing more than to sink into her bed and fall asleep. But when she lay down, sleep eluded her. Instead, her mind kept whirling with thoughts of the mistakes she'd made.

Chapter 6

It didn't take Dara long to learn that, though he was far subtler, Javier could also be ruthless. Thankfully, most of his ruthlessness seemed to be directed at Ryan, but she couldn't help but be disappointed nonetheless. Though she knew it was unlikely they could be friends, she would have liked a more cordial relationship with her competitors. The backbiting was almost more wearying than the work itself.

"There's a lot of aggression between Ryan and Javier," Dara told her master. She and Letizia had gone to their hiding place for another lunchtime debriefing.

"There is, and you're lucky to have such an advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"If those two want to engage, let them. The more they make it a battle between the two of them, the easier things will be for you."

"I don't want it to be like that," Dara said, frowning. "I want to get this on my own merits."

"Merits aren't any good if you can't produce."

"Well, of course not," Dara snapped. Her frustration with the other woman mounted to the point that she was tempted to stop speaking altogether.

"Look, Dara, I'm not trying to be nasty here. I'm trying to help you grow a thicker skin. You're going to need it if you want to hack it here."

"Fine, maybe I am too sensitive," Dara mumbled.

"There's no maybe about it, it's a fact."

"Then what should I do? You're good at telling me what I shouldn't do, but not so good at telling me what I should do." Horrified, Dara clapped a hand over her mouth.

"First of all, you need to get better at controlling your emotions." Letizia's expression was so placid, her voice so even, that she gave the impression Dara had done nothing more than comment on the state of the weather. It proved just how right Letizia was, and the sudden flash of defiance Dara had felt crumbled away.

"Like you," Dara sighed.

"Yes, like me. There's no place for your outbursts here. You are here to work and to work hard. You need to remember that if you ever want to have any hope of being successful."

Dara couldn't even meet the other woman's eyes anymore. She felt certain that Letizia despised her and that Letizia resented being stuck with the weakest of the candidates. Though Letizia did seem to find Ryan distasteful, she'd probably have been happier had she been Javier's master. In fact, the more Dara thought about it, the more certain she felt that Javier and Letizia would be perfectly matched—but maybe that was also part of the plan. Maybe Andersen wanted to pair his engineers with the least compatible candidates, as a test of their skills.

"What else would you suggest?" Dara asked grudgingly.

"Learn everything you can. Use every minute of your spare time to read up on every project Magnum has ever been involved in, as well as viewing every history vid you can find. From now on, Magnum should be your life."

"Magnum is my life," Dara insisted.

"No, Dara. What you're talking about, that's your childhood fantasy version of life. This is reality." Letizia gestured around them. "You need to let go of the conviction that you don't need to change a thing about how you think and act. You need to learn to adapt, to do whatever is necessary to survive."

Aghast, Dara raised her eyes to meet Letizia's level gaze. Everything Letizia had said sounded so harsh and yet, at twenty-four, she was already one of the senior engineers. Letizia had brains in spades, but Dara now understood that Letizia's artful, calculated manner of handling things was the key to her success.

Her master would always come out on top. Despite Chen's almost unprecedented genius and Walters' intelligence and capability, only Letizia could plot like a mastermind, and she had youth on her side to boot. When Andersen hit his mandatory retirement age, Letizia would be the one to take over, of that Dara had not the slightest doubt.

"Are there any specific works you would recommend?" Dara asked.

Letizia studied her for a moment before gracing Dara with a brief, satisfied nod. "I can see you're serious now. Good. And yes, I do have some works to recommend. I'll give you a chip with some links and, once you've absorbed the material, we'll discuss it and you'll tell me what you can draw from it that will make you a more competitive Contributor."

"Thank you."

"I'm not going to go easy on you, so you may want to save your thanks," Letizia warned. "I also have another, more practical suggestion for you."

"What is it?"

"Have you ever looked at the work Gutierrez and LeTour are doing?"

"No. Why would I do that? We aren't always working on the same projects."

"And that's relevant how?" Letizia stared sharply at Dara.

Turning these words over in her mind, Dara tried to figure out Letizia's angle with this latest tactic. Slowly, she began to reason aloud. "If I look at what Ryan and Javier are doing, I might get a better picture of their styles, of their thought processes."

Letizia nodded. "Keep going."

"If I understand how they work...I can use that to help me think of what they might come up with when we're assigned to common projects. And that would give me an advantage."

"How?"

"I can find their weaknesses and avoid them myself. I can look at their strengths and figure out how I can improve on them."

"Now you're starting to think," Letizia said approvingly, a rare smile crossing her face.

"Why didn't I ever think of that before?" It seemed so simple, now that Letizia had shed light on it for her.

"Because you've always been focused on what you can do."