Chapter Text
Fresh out of college, she needed a job.
What she got was a job in a remote location in the middle of nowhere.
Just looking for sounds in deep space.
It's just for a month but the recruiter said if she wanted to do another month after the contact was done she could but should see how the first month goes.
It paid really really well for some reason and it would help with finding another job in the future with this gig on her resume.
Pearl took it but not without question.
She made it to the gate and it opened, letting the squid inside and closing behind her. The security booth was empty so she assumed her supervisor opened it remotely.
With her bags in hand, she made her way to the base.
"Straight ahead." She said to herself. "Starting tomorrow this is my new home for the next 30 days..." The inkling hurried down the path, a few lights helped guide the way but without them the path would be shrouded in darkness.
Why did she have to get dropped off in the middle of the night?
Thank Cod it was a quick jog to the front door. A note left above a keypad with the code.
1111.
Who was the last person here and why did they leave the code to the base outside the base and RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR? She had to change that.
The code was entered and Pearl stepped inside, turning on the lights. There wasn't much trash but a few piles. The air had a stank to it, making Pearl cover her nose for a second before locking the front door and making her way further inside. To the right there was a small room that had a window and a slot for items. Administration. It had some junk in it so she didn't care for it right now. A left turn showed a hallway with 4 doors, one on the left and 3 on the right with a staircase at the end to the right. There were lockers lined up on the walls and a vending machine at the end next to the stairs.
The walls had faded paint but it looked like someone tried giving the place some personality.
Oh she found another note while heading down the hallway. This time on the locker.
'To whoever reads this, Welcome to the base! Your room is upstairs at the end of the hall. Extra trash bags are in the storage closet. I did my best to clean the place during my time here and got it ready for whoever took over the job. There's more notes lying around. If you don't care to read them at least keep them somewhere. They all have important info you might need later. Good luck!'
- Last worker.
"Huh..."
Well seems like someone else was here recently before her. Room was upstairs? That's where she headed.
Going up the stairwell, she turned on the lights to the top hallway. More lockers, a big window to see the roof of the base, the darkness of the outside and the lights on satellites scattered across the land.
This place must be great to see when there's actually light to see it all.
Pearl stopped staring outside and went to the room at the end of the hall. The door opened and that smell hit her nose again. Coddamn.
There was a kitchenette, a bed to the far right corner, a table, a carpet and a bathroom. The place had trash everywhere in here. Why didn't the last employee clean this room up at least?
She tossed her bags to the floor to hurry up and find the source of that smell.
Her nose lead her to the fridge and soon found a very VERY old pizza and shrimp waiting for her.
NOPE.
She quickly grabbed them and tossed them out. Thankfully the roof access was in the room so she was able to wait outside while the room aired out for a bit.
She leaned on the railing and took a deep breath in. Her nose was thankful for the fresh air and so was she.
"I hope this place ain't that nasty." Pearl said to herself. Not even a hour in the new job and she's already starting to hate the thought of finding old food everywhere for her to clean up.
She around the little area of the roof. It had some pots for plants, a telescope and a box to help get to the other areas of the roof.
That last coworker must have had a lot of hobbies to keep them sane while out here all alone. The squid decided to take the cap off the telescope and take a peek at the stars.
All shining, sparkling and bright. It helped her forget the horrible smell for the moment.
Seeing space so clear all the way out here and soon she'll be able to hear solar winds, planets and maybe if she's lucky enough, a spaceship in orbit. Pearl turn the scope to look at the moon for a moment.
Something about it in the moment made it look even brighter than usual tonight. It kinda sparkled? Maybe it was dude to being all the way out in the middle of nowhere but it brought a smile to her face and made her wonder if the moon made noise like the rest of space.
All of that would have to wait a few more hours though. Pearl put the cap back on the scope before heading back in the base to unpack what little she had. A few clothes, some stuff to remind her of home, a CD player with some CDs to keep her sane and a sea slug plush to keep her company.
With everything unpacked and put away, the squid went to the bed.
....
Where were the sheets? The covers? It was just a old mattress and a very old pillow...
Ugh.
Pearl tossed the pillow to the floor, grabbed a hoodie and her plush before laying on the bed
She rolled to face the ceiling and let out a sigh.
"Base sweet base."
She said to her plush before getting a few hours of shut eye.
It's not like she's going to be able to stay asleep in a messy base or in the bed like this for long even if she wanted to.
There was something she couldn't shake when sleeping. She woke up to fog outside, the sun not rising just yet but the sky was brighter with teal and blue.
Well no time better than now to get started on your new job.
The inkling kept the hoodie she slept in on while getting her day ready.
First the bathroom which was thankfully clean!
A quick time there before grabbing a granola bar from her bag.
She brought a few snacks thinking she would have a fully stocked kitchen while here but that didn't see like the case.
She rushed down to the main room of the base and opened the doors.
It was big and had a few things still lying around from the last employee. Some had sticky notes, some stuff was self explanatory like the Brooma that was powered off in the corner.
Pearl went straight to the area of this room.
The computer where 4 big screens where on with one small computer on a desk in the middle.
She hopped in the office chair and turned the machine on. It took a minute but the screen soon flickered to life.
Once it booted up, the first thing Pearl did was look at the emails.
One from the supervisor and another from a guy she was sending the signals to.
Lot of business talk Pearl already knew but when she was about to click away, another email popped up from someone named Dr. Kel.
"Hey as a base warming gift, I did manage to convince this company to not reverse the upgrades between shifts."
"Upgrades?" Pearl email back.
"Yea, it will be much easier for you to do your job with them! You should already know how to use the computer there and if you have any questions about anything, don't hesitate to email me if you can. It can mean life or death!"
"Yeah whatever stop with hazing the newbie and tell me everything I should know at the start."
After 10 minutes of emailing each other, Pearl got her first signal processed, packaged and ready to send once the sun came up but before she did that...
The tower was out and she needed to climb it to turn get a signal to the drone.
So she climbed.
Half way up the tower, the wind started to blow harder, making the inkling grip the ladder and brace the sudden wind gust.
She wished that Dr. Kel would have told her about this part of the job. Pearl thought it was all computer work and not maintaining the grounds or the equipment here.
A chill went down her back and made her hurry up the ladder. Thank fuck she had pair of gloves in the suitcase for the next time she needed to come up here.
Pearl pulled herself up on top of the platform at the top of the tower and looked around for what she needed to get done. A table with old food, a chair and-
Ah there it was.
A box wit no label on it.
She swung the cover open and restarted the tower until a green light flashed on.
Pearl looked up to see the red lights flashing again and gave a nod. All in working order again.
Before she thought about going back down the ladder again, a beam of light hit her from the east.
The sun finally started to show and the inkling was thrilled to feel the warmed of light on her face after climbing all the way up here.
Now that chair made a little more sense.
She brushed off any dirt and trash off it to sit for a while. She had all day to do her duties today anyways so why not enjoy morning for a bit?
With the wind whistling in her ears, the sunlight shining across her face, the inkling stared at the sky.
Most of the stars were gone or fading away due to the rising sun but the moon was still there for now, peeking through the atmosphere.
"Still trying to stick around moon? It's bed time for you. Go with the stars and sing them a bed time song. I'll be fine." Pearl started to sing to herself. With no one else around, she didn't have to be worried about bothering others about being too loud.
And so high up? It was like being on a stage but no one to look up at you.
"Big ol moon still fighting to shine in the sky while the sun shines like dime in my eye." Pearl hopped out the chair and held her arms to the moon.letting herself get louder
"You're trying your best! But we all need rest! So go lay down without a frown so you can wear your crown without a.... Wait what rhythms with that?"
And she lost her groove trying to think of how to finish.
She just shrugged. It'll come to her later.
The moon had faded from the sky for today, allowing the sun to be the only thing in the sky for now. Maybe she should look at the weather to see if there's going to be some rain later.
Pearl headed down the tower, more awake and ready to start doing her duties.
A small quiet hum was all being could muster for now. The planet rotating marked the time for rest but the being did wait until the noise from the planet stopped before moving away from in front of the moon to rest somewhere close.
It was nice to hear someone sing to you before bed.