Page 1 of Colvin
Chapter One
Ivy Wilson was up to her eyeballs in work, coordinating the first wave of Ardannan men and human women arriving at the Intergalactic Dating Agency’s Resort Planet for their government-sponsored five day ‘dates’. The cruise liners and transports had all arrived in orbit as scheduled and the participants were shuttling to the surface, ready to mingle, find their assigned match and begin their promised week of fun in a luxury setting. So far things were going quite well with only a few minor hiccups. Not all the Ardannans signed up for this voluntarily—their government had ordered them to participate in hopes of fostering greater connectivity between the primarily human population of the Sectors and the newly joined Ardannans through intermarriage.
Ardanna was paying for the entire operation so the women who’d accepted the IDA invitation were all volunteers, hoping to change their lives from whatever situation they had on their home planet. There was an especially large contingent from Old Earth, which was out of the way on the edge of the galaxy and had been left behind to a large extent by the Sectors as civilization expanded into the stars.
Ivy’s staff was handing out the matching tokens, giving directions to the large club where the meetings would occur, coordinating luggage deliveries to the hotels and bungalows, answering questions, soothing the jitters of overwhelmed women, solving clothing emergencies and any number of other minor issues. She was overseeing all of it and getting directly involved wherever she was needed.
Ducking into her office for a moment to take a breather before going off to her next crisis, Ivy took the chance to place an important call to her three-year-old son Darien, spending his day in the IDA Employee Childcare facility as usual. “How are you doing, buddy?” she asked when his holo appeared on her desk.
“Good. I climbed to the top of the monkey bars all by myself,” he reported with pride, chest puffed out a bit.
She praised the accomplishment and asked what he’d had for snack, which became an involved story from Darien about the book the teacher read before nap. Ivy loved hearing about his day and his activities. It was the best kind of break from the stresses of her job.
There was a knock at her office door and her boss Goff Delain, manager of the entire IDA operation, walked in. He waved to Darien, who waved back.
“I guess I’d better go,” Ivy said to her son. “I should see what my boss needs. See you at pickup time. Love you.”
“Love you too,” Darien said and scampered off. The holo blanked.
“What can I do for you, sir?” Ivy asked Mr. Delain. “Orientation and startup are going smoothly from all indications.”
“You and your staff are doing a terrific job,” her boss said with a smile. “The Ardannans should be quite pleased.”
“As long as they get some matches out of the week.” She threw up her hands and shrugged. “All we can do is provide the structure, the algorithm and the resort. The rest is in the hands of the participants.”
“Very true and we’re careful not to make promises.” Delain grinned and seated himself in the chair beside her desk. “We do have a problem, however.”
She took a deep breath and tried to loosen the knot in her shoulders, ready to tackle whatever was important enough to bring him to her office. “What is it and how can I help?”
“I don’t know if you’ve had time to review the attendee reports?”
“I took a quick glance this morning. Seemed like an extremely high rate of acceptances so I moved on. There are always a few no shows.” She tried to think what she could have missed there.
“Yes and unfortunately for us, one of the cancellations was the match for a high ranking Ardannan military officer, a General Colvin Lawben. My liaison on the Ardannan side was quite upset and insisted we solve the problem. Apparently this person wasn’t too happy about participating and his government is anxious to have his time here proceed smoothly.”
Pivoting to her desktop data center, she pulled up his file and projected the man’s holo. He had a strong, handsome face, with high cheekbones and dark green eyes, hair cut short in the military style, chestnut brown peppered with gray and a severe “don’t waste my time” expression. In spite of the latter, she found him attractive. “What do you propose we do for him then?”
“I ran the algorithm on the employee database,” Delain said, lounging in his chair. “You’re an excellent match for him.”
The shock was like ice water thrown in her face. “Me?” she said in a faint voice she hardly recognized. Putting her hand over her chest as if to subdue her panic, she asked, “How can that be? He’s a general for space sake. I’m a single mother admin worker.”
“You know we never question or attempt to analyze the algorithm results,” her boss said, shaking one finger in an admonitory gesture. “And you know we’re all in the potential match database for situations like this one, even me. It’s a requirement of the employment contract.”
Fleetingly she tried to imagine who’d be a match for Goff Delain but then focused on her own situation with an impatient shake of her head. “Sir, I can’t leave my responsibilities here on a moment’s notice to go spend a week pretending to be this man’s date. And I can’t leave my son.”
“You won’t be conducting a fake date,” Delain said, forehead wrinkling in a frown. “You’re his best match at this point. Enjoy the week, consider it a vacation. Your team and I will cover your duties. And as for Darien, you know we maintain twenty-four hour childcare at the Center. Marisa, his lead teacher in the three-year-old room has already agreed to be his caretaker in the evenings, overnight and the morning. I’m told Darien is extremely fond of her.”
“She’s his favorite teacher for sure,” Ivy was forced to agree.
“And you have left him with Marisa before, when you went to the special training for a week,” Delain reminded her. “He was fine. You’ll still be on the same planet, in close proximity should there be an urgent need. I know it’s not ideal but we have to ensure this first Ardannan dating experience goes well. It’s a huge contract with multiyear potential and they’re in discussions now to set up a similar program for their female population. A lot hinges on this.” Rising to his feet to signal the discussion was over, Delain smiled. “We’ll owe you and I’ll make sure our gratitude is reflected in the quarterly bonus awards. You have my word.”
“But—”
“You’ll need to leave now to pack, get changed and make it to the club in time for the matching. And of course, stop by the childcare and explain to Darien. I realize that’s important.” Her boss strolled closer to the desk and dropped a chit on the smooth surface. “Here’s your ticket for the matching, although of course you know what he looks like already.”
In a daze, Ivy picked up the smooth white wafer and ran her finger over the star symbol in the center. “I’m not going to lie to him.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. You’re certainly free to tell him you’re an IDA employee as long as you make it clear you’re also a genuine match. Again, I recommend you enjoy your well deserved week of luxury at the resort. Nothing else has to happen. We made no promises regarding intimacy or specific activities and all the accommodations provided under this contract have two bedrooms.” He rapped his knuckles on the desk. “I’ll be interested in your report next week. It’s a golden opportunity for us to collect inputs on how the program is working from a member of our own team. The participant surveys are essential of course but as an employee you’ll be assessing it from a completely different angle. Have a good time,” he said again, with emphasis and walked out.
