Capítulo 11: Stability

Cora woke the next morning feeling wonderfully rested for the first time in a long while. She had expected to have a difficult time sleeping but felt that she had rested peacefully. Cora was in a great mood. After living in the camps for the last couple of months, and barely scraping by on temp work while she looked for regular employment, she was exhausted. Sleeping in a real bed had felt like the ultimate luxury.

Getting dressed, Cora went to the kitchen and found a few coffee pods and some powdered creamer and sugar. Walking past the refrigerator she noticed the red light blinking above a medium box-size metal door with a plastic sticker on the surface. It said this was a security mailbox that could only be opened by either side if the other side was sealed shut.

It went on to say that a red blinking light meant that the receptacle contained mail. It told her how to clear the blinking light or set it to send mail. Finally, it said that a solid green light meant the box was empty and ready for mail. Cora opened the box and picked up a manila folder. She cleared the light and closed and sealed the mailbox door as instructed. The light turned green.

Cora went back into the kitchen and put together a cup of coffee. She gathered the folder for the tower with her large envelope from the mailbox, her coffee, and the pen that was on the counter and walked around the divider and set her items on the dining table and took a seat. Cora took a drink of her coffee and made a slight face. It wasn't to her preference, but it would work for one morning.

Opening the tower folder, Cora began rifling through the guides, rules, and help pages for what she was looking for. She pulled out the restaurant list for nearby take-out or delivery places, the local business map for their area, and a list of businesses that delivered everything from groceries and household items to personal shoppers.

Cora needed to know which businesses were close by for her shopping trip today and who to order basic food and general necessities through to have them delivered here. She did not look forward to carrying groceries home and knew they must have a service here to avoid that. There was one service recommended above the others, so Cora planned to set it up on her phone for future use.

She didn't have a computer and curiously walked into the office to see if there was a laptop in there anywhere. Cora didn't find one and purchasing a computer was currently out of her budget so she would just have to hope that the job would provide one for work until she got paid and could purchase her own.

Cora set up the app for the delivery service and got ready to order everything she needed by walking around the house room to room and adding items to her cart. She had enough in her bank account to pay the bill and would deposit cash at the branch a couple blocks from the tower. First, however, she needed to make sure this job offer was legit, and she had pretended long enough. If this was going to cruelly end Cora needed to know.

Cora opened the manilla envelope and started going through the documents. They were pretty standard employment documents. She was surprised they had pulled her file from the insurance company. It said she had been terminated due to affiliation with a person of tarnished reputation. Not because she messed up or did not do her job. Sometimes people were so awful.

There were NDA's that Cora signed for Atlas Corporation, Margo Atlas, Antione Castille, Chaos Zone, and the Tower which felt like a lot of covering butt's however she could understand. She knew she would have access to a lot of sensitive information and if it was hers, she would want protection too. Finally, Cora started looking over the salary and benefits package. It was far superior to her wage at the insurance company, but she did have two years' experience with a major corporation now.

Cora started to distrust the documents, wondering why they were being so generous to her. Before she could freak herself out Cora started searching for what she should expect to be paid for her position. Her salary was generous, but it was by no means the highest or outlandish. Cora calmed down attributing the good pay and benefits to Atlas Corporation's desire to empower their employees rather than ulterior motives.

She finished going over the documents noting that she had car access and that they would allow Cora to redo her apartment on the company dime. They had lucked out there, she really loved this place. She needed to do a couple small things, but no major redo was necessary.

Cora checked her the date of her first payday so that she could budget her signing bonus which she really thought was a gift from Antione. She knew he felt bad for her because of the camp. If he had tried to give her money she would have refused, and Antione was smart enough to know this, so he told her it was part of her job. Cora would bet just about anything that this was why she was able to accomplish so much today.

There was a noise from outside her apartment and a clanging noise. Looking up through the open shelving into the kitchen Cora saw the red light flashing again. She scrunched her eyebrows and walked over opening the mailbox. There was a large but thin box in the receptacle and Cora pulled it out noticing a letter taped to the top of the cardboard box. Taking the box back to the dining table she opened the letter.

'This is your personal and work laptop. It is new so set it up however works best for you. This is also your work credit card. Feel free to pick up a quality computer bag and briefcase on me. These are my gifts to you. Thank you for agreeing to join the team.' It was signed simply MA.

Cora smiled brightly. This company was walking a fine line in the too good to be true category, but it still did seem to be true. She followed instructions to set up her work credit card and made sure her documents were in order, stacking the ones she needed to bring to work tomorrow and taking everything to her office. She would need to set up her new computer this evening to get ready for work.

Cora completed her order for the house and noted that she needed to be back before six to accept it and put everything away. She grabbed her purse, put all her various cards and the cash in her wallet and headed out of the house opening the text app on her phone.