xp_logs | Pete and Doug, today

Doug stops in to Pete's office. Pete offers Doug a job working for him.

Pete looked up at the knock on the open door. Seeing Doug, he grinned and gestured for him to take a seat, slipping the laptop closed with his other hand as he did.

"Come in, squire. Pull up a pew."

He paused.

"I won't bother beating about the bush, here: I want you to come work for me."

Doug paused, halfway to sitting down in the chair in front of Pete's desk. He'd had a hunch something like this would eventually be in the offing, ever since the events in England, but having a hunch and having the question put to you were two entirely different things. "Would this be in the 'Snow Valley Memorial Center' sort of capacity, or the 'dodgy behind the scenes' sort of capacity?" he asked neutrally.

"Both. You've be on the books as a sysadmin for Snow Valley, and you'll be expected to pull your weight there, but if it was just that, you'd be talking to Betsy or Emma, not me."

Pete shrugged.

"You're both bright and a disgustingly decent human being, and on top of that you're one of the best hackers I've run across, and your other gifts should make you a natural for this sort of work. You'll take a bit of training, but of course I want you for the rest of it. The job pays at pretty fucking well, Emma's got some sort of arrangement with most of the major universities about degree level work, and I'll get someone to forward the paperwork about that to you, and you get a place to live in the East Village, which I understand you young people might enjoy, in as much as it's near some places that *aren't* the East Village. The downsides include working for me, and generally being stuck in extremely stressful situations at short notice, and expected to produce miracles. Also, LeBeau might start sending you fake bombs in the mail. I'm not sure why he's been doing that to me."

"I've had some experience with being stuck in stressful situations and being expected to work miracles," Doug responded, remembering the whirlwind of attempting to save Haroun al-Rashid's life and upgrade his cyberware. He also remembered the aftermath, where he hadn't been able to talk, but it'd been in a good cause.

He grimaced slightly. "LeBeau. Joy. Throw in Logan and a colorectal exam, and it'll be the most fun work environment ever," he said a bit more caustically.

"Who says you won't get both those things?" Pete looked Doug straight in the eye. "No joking: I'll respect your ethics, and your judgement, but personal issues, or just not wanting to do something, those are not things I expect to get in the way of actual work, and one of the reasons I'm asking you to take the job is that I think you're bigger than that sort of shit. But if you just want a fun working environment, then this ain't it. If you want a chance to make an actual fucking difference instead of just being good PR, and a job that lets you make your own damn decisions about how you do things, then you're fine."

"I can handle that," Doug replied, looking Pete back in the eye as well. And it'd get him out of the mansion, which was just peachy by him. Fun working environment or no, it'd definitely be better than the armed camp feeling he'd had ever since events with him and Marie-Ange. Let her call it running away if she wanted to. "Because you're right, I -do- want to make a difference."

Pete nodded.

"Good. I'll have all the offical bits of the paperwork couriered over tomorrow. Read 'em, take at a couple of days to think it all though if you need to, and then sign 'em and bring them back. Once that's done, we'll get you an apartment sorted out, and put you to work. Basically, move in when you like, and there'll probably be work piling up on your desk from about two seconds after you sign the papers."

Doug nodded back as he stood up. "I'll have an answer to you by the end of the week at the latest," he promised. Though, unless there was something completely unexpected in the contract, he'd sign it.