Once you found yourself in a flying car, normally you sat back and enjoyed the entire experience. You sought to take in the sights below and understand your surroundings in a totally different way. Bellinda Gummer didn’t share this same sentiment. The Goulding Uplift cost her three and half million dollars and she only flew it one time. Rather than take to the air, she stayed on the ground. She knew that the vehicle was safer and more efficient than non-flying machines, she just couldn’t stomach the sense of zipping about in the air.

So, she roved over the platinum and diamond streets. She absorbed the waves and the thumbs up on the ground and felt like she could get around easier as she laid back and let the computer drive her to her office. Decked out in a powder blue searsucker suit for the summer, she wore navy blue pumps with gold accents. After her birthday fiasco, it had been refurnished and looked immaculate. Cherrywood and glass adorned the space. Little goblets lined the back wall and the digital portraits had been restored. Some space for green also inhabited the place with bonsai trees populating the  area. She walked past the glass entrance to her office which read “DON’T TAP THE GLASS.”	A young woman, about twenty-three-years-old sat in the reception area. Her attire consisted of a navy blue skirt and a white blouse. She looked mousy but focused. Her skin looked like a black olive. Wavy hair cascaded down to her shoulders. With her slight frame, it was easy for her to be passed over with a co-CEO in a rush to get to her inner sanctum.

Her receptionist, Cleary Monet, stood up and motioned for Bellinda. 

“Mrs. Gummer, your interviewee is currently waiting for you,” Monet announced. “Oh. Send her in, please,” Bellinda commanded.

“She’s right outside your door,” Monet pointed out.

The mousy girl waved a confident hand. Bellinda smiled and gave that “come-on-in” motion with her hands. 

“Thanks, Cleary,” she voiced into her UltraChip.

Upon entry the colored girl sat down in front of her. Her back had been a steel I beam the whole time. Bellinda started.

“Forgive me, I just get so excited to come into this place and after what happened…well you know the news I’m sure,” Bellinda explained.

“Call me Bellinda, Rosalinda Denette….”

“Thank you for this opportunity,” Rosalinda replied.

“Now, of course the standard procedure would have been a virtual visit, but I wanted to look you in the eye. I also can smell the faint scent of cloves and lavender. You can’t get that with a digital interview.”

“No, you can’t,” Rosalinda responded.

“Okay, so you’re here because of my father….”

“Yes. You said you needed more brain power to help guide this massive ship. I’m the person for that job.”

You graduated second in your class in engineering at NSU. Tell me about your journey.”

Rosalinda cleared her throat. “Well, thanks again for this interview. I started out as a project understudy for Goulding overseeing some of the designs for vehicles. I know that your learning machines make some of the mass produced cars. My role consisted of making sure the designers and engineers made their vehicles to the exact specifications of their outlines.”

“Don’t be sorry, be careful. What did New Sweden University have to offer you? Let’s start there.” Rosalinda gathered herself.

“Well, it provided me with the knowledge of my degree….”

“As a mechanical engineer, I learned how to address problems with efficiency and to cut down on waste.”

“I see that. A master’s degree in two years. That’s impressive.”

“Yes,” Rosalinda beamed. She possessed a sunny disposition behind even darker freckles which dotted her face. She had the appearance and attributes of a dark chocolate chip cookie.

“Yes, well I just kept plugging along and I finally got the hang of it when Pastor McGriff notified me of the prospect to be hired here.”

“Alright, what do you expect from an experience at SuperSynths?”

“I want to be your next top engineer. I want to explore my abilities and excel at the task of being the best worker you have on staff.”

“You know, I took time to talk to the person you were replacing for the moment…Mr. Seton…he sounded rather pleased and anxious to describe your work ethic and the fact you always saw a project through in his absence.”

“Of course. Now, what if I told you there’s plenty of money on the floor and to continue with your high spirit.”

“Pardon me, Miss Gummer, but I know that money is the root of all evil. I think it’s a necessary evil, but a vice nonetheless.”

“I expected an answer like that. You know I’m an atheist along with the co-CEO Dr. Keija Frampton. Have you had a chance to meet her yet?”

The boss lady sent a message through her brain chip to Dr. Frampton.

“While we have different views, this is the beauty of this business and Smartystan as a whole. You don’t have to recognize the same ideals as the next person. All you have to do is put in the work and grind until the bones and gristle hurt. Now, no one is toiling physically at this facility but you understand what I’m saying, yes?”

Rosalinda sat up even straighter. “Of course. I am here to worship the wonders of industry. Nothing more nothing less. What I do outside of work is my business and I thank you for respecting that.”

Dr. Frampton ambled to her partner’s room and waved at Cleary. 

“She’s in a meeting, doctor,” Cleary called, nearly jumping out of her seat.

“I know. I’ve gotta see this prospective hire.”

Cleary conceded and smiled a clean little smirk of recognition. Her cheeks reddened.

Dr. Frampton entered the space.  She wore a gray shawl over a black suit with red beads around her neck and gray square framed glasses. Rosalinda shot to her feet and extended her hand to the co-CEO. “Good morning, Dr. Frampton.”

“Have a seat, young lady. This is an ambush,” Dr. Frampton stated. Her tone didn’t seem mean or nasty, just the clarity and quietness of a captain inspecting a young Marine’s rifle.

Not expecting to be interviewed by the two top officials at the plant, Rosalinda steeled herself to become more resilient. Bellinda sent information into Dr. Frampton’s chip.

“Tell more about NSU and Goulding. What were your fondest experiences at both places?” Dr. Frampton asked.

“I enjoyed the fellowship of my God-fearing fellow engineering students and those I forged a bond with at Goulding,” Rosalinda doubled down on her faith and educational and professional track records.  Bellinda looked at the time on her brain chip and grinned. 

“Well, what can you bring here that you have learned at both institutions?” Dr. Frampton continued.

Rosalinda cleared her throat. A synth poured a glass of water and handed it to the young woman.

“I know I can be an asset not a liability to this company. I know I can be a perfect specimen of character and ability in all my pursuits here,” Rosalinda’s chin canted upward slightly.

“That’s all from me. Great fortune to you in the future–-”

“Wait, Keij’. That’s you have? We have someone who was two chairs away from the valedictorian and worked to make the finest automobiles and aircraft in the whole of Smartystan, and that’s all you’ve got.”

“Alright, then,” Bellinda smiled prettily, her eyes squinting.

“I’ve taken in all I need to know about her. I’ve gotta go because they’re looking for leadership down at the engineer lounge. They’re setting up a way for a new integration of the UltraChips and the synths to communicate entirely on their own. It’s so cool! Again, I know all will go well, Rosalinda. Adieu!”

After Dr. Frampton left, Bellinda looked straight at Rosalinda in her eye. Like a sparrow eyeing its dinner, Bellinda folded her hands and leaned in somewhat.

“Now that you’ve seen both CEOs of this company, are you nervous?”

Bellinda didn’t show shock but a simple amusement like solving a word puzzle.

“It’s your faith, isn’t it?” she asked Rosalinda.

“I would say that I can do all things….”

“I see. That’s the curious thing about believers. That ancient text says some of the most powerful words but where do they go?”

“This isn’t quite what I expected in this interview but they go to the heart. The heart is the beginning and end in all of this.”

“Is that why it’s called a brain chip instead of a ‘heart chip’?”

“Well we don’t lean to our own understanding, so we have a God who gives us a mind and allows our heart to take over in any circumstance,” Rosalinda retorted.

“So your degree, your time at Goulding, all of this is due to the functions of a muscle and not the tissue of the most extraordinary hardware known in the universe?” Bellinda pressed.

Rosalinda breathed. It seemed soft yet profound. “I’m only saying this because Pastor McGriff said you might say something like this. My faith and my works are integrated but separate at the same time. I can put on my makeup in the morning and pray and be ready for the road that lies ahead of me because of Jesus.”

“Yes, the symbol of agony and pain and suffering…you reconcile these different elements while handling actual elements of form and function, design and engineering?”

Rosalinda sat silent for a moment. She snickered. “All I’m saying is you won’t have to worry about me carrying my beliefs into this space. I’m all about a dollar but I’m not about to make the dollar all about me. I can work and complete tasks with the aplomb of a neurosurgeon.”

“You wrote in your essay about your father being a brain doctor….” Bellinda mentioned.

“That’s right. He’s retired now but he applied the same amount of vigor and focus while maintaining his faith. That’s what I intend to do here.”

Bellinda looked outside her window. The sky looked soupy, a grayish metallic stew brewing in the heavens. 

“Like I said, I’m only testing you to see how far you will go for this company. I totally respect your faith and all that makes up Rosalinda. You have the ability to ‘be more than a conqueror’ in your language. What appears to me is that you’re absolutely qualified for this position. I thank my father for bringing to me such a fine example of what a lady you actually are. I don’t have faith. Dr. Frampton doesn’t have faith. We have convictions. But I think you also have the capacity to differentiate between the two.”

“I do. I mean, I can. In all of my endeavors, I’ve known to keep my personal Savior in my heart and my engineering skills in my head. I’ve done this as a tribute to my own self-worth.”

“‘The pathway of the righteous is always beset by snarls and snares.’ That’s what my dad always taught me. He instilled in me the ideas of that Bible you tote, but I woke up from the dream. You might lie dormant in your own existential slumber, but that has nothing to do with SuperSynths.”

“Thank you,” Rosalinda expressed these words with a hint of bitterness but it leveled out with the cloying sense that she felt she had projected during the entire interview. 

“So, it is in my power to say that you, Rosalinda Denette, are hired. You can start right now. That little row they’re having downstairs, why don’t you get involved in it? You could inject some youth and womanliness into the mix.”

“I thank you, again, Miss Gummer. I will be a beacon.”

Chintan Jani

Smartystan

More than a Conqueror 

Once you found yourself in a flying car, normally you sat back and enjoyed the entire experience. You sought to take in the sights below and understand your surroundings in a totally different way. Bellinda Gummer didn’t share this same sentiment. The Goulding Uplift cost her three and half million dollars and she only flew it one time. Rather than take to the air, she stayed on the ground. She knew that the vehicle was safer and more efficient than non-flying machines, she just couldn’t stomach the sense of zipping about in the air.



Smartystan

More than a Conqueror

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Smartystan

More than a Conqueror

This is an Exclusive Story for supporters of .css-13w9qce-Text{display:inline-block;color:var(--text-accent);}Skyler Saunders

About the Creator

Skyler Saunders

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THIS IS WILD Tourette's Campaigner John Davidson Shouts November At Michael B. Jordan & Delroy Lindo During BAFTA Awards

This is an Exclusive Story for supporters of Skyler Saunders