Ryans, Oliver, Hunter and Tate
Libby looked around as she and her family materialised in the telportation centre of the space station. The last time they had been here was in August, when they were predicting the end of the world as they knew it, blah, blah, blah. Her oldest brother, Mitchel had stayed while the rest of them had gone home. Mitchel worked in a pet shop on the station.
And now they were back. Why? Well, they considered it eariler with the going number of deaths on account of alien hunters, but the thing that finally broke the straw was Brenton loosing his job. What with six kids to support, they decided the time had come to move. Now he had organised a job on the station as an engineer.
"Welcome," said Oliver, greeting them. "The Ryans I presume?"
"Yes," said Brenton.
"I'm Oliver. Oliver Braddock. If I can just get you guys to sign in, I'll show you to your apartment."
"Thanks."
Oliver had done this kind of thing so much it was becoming boring. But as station commander apprentice, it was his job to greet new members of the crew. Well, when he wasn't in school after all. Still... this occasion had a nice little quirk... the older daughter looked pretty cute.
"That all?" asked Brenton.
"Yep," Oliver replied. "Okay, you are in... Block C. This way please."
"When will we be getting the rest of our things?" asked Karen as they got onto the elevator.
Oliver checked his notes.
"They'll be delivered to your quarters at about 2:30 this afternoon, Mrs Ryan."
"Oooh, home delivery, huh? How fun," Yvette grinned. "Do you have pizza too?"
"There are various eateries on the commercial level," Oliver replied as he stepped out onto said level. "And some places even do home delivery. So you're in luck, huh?"
Yvette chuckled and Oliver led them to the 'giant conveyer belt' as some people like to call it, that led to Block C.
"We were in Block D last time," Ivan mused. "Does this mean we've moved up?"
"In a way, yes," Oliver replied. "After most of the popluation moved out when the scare was over, the residential quarters were revovated so to speak, making the apartments larger, amongst other things. There has been a great deal of moving about. Block C isn't quite done yet, and then we only have Block D to do. I believe... Mitchel Ryan is in Block B."
"This always takes so long..." Libby complained. "Can't you make it go faster?"
"Go faster?" repeated Mr Snuggles.
"Sorry," Oliver replied. "Afraid not."
"Hey! Oli!" Hunter shouted.
Oliver looked to see Hunter and Tate on their way out. Tate was waving wildly.
"Hi," Oliver called back, waving as well. "What are you two doing out here?"
"Oh... nothing," Tate giggled.
"Tate?"
"Don't you dare Oli! You have company remember?"
"You've been harrassing poor ol' Juniper again, haven't you?"
"Who? Us?"
"You guys are in so much trouble."
Hunter grinned wickedly as they finally passed.
"Friends of yours?" asked Yvette.
"Tate - the girl - is my foster cousin."
"Cousin?"
"Yeah, my uncle is fostering her. And Hunter is a friend of ours. Well, I guess he's kinda my foster cousin too..." Oliver mused.
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he's living with me and Tate and my uncle too."
"You live with your uncle?"
"It's a long complicated story."
"And none of your business, either Yvette," Brenton put in.
Oliver smiled as they finally reached the end of the ride. He guided them to the elevator and took them down a level.
"This is Block C, Level 4, Apartment 17," Oliver said, approaching the door.
He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket.
"The keys," he said, handing them to Brenton. "If you need extra, there's a place on the commercial level, but most people around here don't bother locking doors. Let's face it, with all the empaths and telepaths and what not around here, no one's gonna rob you and not get caught."
"Indeed," Brenton smiled. "Well, thank you very much Oliver. I think we know our way around from here."
"No problem. If you have any questions, please contact the help centre - the number is on the table, or they have a booth in the commercial centre."
"Thanks. 2:30 you said the rest of our things would arrived?" Karen confirmed.
"Yep. Have a good day, oh and Mr Ryan? These are the final employment details," Oliver said, giving him the folder before he forgot. "I'll be seeing you all later, most likely."
"Bye bye," Yvette waved.
"Flirt," Ivan accused as they stepped inside.
"What? I wasn't flirting. I just said bye bye."
"Uh huh, yeah sure."
Yvette poked her tongue out at him.
"Wow," said Libby. "This place is so much bigger!"
"The boy..." Brenton began.
"Oliver," Yvette replied.
"See?" Ivan mouthed.
"Oliver," Brenten went on, "did say they had been doing renovations. There's a room for each of you."
"Yay!" Harry exclaimed.
"I'm gonna pick out my room," said Libby.
"Me too!" chorused Gina and Peta.
"I get the biggest one!" Ivan said.
"No, we get the biggest one," Karen said calmly.
"Bags the seconds biggest," Yvette grinned. "I'm the oldest."
And so the Ryan children then proceed to pick out their rooms, and it turned out that all the bedrooms (bar Master) were all the same size anyway.