“So, you give them a personality test before you hire them?” I asked. Connor hadn’t be able to take to the tour with me, but he did introduce me to Trent– a perfectly normal-looking guy, until you looked close enough to realize his eyes blinked in the wrong direction. God only knew how else he had been transformed– he might have had a tail as well, but it was really well hidden in his pants if he did.
“Well, that’s just it,” he said, walking me down one of the main testing corridors. “We only hire people after the first experiment. Liability waivers, and the whole nine yards. If we like you, it’s a beneficial experiment, and then we hire you to help with the clerical work or, in your case, we might actually be able to hire you on as a technician. If not… well, you already signed the waiver. We subject you to something awful, hand you a wad of cash, and then we part ways.”
“Seems… harsh,” I said, not sure how else to respond.
“Well, at the end of the day, we are a business,” Trent said, folding his hands. “And it’s not as though we’re taking too much away from their quality of life. Usually,” he added. “Anyway, we pay them quite well. Take a look at this fellow.” Trent waved me over to a viewing window of one of the laboratory rooms.
“Pretty standard procedure, from our point of view. College dropout, probably only graduated high school because he was on the varsity football team. No marketable skills outside of reliving his glory days, being overly proud of his fit, muscular body, and being a dick to nerds. Too proud to work food service, so he swaggers in to our buildings for some quick cash.” He chuckles to himself. “He’s about to learn why we’re paying him over 50k.”