Читать книгу Overturned - Rothilda von Rotortod - Страница 13

The expedition leader – who was now at the time acting as office manager of the StarWind Company – had to smile when he thought back to these discussions. Involuntarily he even pulled both corners of his mouth upwards. He had trained himself to do so especially for the new Earth mission, so as not to attract attention with his extraterrestrial way of smiling.

How long ago might the discussions on Kadohan have been? A few weeks? Or did the discussions even take place several months ago? The expedition leader could not say for sure. With the rejuvenation pill, even longer periods shrank to short moments for him. Time was just something very relative.

"Shall I begin my presentation now?"

The expedition leader turned to Mrs Black, his assistant. He still couldn't get used to her new appearance. Especially strange to him was the dark wig that now covered her head. Even though she had chosen a short haircut it seemed quite animalistic to him. No less irritating he found the glued-on eyebrows and the business suit, which the assistant already wore with an impressive matter-of-course manner.

He himself found it much harder to get accustomed to the uniform that the Earthlings' dress code required for business people like him. He felt the suit was like a prison for his body. And the tie he wore around his neck made him feel choking – although he had already loosened it in an unseemly way.

Of course, as long as they were among themselves, they could have actually taken off their disguises. Nevertheless, he had insisted on adapting to earthly customs at any time. Only in this way could the foreign rites – as he had experienced on missions to other galaxies – become a second skin for them. Only then would they move in it as naturally as the Earthlings themselves.

However, the strict code of conduct was also due to security concerns. Although the Earthlings as a whole lagged far behind the civilisation of Kadohan in their technical abilities, they had reached a surprisingly high level in some areas. This was particularly deceptive, all the more so because it contradicted the often not very cultivated manners the Earthlings showed among themselves.

So it could also not be excluded that the Earthlings had possibilities to monitor what was happening inside the offices of StarWind. Possibly others saw the new company as an unwelcome competitor and therefore spied on it. This was something they had to pay attention to. Such trivialities should by no means lead to a failure of the great mission of gaining new living space and new resources for the Kadohanians!