The entity now known as Hawk watched as it always did. Whether it was a million stars across a million years or just the few humans on this one small planet it watched. That human known as “Daniel” had affected it in a way that was unexpected. The Daniel’s attempts to change the fate of his planet are acceptable to Hawk’s core purpose but the way he was proceeding to do it seemed foolish. Hawk found itself attempting to understand why Daniel did things this way. The odd and indirect way Daniel was using the “portals” as he called them was so limited. Hawk was not sure if this was ignorance or a flawed intelligence that was the cause. It thought about informing Daniel more of what it could do but the initiative to do so was still lacking.

One of its primary objectives to observe so Hawk watched humans, all humans. To better understand the reason and affect of Daniel’s actions Hawk decided to focused on human interaction. Starting with current humans on the planet it traced them back to their births. The interaction each human had with others either physically or through communication was reviewed. The level of understanding Hawk had now reached about them was then tested. Comparing actions it forecaster with actual ones as they happened showed differences. The result of its comparison was poor, particularly when large groups of humans interacted. After some thought Hawk decided it needed to expand its observational data. It started back tracking back humans who were now deceased.

* * * * *

Daniel and Sammy spent most of the summer visiting places around the world. Daniel left it up to Sammy where they would go. Sammy’s approach was to get a picture atlas from the town library and used it. She would close her eyes, open the book and drop a finger down on a page. With this funny way of picking them Daniel ended up finding himself spending afternoons with Sammy in places like the Sahara, the Dry Tortugas and one time at a Yurt camp in Nepal. They often had trouble with the language and one time a group of women started yelling at them but it was fun. The trips were usually in the afternoon the mornings were reserved for his work with Hawk.. Grandma reluctantly went with them a few times. She loved the trips but said she was getting in the way of young love. The one place they all went back to several times was to Disney World. Grandma likes visiting the place so much Daniel even got annual passes for them all.

With summer coming to an end Sammy needed to get ready for school. She had already met with an advisor and had a full class load planned. The portal would make it easy for Sammy to go back and forth but the campus would be busy. Finding a quiet place to use would be difficult and increase the chance someone might see. Sammy and Daniel decided to check out the rooms in the dorms. After taking a tour of the available single dorm rooms Daniel could tell Sammy was a bit disappointed by them. She didn’t say anything but Daniel could smell the cigarette smoke and mildew. There were rules against drinking and partying in the rooms but no one seemed to follow them. She tried to convince me it was ok saying she would just be using it to go back and forth. He had once heard Sammy mention about wanting to bring her friends over to visit her own place. He realized that this was Sammy’s biggest disappointment; it would be her own place but not suitable for visitors. After realizing this he took her to see the apartment complexes around the campus. He could tell she was much happier with them but was worried about the cost and how to get back and forth to school. He finally managed to convince her that using Hector’s drug money for a nicer place was fine and he also surprised her by taking her to a scooter store for a test ride. Helping her find a scooter was quick she liked a retro looking 55cc scooter in a bright Turquoise color. A little odd looking to Daniel’s taste but she did look cute riding it with a matching helmet and backpack on. The apartment was another story, after two weeks of checking every possible place she decided on one. It was a small one bedroom with a balcony looking over the apartment complex’s pool. After signing the lease Sammy immediately started planning a sleepover for her high school friends.

With Sammy busy in school full time Daniel now had more time to focus on work. The missing kids and pollution projects were ongoing but nothing had been started towards the issue of the endangered animals. Reading up on the problems that were causing animal species to become extinct the biggest cause looked like habitat loss. This was not going to be an easy thing to do anything about. There were just more and more people on the planet squeezing out the wildlife. What he needed to do he realized was to collect and monitor everything going on that could affect their habitats then do whatever he could to minimize it. For this he would need help. Hawk could provide that information of that he was certain but it would still need to be filtered so he wasn’t buried under thousands of other things. Another issue was language; most habitats were in areas that English wasn’t spoken. Daniel had been using translation software on what Hawk showed but that was slow and with a lot of mistakes.

Thinking about all that I needed to do and my available time I realized that getting more help was critical. Sammy and Grandma were trying but neither really had the time. After talking it over with them I decided to start searching for the right person to hire. I would try to keep my using portals away from them. They would still need to be trustworthy and ok with any questionable illegality. After thinking about what kind of person I needed and the traits that would make them ideal I started my search. First thing was I wanted someone young, still idealistic and a bit naive. The idea was that someone with those traits would accept what I told them and maybe overlook anything unusual they run across doing the work. I also decided that if they felt a sense of gratitude that would help too. So maybe someone in need that I could help would work.

In my researching of species extinction I found that the largest number happened in Africa, Asian and South American countries. Focusing my initial efforts on one of them seemed the best bet. Most of the work this new hire would do would revolve around meetings and discussions within the countries. So the new person should have local knowledge of one of those areas and speak the language. Deciding to start with Africa first I gave Hawk the requirements and he almost immediately stated showing me candidates and their current situation. Hawk started to display people on all the monitors. As videos of them kept coming by faster and faster I finally had to yell Stop! Some of the situations I saw them in were both sad and disturbing. There was just so many possible candidates.

I needed to be more specific to get the number down to a more manageable level.

“Hawk, please eliminate everyone who is not local or can’t speak English also any who are not in an unpleasant situation”.

I had forgotten to add English speaking as a requirement and the local requirement although not really necessary did mean they would at least be in the same time zone. The monitors started to show people again. This time I had Hawk stop a few times when someone caught my eye so I could watch the current situation they were in. At one point I stopped at a teenage girl sleeping in a box next to a dumpster. She wasn’t the first homeless person on the list but what was unusual this time was how clean she was. Staying clean with no place to live was not an easy thing to do. After asking Hawk to track back a bit on her I found she had been out on the streets for a couple of weeks. I wanted to help but was a bit hesitant about her youth. She looked a couple of years younger than Sammy and really shouldn’t be on the streets. Looking more into her past it looked like her mom was a drunk and the boyfriend an abusive pedophile. What got her on Hawks list were her experience and language skills. Not something I would expect from someone so young.

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Shasta was nervous walking into the restaurant; it was only desperation that kept her from bolting after that flyer showed up lying in front of the box she slept in. The flyer was for help wanted with some odd skills listed. It was almost like it had been written just for her. She was sure she wouldn’t get it with her age and lack of a work permit. Still she had to try, thinking about all the bad things that could happen to her out here. The address was only a couple of blocks away so after cleaning up in a gas station bathroom she headed over. Now she was outside looking through the window she could see it was a normal American restaurant. She couldn’t understand why they wanted someone who spoke Swahili and Arabic. After thinking about it for a bit she decided not to get her hopes up and headed inside.

Walking through the front doors up to the seating hostess she was scared and desperate. Telling herself to be calm she thought what’s the worst that could happen, George mom’s boyfriend has already made it impossible for her to stay in the apartment? With her 18th birthday still over 14 months away Shasta wondered if she could lie and tri to pass herself off as an adult. She didn’t have any makeup but maybe she should try to find some and come back later. Looking at the clock on the wall she saw it was 11:00 the same time the flyer said to show up. With no time to change her mind Shasta walked up to the Hostess and as the flyer instructed said she was her for the Noah group.

Shasta was surprised when she wasn’t given an application to fill out. Instead the hostess escorted her to a private dining room in the back. Pointing to the closed door the hostess said your party is inside. A bit surprised at the term “party” she looked at the door and walls around it and thought the room was for birthday celebrations. Something Shasta remembered fondly from before her father was killed and mom started drinking. Walking thought she got another surprise when no one was there. Just a table and chairs with a platter of sandwiches and pitcher of drinks on the table. Seeing them Shasta’s stomach started growing. Her last meal was two days ago from a dumpster outside a fast food restaurant.

Trying to decide if she should just grab one or not she heard someone say “Good Morning Shasta”.

Looking around she couldn’t see anyone in the room or even an intercom or phone.

Before she could respond the voice which she thought sounded like a young man’s continued. “You can call me Noah, as the flyer you found stated I am offering you a job. And before you ask the job does not involve anything bad or indecent although it is slightly illegal. Also you were specifically selected because for your qualifications and need”

“Qualification? What qualifications do I have?”

“What I require for this position is wildlife familiarity, linguist ability and most of all confidentiality” the voice said.

Shasta was surprised at that, she did not consider herself to have any real talent especially as a linguist. She did speak Swahili from her father and Arabic from her mother. Speaking both was not that uncommon in Kenya where she grew up. Living here the last four years she did learn English as well but with a strong accent. That got her picked on whenever she managed to go to school. As far as wildlife she did have some knowledge and experience from her father. He was Kikuyu and a game warden; she often went out with him on patrol. Thinking about her father she was reminded again about how he got killed. He got dragged into a fight with the Mungiki movement over a poacher incident. The son of someone high up in the movement was killed and they blamed her dad. After he was killed his boss afraid they would be net managed to get Shasta and her mother a tourist visa to the U.S. Now they had been here for three years stuck in legal limbo with ICE the U.S. immigration authority. The original tourist visa was long expired and their application for asylum still pending all this time.

“Who are you” she finally asked still looking around for the source of the voice.

“I’ll explain but why don’t you first eat?. I ordered a large selection so hopefully you will find something that you like”.

After two sandwiches Shasta’s stomach stopped growling and she was ready to get some answers.

“First of all Shasta I’m not showing myself to you because even though what I want to hire you for isn’t bad it is still somewhat illegal You might decide to leave now or quit later and if you do I would prefer for legal reasons that you not be able to identify me”.

Shasta was having second thoughts after hearing that. Coming here and eating the food now seemed like a mistake but before she could get up and go the voice continued.

“What I want you to do is listen to recordings of meetings taking place around Africa. If you hear anything that might negatively affect the endangered wildlife report it to me.”

“What, is that all?” she said.

“Yes, just listen and report what you find for which you will receive a decent salary.”

“Now keep in mind what is illegal is how the recordings where acquired but that is on me and not you”.

“Do you agree” Noah said

Shasta still didn’t understand. What he was asking her to do didn’t seem wrong but why pay her to do it? After a minute of thinking about it while looking at the half finished third sandwich in front of her.”

Shasta was still hesitant until the mysterious Noah explained how much she would be paid. Hearing it she was shocked, that much for listening to meetings? With that she could get off the street, maybe even go back to school again. She even wondered how much an immigration attorney would cost.

“Ok, I’ll do it” she said.

“How much will I get paid and where will I listen to these recordings at? I don’t have any place now.”

“Look over on the side table and open that envelope you see” Noah said.

Shasta could swear that envelop wasn’t there when she came in but she dutifully picked it up and opened it. When she did she found $5000 in cash and a name and address.

Noah explained “Go to that person at the address and give him half the money. Tell him you want the holiday package and he will create a reasonably good fake Id for you. You can use your real name but make sure he puts your age at 18 years old.”

‘When you have your new Id go rent a place to stay. I would suggest over by 5th avenue, its decent enough and they won’t ask for references”.

“The rest of the money is an advance. Once you’ve settled in at your new place I will get the recording to you. Your monthly salary will be $4000, is that acceptable to you?”

When Shasta left the restaurant she followed the instructions and headed to the address a small print shop, the kind that are seen everywhere. Once there she nervously asked for John Farlyn and waited.

A tall skinny man came out of the back and said I’m John Farlyn. What can I do for you”?

Shasta repeated the word in the instructions and said “I wanted to get the holiday package”.

The man shook his head yes and lead her to the back of the room. There he took her picture and cash telling her to come back in a couple of hours.

Shasta started to get nervous and excited as she started walking around the block. Every time she passed the coffee shop on the corner she would peek inside at the clock. Eventually the two hours were up and she headed back. The man John Farlyn acted like it was a normal purchase. He even put the id in a small bag before handing it to her and telling her to come again.

Finding a place to stay was next on her list