The only question for Brian Kinney, Head Artistic Director of Lunar Industries, was why in the hell was he taking time from his extremely busy day to be standing here at the Moon Dock, waiting for a ship from Earth that was late, as usual? He had plenty of subordinates who could be doing this task. But naturally, the new intern was coming in at the one time in the year when his whole team had been scheduled for a work retreat. They'd been gone since Friday and would be back sometime today, but he wasn't sure when. The four day retreat was nothing but a pain in the butt as far as Brian was concerned.

He was just about to lose the last ounce of what little patience he had left, when the announcement was made that the 1400 hour transit ship from Earth had arrived. Brian moved to the head of the line of waiting friends and family in hopes of finding the new intern quickly and getting the hell out of there. He only had a slight description of the kid he was expecting. The communiqué, that Brian had received at the office, didn't come with a photo since the kid was a last minute replacement. The original candidate for the job had taken ill and was ordered not to fly for a length of time which was unsuitable for the job that needed to be filled right away. A photo had been included with that message, but the new kid must have had no time to provide what was needed. All Brian knew was the lad was a recent graduate of his Art Institute, he was highly recommended, and he was young... twenty two years old, and his name was Justin Taylor. This was his first real job.

Brian shuddered at the thought. He wasn't particularly fond of showing the ropes to novices. He preferred seasoned veterans who needed little guidance. Brian considered his time valuable and he didn't like to waste any of it. Of course, he might get lucky. The kid might be a self-starter. One could only hope.

The passengers had begun to disembark from the craft. This was one of the smaller ones and there were only about a hundred or so passengers. Brian's hopes of a quick getaway were dashed as more and more folks came off the ramp and passed him by while waving to people in the waiting lines. No one came off the ramp looking confused or lost, or even young enough to be his man.

Just as Brian was beginning to think the idiot had missed the ship, he saw a young man step out and hesitate at the top of the ramp. He looked around somewhat nervously. Brian sucked his breath in suddenly when the young man turned towards him and caught his eye. Damn, he thought to himself, this kid's a looker!

Brian shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was no time to be admiring the fresh meat. This was business, and Brian Kinney NEVER mixed pleasure with business. He stepped forward and waited for the young blond with the vivid blue eyes to come down the ramp. The lad seemed to sense that Brian was who he was looking for and moved straight for him. When the blond was only a foot from Brian, he stuck out his hand to introduce himself.

"Hi, my name's Justin Taylor. Are you here from Lunar Industries?"

The young man had a warm, inviting voice that flowed sweetly like honey. Brian noticed his smile right away. It was warm and inviting too, just like his voice. It lit up the dreary docking area and reminded Brian of a warm Sunshiny day. There was something about his new intern that Brian really liked. He seemed genuine. ‘Now, if he is as talented at his job as he is good looking, this just might work out,' Brian thought to himself as he offered his hand in response.

"Yep, that's me. Name's Brian Kinney. I'm going to be your new boss. I know you've had a long tiring trip so I'm going to take you to your quarters first... the company has it's own housing units... and then I'll show you the work site after you get settled in and refreshed. Sound like a plan?"

"Yes, sir," the young man responded enthusiastically. Brian liked that... respectful. ‘Give the kid two points for smarts,' he thought to himself.

Justin handed Brian his baggage ticket, when asked for it, and the two men headed for baggage claim to pick up the two pieces Justin said he'd brought with him. Twenty minutes later, the tall brunet and shorter blond entered the tunnel that would move them along to their destination, the taxi dock that was the only form of transportation on the moon. No personal transports were allowed except for the policing department. Brian settled in to the seat behind the control panel, while Justin stored his baggage in the back of the taxi craft and then settled into the seat next to Brian's. Brian began entering his destination and pay code into the panel and then settled back in his seat. The taxi zipped out of the terminal and headed for its destination, noiselessly hovering over the surface of the moon. Inside the craft, the air was noiseless too as both men sat silently side by side. The whole time Brian was itching to turn and take another good look at the young man's face. Surely he couldn't have been as good looking as the first impression, but Brian sat face forward and resisted the urge. He had no way of knowing that similar thoughts were running around inside the blond head next to him.

The silence didn't have to last long, since all the various housing compounds were closest to the Moon Docks, followed by the medical compounds. Then came the office compounds, followed by the entertainment compounds. Everything was nice and orderly in this year of 2107 on the Lunar Colony, which was fine by Brian Kinney since he had grown up in such miserable chaos with his family on Earth. He hadn't been able to get away from them and Earth fast enough and settle on the Moon. He had status here and free rein to enjoy his life. The taxi pulled up to the third housing compound it came to and stopped. Brian entered the 'exit and wait' status on the control panel, stepped out with Justin and his luggage, and watched as the craft moved over to a docking spot. Brian grabbed one of the cases and motioned to Justin.

"Follow me, Taylor," he instructed.

Justin gathered up his other bag and obediently followed his new boss. He was far too busy enjoying the view of Mr. Kinney's backside to pay much attention to his surroundings. The man was certainly built, Justin mused to himself. He must spend a lot of time working on his body. He wasn't exactly muscle bound, just tall and sinewy. He also had an air of confidence that Justin found very attractive. His artist's eye had already decided that he was going to be drawing this fine specimen of manhood, even though it would have to be secretively. He needed to tread carefully. This was his first real job and he had no desire to blow it. He had nothing left on Earth that interested him. His long time relationship with his fellow classmate had gone bitterly kaput and this Lunar assignment was a chance to make a fresh start. So there would be no more entanglements for Justin Taylor, he reminded himself. He'd do the job and do it with honors. End of story.

Justin had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he ran smack dab into the back of Brian when the man came to an abrupt halt. He jerked back quickly, full of apologies. Brian was amused at the red faced kid's obvious embarrassment. The thought ran through his head that if anyone else had run into him like that he might have snapped their head off, but somehow this kid didn't bring out the sharp tongued exec in him.

"Calm down, Taylor. It's okay. Look, we're here. This is your living quarters. They're not the fanciest... you have to earn your way up to that... but it's comfortable."

Brian entered a code on a panel and the door to the quarters slid open. Brian handed Justin a small keypad and gave him a code to unlock necessary company information. He let him know that all the codes he would need were on the pad and to keep it with him at all times. It included the code to his living quarters and office at the compound. He informed Justin that he would have his fingerprint embedded on the pad so that no one but Brian, Security, and himself would be able to access that particular pad in the future. Justin shook his head in assent and entered his new home.

The place was surprisingly roomy. There were homey touches all over the place, with lots of large throw pillows and warm colors that appealed to the artist's eye. The wall at the back of the large living area was a 3-D version of an outdoor scene from Earth, with trees, flowers, a small brook flowing to the side, and birds flying through the bright blue sky. It gave off the feeling that half the quarters were outdoors while the other half was indoors. Justin was not much for the outdoors and the surprise at the wall must have shown on his face. Brian spoke up suddenly.

"Sorry, Taylor. The place was decorated with the info we had on the original candidate for your position. If you want to make any changes you can inform personnel and they'll have it done by tomorrow."

Justin was impressed with how quickly Mr. Kinney caught on to his feelings, but he had no desire to cause waves his first day on the job.

"No, this is fine. It looks quite comfortable. Thanks."

"Good," Brian responded. "So do you want to have a little time to yourself? I can come back for you in an hour or so," Brian asked, feeling an odd urge to stay around this kid a little longer for some strange reason. He was a little uncomfortable with the fact that he felt relieved when Justin said that he'd love to see his new working quarters as soon as possible.

Brian waited at the door while Justin set his bags down. He pulled out a smaller black bag from his largest suitcase and strapped it over his back. "I'm ready when you are, Mr. Kinney," he stated.

The two men stepped out of the living quarters and Justin waited for Brian to enter the exiting instruction on the keypad. Justin paid more attention to his surroundings as he walked back to the front of the corridor leading to the exit from the compound so that he wouldn't need help getting back to his own place later.

Brian signalled for his waiting taxi and the men climbed in. In no time, Brian was pointing out an impressive three story compound that spanned a large area. "That's our offices," he informed Justin.

Justin followed Brian through the sliding front door into the lobby of his new workplace. The lobby was a large open space with a circular desk in the dead center and long corridors branching off in four different directions from there. A glass encased lift was right behind the desk. There were people coming and going from one corridor to another like a colony of busy ants. Brian approached the desk and stepped up to a large keypad laying in front of a rotund man with a scowling face. His mouth broke into a grin for an instant and then returned to its usual scowl.

"Hey, Mr. Kinney. What you got there?' he asked pointing to Justin.

Brian laid his full hand on the pad and watched as it lit up with a bright green. "That's the new intern, Hank," he answered.

Hank waved the two men to the side and followed up with a "welcome aboard, young man," to their retreating backs. Brian led Justin to the lift and waited for the glass door to slide open. When it did, he waved the young man in ahead of him. Within seconds the door closed and the two men were stepping out on the top floor. Brian led Justin down the center corridor to an office at the very end. A quick jab at a key pad and the solid black glass door slid open to reveal a large office space with two separate desks, one large and another smaller, and several standing display boards. There was an elegant and roomy sofa in one corner with several large leather chairs throughout the remaining area. The back wall had another 3D vision that displayed what looked suspiciously like a bathhouse in ancient Roman times, with deep pools and figurines spouting water on one side and steam rising from shallow pools on the other. There was something a little decadent about it, but Justin wisely kept that thought to himself.

Brian motioned Justin to a seat in front of him and before continuing he pressed a button on his desk. A pleasant sounding woman's voice filled the room.

"Yes, boss?"

"Cynthia, I need you to get a hold of Daphne and have her step in here."

"Will do," came the reply.

While they waited, Brian informed Justin that he would be working with an assistant until he got the hang of things. "She's really a nice girl and smart as a whip. If you pay attention to her she'll have you acclimated in no time."

"I thought I'd be working directly under you," Justin returned, a little surprised.

"You are, but you'll report to Daphne and she'll report to me. Once I see what you can do, we'll see where we go from there."

Justin felt a strong urge to do a really good job. This was one man he really wanted to please. Just then, the light on the door lit up and Brian keyed the door open. A lovely young woman who looked about the same age as Justin stepped in and joined the men. She had a friendly smile that made Justin feel comfortable right away.

"You called for me, Mr. Kinney?" she asked.

"Daphne, this is Mr. Justin Taylor. He's our new intern. I want you to set him up in an office space and get him attuned to office politics, his responsibilities, etc. When it's time to get off you can make sure he gets home safely." Brian turned to Justin. "Daphne has the living quarters right next to yours, Taylor." Back to Daphne. "Now don't scare the kid with too much gossip. Just make him feel at home and be your usual sweet self. Okay?"

Daphne smiled broadly and said, "No problem, boss! He'll feel right at home in no time." With that, she crooked her arm in Justin's and began leading him to the door.

Justin followed clumsily along, looking back at Brian a little helplessly. As Daphne pulled the blond from the room, Brian couldn't help chuckling under his breath. Daphne could be a little overbearing but he was pretty sure the kid could handle her. Odd, how his earlier irritation at having to pick the kid up had disappeared. Brian shook his head again (funny how he seemed to do that a lot when thinking of the blond), and reminded himself that he had a lot of work to get done. The door slid shut and Brian settled back into his persona as the executive in charge of ads and promotions for Lunar Industries.

To be continued.....