QT: Aisling's Antics (Ch. 01)

We didn't live in Harold's Cross the entire time, I should say. We moved up to Coolock for about five years while I was in the end of secondary school. Dad was managing a different office of the business for the time, and mom wanted me to go to Mercy College, just like she had, up until I was off to university.

I'd love to tell you it was full of wild times and craziness, but for the most part, I just wanted to leave Dublin and come to America. I know that sounds crazy, but Ireland always felt so small to me, and I'd see these movies with America in them, and I just knew I wanted to move over here to have a real adventure. My grades were good enough that I got into Trinity College and my Dad was so damn proud of me that he insisted I go. I think he was hoping I was going to be a lawyer or a scientist, but I've always been a doodler, and I knew art ran in my blood. But I've got my father's practicality in me, which meant I didn't want to end up shite creek without a paddle. I focused on applied graphic design, which I knew would give me a skillset I could apply just about anywhere.

Trinity College is sort of the equivalent of one of your Ivy League schools, big and prestigious and highly sought after, but I found the place a bit stuffy for my like, and I think I was mostly counting my time there, waiting to get past it, waiting to get out, waiting to get on with my life. I had a couple of different boyfriends, one in first year and one in last year, and neither of them turned out to be worth half a shite over the long run, so I was in and out of those relationships in less than three months each time. They were the two cocks I'd had before Andy, and neither of them were remarkable other than for how much of arseholes they turned into after I dumped them. Haven't even thought to check if either of them is still alive; don't much care one way or the other.

In the middle of my final year, I started shopping my portfolio around, but I tried to stick strictly to America. I knew I wanted to get to one of the major cities, preferably on one of the coasts. I'd never even been over here, but I'd seen loads of Europe during my time at uni. We'd travelled on holiday to most of the other countries, and while they were nice, they weren't America, and I dunno even why, but I'd always sort of been obsessed with the States growing up. American music, American food... I knew that I wanted to get over there so badly, but I didn't want to visit before moving there, in case it didn't live up to my expectations.

I got nibbles from half a dozen different companies, including a couple of publishing companies in New York, but I sort of knew that publishing was going to be a dead end, because print was dying out so fast. A couple of companies on the West Coast, though, made rather compelling offers. The first was from BOND, an advertising agency out in Hollywood that does all sorts of work with the entertainment industry. The other, I'm sure you've already guessed, was Google, who wanted to bring me on board as a graphic designer on a two-year contract.

They invited me to come out for an interview, and when I landed at SFO, I knew I was home. Google put me up in a hotel in Mountain View, but also extended the stay out to give me a few days to explore the region for myself. I walked around Golden Gate Park for a few hours. I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. I strolled around Haight-Ashbury. I walked down Lombard Street. I went over to Ocean Beach and watched the waves for a while. And when I had my interview with Google, I sold them as hard as I possibly could on myself, trying to convince them I was absolutely the person they needed to hire.

And surprisingly, it worked.

Google offered me a two-year contract in 2016, and I moved from Dublin out to a tiny little apartment down in Santa Clara. Google had suggested places to consider housing and had pointed out that they had shuttles that would ferry people to and from the Google campus, and that looking in the San Jose area was likely my best bet. I found a tiny studio apartment not far from Santa Clara University that was just barely within what I could afford, and moved in.

One of the things I learned early on about working for Google is that while they claim their motto was "do no evil," it really should've been "do nothing but work," because while I worked for them, I was constantly slammed with additional tasks, not just from the project I was assigned to, but other projects as well, like art was just something we could generate by pulling it out of our arses. I didn't have much time to see San Francisco, or even San Jose for that matter, putting in between ten- and fourteen-hour days six days a week, fearing that when my contract expired, they wouldn't renew it.

After two years, they renewed me for a second two-year contract in September of 2018, with a bit more money this time, but I just didn't have any chance to enjoy it, or even to spend it. I thought about moving into a bigger apartment at least, but I couldn't honestly find a point when I believed I'd have enough time to take off to move, so I just let my savings build up.

The problem, as a contractor, is that I was here on a temporary Visa. Now, once the wedding happens, I'll become a US citizen with just a couple of pieces of paper, but prior to Andy, I was always looking over my shoulder, wondering if I was going to have to leave America. Even though I hadn't really seen much of it, I still loved it here. But then, in mid-June of 2020, my whole world changed.

* * * * *

"Jesus," Fiona said. "It's easy to forget you really were one of the first people through the whole Quaranteam process. In June, most of us didn't even know how bad things were really getting, while you were already being dosed with experimental drugs that the government wasn't entirely certain how they worked."

"True," Aisling said, swiping the brush along a portion of the massive canvas. "But the government made it very clear to me when they talked to us how dangerous it was going to be if we chose not to take part in their program. And they made a pretty compelling case for us to get entered into the system as early as possible."

"How did you get into the system so quickly?"

"Google volunteered to let anyone who wanted to apply to be in the system for vaccinations, although we were given a profile screening, I guess sort of the alpha version of what would eventually go on to become the Oracle system. Way different than what you went through. Not just Google, but Apple, Netflix, Cisco, Facebook, eBay, the actual Oracle... most of the great big tech conglomerates got entered into the system first week of June, I think. It was a lot smaller set of questions then. Certainly nothing like the full Oracle questionnaire you probably got. I did hear from a former coworker that depending on how long they were searching for a pairing, the more times they'd take new and updated questionnaires."

"Oh, neither Moira nor I ever saw the Oracle questionnaire. Since we were personal connections, the assumption was, I guess, that we would know what level of compatibility we would have with our soon-to-be partners."

"Sure, but that doesn't really test you against any of their newly acquired partners," Ash said with amusement. "Imagine me or Lauren or Niko had turned out to be a right cunt who wouldn't stand for someone Andy used to know coming in and trampling all over our domain."

"I had a hard time imaging Andy paired up with someone like that," Fiona admitted, "but I guess anything's possible."

"Lord Jaysis, we're going to have to introduce you to Andy's ex at some point," Aisling said with a bitter giggle. "That woman was a piece of work. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's gorgeous, and Christ on a bike, she's basically tits on legs, but what an utter cunt of a woman. After watching how she treated Andy for just a few minutes, I dunno how he ever put up with dating her for most of a year. She seemed to think he wasn't entitled to any opinion she didn't personally give him. I'd have done and walloped the bitch one at some point, I just know it. She just gripes and gripes and gripes..."

"I think Niko feels about the same, but she still thinks I should interview the woman at some point, just to get an entirely different perspective of the story. What was her name again?"

"Erin," Aisling said as she dragged the brush carefully along the canvas, gently casting paint onto it. "Erin Teresa Donegal, although she's over with the Watkins now, so maybe she'll take their last name. You can talk to her if you like, but by the end of your interview, you may want to just bash her over the head yourself. Anyway, I bet if you ask Niko, she could get you a copy of the current Oracle questionnaire to review. Hell, she might even have historical revisions of it to walk you through step-by-step how they built it along the way. Phil could probably get that for you if Niko couldn't."

"That's part of why I'm getting so many perspectives for this book," Fiona admitted. "I think every woman's got a unique story to tell, and each one will shine a light on a different part of what we all went through. Piper's tale was pretty dark and bleak, but I imagine yours has a very different throughline."

"Oh, absolutely. I mean, when I was getting injected, I got to pick from a selection of men, all of which they'd told me would be 'reasonably good' matches for me, but I'm skipping ahead. We'll get to that in a minute." She set down the palette and brush. "If you want to get up and stretch a little bit, now's a good time. Couple of minutes break'll do us both good."

"When do I get to look at what you're doing?" Fi asked.

"When I'm done with your part and not a second sooner."

"You can be a bit of a punk, can't you, Ash?"

Aisling grinned from ear-to-ear and offered a charming shrug. "Figured any doubts about that melted away when you looked up Pogue Mahone," she chuckled.