✅ Unusual Vacancy

Part 2 - The Advertisement

By the end of the day, Amy was exhausted. Serving customers wasn't really physical work, and she liked people enough to make a little conversation with people from all walks of life. The only thing that got her down was the monotony of doing the same thing, repeating the same routine a hundred times in succession.

As the last customers left, it was Amy's job to tidy the store. She didn't mind that; it was nice to have a little time for solitude before she immersed herself in crowds again for the commute home. Mopping up spills and putting the chairs back at their usual tables was just another part of the job. When she came to tidy away the daily newspapers from the tables – there would be a new variety for any bored customers to peruse in the morning – she noticed that one of them had an entry circled on a dense page of job listings. She probably wasn't qualified for it, she wasn't for ninety-nine point nine percent of jobs in this town, which was why she had given up on looking for something better. But a circle gave her brain enough reason to at least read the words:

«*Play Team Member*»
«Yoyos Nursery is seeking an inquisitive and enthusiastic member for our growing team. An active mind is essential. Formal education unnecessary. Functional Morpheus System (v1.8+) implant and open change consent required. Must be comfortable with age 1-4. Accommodation provided during assignment. Salary €96000 per 22-day assignment, rising for longer duties.»

Amy's eyes went wide when she read the full text. Intelligence required, qualifications not. It would be perfect for her. Perfect for dozens of others as well, no doubt. Looking after children she could probably manage. She didn't mind playing with her nephews when she'd last had the funds to visit Carla, and had managed to keep them happy. And the wage... it wasn't astronomical, but it would be enough to keep up the rent on her apartment. And a residential placement probably meant food would be provided, so it would easily leave enough money for a few luxuries.

Before she locked up for the night, she took that page out of the paper. It was the only thing on her mind all the way home.

"I guess measuring the assignment in days means I'm on call 24/7," she whispered to herself, "Well, I can deal with that. Three weeks on, means one week off probably. If there's kids staying in a creche overnight, they'll need someone mature and responsible on duty. Someone who can think on her feet. I can do that, for sure. I already got keyholder duties."

She was smiling as she walked down the last street towards home, and had so much spring in her step that she was practically bouncing. The only thing left to worry about was the implant requirement.

"I don't need to worry," she told herself, though it didn't stop the suspicions running through her mind. "A childcare place isn't going to want naughty nurses, they're not going to make my legs longer or turn my tits into balloons. It's probably just cost saving, change the staff to fit the uniforms instead of vice versa. Or make us all look the same so the kids don't get upset if someone they know is on holiday."

She shuddered at that thought. There were people already bringing lawsuits about body changes they were uncomfortable with. Too many drastic changes, or in too short a time, could lead to dysphoria, or lasting feelings of not fitting your body. She'd decided when it first appeared in the papers that her next species change was going to be back to human when her body finally rejected the implant, and they'd promised her that with this generation of the technology that would be at least sixty years down the line.

"If they want me to change species, I say no right away. Same for sex change," another involuntary shudder. Another reminder of a promise she'd made herself years before. Whether it was leftover feelings from some repressed memory, or just how strange the things looked, she'd told herself that she never wanted to be in a situation where she'd have to look at a penis. And that certainly included having one. When she'd first said it, that had seriously cut down her pool of potential dates, but now she thought about that decision in the context of implants and morphogenesis, she realised that probably ninety-five percent of her peers were either lesbians, or prepared to be if that was better for someone they loved.

She called the company as soon as she got home, and was put through to an automatic system that reserved her an interview appointment on Thursday. Plenty of time to prepare; plenty of time to panic about all the unexpected things this company might ask. But it was a child care position, looking after infants. Any bad situation she could think of would either cost them their license, be almost impossible to do with children around, or be highly illegal. As long as she made sure not to sign consent for species, sex, or gender change before she gave them access to her implant, she really couldn't see what the problem might be.

All she could do was keep guessing while she waited for the day to come around.