After poring over the files as he sought an assistant, Matt interviewed several colonists, both male and female, but not one of them impressed him as the person he was looking for. Many had excellent secretarial skills, but that wasn’t the main requirement he was seeking. Matt made sure his questions were vague enough so they couldn’t be entirely sure what the interview concerned, while at the same time he could be certain whether they were endowed with the complete competence he could count on.
Actually, he believed that Jada would have been the perfect choice for the position, but she already held an essential job as commander of the Communications Department. In addition, her volunteer work on the Constitutional Convention was proceeding well, and Matt contributed much of that to her firm control of the wide assortment of personalities involved in that effort. He couldn’t ask more from her than what she was already giving.
An idea occurred to him that when he decided that the time was right for him to step down as Ship’s Captain, Jada would be his first choice as a recommendation to replace himself. Even with leadership in place to run the new government, the Eriksson would require someone to make sure all its various branches worked together to ensure the integrity needed to keep the ship fully efficient and functional.
