As the figure stepped into the room he was followed by a group of suited people, all with serious expressions as they scanned the lab. Alex looked past the large man and noticed a couple of faces he recognized. The agents who recruited him were among the others that entered.
“Welcome, welcome!” Reshma exclaimed. “Please come in.”
“Hello, Mr. Choe I presume. I am General Dempsey and along with me are recruiting agents Chaemin and McGuinnely. Also we have Ms. Gifford, Mr. Schultes, Mr. Martinez, and Mrs. Krause. We are here today to assess your team and what you have been working on to help with the global crisis,” he said, his tone cool as his shark-like eyes assessed everyone in the room landing on Alex as he finished speaking.
“Yes, yes of course. We have been expecting you,” said Reshma. “Our team is made up of myself, Ms. Evalyn Dirkse, Mr. Siddiq Gully, Mr. Zayd Dressen, and Mr. Alex Moorez.”
“Well let's see what you have for us,” the General said, his tone bored but his eyes not leaving Alex, who shifted, slightly uncomfortable under the intense gaze of the large figure. Alex looked to where Agent Chaemin was standing.
“We have one active project and one idea in development by Mr. Gully.” Resham explained. “We have had some positive results with our active project but not enough to come forward with the idea on a larger scale.” Reshma started leading the group towards the back of the lab. “I would like to start with the presentation and then get into some attempts. After that, Mr. Gully has a presentation for our next idea.” The group nodded as they followed towards the back of the room.
“Ms. Dirkse is the originator of this project. She will explain the thought process and then we will go over our data and results thus far. Evalyn, if you would please,” Reshma said, stepping to the side as Evalyn stepped next to him.
As Evalyn started speaking Alex made his way to the back of the group. The nonstop stare of the General made him uneasy. He made his way towards Agent Chaemin.
“Hey,” he whispered when he was near her.
“Hello Alex,” she whispered back with a smile. “I am excited to see what you guys have here.”
“It’s a pretty solid idea. We just need to get our numbers figured out, I think.” Alex said.
“Well hopefully it is better than some of the presentations we have seen,” she said with a soft giggle. “This is supposed to be serious, but I think some teams are using this as an excuse to play out childhood dreams.”
“I can see that,” Alex said with a smile. “Put a bunch of science nerds together with no supervision and no budget, well, expect some crazy things I guess.”
Laura smiled in reply and set her focus back to Evalyn. Alex took it as a sign and looked around the room. His eyes landed on Siddiq ringing his hands and mouthing something to himself. Alex frowned and made his way towards him. As he approached he noticed the sweat on his brow.
“Hey, you got this,” Alex said, leaning to get in his eyesight.
Siddiq shook his head and focused on Alex, “Do you see that General? He’s huge! He is going to throw me out of here for this idea, literally!”
“No he won’t. It's a good idea.” Alex said calmly. “Here,” he said, handing him a hand towel. “Go get some water, splash your face, and breathe. You have your presentation. Reshma approved it. You are good.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Siddiq took a deep shuddering breath and nodded. “You’re right. I am a scientist. I developed a solid idea and presentation.”
“Exactly,” Alex agreed.
“Thanks man. You always know what to say.” Siddiq smiled at him. “I'm going to go to the bathroom before the demonstration.” Alex nodded at him as he walked off and quietly left the lab. Alex scanned the lab watching everyone’s faces as Evalyn went through the data. He noted that Zayd was next to the General and they both kept stealing glances at him. He frowned wondering why they kept looking at him.
“I believe that is all the data we currently have. Again, that was not all of the experiments that we have conducted. Though we do have it all recorded, we believe that we only should bore you with the numbers that were related to our experiments that worked and the ones after, that did not,” Evalyn concluded. The group nodded and a murmur of chat happened amongst them.
“So before we move onto some live experiments, does anyone have any questions?” Reshma asked as he stepped up next to Evalyn. Alex watched from the back of the room as they all continued to talk to each other.
“So you are saying that after your initial build you rebuilt it again after so many attempts? Why have you not rebuilt it again since you have had a streak of failed experiments?” asked the older lady with grey streaks in her auburn colored hair.
“We determined that it was not the machinery itself that was faulty, it was the calculations,” Evalyn stated.
“And you have had no issues with the machinery since?” General Dempsy asked, glancing in Zayd’s direction before back at Reshma.
“Uh, no, not at all.” Reshma stammered, wringing his hands slightly. Alex smiled to himself thinking of the last minute fix they just completed before the group walked in. Right, nothing wrong here, he chuckled to himself. “Please come over to the machine and look it over for yourselves before we attempt some trials.” Reshma waived the group over to the press. The group walked towards the back of the lab and circled the press. Evalyn began describing the machine parts and how they work. After about 10 minutes Reshma clasped his hands together excitedly saying, “So shall we try a couple?”
That was Alex’s cue to grab some of the raw materials and bring them to the press. As he did that, Reshma explained step by step what they were all doing. “And now it's time to pull the lever. General, would you like to do it?” Reshma smiled, gesturing at the lever. The General kept his facial expression masked as he stepped up to pull the lever. Placing his hand on the lever he slowly pulled it downward. The press began to move. Alex looked over at Reshma and Evalyn who both watched holding their breath. As the press released and started to rise again a slight air of disappointment filled the room. The material was unchanged.
“Well, let’s give that another try,” Reshma said, rubbing his hands together. Siddiq walked over and cleared the press table as Alex went to get another sample for the next experiment. As they set up the next experiment Alex noted that Zayd was not helping and that he was in a discussion with the General. Evalyn stepped up and pulled the lever for the next experiment. The press came down, but again nothing happened.
“Seems like this is going to need more work still. I thought you said this had positive results?” asked one of the men from the General’s group.
“We have, but there have been more failed attempts than positive attempts, unfortunately." Reshma replies fidgeting with his hands.
“We do have another group to assess before the day is done,” General Dempsey yawned.
“Yes, yes, of course we will do just another one or two attempts while you are here and then we can have Mr. Gully go over our next idea before you go.” Reshma says as he waves for Alex and Siddiq to get the next experiment set up.
Maybe I should try and have one of these work while they are here, Alex thinks to himself, I hate seeing them judge us like this. As he sets the material on the press table he makes his way off to the side of the group. Looking at his hands he flexes his fingers in the gloves he is wearing. Humm, just in case, he thinks as he tucks his hands into his lab coat pockets. As Evalyn pulls the lever Alex focuses on the material. Turn to rock, he wills, focusing his attention at the table.
Gasps fill the room as the press lifts and reveals a solid piece of rock laying on the table. Alex smiles to himself as he looks around the room and sees everyone rushing forward to examine the rock. Everyone except for Zayd and General Dempsey who were both focused on him. Alex dropped his smile and made his way forward with the group. Do they know it was me?
