Martha Blewett rubbed her aching temples and sighed, unsuccessfully trying to distract herself from the seemingly endless pile of manila folders on her desk. Yet as a senior staff member in WOOHP's Department of Human Resources, she knew she had a great responsibility to fulfill. "Remember, Martha," Jerry had sternly warned her on her first day on the job, "not just anyone can work for WOOHP."
That turned out to be truer than she was expecting: each prospective recruit's personality and behavior was carefully monitored starting from a young age, and the agency always had to be alert for any new tips or information pertaining to a promising future agent. Turning her bloodshot gaze back to the table, she felt a little relieved as she put away the last folder marked 'R' – the first letter of the last name of each potential recruit. It wouldn't take much longer now.
Smiling to herself, she reached down towards the next section, the one marked 'S', and picked out two more folders from it. The neatly typed labels read 'SCAM, TIMOTHY' and 'SIMPSON, SAMANTHA' respectively. Martha opened the first one absentmindedly as her eyes fell upon a newspaper clipping inside.
Excerpt:
1997-98 CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL ACADEMIC ALL-STARS
Presented annually, this award serves the purpose of recognizing and honoring the state's most talented graduating seniors. Their achievements and self-reported biographies follow below.
Name: Timothy (Tim) Scam
Age: 16
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Parents: Aaron & Jennifer Scam (both deceased)
High School: Westside High School
College Plans: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Intended Major: Physics/Engineering
Awards and Achievements: 4.0 GPA. Grand Prize Winner, Los Angeles County Science and Engineering Fair. Physics Club President. Took multivariable calculus and quantum mechanics at a local college after exhausting high school's math and science sequence. Graduating early from high school. Most Valuable Player, Westside HS Varsity Wrestling. Named to All-State Wrestling Academic Team.
About Me: I enjoy a good challenge and am always seeking out new opportunities to push my own limits. Math and physics are my favorite academic subjects, and when I'm not engaged in an adrenaline-inducing wrestling match, I love either tinkering with or building various things. I intend to enter science or engineering once I'm done with school, but at the end of the day I'd also appreciate having a job that utilizes all my talents to the fullest.
Sponsoring Teacher: Mr. Patrick Greene (Physics)
Teacher's Comments: "Without a doubt, this young man is the brightest I've ever seen in my thirty-year career of teaching high school physics. His sheer brilliance and impeccable work ethic are virtually unmatched."
Printed alongside the list of staggering accomplishments was a colored photograph of a teenage boy smirking into the camera in a self-assured manner. Despite rolling her eyes at his obvious display of pride, Martha had to admit that he was also one of the most handsome young men she'd ever encountered. His piercing sea-foam gaze, though printed on paper, seemed to penetrate anything it came into contact with, and his slightly rugged features clearly showed off the fact that he exercised regularly and kept himself in top-notch physical condition.
Martha turned past the clipping and saw a note in Tim's folder that he'd already been recommended to WOOHP once when he was even younger, from an elementary school science teacher who doubled as a secret agent. Now that he was reaching maturity, his abilities were even more manifested and it was easy to see why he'd been recommended in the first place. He'd make a great addition to WOOHP's weapons department, Martha thought to herself. She flipped through more pages in his file and discovered that on top of everything, he had the elusive 'Spy Gene' that WOOHP coveted in each of its agents: his father had cousins in Russia who'd led double lives as civilians and Soviet spies in earlier decades. A clear recruit, Martha decided, stamping her personal seal of approval onto the folder.
As soon as she opened the second file, Martha could tell that it belonged to a child, as there were only a few pieces of information within. She spotted and took out yet another newspaper clipping among the haphazard collections of the girl's bio-data and family tree, opting to read it first.
THE BAY AREA DAILY – YOUR LOCAL NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1923
GIRL, 7, WINS SPEEDCUBING COMPETITION FOR YOUTH
San Francisco – The annual 'QuikCube', a Rubik's Cube speed-solving competition, always draws massive crowds of children aged 10 and under. It began ten years ago as a simple neighborhood contest, but due to the game's popularity, it soon expanded to include the entire city of San Francisco and surrounding areas. This year, however, there's another reason for all the attention: for the first time in the competition's history, the champion is a girl.
To most people, 7-year-old Samantha Simpson looks like just another first-grader. She enjoys skipping rope and playing tag with her friends during recess time at Oak Park Elementary, and owns a substantial collection of stuffed toys and dolls. But when she gets home, she likes to curl up with copies of classic tomes. "I've read 'A Tale of Two Cities' three times already," she smiles, revealing several missing teeth as she does so. "It's one of my favorite books." For perspective, this comment is coming from a first-grader, while the local 11th graders are poring over the same book for their English classes.
Samantha also engages in other activities that put her far ahead of her peers intellectually, such as assembling 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles, learning to play the accordion, visiting art museums and libraries during her spare time, and of course, speed cubing. "I used to be really bad at Rubik's cubing when I got my first cube two years ago," she admits with a shrug. "But I just practiced a lot and improved."
Her parents, John and Gabriella Simpson, are partners at the Simpson & Simpson Co. law firm in downtown San Francisco. "We never pushed Sammie towards any of these things," Gabby says. "She just seems to be interested in them. We're only following her wherever her interests take her."
With so much promise and potential, it is clear that this remarkable little girl will be doing great things someday. Samantha's answer as to her future plans? "I might become a lawyer like my parents, or maybe a scientist," she says. "But I love solving problems and helping people more than anything else. Hopefully I'll get a job where I'll get to put these together and help solve the world's problems."
"Wow," Martha breathed to herself, thoroughly impressed with the girl. She couldn't help but notice the similarities between both the folders she'd just read: both young people were extremely intelligent, ambitious and driven; a quick look at Samantha's bio-data form revealed that she also possessed the 'Spy Gene' and thus was also fit for fieldwork.
"Why can't all the prospective recruits be like them?" Martha wondered aloud, furrowing her brow as she mentally went through the other folders she'd read earlier that day. There were two other girls who were also Samantha's age – Clover Ewing and Alexandra Vasquez, she recalled – but neither of them demonstrated as much potential as Samantha, let alone Timothy. Alexandra's level of physical fitness was impressive for a child of her age, but it came along with a downside: she was just too clumsy. As far as Clover was concerned, at this point in time she seemed to be just like any other little girl and was especially prone to being distracted by fashionable items. Martha had marked both of their folders with a note: Further Consideration Required.
For Samantha and Timothy, though, the decision was clear. "Perhaps both of them should work together," Martha mused, thinking that this would actually not be such a bad idea due to the pair's similar personalities and interests. She couldn't guarantee their exact positions and functions within the organization – that was ultimately Jerry's job – but she decided to leave him a helpful note anyway. Attaching both files together with a large paperclip, she produced another sticky note and hastily scribbled: Suggestion: maybe Scam & Simpson should work together. See information within for details.
And after she'd done so, Martha suddenly got an odd, yet peaceful feeling that she'd just finished her greatest, most important task for the day.
