Project Mimic

By Time Guardian

Chapter 2

After they landed at the airport, Jonny trailed behind his father as they fought their way through the crowds and sought out the luggage area. He'd been to Los Angeles once or twice before when his dad had attended some sort of science symposium in town, but that had been some time ago. The summer crowds were out in full force – vacationers looking for their connecting flights, couples trying to get to the water and their cruise ships, even the occasional business traveler trying to kept their forehead free of sweat despite wearing a full business suit to keep up their image.

It took time, but they finally made it to the luggage carousel and retrieved their bags. Dr. Quest looked around expectedly. "Jeremy said that he would have someone here to meet us."

Jonny looked around the area as well, but couldn't see anyone purposely hanging around. "Are you sure about the timing, dad? They knew we were coming today, right?"

"Let's move towards the exit. Maybe whoever it is decided to wait there."

Following the signs, they soon found an area outside where various cars were waiting for their passengers. There were a handful of people milling about holding placards with various names.

Jonny spotted their ride right away. "Dad, I see him. Come on."

After maneuvering through groups of other travelers hooking up with their rides, he led them to a medium sized silver car at the end of the row. Standing in front of it was a guy that was taller than him, but didn't seem that much older. He had dark brown hair, and the sign he held said "Dr. Quest and son."

And son? Jonny seethed. What was he, chopped liver?

His dad stepped forward. "I am Doctor Quest, and this is my son Jonny."

The guy stepped forward and offered a hand. "I'm Frank Hardy. Professor Cantrell is already at work in the lab space he acquired, but he has asked me to help you get settled in."

Dr. Quest shook Frank's hand warmly. "It is a pleasure to meet you Frank."

They followed Frank's prompting and soon they had their bags loaded and entered the car.

The ride to the hotel was brief, and soon enough Frank was helping them get checked in and helping them with their things into their room on the fifth floor.

Dr. Quest checked the view from the main window in the room and found that he could see the airport from there. "So Frank, where is Professor Cantrell doing his research while he is here?"

"Thanks to one of his research assistants, he was able to secure lab space from the local University," Frank replied as he placed the last of their bags on one of the two beds in the room. "Okay, I think that's everything. Relax for today, and Professor Cantrell is expecting you in the morning – he will send his assistant in the morning to pick you two up."

After Frank left, Dr. Quest turned to Jonny. "I hear that there's a four star restaurant downstairs…how about some dinner?"

The next morning, Dr. Quest had finished dressing in a dark blue polo shirt and jeans when he heard a knock on their door. "Jonny, please get that will you? I'm almost ready to go."

Jonny, who had already finished dressing in a black shirt and jeans, got up from his bed and opened the door.

The lady that stood in front of him was a head taller than he was, dressed simply in a dark green blouse and black slacks. Her brown hair was drawn into a tight bun, reminding Jonny of a science teacher that he once had long ago.

She smiled. "You must be Jonny Quest. I'm Andrea West, Professor Cantrell's lead research assistant. I'm here to take you and your father to our research facility."

Jonny shouted over his shoulder, "Dad, our ride's here!"

Dr. Quest rushed up to the door and smiled. "Yes, and I'm sure everyone else on this floor heard it as well. You are Professor Cantrell's assistant?"

Andrea nodded simply, "Yes, and it is a pleasure, Dr. Quest. Professor Cantrell has nothing but the highest regard for your work. If you two are ready, let's get going."

An hour later, they finally reached their destination. The college was large – Jonny counted at least six different buildings as they turned onto a small side road that wound through the property. Various trees dotted the landscape between the buildings as well as framing the small roadway, giving it almost a tunnel-like effect.

When they pulled up to the parking lot near the last building on campus, Andrea commented. "Welcome to the college I called home for six long years."

"Couldn't get enough of the learning, Miss West?" Dr. Quest asked as they got out of the car.

Jonny watched as her smile thinned. "After I received my degree, I decided to stick around for a while. After spending a day here, you will agree the surroundings tend to spark quite a bit of creativity. Now, if you will follow me please?"

They followed the sidewalk as it curved around and ended right in front of the last building. Andrea pushed the double doors open, and they were greeted with a blast of frigid air from the air conditioned environment.

The hallway snaked out in all directions, but she kept to the main part which took them to a sliding door that seemed to be protected by a security sensor. Andrea took a card out of her pocket and swiped it in front of the sensor beside the door. The sensor flashed a bright green color, and then the door slid open. She stood off to the side and motioned them to go inside.

Jonny stepped in and was immediately impressed with what he saw. With the amount of high end electronics in the room, this made the lighthouse back home seem like a child's playground. The rectangular shaped room was bigger than most classrooms that he had been in. The walls were lined with various computer systems, some of which he had only seen in high-end tech magazines. There was also a long table in the center of the room with additional computer and chairs. "This is some setup."

"Indeed," Andrea commented as she followed them into the lab, pride deep in her voice, "Our alumni have been most generous – we have been able to get state of the art equipment and that has allowed Professor Cantrell to advance far with his work with holograms."

Jonny noticed that the person that had helped them at the airport was sitting at the opposite end of the table, intently studying a computer screen. There was another guy sitting next to him that seemed to be close in age to him, but had blond hair.

Andrea then spoke up. "You know Frank from where he helped you two yesterday, but let me introduce Frank and Joe Hardy to you. They are private detectives like their father, and graciously agreed to help Professor Cantrell keep things secure for the duration of his stay."

Dr. Quest walked over and shook each of their hands. "It is good to meet you."

So THESE were the private detectives they were told about. Curious now, Jonny stepped forward. "So you two solve a lot of cases?"

Frank smiled. "Yeah, my brother and I have solved quite a few mysteries in our time."

Joe rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to be the humble half of this operation, remember?"

Before Jonny could ask them anything else, he heard the sliding doors opening and turned back to the entrance. A man had entered and judging by his facial expression when he approached his dad, this was the person they had come to see.

Doctor Benton Quest grinned as he extended a hand to his colleague. Jeremy was still a head shorter than he was and his short brown hair had no signs of gray. Wearing metal framed glasses and dressed in a white lab coat with a dark green shirt and jeans, it was as if Benton had only last seen him yesterday. "Jeremy, it is good to see you again."

Professor Jeremy Cantrell stepped forward and offered his own hand. After a hearty handshake, he laughed. "Benton, I am so glad you had the time to indulge my extracurricular activities."

"Well, our work runs along parallel lines," Benton declared. "Why don't you show me to your research and we can get started."

Jonny followed closely behind them. If he was going to be hanging around all day, he wanted to do something. "Can I help in any way?"

His dad turned and frowned. "Jonny, as much as you may like the equipment, these units are highly valuable machines by the university. I'd prefer if you did not touch them. Why don't you go sit by Frank and Joe?"

Jonny sighed. This was like being in a candy store where everything was guarded by attack dogs. Fine, there were better things to do than to hang around a place where he couldn't do anything. "Fine, I'm outta here then. Dad, can I go back to the hotel? I could catch a cab."

Benton frowned. "I don't feel comfortable with you catching a cab alone in this town."

Joe noted Jonny's look of frustration before he pushed his own chair back.

"Where are you going?" asked Frank.

"To get something to eat," Joe replied before turning his attention to Dr. Quest, "Dr. Quest? I'm going to go grab some lunch and then I can get him back to the hotel with the rental car."

Dr. Quest nodded approvingly. "I can agree to that."

Frank glared at Joe. "Don't be too long. Professor Cantrell wanted us to get him over to that early presentation this afternoon at the auditorium."

Jonny stalked out of the room and managed to reach the outer doors. The heat that hit him felt like a wall, but anything was better than sitting around and watching everyone else work on the cool stuff.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Looking back, Jonny inwardly groaned. Unwanted company, goody. "Joe, tell my dad I don't need a bodyguard, all right? I'll even call a cab so that I won't bother you."

"It's nothing like that," Joe replied lightly. "I am hungry and I was going to scope out some seafood at one of the restaurants round here. Want to come? It'll be my treat, and then I will get you to your hotel."

Jonny glared at him. He wanted to be alone but the thought of a free meal was too good to pass up. "Let's go, then."

I came up with Jonny's age from the writer's bible that is on the Questfan website.

Next Chapter: Lunch and strangeness.