7 – If Only They Knew
Sonya, hot and sweaty after cleaning the women's shower room, stepped out into the hallway where her cart sat. Laying on top of it was a white carnation flower.
The secret admirer gifts kept coming around. First, it was the rose one night and flavored coffees the next morning. In the two weeks following, I found a box of coconut filled chocolates on my bed one night. Then it was a bottle of my favorite shampoo and conditioner in my wall locker just after mine ran out three days later. Oh, and then there are those several beautifully written short poems that had been scribbled down on sticky notes. There was no telling where I would find those. On my bed, my cleaning cart, sometimes in my mailbox. It was surprising how much of a closet romantic my secret admirer was because everyone I knew at the compound seemed so far from being romantic. Except for Kevin. I could see him being the type to do sweet gestures like these, but he insisted he wasn't the one responsible. My first assumption was still Dr. Ramsey. Every time I went into the labs to clean, there he was staring me up and down like I was a piece of steak. It didn't help he would sometimes offer to help me take out the trash. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a bad guy. He was reasonably okay looking and pretty funny at times. It's just, he wasn't my type.
Four-o-clock rolled around, which meant break time was over, and it time to start cleaning the labs. Aside from Dr. Ramsey's unwanted stares, Sonya enjoyed this part of the day the most for her own personal reason.
She situated her cart along a side wall and collected her all-purpose cleaner, bleach, the remaining five clean rags should there be another rat mess to clean and several new small trash bags. She hung the bottles out of her pockets and tucked the rags into the waistband of her scrub's pants. The trash bags were draped around the back of her neck. From there, she proceeded to the central corridor that would eventually branch out to the different labs.
The security guards standing post outside the corridor's access point allowed her entry, and the doors slid open. Sonya saw Senior Airman Meyers standing position outside Lab One, meaning it was off limits to non-essential personnel. No worries. She went to Lab Two, instead.
The door slid open to reveal Kevin behind a microscope, Dr. Ramsey studying what looked like a vial of Quicksilver and Dr. De Thiel sat at a table reviewing a series of reports in front of him. Sitting beside the papers was a cup of coffee to help keep him awake and focused. His eyes full of concentration darted from side to side in their sockets. Meanwhile, one of his hands fidgeted with a pen next to his head.
Sonya wasn't much of a science person but thought that maybe Kevin should be reviewing the reports since he was the lead scientist and Doogie Hotness be analyzing whatever it was in the microscope, seeing how he was the biochemist. Whatever the case, it wasn't for her to question them.
Seeing how quiet the lab was and how in depth everyone was in their working, Sonya quietly stepped over to the first trash can beside the table the rat cage was on. It was no surprise to see another one scurrying around inside. She wondered if it had a gland for testing and if it did, how its fate would turn out. Sonya collected the bag of trash and tied it off to set aside. A new bag was placed inside the small trash can, her doing the same to the other two trash cans in the lab.
Once that was finished, she took her bleach bottle and sprayed down a silver medical tray splotched with tiny droplets of blood. Sonya knew what that meant. A rat was subjected to another series of tests to which it didn't make it. She took an unused rag and wiped off the tray until its surface and joining parts were cleaned.
Arnaud's eyes watched the working woman, and he faintly smiled with a plan. He looked back down at his papers and reached over to a manila folder on the corner of the table. When he brought his elbow back around, he deliberately knocked his coffee cup off into the floor. The white porcelain cup impacted the hard ground and shattered into several pieces, both sizeable and small. The remaining coffee inside it splashed and pooled on the floor.
The sound startled the others present in the room. "Merde!" Arnaud ranted and leaped off his stool to start cleaning the mess. Sonya was at the sight in the blink of an eye with the few clean rags in hand. "I'm such a klutz! I completely forgot that was there!" He groaned out loud. "How could I have been so stupid?"
Sonya took a trash bag from around her neck and put the bigger pieces of the broken mug inside it. "It's okay, Doctor. It's fine. Mistakes happen." A rag was placed on the majority of the spill to use to scoop up as much of the smaller pieces of broken porcelain as possible.
Arnaud picked up a smaller broken piece and dropped it into the bag. Kevin looked back at the scene and smiled to himself. Something told him the spill wasn't entirely on accident. The biochemist continued. "You're already so busy trying to get everything done before evening chow, that this doesn't really help you any."
Sonya laughed off the comment. "It's fine, Doctor, I promise! I'm not upset about it." She shook out the rag in the trash bag. Several tinks sounded as shards of mug met bigger pieces. "I can't tell you how many times I've spilled whatever I'm drinking. There's a reason why I use plastic or Styrofoam cups, now." Hazel eyes gave worried green ones a comforting smile. "I'm beginning to think I need a sippy cup."
Arnaud softly laughed. "I might have to get one, myself."
After most of the mess was cleaned up, Sonya retrieved her broom and dustpan off her cart to sweep up any tiny shards. The all-purpose cleaner was then sprayed over the sticky floor, and the last clean rag used to hand wash the area. Sonya put the bag with the broken mug in a partially full trash bag and tied it off.
Since Kevin still appeared busy, Sonya decided to ask the biochemist instead. "Lab Three doesn't need cleaning, does it?"
Arnaud shook his head, smiled, and waved a dismissive hand in the air. "No, mademoiselle. No one was tortured today."
Sonya choked out a laugh and nodded. "That's good to know. I'll let you gentlemen get back to work."
The doors closed behind Sonya's exit, it taking Arnaud a moment to realize Kevin was smirking at him. The lead scientist gave an 'okay' gesture with his hand and nodded in approval. That strange, happy feeling that had crept up on Arnaud at one point was quickly replaced with the ire he came to harbor for his peppy alter ego.
After a much-needed shower came the much needed quiet time before bed. Sonya grabbed one of her used bath towels and went out into the night filled outside. She wandered over to the darkest section of the base, laid out her towel, and sat down. When she looked up, a vast ocean of twinkling stars greeted her eyes.
Sometimes being so far away from civilization wasn't a bad thing. Out here, the night skies were beautiful. It brought me back to the nights my dad, and I would go star gazing.
Sonya positioned herself to lay down on the majority of her towel, so she could look straight up at the sky instead of craning her neck. Lingering in the shadows behind a building's pillar and watching her was a pair of light green eyes. Arnaud was on his way back to his room after finishing up work for the night at the lab when he saw the young woman from the corner of his eye. Good thing he decided to leave his white lab coat back in the lab. Its bright color in contrast to the shadows would no doubt give him away. Then came the thought of his choosing to wear a dark colored shirt that morning instead of a white one. The two decisions combined gave Arnaud a perfect chance to observe the unsuspecting young woman.
He looked up to the sky to see nothing but starts. No meteor shower to ooh and ahh about, so what was the big deal? What was it about chicks and stargazing? Arnaud rolled his eyes and sighed under his breath. It would at least make sense if she had a telescope to ooh and ahh over a planet with. But just the stars as they were? For fifteen minutes, he stood there. When Sonya got up and folded her towel, Arnaud stood on the other side of the pillar out of her view.
She walked right past him without even realizing he had been watching her. Once she was out of sight, he withdrew a special Morse code transmitting device concealed as a pen from the pocket of his slacks. He began clicking the top of it in his continuing his trek to his own room.
Miles away, a phone started beeping on a small round table with an incoming message. Stretched out on a cot and almost asleep beside the table was a broad man in his mid-forties. Huiclov's weary brown eyes opened, and he rubbed them in mild annoyance. It seemed every time he was almost asleep, this happened. He was pretty sure who it was sending yet another message and sighed. Did his little brother deliberately do this so late at night?
Huiclov reached for the phone and opened it. It took his eyes a second to adjust to the brightness of the display screen before making out the details of the message. Another man's voice nearby questioned. "What does he want, now?"
The message was read out loud. "Find a star necklace ASAP."
"What?" A just as broad framed man matching Huiclov's size sat up on the side of his cot. He furrowed his bushy eyes brows and titled his bald head to the side. "What the hell kind of order is that?"
Huiclov shook his head. "I have no idea. Where am I going to find a star necklace?"
"There are several shopping centers in San Diego to look in."
A third man, who was Hispanic with a goatee, cut in. "There are also those girly jewelry stores, too. My little cousin loves those places.
The second broad framed man blinked and tried to shake the confusion out of his head. "What does Arnaud want with a damn star necklace?"
A smile brightened Huiclov's eyes. "That's it! A girl!" He looked back down at the message in slight pride. "I bet the necklace is for a girl."
The Hispanic man eyeballed Huiclov. "There's a girl that actually likes the boss man? Did he threaten her or something if she didn't say yes?" The tent went silent, the three people studying the other in equal question.
Another man with reddish blond hair and laying on the ground with his hat over his eyes spoke up. "I say to hell with one of those cheap girly necklaces. They break too damn easily. Get her something real and meaningful."
The second man questioned. "Like what, Luis? Hmm? Arnaud said to find a star necklace. That's what he'll get because I sure don't feel like pissing him off and getting shot when he gets something else."
Luis took the hat off his face and gawked at the other man. "My brother-in-law got my sister a meteorite piece before."
The Hispanic's eyes widened. "You can buy those?"
"Miguel, you stupid ass!" ranted Luis. "They sell little pieces of ones at the science museum. I think my brother-in-law said he paid twenty-five dollars for the one he got." He gestured to Huiclov. "It's technically a star and is much better than some cheap nine-dollar fakie you can get anywhere else."
Huiclov got his wallet out of his back pocket, that had long since been flattened by laying on it, and withdrew forty-dollars in cash. "Luis, I want you to take the truck tomorrow morning and go find one. I want the receipt and my change back!"
Luis got up long enough to get the money and stuff into a pocket before laying back down. "Consider it done. The only question is, how do we get it to him?" The tent went silent again.
Three mornings later, Sonya opened the custodial supply room to check out her cart for the day. It was going to be a long, long day seeing how Lily called in sick with a migraine and Larry was still on medical leave with his broken leg. It left everything to her to clean on the base. That's when she saw it; a silver chain necklace with what looked like a tiny metallic stone like nugget hanging off of it. Stuck onto the handle of the cart was a bright blue post-it note.
Sonya peeled the note off to read it. "Now, you can carry a piece of a star wherever you go."
Underneath the text was a pen sketch of a shooting star. The woman was speechless. She removed the necklace off her cart's handle and held it in her hand to better look at. Whoever it was that bought this for her must've spent a hefty dollar for it. She couldn't possibly imagine something like it being cheap.
Sonya took a minute to put it on and admire it one last time before starting her workday. She was late taking lunch when the hour came around for it. Unfortunately, the group she conversed with during lunch had already come and gone. It left her sitting by herself, which didn't matter any. She devoured her spaghetti so she could resume working. The same applied to dinner. She would go ahead and miss it since she was just now getting around to cleaning the labs.
Sonya collected her cleaning supplies and carried them into the labs after the security guards allowed her inside the central corridor. No guard stood in front of Lab One, meaning it was safe to go in and clean. The doors slid open and in she strode, startled to see Dr. De Thiel still working. He was standing in front of a vat housing what looked like a second Quicksilver gland.
A tangent on his privacy being invaded sat on the tip of Arnaud's tongue, but it was quickly erased at the sight of her wearing the necklace. It then occurred to him that she wouldn't know what he was doing anyway. His Doogie smile typical of his character welcomed the young woman. "Working late, I see?"
Sonya weakly laughed. "Yep. It's just me today. Mr. Larry is still on bed rest, and Lily is sick."
Arnaud reached a pair of sponge forceps into the vat to hold the gland still while his second gloved hand injected a syringe's needle into it. Hopefully, his genetic modification would work. After monitoring and testing the modifications to what he was coming to call Quicksilver Madness on several rats, he was content the next step in testing was ready. Before, the Madness came on much, much quicker than he intended it to. With some careful tweaking of his design, the Madness would take effect at a significantly slower rate. He was aiming for a week before the side effect came into play, but it would take testing in a human trial to find out for sure. If everything worked out in the prototype, he would implement the genetic changes in the primary gland, QS-9300. It would take some time, somewhere around two weeks for the genetic modification to grow in the prototype, but there were still other modifications Kevin Fawkes wanted to test in its current design.
Sonya meandered over to the vats and knelt down to watch the scientist work. "There are two glands, now?"
Arnaud withdrew the forceps and syringe and sat them down on a tray where other medical tools were. "One is a prototype Dr. Fawkes hopes to test on a human subject once he deems it ready."
"Oh." Sonya could visually see a difference between the prototype the scientist was just working on the first one she saw some two weeks ago. "What's wrong with that one?" She pointed to the primary one.
"There are some things I can tell you, mademoiselle, and some things I cannot."
The woman forced a nod. "Got it." She stood up and returned to cleaning the lab's tables. She would stop occasionally and look down at the nugget around her neck.
Arnaud felt pleased with himself. It took much convincing to let Fawkes join him in his going off base the day prior. While the lead scientist went to the Agency's office to discuss the status of testing the prototype gland's design in lab rats, Arnaud asked to be dropped off at a clothing department store with the excuse that he needed more work shirts. A quick Morse code message to his brother had him met by a familiar face named Luis. The necklace was exchanged from one to the other with a note inside the bag, explaining the purpose of the meteorite instead of a 'plain and ordinary star.' Arnaud approved. It seemed his henchmen weren't as stupid as he thought.
Sonya finished cleaning and left Lab One to clean Lab Two.
"You stupid girl. If only you knew." Arnaud smugly grinned at the prototype gland. "If only they all knew."
After some serious heavy debate with myself on which direction I wanted to take the story, I'm deciding on the version I like best. I already have several chapters written based off this second version that I think will work out okay come way later on in the story.