Chapter 01

›Detached‹

She walked through the hallways just like every other morning. And also just like every other morning, she felt queasy about where she was heading to. Her workplace. This wasn't because she didn't like her work. She did. About six weeks ago, Sal had moved to San Francisco to work in this government facility. The thirty year old woman was a foreigner and a little surprised she had been accepted after all. She didn't even exactly know what they were doing here, but it had to with national defense and involved the research and testing of new military technologies. A lot of people of a lot of different professions worked in several buildings, scattered all over the large compound. It was actually very confusing and Sal only knew a few corners of the base. Her desk was located at a ground-leveled office in the far west of building F. There she was processing data and results, converting them into reports, publications and informational material. All of that was fine and the payment wasn't too bad either. There was really only one con to this whole thing. Her numskull coworkers. They weren't just stupid and annoying, but actually picked on her. Maybe it was simply the fact, that she was the only woman in their section, younger, or just the best target. Sal usually gave a tough response to their games, but it wore on her either way. It was less exhausting when they were more busy, so that's what she was hoping for when she made her way along the dark gray aisle number seven that cloudy morning. In her head she played through the assignments she knew she had open for today. Wondering which one she should attend first, eyes on her own shoes, she attempted to step into the bureau, when she was forced to stop in her track. A wide figure was blocking the door frame. Looking up, Sal recognized the familiar person. The rectangular-shaped, middle-aged man, going by the name of 'Wesley', was the head of this division. Even though her job had nothing to do with the rest of the office's tasks and they basically just shared the same room, he was considered her foreman. This sucked extra, because he could be a real jerk.

»... look who's there.«

He only moved his grayish eyes to look down on Sal, lifting the right corner of his mouth to build up an ugly grin. Not moving at all, just playing an obstacle, he seemingly seized the moment. In the clasp of his fat, weirdly short fingers, he was holding a worn cardboard box. Sal raised an eyebrow as she recognized one of her possessions sticking out of it. A tall, green cactus that belonged on her desk.

»... what the...?«

Grinning even wider, Wesley shoved the carton into her arms.

»I'm afraid you will not be working here for a while.«

From the room behind him, Sal could her a few of the other coworkers giggle and snort. What on earth was this about now?

»What... am I... fired?«

»Fired?! Noooo...!«

The guy chuckled and put his arm around Sal's shoulder, escorting her back into the hallway. How she hated it, being touched by him.

»What's going on? I have to work!«

It wasn't even eight a.m. yet and she was already annoyed. If this was some kind of stupid joke they played on her.

»Oh you will, don't worry.«

Obviously amused, he bowed down a bit to talk to her as if it was serious business.

»You remember Agent Stone?«

Sal though back for a second. She recalled an average sized, black haired young man with a neat full beard. Polite with a soft voice. She only remembered, because he had introduced himself to her on her first day. He had sat at a desk across the room, by the window front. Since that day however, she hadn't seen him at all. Her mind was ticking. Has he been fired too?

»... yeah?«

»You see... Agent Stone is currently working for another division. He is only technically a part of our team, since he was appointed to this... special application.«

»... eh... okay.«

So what did this have to do with her?

»The thing about him is... he's the type of guy that works his ass off 24/7 and doesn't even give a shit. Never complains. He likes it.«

Wesley laughed in a dry, hollow way and Sal thought that she heard him snuffle 'idiot' under his breath.

»Turns out, he didn't take a single day off since June.«

Five months. The guy really must enjoy it.

»He might not care, but the authorities do. Employment protection.«

She understood where he was coming from but still didn't get her role in this thing.

»Matter of fact, Mister Stone now can book a little trip to Hawaii or whatever, cause he has to take all his accumulated leave at once.«

At that he made a face as if he was calculating.

»About five weeks.«

»...«

Sal was waiting for the conclusion.

»Now... as I mentioned earlier... he is technically my subordinate. Which means, that I have to provide a stand-in for him. That wouldn't have been necessary for a day here and there... but five weeks?«

»...eh... wait a second...«

Sal wasn't able to finish her sentence, as Wesley simply ignored it.

»Unfortunately, all the guys are really busy with truly important projects, so...«

Mischievously smirking again, he then patted her shoulder.

»You have the honor.«

For a second she was like frozen, trying to actually put together what he just said.

»What?!«

»L708. On Level U3.«

Wesley had already turned his back on her to leave.

»I am not an agent! How am I even supposed to replace one?!«

It was ridiculous. This had to be a joke. But he only shrug a shoulder.

»I don't know, not my problem. I can detach who I want.«

One last time he turned back around, to look Sal directly in the eyes.

»And I detach you.«

»...«

»Better do your best, I guess. If you don't want to get fired after all.«

That said, he swung around and entered his office again, greeted by malicious laughter. Sal could hear the guys inside.

»Oh my god, I can't believe you're actually pulling this off! Haha!«

»I almost pity her!«

»I think I would have quit if you sent me down there! To that nutjob.«

»Me too! No way, hahaha!«

She had no idea what the reactions meant, but Sal had a bad feeling about it. Anyways, she had no real choice but to follow the order. With a tight grip on the box, filled with her belongings, she made her way to the nearest elevator. Nervous and also kind of pissed, she pressed the 'U3' button and watched the doors close behind her. It took a moment until the lift had reached the deepest basement level and Sal could step out into a dark corridor. The dimly lit hallway had two signs with arrows attached to the wall, right were she was facing. The first one was pointing left, saying 'L601-L612' and the one below to the right, reading 'L701-L709'. Sal nodded and headed right. The 'L's stood for 'Laboratory', which got obvious, as soon as she came across several large glass-walls, that gave away the insides of L701. The room was dark, but she could see some monitors and machinery. Then she spotted another sign, right on the glass, next to the door.

L701-L704

Biological Research

∙ Doctor Cardwell

∙ Doctor Ramirez

∙ Doctor Noll

Wondering what was actually done in here, she moved on, slowly, until she reached the next sign.

L705-L706

Applied Research

∙ Doctor Little

∙ Doctor McCoy

When did they start to work? Not too early, it seemed. The lab was also empty. Only little red power-indicators shone in the dark. A few windows ahead, Sal read on.

L707

Geophysical Research

∙ Doctor Sanders

∙ Doctor Rivera

∙ Doctor Higgins

After what felt like forever, Sal had made it to the and of the aisle, where it made a 45° turn to the left. Actual light was coming from around that corner. On the right side, she spotted the last sign.

L708-L709

Technical Research & Development

∙ Doctor Robotnik

This was her destination. L708. There was only one person working in this section? It seemed a little unlikely, but it was what the sign said. Approaching the sliding door, she asked herself, what Agent Stone was even doing down here. As far as she could tell by the plates, there were only scientist working in this part of the complex. Still in her thoughts, Sal pushed the door open and stepped over the threshold. As soon as she did so, a short little blip could be heard. Sal had to blink, as a red glare blinded her for a split second. She almost missed how the thin bar of light wandered over her body, all the way from her head to her feet. Then an alarming sound went off. Sal winced in shock. In the corner of her eye she sensed something and as she turned her head, she saw an egg-shaped white machine, hovering in the air and slowly approaching her.

»...eh ...?«

Before she could even form a thought, something quickly opened on both sides of the drone and revealed what looked like barrels of a gun.

»Hoh...!«

Sal backed away from the thing and tumbled backwards in shock, but it followed her steadily. A red light right in it's middle made her feel like it was locking onto her, ready to kill. Sal didn't dare to look away from this floating atrocity as she desperately tried to get away from it. Under the monotonous siren she could hear it's 'eye' making sounds like the auto focus of a camera lens. After already moving a few meters into the opposite direction blindly, her back suddenly bumped into something. It didn't feel hard as a wall and Sal swung around, only to flinch once more. A man was standing right behind her, not moving at all. He was considerably taller then her, all dressed in black, with dark brown, neatly side-parted hair. Most eye-catching though, was his upwards pointing mustache. Half lit by the red light of the alarm-mode, he looked more than frightening, glaring down at Sal's half-crouching figure. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, when he raised his left hand to make some kind of motion with his fingers. In an instant, the noise stopped, lights went back to normal and the drone retreated. His stare remained unchanged though. Still unable to communicate, Sal just raised her eyebrows, holding onto her carton firmly and overstrained. After waiting a few more awkward seconds, the guy tilted his head a notch, slightly frowning.

»Mind to share the incitement for your unauthorized trespassing of this highly restricted area on government property?«

She had to think about his question more than once, clearing her throat before even starting to building an answer in her head.

»E-ehm... I am...«

The man's whole appearance made Sal more than nervous. Swallowing another lump, she straightened herself a bit before trying again.

»Wesley Byrd sent me.«

»...«

»I am... the stand-in for Agent Stone.«

At that, the guy lifted an eyebrow before scanning her just like the red light earlier.

»M-My name is... Sal... I... uhm...«

His examining eyes distracted her.

»... I work as... a graphical visualizer... actually.«

»Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?«

He had almost cut her off, now looking even more bugged.

»... yes and no... I guess.«

After wheezing hearably and rolling his eyes, he made an indifferent gesture with his hand and passed her by.

»Byrd's farcical excuse for a division is filled to the top with screwballs.«

That much was true. Excluding her. The doctor went over to a sheet-sized display and starting typing something in.

»What could I expect. Could as well have gotten... Murdoch... or... Pence. Urgh.«

He indeed knew who the worst of them were.

»You... are... Doctor... Robotnik...?«

»You can read. One plus point for you.«

How charming he was.

»Look... I have no idea what Agent Stone's job here even is, so...«

»Agent Stone's job...«

He said loudly and swung around in a dynamic motion, making a large step towards the confused young woman.

»... is to do, what I say.«

»...«

Sal looked speechless into his widely opened eyes.

»Simple, isn't it?«

Unsure, if it was really that 'simple', she only shrugged a bit. After noticing the overly filled box, she was carrying, Doctor Robotnik briefly pointed to some kind of desk at the longer side of the laboratory.

»Just throw Stone's crap away or something.«

That said, he went back to where he had come from before the alarm had gone off. Somewhere around the corner. Sal watched him rush off and then hesitantly made her way to Agent Stone's place. She put her carton on the desk, relieved to get rid of the weight. There wasn't that much to throw away at all. A few sticky notes, pencils, a little notebook and some peppermint tea bags. Sal wouldn't touch any of this. Instead she shoved it all aside a little bit and started to unpack her own things. Her cactus, her laptop, writing utensils and a water bottle. She put the box under the desk and took a seat as if to test. Adjusting the height, her eyes fell onto Stone's notebook again. It looked a little worn out, as if it had been carried around a lot. Maybe there were some hints in there, to what his job actually involved? It wasn't like her to read in someone else' private records, but she was in a special situation. As soon as she opened it up, her jaw dropped. The pages were as full as they could possibly be. Process descriptions, reports, transcriptions, numbers and a lot of side notes. Those were the most interesting, since they seemed to be little reminders to Stone, of what to do or not not to do, regarding Doctor Robotnik. Especially the first pages of the book were packed with those. Sal opened a random one and read.

›Do not show up early on Wednesdays.‹

What did that mean?

›Only ONE sugar cube in the coffee.‹

Okay.

›NEVER interrupt the Doctor.‹

Sounded like he had learned that the hard way. She turned the page.

›Never let down your guard.‹

›Optical Illusions Tel.: 555 839 975 78‹

›Sir Nimrod = Dr. Sanders‹

She couldn't help but to smirk. The notes didn't help much, but they painted an amusing picture of Agent Stone, who didn't seem to have an easy life here. Sal was excited to read more, but she didn't get the chance.

»Are you laying an egg there?!«

She jumped up from her seat in shock, when the Doctor's angry voice echoed through the lab. Quickly putting the notebook to the rest of Stone's belongings, she rushed around the corner, finally seeing this part of the room. She found Robotnik standing at a large industrial shelf, throwing some oversized circuit boards from one crate into another. He had witnessed her arrival, without even turning around.

»What was your name again...?«

»It's...«

»Aaahhh why do I ask. I don't care.«

»...«

Sal started to realize, what the guys upstairs meant when they spoke of the ›nutjob‹. And why they didn't want to work here.

»Here. Make yourself useful and put these in the storage!«

At that he gave the crate on the ground a kick, that sent it sliding towards her. Eyeing the large box for a moment, Sal blinked.

»Where is that storage?«

Still showing her his back, he just gave her an impatient gesture with the hand, implying it to be somewhere to her right side. She decided do simply get this over with and bowed down to pick up the box. However, it turned out to be far too heavy for her to lift.

»...«

Now she frowned a little. This was intentional, wasn't it? Teeth grinding, she stuck both hands into one of the box' grip holes and started to pull. Fueled by the anger, that has risen in her since this day begun, she managed to drag the thing around the corner and into another, more narrow room. Jerk. She thought. Just like all the others. Two minutes later and heavily breathing, she had actually reached what seemed like the entrance to the storage. It was blocked by some kind of high tech door, that didn't even have a knob or handle. Just when she started scratching her head in wonder, a red little display on the left lit up.

»...uh?«

The word ›IDENTIFY‹ appeared on the screen, and when Sal moved closer, filled with curiosity, it quickly beeped three times. Flinching, expecting another alarm to go off, she froze in place.

»...«

It didn't happen. Instead, the text in the display changed into

›SUBJECT SUCCESSFULLY IDENTIFIED: #HS004, SAL‹

Then it beeped once more and the screen read

›ACCESS GRANTED‹

The door slid open smoothly and left Sal agape. A part of her thought, that that was actually pretty cool. Another just realized that he in fact did very well know her name. He had heard it, understood it and even programmed it in already. At that she turned her head to the direction, she had come from, making a pouting face. Exhaling, trying not to concentrate on possible curse words she could find for him, she went on with her mission, finally getting the crate to it's destination. Somewhat relieved she brushed herself off, after pushing it into an empty spot between some lockers. When she finally returned to the room, Doctor Robotnik was gone. It didn't take her long to find him though. He was back at the main lab, sitting in front of a huge holographic screen, rubbing his chin with one finger. As Sal slowly walked closer, she noticed something standing by the wall and stopped. A pallet truck.

»...«

Her left lower eyelid twitched as she smiled ironically.

»Basic people learn best through failure.«

The Doctor had finally turned around, probably just to rub that in her face.

»... I guess.« she mumbled, boiling a little inside.

When she squinted his direction, watching his mustache tilt, as he formed an entertained smirk, she made a decision. She would not let him win. There was no way on earth, that she would cave in and let him see her crumble. That's clearly what he was aiming for and she was not gonna give him that. At least down here, there was only one bully.

»Thanks for the lesson. What should I do next?« She said indifferently.

The grin on the doctor's face slowly faded while he stared at her for a moment, thinking.

Then, suddenly, he swung back around, attending his computer again. A few seconds passed.

»I want my latte.«

»...«

Sal raised an eyebrow.

»... your... latte?«

Robotnik hissed overly theatrical and tilted his a head a notch.

»Caffe latte, or simply latte, is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk. The word comes from-«

»I know what a latte is...!« She cut him off.

He had talked so fast and monotonous, it had sounded like a robot. And it had made her dizzy. Had he just quoted Wikipedia or something?

»I just... whatever. Where can I get you one...?«

»I think Stone makes them at the coffee machine in the kitchen on the first floor.«

Stone? Agent Stone makes him... lattes? The doctor was already typing again, while he spoke on.

»That would be... room G210.«

»... okay.«

»... his latte making skills are really one of a kind...« he mumbled into his beard.

Did he just compliment someone?

»... I gotta give him that...« he added.

»...«

Sal rolled her eyes and took off to her adventure, finding the source of those mysterious lattes.

Of course, she was aware that this statement about Agent Stone's skills was fully intentional, meant to put her under pressure. And Sal was sure, Stone had his very special way of making his boss's coffee. Maybe it was written down somewhere in this notebook. Somewhere, as a smudged little side-note. She didn't have time to look and even if so, she refused to copy him. When the young woman entered the little kitchen, she found what she had hoped for. Between the toaster and some empty pizza boxes, stood a large, professional coffee machine, clean and shiny. It almost looked out of place. Sal smiled a bit as she stepped closer, orientating herself. What the doctor didn't know was that she had been working at a cafe some time ago.

»... I can still do this...«

She whispered to herself, while opening the cabinets. In one of them she actually found a stack of paper cups that had a yellow sticky note to them, saying ›Stone‹. Sal shook her head.

»No, no, no.«

Opening another door, she finally found a large glass.

»That will do.«

She put it on the counter and cracked her fingers. Remembering the procedure, she started by removing one of the little handles from the machine, filling it with coffee powder and pressing it down.

»Okay...«

She knew that there was no way she would surpass Agent Stone's creation, whatever that meant. But she swore she wouldn't give him a reason to call her ›basic‹ again or attest her a ›failure‹. Reattaching the spoon-like piece into the machine and putting a little glass underneath it, she then reached for the large bar on top and pulled it down. As the espresso started running, she opened the fridge to get some milk. Behind the package she took, she spotted another one. There was the picture of a happy looking, white goat printed onto it. It stood on a mountain top, proudly stretching it's head to the sun.

»... the hell is that...?«

Head shaking, she closed the door, quickly forgetting about the oddity. Again, she thought about Agent Stone, imagining him being bossed around by Doctor Robotnik. She began to froth the milk in a little can, watching it form a swirl. And he didn't take a day off. That thought just made her shake her head. She already felt like needing a break from him. Finally, all components were ready. Sal tipped her lips with the index finger, thinking about what she could add to personalize her creation. Then the side-note from earlier came to her mind.

»...one cube of sugar.«

Now, technically, this wasn't a coffee, but whatever. She took a pinch of sugar and sprinkled it into the espresso, as well as just a little bit of cinnamon she had discovered. Then she poured two thirds of the milk into the big glass.

»Cafe Latte is for losers.« she mumbled.

Waiting a few seconds, then adding the rest, she had created a nice fluffy top. At last, she poured in the coffee.

»Latte macchiato, baby.«

Sal watched a nice, even gradient form, satisfied with her work. She knew that the doctor might say ›task missed‹ or something. But she wasn't Stone, and refused to turn into him. She put a napkin around the hot glass and took it with her.

On her way back she crossed ways with two of her actual colleagues. Pence and Stevens. Trying to pass them by as quick as possible, she lowered her head as if she didn't see them. She could hear them whisper though, and as they were one step behind her, they burst into laughter, like some ten year olds. Sal tried to brush it off as she got into the elevator, but her jaw cracked unpleasantly under the tension of the rage inside her.