Author's Note: Hey guys! New chapter! So, Connie's still stuck in government custody and things aren't really going her way. Hopefully things will start looking up. Huge thanks to everyone that reviewed and favorited this story so far. There were a couple of reviews I particularly like. I love when people write longer reviews and tell me specific things they like. It not only makes my day, but it also helps me figure out what I'm going right and what I'm doing... not so right, haha. Happy reading!
Chapter 4
I was still blindfolded when I was sat down in another chair. The echoes of the men's shoes told me it was a small room, smaller than the one I had been interrogated in. The room was cool and the metal chair was even colder on my skin. I had on shorts and a t-shirt so I felt chilled.
I don't know how long I sat there, cuffed to the chair. It had to be hours. I dosed off several times, but never felt very refreshed from my slumber seeing as how brief it was. Mostly I sat awake and worried; worried why they left me here, worried what they were planning to do to me, worried if I would ever see the world outside those walls again. Time dragged on until I began to lose hope that they would ever let me out of the room. I couldn't go to jail for the rest of my life. They would so easily learn my secret there as years passed and I looked the same.
Despite all my worry I remained calm and composed. I began to think about Jeremy and Eddy. I thought about our time together in the lab and our outings together. We had become a close trio in only a year's time. Jeremy had been my best friend for years and would do anything for me. I amused myself with the mental image of him beating up all the agents and knocking down the door. Then in my head we run out together with Eddy in tow, fighting as we go. I save Jeremy from a bullet by yanking him out of the way and we escape without a scratch.
Finally to my sheer relief the door opened, putting a pause on my mental movie. The sound of only one set of feet sounded in the room. It came close and my blindfold was pulled off. I was once again blinded by a bright light until my eyes adjusted. The room was white and smaller than the other- I had been right- and a small metal table stood in front of me. There were no mirrors or windows. Across from me Simmons, alone, settled himself into the chair.
He only sat there and stared at me awhile. His expression was that of quiet observation, but also ravenous curiosity. He looked at me like he had found something unusual and therefore valuable. He eyes bored into me like he knew something and I started to sweat out of paranoia.
"You're something special, you know that?" He smiled slightly.
"How so?" I asked with just the right mix of naivety and ignorance.
"You deserve an Oscar for that innocent act, Miss Ambrosius." Simmons leaned forward in his chair, but not with the crazed instability I sensed in Galloway. "Galloway may buy it, but I don't."
"I don't understand what you're getting at." I was terrified he had figured out my dark secret, but I knew better than to jump to conclusions. It had to be something else.
"Although, I can see why you pull it off so easily," he continued, ignoring my question, "Your background check shows you grew up in Illinois, went to a college in Arizona, and got a job there at Eisenberg Observatory. No legal record. But I know you're not some run-of-the-mill rock chaser from the desert."
"What am I, then?" I asked when several seconds of heavy silence passed between us.
Simmons' smile faded and he became steely serious. "You're the smart little wallflower that no one sees, but who sees everyone and everything. You knew that meteorite was something strange and you went out looking for it. So, what did you see that made you so curious?"
When I didn't answer he said, "Anything you say to me stays within my sector. Galloway's washed his hands of you so feel free to say what you want. I have no desire to put you in jail. That is, if you answer my questions honestly."
I thought it over for a minute or two. I finally decided that if I had to spill my guts to get out of this I would rather talk to Simmons than to Galloway and I could tell without a doubt that what he said was genuine.
"Our scopes told us it had a smooth, reflective surface like metal," I started after a deep breath, "It was much larger and shaped almost perfectly like a comet, which is extremely unusual for a meteorite."
"And when you found it?" Simmons prompted.
"We didn't. It was gone." I replied simply.
"Anything else interesting?"
"Yeah." I hesitated. I had been rolling some thoughts around in my head and tried to order them so I could speak, "There was no reason why it should have been gone. It should have either been whole in the crater or the broken debris should have been scattered around the impact zone. There was nothing."
"Like it just got up and walked away, huh?" Simmons laughed it off like it was ridiculous. But when I caught the slight glint in his eyes it suddenly hit me.
"Maybe it did." I stared Simmons down, keeping watch for any hit of betrayal on his face. The memory of the marks in the dirt that looked like footprints flashed to the front of my mind.
"I knew I liked you for a reason." A triumphant smile graced his face. It was void of smugness and seemed to be something rarely seen.
"Why?"
"You see things no one else sees." He shrugged his shoulders like it was obvious, "You have skills that would be very useful to our organization."
"What organization is that?" I asked suspiciously.
"See, the problem is I can't tell you anything until you agree to work for us." Simmons started to explain, but I cut him off.
"I knew there would be a catch." I sighed, "And if I don't want to work for you?"
"Unfortunately, you already know too much and you'd be sentenced to life in a maximum security prison." Simmons laced his fingers together and looked disappointed, "All records of you would be destroyed and it would be as if you never existed."
I thought this over for a few minutes. I didn't want to spend years in prison; I couldn't. That would be a one way ticket to revealing my past and there was no way I was going to become some freak that scientists experimented on. I valued my freedom too much and it was the damned S7 that had gotten me into my current situation anyway. It pissed me off that my choice was between being their prisoner and being their employee once again, but what could I do? It occurred to me that I would much rather work than go to prison. I could much more easily get out if I was trusted.
I felt like I was having leverage used against me, but then I hit me; two could play at that game. Simmons said that I was valuable, so logic told me I could use leverage against him.
"Okay, I'll work for your guys," I paused to enjoy the fact that I'd soon wipe the smile off his face, "But only on one condition." This definitely surprised Simmons, but he didn't get angry.
"We'll see." He smirked, as if he found it so surprising it was funny, "What's your 'condition'?" He put his hands up and mimed quotation marks with two fingers on each hand.
"Jeremy and Eddy go free. No prison. No harassment. They go back to work for the observatory without any problems." My words were met with laughter, then contemplative silence.
"Why are you so worried about them? They're just your coworkers."
"They're my friends and I don't want them to have to choose between working for you and jail for the rest of their lives."
"Fair enough." Simmons sighed and snapped his fingers. The door opened and a man handed him a metal box and a few papers. Simmons set them down on the table and dismissed the suited man from the room. He set the papers in front of me and handed me a pen from his pocket.
"Sign this contract and you'll officially be working for us." He tapped an empty line with a finger, indicating where to sign, "We're typing up a contract as we speak that will let your little friends go as well. Once you do that I can fill you in on who you will be exactly working for and what you'll be doing."
After reading the contract I let it all sink in. I was shocked at its brevity and simplicity. I basically stated that I would work for "an organization" for as long as they required me and if my work was terminated I would go straight to jail for the rest of my life. I picked up the pen and put it to the paper, but didn't sign right away. I felt like I was signing my life away to and it made me hesitate, but I reminded myself that I was doing this more for my friends than my own freedom. Thinking of Eddy and especially Jeremy made writing my name easy. Before I knew it my name was scrawled in flourished cursive on the paper and Simmons took it from in front of me.
"Thank you." Simmons said as he set the paper aside. He repeated the sentiment to a man that came in with another paper and left just a quickly.
"Here." Simmons set the second paper in front of me, "That sets your boyfriend and your intern free. Sign here." He indicated a line.
"Jeremy's not my boyfriend." I corrected gently, "But he is an amazing friend. Best I've ever had." I meant this with my whole heart.
"Could'a fooled me." Simmons said with amusement. I rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking. He thankfully didn't watch as I read the contract and signed it when I found it satisfactory. It said that Jeremy and Eddy would be set free under threat that if they spoke of what they saw or heard they would spend their lives in jail. They would remain free as long as I worked for the "organization". The only termination of my work that wouldn't result in their being thrown into jail was if I died or if the "organization" dismissed me themselves. Jeremy and Eddy would know nothing of my fate. That last bit killed me inside, but I would have to live with that.
Simmons took this paper as well, put both of them aside, then set the metal box in front of us. He opened it with a code, pulled out a small silver object about the size of a large grape, and set it on the table gingerly. I looked more closely at it and found it appeared to be a small chunk of silver metal. For some reason something drew me to this object, like I knew exactly what it was. Images of the meteorite flashed through my mind and I knew it was the same material the meteorite was made of.
"I take it from the look on your face you recognize this." His New York accent made his slight amusement all the more pronounced.
"The meteorite must have been made out of that metal." I answered.
"Bingo!" Simmons' voice echoed off the walls. He looked happy, almost proud.
"Is this some kind of test?" I asked.
"Kind of," he replied, "My own observations of you wouldn't be good enough to convince the big boys to hire you so I thought I'd get some solid proof of your talent for observation."
"Is that why you wanted to hire me?" I was tired so my questions were short.
"One of the reasons." He looked at me as he continued, "You're not only very observant, but you show extreme composure in unusual and stressful situations. You stood up to my men and even Galloway without batting an eye. You lied to our faces with ease. From your behavior and your high school and college records anyone could tell you're also highly intelligent." I wanted to laugh at the fact that he had no idea that I had forged my high school records. They were grades I had earned, albeit back in the 20's, but I made sure I always paid off some shmuck from a school to make records of me being there so they coincided with my college records. It was easy. Almost too easy.
"So what exactly will I be doing in this job? Something that might get me killed?" I yawned, "Who will I be working for?"
"Well, I can tell you right now that you won't be doing anything that will put you directly in harm's way." Simmons seemed to be holding something back for a moment, but went on, "But remember, you'll be working for the government and another… party. Both the US government and this party have enemies and potentially you could end up in the crossfire, but I seriously doubt it."
"So where does this meteorite and my new 'job' tie in?" If I hadn't been so exhausted I would have found it funny that it seemed I was the one interrogating him and not the other way around.
"Do you believe in aliens?" He looked me squarely in the eyes as he said it. I was momentarily taken aback by his bluntness.
"I…um..." I didn't know what to say. I couldn't figure out the logic of his question.
"As an astrobiologist, a scientist, do you believe that extraterrestrials could exist?" He said with the same solemnity.
"Of course." I answered slowly, "The evidence that life could exist out there is overwhelming. The sheer notion that we are the sole living beings in this entire vast universe is both arrogant and ignorant."
"Do you think we could live in peace with them if we made contact?" Again, the stern gaze.
"If they wished to have peace between us and meant us no harm, of course." I began to wonder nervously at his questions, "It would be a wonderful opportunity to be involved with and learn from beings advanced enough communicate with us."
"Good to know you think so." Simmons said with a small smile. He quickly put the metal chunk away, gathered up the papers, pocketed his pen, and stood.
"In a few hours you'll be escorted onto a plane that will fly you to the base you will be working and living in from now on. En route I will explain to you your job description, if you want to call it that, and once inside you will get to meet the people you'll be working for. Until then… I'd suggest getting some rest."
He looked at me a moment then said, "Look, if you promise not to do anything stupid, like hit me, I'll uncuff you and see if I can't get a cot for you to sleep on."
"Okay, I promise." I nodded. With that he unhooked my cuffs both from the chair and my wrists. I stood and stretched, incredibly grateful that I was once more able to move around. It felt like I hadn't moved in eons.
"Alrighty then," Simmons stepped towards the door and opened it. He was handed a small foldable cot. He set it on the floor by the table, far away from the door and said, "Now get some sleep. Big day for you tomorrow." With that he left and the door shut behind him. Suddenly the lights in the room dimmed till they were nearly out. I was rather thankful I wouldn't have to try to sleep with the bright lights on, but something told me I would have fallen asleep easily anyway.
I lowered myself to the cot and got comfortable. It wasn't like a bed with a mattress, but I wasn't complaining. Before I knew it, despite all the questions and strange things bouncing around in my head, I slipped into a somewhat restless slumber.