File Search (WIP) Part 3
I got a huge kick in the butt with this one because Robyn basically urged me to keep going. A continue of this story, which started in this post.
Part 3, wherein more things happen but the plot doesn't exactly show up until the verrrrry
end.
-----
We ate in relative silence, though the glowering I was doing probably didn’t make the situation any more pleasant. Forrester just sat and ate his sandwich, a mildly pleasant expression on his face. It was like he was in bliss, simply eating a sandwich and sipping from his coffee mug. I plowed through my burger and continued glaring darkly at him from over the brim of my mug.
“You know,” he said finally, twirling a fry in some ketchup, “Staring at me isn’t going to change my opinion on you.”
“You’re pissing me off,” I said finally, leaning back in my seat. “Now please just tell me what you want from me for this…project.”
“It’s…simple,” he said, the tiniest hint of a smirk crossing his lips. “I can get the data. The question is the interpretation of it. Humans are different than bacteria or animals…there is a depth that few can understand. I can make the basic observations, but I…”
“You can’t get to the real stuff. You can’t figure out what to do next.” The way he refused to look at me made me smirk. “Well…I’ll be honest and say I can’t guarantee I’ll be better. But I can try.”
“Heh…I see the prospect of exploration has overridden your pissed off state of being.”
“Unfortunately yes…”
---
Now what.
I looked in the mirror of the medicine cabinet, toothbrush jammed between my molars, staring at myself. What the hell was I doing? Why had I agreed?
It was unfortunate being a scientist, having an innate desire to want to explore and discover the unknown. But now that I was actually thinking about it, I had to shake my head in annoyance. I didn’t even know what kind of experiment Forrester had planned. I had simply jumped the gun and agreed to help.
Man, I was so stupid. So why…why…
I rinsed the sink of toothpaste and went out into the kitchen, wiping my mouth on my shirt collar. Sitting on the table was my laptop, which I eyed curiously. I could access Gizmonic’s network remotely…
In a flash, I went to work, searching not only the company network, but the general internet as well. My searches on Forrester proved interesting to say the least, as I pulled up stories from his past in school to non-restricted access company files that kept track of his work. As time went on, his studies became more intricate and bizarre, until finally it all came to a halt. He applied for a Deep domain and, a few weeks later, received it.
And that was it.
After that, access became restricted. I turned my attention to Google searches, but they dried up well before the Gizmonic pieces did. With a sigh, I snapped the laptop lid closed and looked at the clock, which notified me that it was only 11:26. My body and mine were exhausted and, had I not the thought process to carry myself to bed, I would’ve fallen asleep right there.
---
Forrester told me nothing. Absent-mindedly, I looked over the data Nemec and I had collected thus far, but had a hard time stifling off yawns before finally smacking my head down on the notebook.
“Pierce? What is your problem girl?”
“Ugh…” I looked up, loose strands of hair in my vision. “Sorry, I’m just kind of…out of it it.”
“Did you get coffee this morning?”
“As always.”
“Huh.” Nemec looked over at me from her computer before sighing. “Take a break, hon. You’ve been going at it all morning.”
“How long?”
“Eh, come back when you get sick of it.”
I smiled before scooting away from the lab station and untying my ponytail, letting my hair fall out. Unconfined, it reached to roughly my shoulder blades. “I could be mean and not come back.”
“You could…but you won’t.”
“Ah, you’re good.” I made a motion to retie my hair, but Nemec’s voice cut into my thoughts.
“You know, you should walk around like that. You never wear your hair differently. Might be funny to see what other people think.”
“Oh really?”
“Hey, it’s worth a shot. I’ve got nothing going on here.” She waved to her short bob of blonde hair. “Go screw around, just be sure you don’t blow anything up.”
“That could be hard.”
I left the lab and wandered around the curved hallway, hands stuck in my pockets. There were some shouts coming from one lab and then complete and utter silence further down. Smoke came out from the door after that, water the next. I ignored them all until I came onto the elevators and joined a white-haired but not quite old man at the doors.
“Hello,” I greeted. He looked at me, smiling, and offered a hand. I shook it while adding, “Arian Pierce, lab 5-R.”
“Paul Curtis, 2-F. Are you the assistant to Nemec?”
“Oh - oh, yeah, I am.”
“That’s good. Nemec deserves someone like you.”
I paused before a confused smile came onto my face. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, it’s just that - see, she was my assistant back in the day. It’s impressive what she was wrought since then.”
The elevator binged and opened, revealing an empty car. We entered as I continued on. “What kinds of things do you do, sir?”
“Whatever comes along - mostly pharmaceutical work, things of that nature. Nemec does the same, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yeah. We’re working on an antibiotic right now, but it’s slow work.”
Curtis laughed. “Of course it’s slow, it’s science.”
I chuckled as the doors opened to the second floor and I bid farewell. Seconds later, I was down on the first, once again winding towards the vending machines and retrieving a soda for myself.
“Heya Pierce,” came a voice from the security desk. I turned around and gave a short jerk of the hand to the daytime security guard, Bill. He was roughly the same age as Kevin, if a bit younger, with a shaved head and a brother-like personality. I cracked open the Coke I had purchased and made my way over to him.
“Heya Bill, what’s up?”
“You know, the same. You?”
“Same of the same. Though uh - hey, I got a question for ya.”
“Okay then, ask it if you want me to answer.”
“You know anything about the Deep domains? Specifically about Forrester?”
Bill looked at me oddly before cupping his chin in his hand. “No…no, not really. He was well-established before my time, kid. Kevin’s more your man for that.”
“Oh, okay,” I replied, doing my best to not say ‘Kevin already told me nothing you idiot’. I looked around the lobby, fingering the soda can rhythmically, before asking, “Any idea where they even are?”
“Access is granted by use of a special key - only the higher ups and those with labs down there have them. Even the janitors have to go through special clearance to get in there.”
“So where is the actual entrance to them? I’ve never seen them.”
“They’re nothing unusual, if that’s what you mean. You go to the left and past the west set of elevators, and you know the staircase next to them? Well, that stairwell has a basement access, and that’s where you go. But you need a key to get to those stairs.”
“Huh.” Well, that explained one thing, since I always took the east elevators. “You think if I stared at them, they’d open?”
Bill did what was fair and stared at me, confused. “What the hell are you talking about? You feeling alright?”
I just grinned. “I wouldn’t mind exploring the Deeps someday…” I took a pensive sip from the can and watched as Bill craned his neck to look down the hallway.
“I guess…” Something proceeded to click in his brain. “Wait, why are you down here? It isn’t lunch or anything.”
“Nah…Nemec told me to take a break because I was going stir-crazy.”
“That’s different.”
“She’s awesome like that.” I took a swig from the can, eyeing Bill as he looked from the TV monitor displaying the front entrance to a planner book set before him. “Something wrong?”
“No…just…ah nevermind. But hey, why do you want to explore the Deeps anyway? You seem pretty content doing your stuff with Dr. Nemec, right?”
“Oh - oh yeah, no, I’m really happy with what I got. But hey…don’t you want to see how the other half lives?”
“In this case? No, not in the least.” Bill shuddered. “I want to stay alive, okay? Lord knows that doesn’t happen if you venture off around here. Man oh man - how do you do it?”
“You get used to it.” I crumpled the can after one final swig before giving a short jerk of a nod to Bill. “Well, I guess I’ll go back. See ya later.”
“See ya.”
The way I saw it, there was no use getting worked up about it. As I made my way back to the elevators, I could only sigh and think ahead to what was really in front of me. If Forrester wasn’t going to approach me, then I wasn’t going to find him. He, after all, was the one in charge of the experiment. Whatever purpose I served in it was controlled by him. Why should I have to go on a wild goose chase?
And that’s how the day and subsequent weeks went. Day in, day out, I came to work and did my research. There came the lunch breaks and the afternoon doldrums, plus weekends off that meant me sleeping in and then lazing around.
It was late at night and I had again told Nemec to go home and be with her son. I had stayed behind to get some final readings on our cultures when I noticed one of the faucets was leaking. Annoyed, I hunted and found the same janitor as before, still utilizing the odd accordion-shaped vacuum cleaner. He had agreed to fix the faucet as soon as he could, so I was left to mill about the institute again.
This time, however, I took the west elevators.
Down to the first floor I went before reaching the destination and veering to the right. There was the door, so plainly in sight, but suddenly, I felt compelled to actually explore it.
But then, of course, I was put to a halt by the fact that the door leading to the Deeps was locked.
I looked at my watch before glancing back at the door. Was I really going to try my theory - staring at the door until something happened? I swiped my feet against the cool tile floors a few times before deciding to sit down, relishing in the comfort it brought.
…
“I knew you’d be here.”
Gah! I snapped awake and nearly flew forward, but caught myself in time. My eyes wandered from the ground and worked their way up, going from a pair of dress shoes to black trousers, meeting a shock of green from a labcoat. In a rather confident pose was Dr. Forrester, simply looking down at me, the slight twitch of a smirk pulling at his lips.
“…Uh…” I blinked and shook my head before smiling. “Like the Dark Brotherhood, they’ll find you…”
“Who the what now?”
“Um, nothing.” I stumbled up and nearly lost my footing, arms flailing wildly. Forrester caught my wrist and helped me regain balance, but as soon as I did, he released his grip, shaking his head and sighing.
“You are such a child.”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you still interested?”
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts and assess the situation, but suddenly, I remembered. Of course - the experiment proposed to me a month ago in that comely little diner. And here I’d thought he had forgotten. “Of course I am.”
“Alright then. Follow me.”
Part 3, wherein more things happen but the plot doesn't exactly show up until the verrrrry
end.
-----
We ate in relative silence, though the glowering I was doing probably didn’t make the situation any more pleasant. Forrester just sat and ate his sandwich, a mildly pleasant expression on his face. It was like he was in bliss, simply eating a sandwich and sipping from his coffee mug. I plowed through my burger and continued glaring darkly at him from over the brim of my mug.
“You know,” he said finally, twirling a fry in some ketchup, “Staring at me isn’t going to change my opinion on you.”
“You’re pissing me off,” I said finally, leaning back in my seat. “Now please just tell me what you want from me for this…project.”
“It’s…simple,” he said, the tiniest hint of a smirk crossing his lips. “I can get the data. The question is the interpretation of it. Humans are different than bacteria or animals…there is a depth that few can understand. I can make the basic observations, but I…”
“You can’t get to the real stuff. You can’t figure out what to do next.” The way he refused to look at me made me smirk. “Well…I’ll be honest and say I can’t guarantee I’ll be better. But I can try.”
“Heh…I see the prospect of exploration has overridden your pissed off state of being.”
“Unfortunately yes…”
---
Now what.
I looked in the mirror of the medicine cabinet, toothbrush jammed between my molars, staring at myself. What the hell was I doing? Why had I agreed?
It was unfortunate being a scientist, having an innate desire to want to explore and discover the unknown. But now that I was actually thinking about it, I had to shake my head in annoyance. I didn’t even know what kind of experiment Forrester had planned. I had simply jumped the gun and agreed to help.
Man, I was so stupid. So why…why…
I rinsed the sink of toothpaste and went out into the kitchen, wiping my mouth on my shirt collar. Sitting on the table was my laptop, which I eyed curiously. I could access Gizmonic’s network remotely…
In a flash, I went to work, searching not only the company network, but the general internet as well. My searches on Forrester proved interesting to say the least, as I pulled up stories from his past in school to non-restricted access company files that kept track of his work. As time went on, his studies became more intricate and bizarre, until finally it all came to a halt. He applied for a Deep domain and, a few weeks later, received it.
And that was it.
After that, access became restricted. I turned my attention to Google searches, but they dried up well before the Gizmonic pieces did. With a sigh, I snapped the laptop lid closed and looked at the clock, which notified me that it was only 11:26. My body and mine were exhausted and, had I not the thought process to carry myself to bed, I would’ve fallen asleep right there.
---
Forrester told me nothing. Absent-mindedly, I looked over the data Nemec and I had collected thus far, but had a hard time stifling off yawns before finally smacking my head down on the notebook.
“Pierce? What is your problem girl?”
“Ugh…” I looked up, loose strands of hair in my vision. “Sorry, I’m just kind of…out of it it.”
“Did you get coffee this morning?”
“As always.”
“Huh.” Nemec looked over at me from her computer before sighing. “Take a break, hon. You’ve been going at it all morning.”
“How long?”
“Eh, come back when you get sick of it.”
I smiled before scooting away from the lab station and untying my ponytail, letting my hair fall out. Unconfined, it reached to roughly my shoulder blades. “I could be mean and not come back.”
“You could…but you won’t.”
“Ah, you’re good.” I made a motion to retie my hair, but Nemec’s voice cut into my thoughts.
“You know, you should walk around like that. You never wear your hair differently. Might be funny to see what other people think.”
“Oh really?”
“Hey, it’s worth a shot. I’ve got nothing going on here.” She waved to her short bob of blonde hair. “Go screw around, just be sure you don’t blow anything up.”
“That could be hard.”
I left the lab and wandered around the curved hallway, hands stuck in my pockets. There were some shouts coming from one lab and then complete and utter silence further down. Smoke came out from the door after that, water the next. I ignored them all until I came onto the elevators and joined a white-haired but not quite old man at the doors.
“Hello,” I greeted. He looked at me, smiling, and offered a hand. I shook it while adding, “Arian Pierce, lab 5-R.”
“Paul Curtis, 2-F. Are you the assistant to Nemec?”
“Oh - oh, yeah, I am.”
“That’s good. Nemec deserves someone like you.”
I paused before a confused smile came onto my face. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, it’s just that - see, she was my assistant back in the day. It’s impressive what she was wrought since then.”
The elevator binged and opened, revealing an empty car. We entered as I continued on. “What kinds of things do you do, sir?”
“Whatever comes along - mostly pharmaceutical work, things of that nature. Nemec does the same, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yeah. We’re working on an antibiotic right now, but it’s slow work.”
Curtis laughed. “Of course it’s slow, it’s science.”
I chuckled as the doors opened to the second floor and I bid farewell. Seconds later, I was down on the first, once again winding towards the vending machines and retrieving a soda for myself.
“Heya Pierce,” came a voice from the security desk. I turned around and gave a short jerk of the hand to the daytime security guard, Bill. He was roughly the same age as Kevin, if a bit younger, with a shaved head and a brother-like personality. I cracked open the Coke I had purchased and made my way over to him.
“Heya Bill, what’s up?”
“You know, the same. You?”
“Same of the same. Though uh - hey, I got a question for ya.”
“Okay then, ask it if you want me to answer.”
“You know anything about the Deep domains? Specifically about Forrester?”
Bill looked at me oddly before cupping his chin in his hand. “No…no, not really. He was well-established before my time, kid. Kevin’s more your man for that.”
“Oh, okay,” I replied, doing my best to not say ‘Kevin already told me nothing you idiot’. I looked around the lobby, fingering the soda can rhythmically, before asking, “Any idea where they even are?”
“Access is granted by use of a special key - only the higher ups and those with labs down there have them. Even the janitors have to go through special clearance to get in there.”
“So where is the actual entrance to them? I’ve never seen them.”
“They’re nothing unusual, if that’s what you mean. You go to the left and past the west set of elevators, and you know the staircase next to them? Well, that stairwell has a basement access, and that’s where you go. But you need a key to get to those stairs.”
“Huh.” Well, that explained one thing, since I always took the east elevators. “You think if I stared at them, they’d open?”
Bill did what was fair and stared at me, confused. “What the hell are you talking about? You feeling alright?”
I just grinned. “I wouldn’t mind exploring the Deeps someday…” I took a pensive sip from the can and watched as Bill craned his neck to look down the hallway.
“I guess…” Something proceeded to click in his brain. “Wait, why are you down here? It isn’t lunch or anything.”
“Nah…Nemec told me to take a break because I was going stir-crazy.”
“That’s different.”
“She’s awesome like that.” I took a swig from the can, eyeing Bill as he looked from the TV monitor displaying the front entrance to a planner book set before him. “Something wrong?”
“No…just…ah nevermind. But hey, why do you want to explore the Deeps anyway? You seem pretty content doing your stuff with Dr. Nemec, right?”
“Oh - oh yeah, no, I’m really happy with what I got. But hey…don’t you want to see how the other half lives?”
“In this case? No, not in the least.” Bill shuddered. “I want to stay alive, okay? Lord knows that doesn’t happen if you venture off around here. Man oh man - how do you do it?”
“You get used to it.” I crumpled the can after one final swig before giving a short jerk of a nod to Bill. “Well, I guess I’ll go back. See ya later.”
“See ya.”
The way I saw it, there was no use getting worked up about it. As I made my way back to the elevators, I could only sigh and think ahead to what was really in front of me. If Forrester wasn’t going to approach me, then I wasn’t going to find him. He, after all, was the one in charge of the experiment. Whatever purpose I served in it was controlled by him. Why should I have to go on a wild goose chase?
And that’s how the day and subsequent weeks went. Day in, day out, I came to work and did my research. There came the lunch breaks and the afternoon doldrums, plus weekends off that meant me sleeping in and then lazing around.
It was late at night and I had again told Nemec to go home and be with her son. I had stayed behind to get some final readings on our cultures when I noticed one of the faucets was leaking. Annoyed, I hunted and found the same janitor as before, still utilizing the odd accordion-shaped vacuum cleaner. He had agreed to fix the faucet as soon as he could, so I was left to mill about the institute again.
This time, however, I took the west elevators.
Down to the first floor I went before reaching the destination and veering to the right. There was the door, so plainly in sight, but suddenly, I felt compelled to actually explore it.
But then, of course, I was put to a halt by the fact that the door leading to the Deeps was locked.
I looked at my watch before glancing back at the door. Was I really going to try my theory - staring at the door until something happened? I swiped my feet against the cool tile floors a few times before deciding to sit down, relishing in the comfort it brought.
…
“I knew you’d be here.”
Gah! I snapped awake and nearly flew forward, but caught myself in time. My eyes wandered from the ground and worked their way up, going from a pair of dress shoes to black trousers, meeting a shock of green from a labcoat. In a rather confident pose was Dr. Forrester, simply looking down at me, the slight twitch of a smirk pulling at his lips.
“…Uh…” I blinked and shook my head before smiling. “Like the Dark Brotherhood, they’ll find you…”
“Who the what now?”
“Um, nothing.” I stumbled up and nearly lost my footing, arms flailing wildly. Forrester caught my wrist and helped me regain balance, but as soon as I did, he released his grip, shaking his head and sighing.
“You are such a child.”
“Excuse me?”
“Are you still interested?”
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts and assess the situation, but suddenly, I remembered. Of course - the experiment proposed to me a month ago in that comely little diner. And here I’d thought he had forgotten. “Of course I am.”
“Alright then. Follow me.”