New Workplace

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” A masked figure tugged at my arm, a young girl who seemed to be close to my age, “If this plan doesn’t work then you’ll be the one that’s in danger.”

I shrugged her off, “You don’t have to worry. Even if something did happen, we don’t know each other do we? So why would it matter to you?”

She seemingly pouted under her mask and walked off. Cain flung an arm over my shoulder, “That was a bit harsh, she was just concerned.”

“I know,” I sighed. “It’s just weird having people I don’t know concerned about me.”

“We’re all concerned, whether that’s about you or about this plan, who knows.”

Despite the room being filled with anxiety, their thoughts clear to me even without reading them, I felt strangely calm. Perhaps this is what the expression “the calm before the storm” meant. I had every right to feel worried, even scared, as I was the one who was putting my life on the line, but it felt just like a normal day. I was just going back to work, talking to some people in the lab about my discoveries, and waiting for their response. It was a very normal interaction.

“Wish you the best of luck, Von.” Cain gave my back one more solid pat before walking me out the door.

Lumen stood at the window on the second floor, watching as I left. He offered a small wave. “Don’t worry, Von.” His thoughts invaded my own, “If it gets dicey, we’ll be there for you.” How? He couldn’t read my thoughts in return, so I wouldn’t be able to get the answer. I waved back and silently made the journey from the outskirts back into the city. It had only been a few days since my last time making this journey, but it felt as if it had been years. The metropolis area changed a little each day, and to not travel into it for half a week made it seem like a completely new place.

I observed those passing, wondering what brought each of them to where they are now. Backgrounds varied: Ergasia visiting the city for their son's birthday, Arbiters commuting to work, young adults looking for their first job independent of their family. Not a single one had a negative thought outside of being hungry or tired. Yet their ignorance began to get under my skin. How could I have lived like that while working side by side with Arbiters for so long? We remained ignorant of the technology being withheld from a large portion of our people. Was the average Arbiter aware? There was so much more for me to learn and I was thirsty for answers. How could these people not be curious?

I shook away those thoughts for the time being. I blinked trying to clear my vision that had grown more blurry and dimmer than usual. The pain that had usually accompanied the glitch resided to a dull ache, however the effects on my vision seemed to be growing worse. I could only conclude that the aching behind my eyes was now causing my vision to get worse and this is all triggered by the glitch. A price to pay it seems.

“Mr. Ephialtes. What are you doing back here?” One of the men that had been with Hemlock greeted me at the door of my old lab.

Even in the moment of staring down the very person that could send me to my death I was lacking fear. Had I felt fear since Stephen died? “I had some more materials left from what I had been independently researching. The results came back and I wanted to share them even if I don’t work here anymore.”

The man grunted, “Dedicated kid, aren’t you?”

Lucky for me, this was the man who just wanted to go home and didn’t seem to care too much about Hemlock’s actual work. It made me feel as if I had a better chance at staying. However, it could also mean that I’ll just get turned away if he’s completely uninterested. But, good for me, he did take his job a bit more seriously than I initially assumed. His thoughts were on getting in contact with Hemlock to let him know. I blinked away the pain and answered, “I guess you could say that. Is there someone I can give this to? It might be helpful, but if I don’t have a job then I can’t research any further.”

The man flipped through my notes and findings and got in contact with Hemlock using his Lens. Lucky for me, Hemlock responded and said he’d arrive soon. “Wait here for a bit.”

He took my reported findings and left me alone in the lab for a few moments before returning with Hemlock, eyebrows furrowed and a frown gracing his face. “How did you perform your experiments?”

“There was a sick dog in my neighborhood and I thought I’d try some of the solutions we hadn’t had a chance to try yet. I had planned on reporting this to Mr. Dolion, but I haven’t seen him in almost a week now.”

My voice remained steady, simply stating things as facts even if they weren’t. I still couldn’t get a clear read on Hemlock, so I just sat and waited for his response. After a few moments of silence he cleared his throat, “What is your purpose in handing this to us?”

A question I had rehearsed with Lumen, one we expected would be the turning point in deciding if I could stay or not. We decided that honesty with a bit of naivety would be the best, “Ultimately, I would like to see if this can be a long term cure. But I wouldn’t be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping to be hired again. Even if it’s not in the same lab, I enjoyed being able to research and feel like one day my work could make a difference.”

Hemlock analyzed me, looking for lies. The room felt heavy as I and the other man waited for his response once again. He shuffled the papers back into the folder I had them in and put them back in my hands. “That’s okay for now, but I have some questions to ask first. You have time, right?”

I nodded, “Yes, I have time.”

“Good, then come with me.”

There was still a chance this wouldn’t workout, but so far it seemed to be going well. I fought the urge to smile at how well this was going. Even the smart Ergasia were looked down on, weren’t they? There wasn’t much expected from us. I followed Hemlock through the building, him guiding me to the parking lot. Onlookers avoided eye contact, but were very aware of the two of us passing by. Hemlock carried a presence with him that made those around us shrink away. I had thought I had imagined it initially, however seeing others react as strongly as they were proved it to be true. As he walked, he carried an air around him that seemed to force others into submission. Just one glance from him sent even the Arbiters, who I had worked with and had relentlessly put me down in the past, into a panic.

We took our seats in what I assumed to be his car and he started it and began to drive. “I want to take you to a lab a bit closer to the Center, but while we’re headed there I’ll go ahead and ask you my questions.”

The Center: where the government offices were all located. I’m assuming that this lab was directly connected to the higher ups. I waited quietly for Hemlock to continue. After not hearing a response from me, he spoke again.

“Did you receive permission to do testing outside of the lab?”

“No,” I answered honestly before twisting the truth a bit, “I just saw the sick dog and happened to have some things on me that I forgot to take out of my bag.”

“Why did you have solutions in your bag?”

“Just taking them to and from different rooms when my hands were full. Mr. Dolion and I got caught up in a conversation and I forgot about them.” I paused, still not sure about Hemlock’s character and how I should approach this questioning. I wondered if I should end my answer there, but decided to ask a question in turn that I hoped would verify his authority over me and keep his suspicions off of me, “If something like this happens again, what would be the best course of action?” The answer was obvious, but my role was to be a naive kid.

Hemlock sneered, “Leave the dog.” I was right about his answer, but he continued against my expectations, “Unless you receive clearance to experiment you shouldn’t. Things can go wrong, especially for experiments at home.”

He made it sound as though the advice was for safety. Perhaps a few weeks ago I would have thought that it was, but now I had my doubts. Especially when it was Hemlock saying those words. From the moment I met him, I couldn’t read him nor could I bring myself to trust him.

“How did you go about your experiment?” Hemlock continued.

“I realized that the solutions I had in my bag had yet to be used together. Since the dog was exhibiting symptoms similar to those we were seeking to cure, I thought I would give it a try. I administered just one dose and the dog was showing signs of recovery after 24 hours. I kept an eye on it for a few weeks just in case and it only seemed to improve. I took notes the entire time and have them with me for your review.”

He seemed satisfied with my answer and didn’t press more on the experiment. “What do you plan to do next?”

“Next? With my work or if I have any long term goals?”

“For both.”

“For work,” I began as we arrived at our destination and followed him out of the car, “I would love to continue experimenting to see if this could be a cure or just a fluke. If it is, perhaps we can find cures for other illnesses and we could improve the quality of life in the outskirts and beyond.”

“Passionate, aren’t you?” His demeanor was growing friendlier as the conversation continued.

“I don’t know if I’d call myself passionate or not. I lost a friend to illness and would like to prevent that from happening to others.”

“Would you say that’s your long term goal?”

I nodded, “You could say that. Developing more medicines is definitely part of it. I would like to finish Mr. Dolion’s project as well. Other than those two things, I can’t think of any other goals.”

Hemlock nodded, scanning an ID to unlock the large glass doors leading into an industrial style building. The inside was pristine white, no other signs of life present. AI assistants were silently cleaning. One spotted us and greeted Hemlock before scanning me and registering me as a guest. “Print him an ID as well.”

“An ID?” I questioned.

“You need a lab to work on these goals, don’t you?”

I shivered. This felt too easy. How could things go to plan like this? Did I appear that innocent? I smiled, “Thank you, sir.”

“I don’t think I ever introduced myself, did I? Capri Hemlock.” He held out his hand for me to take.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hemlock. Thank you for everything today.”

“I have one more question for you. Do you have a Lens?”

I nodded, “Yes, I got it as soon as I was of age.”

Hemlock’s gaze rested on my eyes, “Strange, it doesn’t seem like it. Does it work okay?”

I nodded again, “I don’t use it a lot, but it does messaging and research well.” Not completely true, but he hadn’t caught any of my other lies yet.

“Interesting.”

Fear settled into the back of my mind. What could he tell about my Lens, did he realize there was a glitch? I kept my face up as I got a tour of the lab, my fear remaining but never showing. It wasn’t until I settled into my new desk and bidded Hemlock farewell that I felt like I could breathe again.

“Guess this is my new workplace.” I muttered to myself gazing around the room. It looked nearly identical to the one I worked in with Dolion, just larger. I wasn’t expecting to be brought to such a place as quickly as I was. It was scary how well Lumen’s plan was working. Now that I was in, it was time to try and find evidence. I didn’t know where to begin, but I knew there wouldn’t be much room for error. If I was caught in the wrong room here, I had a feeling it wouldn’t end with a simple scolding.