Back in the Lab (II)

Date: 29.8.2450 ST (Secondary Timeline)
Location: Dimensional Labs, Neo Seattle outskirts, Neo Washington, Tribesta System, Aradrox Galaxy, Aleph Universe

“Man, that kid seemed to be one of the few that could breach dimensional boundaries by accident,” Aaron said, looking at one of the papers that he was picking up in the room. “How are we supposed to keep this from ever happening again, though? I doubt the boss would even want to meet the kid…”

“What kid?”

Aaron turned to face the speaker. It was the Dimensional Overseer, his boss, wearing a proper white lab uniform as befitting her station. “Oh, madam Dimensional Overseer! I don’t know how this happened, but we had a visitor from another dimension show up here.”

“A visitor, you say?” she asked. “Did you get his name, by any chance?”

“Yes, actually,” Aaron said. “His name in the modern naming scheme is Gato Alexanderson—”

“Wait, you mean Gato, son of Alexander, right?” the Dimensional Overseer asked, interrupting him.

“Er, yeah, that’s right,” Aaron said, scratching the back of his neck. “Why do you ask?”

“Do you not know anything about the experiments that I’m running with Ricardo and Elliot?”

“No, sorry… wait, that’s what the experiments are about?!”

“More or less, yes,” the Dimensional Overseer said. “Now, I need you to do something for me, if you don’t mind.”

“What do you need me to do?” Aaron asked.

“I need you to look for how to connect his dimension with ours on a more permanent basis,” she said. “If you can do that, you get to be my third research assistant in the labs.”

“Y-you mean it, boss?” Aaron asked.

To be one of her research assistants was said to be a high honor that so few were able to get their hands on. In fact, the only way to get the right to be one of her research assistants was to pull off something so incredible while experimenting, all without getting anyone hurt in the process. To think that he was able to get such an honor because of what had to be a fluke or something like it.

“Yes, I mean it,” the Dimensional Overseer said, giving him a gentle smile in the process. “Now, get to it, will you?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Aaron saluted her, before he began hurrying out of room.

“Don’t forget to clean up after yourself, first!” the Dimensional Overseer shouted after him.

Aaron stopped in mid-motion, turned back around, and began cleaning up again. “Sorry, boss,” he said.

“I understand,” the Dimensional Overseer said, sighing from the antics. “Please hurry this up as much as possible, will you?”

“I will,” Aaron said, giving a cheeky grin.

After all, I want to be one of your research assistants, boss… maybe even be more than that, if you’ll let me.

“Get to it, then,” she said. “I need to head out for a while, but I should be back in three weeks. If you have all of this cleaned up by the time I get back, then you get to do what I asked you to first. I hope you understand me.”

“I do, yes,” Aaron said, still working on the cleanup.

“Good,” the Dimensional Overseer said, before walking out of the room and off to do whatever she was going to.

Aaron stayed within the room he had to clean for as long as he could, which had to be three hours worth of time for him, even as he cleaned. He didn’t have the time firmly memorized in his head, but it was something that he absolutely needed to deal with on his own. After all, he really needed to make sure he kept a better track of time. Not only was he a lot like an absent-minded professor of some sort, he also made an invention that was similar to the absent-minded professor from that old long-ago movie.

Now, if only he could remember what the stupid invention was. Flying plastic? No, that did not sound right. What was it?

He shook his head. This was not the time to think about it at all.

As he finished cleaning up the room, he heard a sliding door open behind him. He turned to see who it was that opened the door. It was a young woman, about 15 or so, with chocolate brown hair, eyes the color of obsidian, and a very kissable face. Her lab uniform was a beige pair of pants, a white button-up shirt for women, a pair of black high heels, and a tan lab coat. “Hello, Chelsea,” Aaron said. “How are you doing today?”

“I’m doing perfectly well, thank you for asking,” Chelsea Davis said. “There’s something I needed to take care of here, and I need you to clear out while I do so.”

Aaron blinked as he took that in. “Can it wait until I finish my task for the boss?” he asked.

“What did the boss ask you to do here?”

“She wanted me to clean up the room.”

Chelsea looked at the room as a whole, as if she had no idea where she was before that moment. “Well, I’ll be,” she said. “You were doing my job for me.”

“I was?” Aaron asked. He took a look around him. “Wow… that I didn’t know.”

Chelsea giggled. “Now you know. Say…”

“Hm?”

“Are you free to go to the movie theater later this week?”

Aaron looked Chelsea in the eye as he weighed his options mentally. Do I do it, or do I not? I mean, I am almost done with cleaning up the room, thus I almost have permission to work with the boss on her research better. However, I am being asked out by an attractive woman… at least, I hope she’s attractive.

“Are you in there somewhere?” Chelsea asked, before she giggled again.

"Oh, sorry, I am."

"That is good. Now, are you free to go to the movie theater with me?"

Aaron sighed and lowered his head for a bit. "I honestly do not know. The Dimensional Overseer offered me a position as one of her research assistants. If I do not finish up the job she has for me right now, then I will not be one of her research assistants. I do wish to be one of her assistants, but I do not want to end up messing up my love life."

Chelsea put a hand to Aaron's face. "Do not worry, you will not. Do not just believe me, believe in the me who believes in you."

Aaron chuckled. "Well, in that case, who am I to object?"

"That is the spirit," Chelsea said, patting him on the back with her other hand. “Now, let’s take this slowly, one step at a time. Should the boss promote you to that position, then we’ll need to work out a time when we’re able to go to the movies together, okay?”

"Yes, that is right," Aaron said. "Of course, it also depends on what sort of movie you want to watch. For instance, what kind of movie are you interested in?"

"Well, the theater has a remix of an old movie from way back in the old calendar period. I figured you would want to watch it," Chelsea said.

"That does not answer my question. Is it a romance, an action flick, or something else?"

"Does Avengers mean anything to you?"

"Wait, you mean the Marvel one or the old BBC one?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, so you know the difference. I mean the one that was on BBC a long time ago."

"Awesome! I would love to see that movie series."

Chelsea nodded. "Very well, I will see you then… I mean, supposing you do not get promoted too highly that you cannot watch a movie."

Aaron nodded. "If need be, I plan to talk to the boss about letting me watch the movie with you. That way, win-win for everyone."

Chelsea blinked, before she turned away, looking to her right. "I hope so. Otherwise, this whole thing might be a bust."

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "It is nothing, forget it."

"Can you say that to my face?" Aaron asked.

Chelsea turned to look at Aaron again. "Seriously, it is nothing, forget it."

"Okay, very well."

"Thank you very much."

"Sure, no problem," Aaron said. He looked around the room again. "Now, what exactly are we going to do to finish cleaning up around here?"

"Did you sort the books correctly?" Chelsea asked.

"Maybe," Aaron said. "To make sure we are on the same page, do you categorize the books by name and by subject?"

"More like by the authors last name, chronological release of the book, and by subject. If the book is part of a series, then I start grouping the series together."

"I might have screwed up, then." Aaron scratched the back of his neck.

With a sigh, Chelsea said, "Let me see how you did it this time." Without waiting for a reply, she walked over to the bookshelves.

Oh, no, what am I going to do? How am I to convince her that I do not need to be babysat about this?

Aaron turned to look at what to Chelsea was doing. Fortunately for him, she did not make that many changes to the bookshelves… Aaron hoped that there were not that many changes.

"Okay, first case is done. Next, I have to take a look at the others cases that are in the room."

Why me…?

Aaron looked at the papers that were still out of their filing cabinets. He knew that he needed to take care of that as well. He walked over to the closest paper, took a look at what it said at the top, and looked for the correct filing cabinet where it belonged.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" Chelsea asked him.

"I am just checking on the filing cabinets to see where the papers go exactly. Is that a problem?"

"No, not per se," Chelsea admitted. "Just make sure that the papers go in order. Please keep that in mind."

"Of course, I will."

Now, if only I can remember what papers I put where. That would be helpful by a bunch.

Aaron pulled open the drawer to the filing cabinet that he was looking for. Fortunately for him, he did not make a mess of this one. He looked through the folders, making sure that nothing was out of place, before he put the paper he held in hand in the correct folder.

"While you are at it, could you make sure that nothing is out of place in the other drawers? That way, there will be less work overall."

Aaron sighed. "Of course, Chelsea."

"Thank you, Aaron," Chelsea said.

"You are welcome," Aaron said. He walked around to the other filing cabinets, after closing the last drawer he had open. Opening the other drawers, he checked to make sure that everything was in order. Unfortunately for him, however, that was not entirely the case. "Oh, crap," he said.

"What? What happened this time?"

"I have to sort everything over again."

Chelsea gave off an aggrieved sigh. "I was hoping you would not say that. Not to worry, I will take care of this for you."

Aaron turned to look at Chelsea again. He saw that she had put down a book that was next to an open spot on the bookshelf. "Do you want me to take over for the books again?"

"Sure, I do not mind," Chelsea said. "However, the next set of books you need to sort are in the fiction section this time."

"We have a fiction section?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, we do. After sorting the last book that I put down, you need to sort the fiction books by author's surname, series, and genre," Chelsea said. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes, I do."

“Then please get ready to sort the books that are severely mis-sorted, okay?”

“I will,” Aaron said, giving her a gentle smile. “I’m on my way to doing that.”

Chelsea giggled. “You’re such a tease.”

Wait, how am I a tease?

Aaron shrugged his shoulders as he walked over to the columns of book shelves. He found some of the mis-sorted books that were left out on the tables and desk of the room, before he began sorting the different manuscripts where they belonged. Let’s see, here… I think that this is where The Princess Bride goes, and I think this is where Harrison Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone goes, along with the rest of the series. Am I missing anything?

He took a quick look around the bookcases, before he discovered something. The number of books in the room did not meet the number of books needed to fill the shelves.

What exactly happened to the missing books?

He continued sorting the books that he knew were in the room, before he saw that all the books in the room were in their correct spaces. It was not something he normally had the skills to pull off, but it worked in his favor today. He still needed to figure out where the other books wound up at.

“Aaron, are you done with sorting out the books?” Chelsea asked.

Aaron turned to face her, looking her in the eye. “I wish that I was, but I’m not. A good amount of books are not in the room where they belong.”

“You mean some of the books have not been returned to this room yet?”

“Correct, I’m afraid. I don’t know where they could have gone at all.”

“Well,” Chelsea said, putting a hand to her chin, “it seems like we’ll need to call in the library bots. Otherwise, we’re so far up Turd Creek without a paddle to get us home.”

“That sounds like an apt description,” Aaron said, slapping his forehead with his palm. “I wish that this didn’t have to happen, but, well…”

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?”

“Exactly that.”

“I see what you mean, yes,” Chelsea said. “Now, how about we get the books back here, where they belong?”

“I like the sound of that,” Aaron said, giving a slight smile. “I mean, we don’t want the boss getting mad at us, do we?”

Chelsea shook her head. “You’re right, we don’t. Now, how about we get to finding the books right away?”

Aaron nodded, before he walked over to the sliding door where Chelsea entered from earlier. “C’mon. We need to get on with the job.”

“Give me a bit. I still need to sort the paperwork where it belongs, first,” Chelsea said, picking up the paperwork where she put it before.

Okay, how does this work out? I mean, we don’t have all the paperwork put into neat places, but then… ah, who am I kidding? This is probably the best way to handle this particular mess.

“Are you daydreaming, Aaron?”

“No, just thinking about how we’ll finish the task at hand here,” Aaron said, shaking his head as he walked over to Chelsea. “Do you need me to help you keep drawers opened while you handle putting the paperwork where it belongs?”

“Sure, that’d be great,” Chelsea said. “Here, could you open this drawer for me?” She pointed at the top drawer of the filing cabinet she was in front of.

“Of course, I don’t mind,” Aaron said, walking over to the drawer in question and opening it. “Let me know when you want me to open the next one, okay?”

“I plan to,” Chelsea said, giggling at the question.

“Okay, then, let’s take care of this room,” Aaron said, waiting for the job to continue.

It only took a couple minutes for Chelsea to do the job for that drawer. It then took another fifty-eight to finish the room as a whole. “Are you ready to clock out for today?” Chelsea asked.

“Not until we get the books found that we need to,” Aaron said. “It’s the last thing we need to do, if I remember that one right.”

“That it is, yes,” Chelsea said, walking over to go to the intercom. “I’ll contact the library bots for you, then. Go ahead and clock out.”

“Are you sure about that?” Aaron asked her.

“I’m positive,” Chelsea said. “Go take your break for today.”

“Okay, then,” Aaron said, even as he slowly walked over to the door leading into the rest of the complex.

As he walked out of the room, he pulled out his security card, making sure that everything was in order. When he arrived at the terminal to clock himself out, he moved to swipe his card in the card reader, but stopped himself.

There’s something wrong with this situation, I just know, he thought. What am I going to say to the boss if I don’t figure out what’s going on wrong?

He then ran on his way back to the office he had just left. He didn’t know if someone was trying to play him the fool or whatever, but this needed to be resolved correctly, come Hell or high water. As it stood, he barely made it to the door to that office when he heard Chelsea screaming, before the sound of an ST 2449 version Smith and Wesson Model 29 barked out, silencing her.

Chelsea!

He pulled out a pistol from the inner left side of his labcoat, an ST 2450 version Glock 17, and punched the unlock mechanism to open the door, causing the door to slide open swiftly, before he swiftly scanned the room to find the culprit standing in the middle of the room. “FREEZE!!”

The culprit, a man taller than himself in a black body suit and a green ski mask, turned to face Aaron with his magnum aimed at him, pulling the trigger... only for a clicking noise to emanate from the gun itself. “Shit!!” the culprit snarled, aiming to throw his gun at Aaron.

You moron.

Aaron wasted no time in shooting the culprit in the shoulder, forcing the man to drop his now useless magnum. Following that, just as the man was about to run out through a different door, Aaron shot the man in the left knee, forcing the culprit to fall to the ground.

That should stop him for now.

He ran to the intercom and activated it. “Everyone, we have a situation in the office library,” he said into the device. “There’s an intruder in the office library, and he shot Chelsea Davis! I repeat, there’s an intruder in the office library, and he shot Chelsea Davis! Someone get security in here immediately!”

He didn’t have to wait for very long, as a full security team arrived fifteen seconds after the announcement. “What happened in here?” the head of the security team asked.

“I don’t know for sure,” Aaron said, shaking his head. “The culprit’s right over there, though.” He pointed at the man who shot Chelsea.

The culprit was barely able to move on his way toward the way he came in, before one of the security personnel put a stop to that by stepping on the man’s back with a heavy boot. “You’re not getting away, bub,” the member of the security team told him.

“We’ll take him in for interrogation,” the head of the security team said, giving Aaron a sympathetic glance. “I’m glad you decided to come this way, though. Who knows what would have happened otherwise?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Aaron said, tears leaking out of his eyes. “Can we get a medical team to help Chelsea?”

“We’ll see what we can do about that,” the head of the security team said. He turned around, before he stopped when he was looking behind him. “Sweet mother of Rugrats!”

“What? What’s wrong?” Aaron quickly asked, looking in the direction that the head of the security team was facing in.

“Where the hell did her torso go?! All I can see of her are her lower legs and a whole lot of blood that shouldn’t be here!” the head of the security team yelled.

Aaron fully focused on what he was seeing, bile about to build up in his throat, before his mind focused on one thing. The lower legs were bare of anything except a pair of ankle-length socks and a pair of sneakers. This was in direct contrast to what he saw of her earlier that day.

What the… what the hell did I stumble upon with this? I don’t get it one bit…

He sighed, before he holstered his gun back into his lab coat. He needed to file in a report about this mess, and that meant having to write the whole thing out by hand. That also meant that he needed to keep on working for the rest of the day, which he really hated having to do.

Either way, I really don’t like where this is going, not one iota. What the hell am I supposed to do with my life? Hopefully, Gato’s okay…