“No, Dr. Billings,” Dr. Trout replied, clearing his throat as his cheeks took their turn flushing, “I was simply discussing Minerva’s results with her.”
“I’m sure Dr. Hsu will be delighted to share them with all of us at the next department meeting.”
John stepped between me and Dr. Trout. He could detect that I was uncomfortable and handled it graciously by placing himself between me and Dr. Trout. I flashed John a grateful smile.
“Right. Well, since the two of you are here, find the other scientists and let’s head to the lower level.”
“Aren’t we already in the basement?” I asked, unsure if Dr. Trout was playing a weird mind game with us.
“No. There’s something you need to see in one of the top secret classified levels. Before that, the whole group of scientists must meet with the attorney. Come with me.”
I looked to John for answers but he only shrugged. None of us had heard anything about a top secret floor. We thoughtwe alreadyknewall the government secrets. Our workplace was already a fortress of scientific data and armed guards.
We followed Dr. Trout out of the room and he gathered up the other two scientists — Dr. Martin Lewis and Dr. Declan Chubb. Dr. Trout led us to his office at the end of the hall.
It was clear something was going on — something serious. None of us had any idea what. The lawyer started going off on a typical “non-disclosure” speech, except this one was far more detailed than any I’d ever heard. We weren’t to breathe a word of what we were working on, even details about our work hours, and coworkers, and our meeting with the lawyer to anyone under the sun. We were to agree to schedule changes that meant our next week, we’d begin work under the cover of night. After the forty-five minute speech, we lined up and quietly signed the document, promising never to breathe a word about our work to anyone.
Once we’d signed, Dr. Trout handed the four of us new metal ID cards and brought us to a closet behind the protein analysis lab that I’d never noticed before. He told us that our ID cards were bulletproof and we were about to see something that no one else in American history had seen before. I figured it was a test tube with some weird virus. Maybe we were about to witness the next plague in the flesh.
Inside the closet was another elevator with only one button.
“Crowd on in, doctors, and get ready to witness American history in the making.”
We piled into the elevator and John leaned over to whisper to me, “Any guesses where he’s taking us?”
“Not a clue,” I replied.
“Maybe it’s the new H-bomb,” he suggested.
“Or a bioweapon,” Dr. Chubb chimed in, with a suspicious glint in his eye.
I hoped that both of them were wrong.
The elevator doors opened and Dr. Trout made us line up.
“Each of you will be given a different assignment, so I will need to take you in to the room one at a time. Any questions?”
All of us shook our heads. How could we ask any questions when we had no idea where Dr. Trout would be taking us or what we were doing in the secret part of the government facility, one mile beneath Fort Meade, Maryland.
The male scientists were taken in first. As each of them exited and returned to the top floor, I studied their faces for clues as to what they’d seen in the room with the metal door at the end of the hall. I couldn’t read the expressions on any of their faces, not even John’s. By the time Dr. Trout got to me, I was still concerned about being alone with him. Of course, he’d left me for last.
“Come, Minerva. It’s time for you to see what our great nation has discovered.”
I kept up with Dr. Trout’s long stride and we both swiped our ID cards on the door before it slid open. I stepped inside of the dark, cold room. He flicked on the lights and I noticed a glass enclosure at the far end of the room, shrouded in darkness.
“Approach the glass enclosure and turn on the light using your PIN.”
“I don’t have a PIN.”
“Patience, Minerva. I’m going to give you one. It’s the first four numbers of the square root of 5.”
I punched 2236 onto the keypad and the lights flicked on. My heart jumped to my throat.
“Dr. Trout…”
“Easy, don’t react. I know what you’re seeing is unlike anything that you’ve seen before.”
Everything began to make sense all at once. The unusual samples I’d been receiving all week, the strange habit Dr. Trout had of overanalyzing my work and rushing my results. The blank expressions on the faces of my coworkers. How could someone react tothis?
