I was studying biology at Harvard; I was a post-graduate student. I was up against very stiff competition and writing my thesis, and I knew I had to do something extraordinary to be at the top of my class. But I was not expecting that my little scientific experiment would turn into a very sensual adventure that changed my life. I never thought that the alien warrior Corillion known as Jedrian would make me question everything about my life, and his existence.
So as I packed up a couple of bags to visit my father in the mountains of Virginia, I did not know that this goodbye to my roommate would be an important one.
"Do you have to go? Don't you want to go to New York with me for spring break? Let's let off a little steam,” my roommate Amy said as she sat on the corner of my bed as I stuffed clothes into my bag.
"No, I must go. My father is very particular about me visiting him. I've never been to his research facility before; now he is allowing me to shadow his work.” I stood with my hands on my hips and imitated my father, “Trish, you can come, but for school only. This will help you graduate at the top of your class and get a position at a prestigious university. Come soon before I change my mind.”
"Only your father would expect you to go do work for school on spring break,” Amy said rolling her eyes. She knew exactly what my father was like because we had been friends for over two years now.
"That's my father, Mr. Ted Maxwell: all work and no play. All science and no humanity,” I said. The man who had raised me after my mother had passed away at such a young age. But he raised me by sending me away to boarding school to make sure that I was raised properly, and so that he could do his research. He was a top biologist, and I wasn't exactly sure what his work entailed. I assumed that a facility so deep in the mountains of Virginia must be studying contagious diseases and viruses; why else would it need to be so remote?
"I'm going to miss you. I will send you photos from New York,” Amy said as she gave me a hug.
"I would say that I would send you photos from the cold facility, but it is strictly no photos allowed," I said, rolling my eyes at her.
"Well, I hope that you at least get to have some fun. Who knows, you might meet a very attractive older scientist. You can sneak off with him into the woods,” she said, winking her eye at me.
I laughed, “I am sure that it will be boring. I am excited to see the work my father is doing, but other than that, I am sure that everyone there will be such a bore. I should go, or I'm going to miss my train,” I said as I grabbed my bags and coat.
A couple of hours later, I was sitting in the train car looking through the glass as the Massachusetts scenery passed by. Now that I was on the train, I was very excited about the work ahead of me. A part of me was excited to show my father just how much I had grown as a scientist. I had received my biology bachelor's degree from Berkeley. Now I was in the post-graduate microbiology program at Harvard; it was quite an accomplishment, and I desperately wanted my father to acknowledge that. Him saying yes to my visit to his research facility was a step toward that acknowledgment. He had never allowed me to visit him there before, so a part of him must be thinking that I was ready to handle such a place.
It made me feel really good about myself, and about my skills. My father was a brilliant scientist with many published papers. Following in his footsteps was very hard. I wanted to make him proud.
So when I finally arrived at the train station in Virginia, I was a bit shocked that he was not waiting for me.
"Miss Maxwell?” a nerdy-looking short guy with dirty-blond hair, glasses, and a button-down shirt said to me as I grabbed my suitcase.
"I am Edgar Williams, your father’s research assistant. He sent me to fetch you and take you to the facility,” he said.
"No, he is very busy in the lab today. He is working on a very big project, as you will see," he said as he stopped in his tracks and stared at me like a deer in the headlights and said, “Or perhaps not. Dang, I do not know if I am supposed to say anything about that. Don't tell your father. Come, the car is this way.”
I raised an eyebrow at him as I followed the fidgety nerd to the car. I wondered what this fumbling assistant was talking about. What was the big project that my father was working on that I was not supposed to know about? The whole purpose of me coming here was to learn my father's research and write about my experience for my thesis. So what could my father possibly be hiding that he would not want me to know about?
I sat in the car, eager to see the lab and learn more about this mystery. The car pulled away from the station and the very small town. It almost looked like it was abandoned, except for a few buildings: a general store, a small diner, and a few other commercial buildings that did not have signs on them. Soon we were deep in the woods on a winding, narrow road. The pine trees were very tall, like buildings. It was very dense. After an hour, I noticed that we were going up in elevation. This was good. This meant that we were going up the mountain, and closer to the facility.
He snorted out and laughed, “Yes. Gates. A research facility like this needs a lot of security.”
"To keep things out? We are so far out in the middle of nowhere, who would be around to try to get in?” I asked.
"Oh, Miss Maxwell. You will learn that corporations pay top dollar for spies to break into facilities like this to steal research. But keeping things out is not the only thing that the gates do; they also keep things in.”
I looked at him completely confused and in shock. What the hell could they be keeping there? A tiger? My confusion and shock were only doubled when we finally pulled up in front of the massive gates. There was a fifteen-foot tall chain-link fence that went on for miles. We pulled up in front of giant wooden doors. I thought it looked like a drawbridge door from a medieval castle. Two armed guards came forward.
"It is,” Edgar replied. The guard held up a photo of me. He looked at it and looked at my face and then said, “One moment.”
He walked away into the guard booth and called someone on the phone. The second guard came over and said, “Miss, if you could look into the camera please.”
I turned to my right outside the passenger window to see a camera moving and focusing on my face. I stared at it in complete confusion. I could hear the guard in the booth mumbling something. Then he hung up and came over to the car. “She has been cleared. Proceed forward.”
"Thank you,” Edgar said. The giant doors rumbled open slowly. I was expecting King Kong to roar out of the doors. There was nothing boring about this facility, I thought to myself. What would Amy think of this? This was much more exciting than I was expecting it to be.
Edgar drove forward past the doors. What I saw ahead of me was not that astonishing. The facility looked like any other research facility, almost like a modern college campus. There were many buildings; I think ten in all. Small roads wound through the grounds, and there were a few electric golf carts parked in front of each building, along with bicycles. I was a bit disappointed. With the massive gates, I expected something extraordinary.
"I will take you first to the cottage apartments. You are in Bungalow 64 in the back of the property,” Edgar said as he drove around toward the side of the facility heading toward the back.
"Bungalow? I have my own bungalow? I thought I would be staying with my father,” I said confused.
"No, your father set it up so that you have your own bungalow. I think he takes his work home with him and does not like to be bothered,” Edgar said.
"Oh, okay. I guess," I said, wondering if I would see my father at all. I kind of liked the idea of living under the same roof as him, since I had not done so since I was very little. But I guessed that was not going to happen now. I knew I should be grateful for the privacy.
"Here it is. Here is your key. Your father has instructed me to return to you in exactly one hour so that you may get settled. Then I will take you to his office. How does that sound, Miss Maxwell?”
"In the commissary, but I don't think you will have time for that. But you will find that the refrigerator in your room has already been stocked. Perhaps you can find something in there that satisfies you before dinner.”
"Yes, thank you. That should do just fine." I grabbed my suitcase and rolled it over to the door with the number 64 on it. I unlocked it and went inside. The small studio bungalow pleasantly surprised me. It had everything that I could need. There was a small kitchenette with a dorm-size half refrigerator. A bed, seating area, and desk occupied the main room. The bathroom was big enough and even had a full tub. “Not bad,” I said, plopping my suitcase on the bed and opening it up.
I had enough time to unpack, snack on something, and freshen up before meeting up with my father in his office. I put my clothes away in a dresser and in the small closet and then made myself a sandwich and ate an apple. It was the perfect light snack to hit the spot. I washed my face and reapplied some makeup, but not a lot. I kept it very minimal. My father did not like me to wear a lot of makeup and didn't think that any scientist that was serious would wear it anyway. I pulled my long brown hair into a high ponytail on top of my head. I brushed on a tiny bit of clear mascara around my blue eyes and left my lips bare. I changed into a blue, form-fitting sweater and blue jeans with boots that came up to my calves. It was cold in the Virginia mountains, even in spring. I pulled on a light coat and scarf and was ready just in time as Edgar knocked at my door.
"Your father is ready to see you. But first he has asked me to drive you around the entire facility to point out the buildings that you will be using,” he said.
"Great. I'm ready,” I said, locking the door behind me. Edgar had traded in the black BMW that he had picked me up in for a golf cart. I hopped on and he drove to the building directly in front of the bungalows.
“In here is a community center of sorts; there is a gym with an indoor pool. There is also a library and lounge. On the other side of the building is an outdoor patio and coffee cart. It's a great place to sit outside and read or hang out,” he said.
"Sounds perfect. I do drink a lot of coffee,” I said, checking out the building before he drove away toward the center of the facility where he showed me the commissary for all of our meals, and which buildings were for research. Then he stopped the golf cart in front of the building that was labeled security.
"Security? Why are we here? Is this where my father's office is?” I asked him.
"No, you will need to get a picture ID badge in order to have access to the buildings.”
A few moments later, I was standing in front of a camera getting my photo taken, just like getting a drivers license. They printed my photo onto a card with a clip. “You must wear this at all times,” the security guard said to me.
Edgar looked at his watch and then said, “All right. It is time. Your father should be in his office now. Let's go give him a visit.”
"Perfect. I can't wait to see him,” I said as we hopped back on the golf cart and then headed toward the tallest building of the research facility. It was all glass, and I bet the views of the surrounding woods and mountains were pretty.
"Why don't you go ahead and try your badge?" Edgar said as we walked up to the sliding doors. I pulled my badge off my jacket and swiped it on the keypad. It beeped, and the light turned green, and the door slid open.
"Perfect; it works,” Edgar said as he walked inside. “This way. Your father is on the top floor." He walked towards the elevator and we stepped in as he pressed floor 10. I started to get really nervous. My father was a stranger to me, and seeing him once a year was our normal routine.
Moments later we were standing in front of a door, and Edgar knocked on it, “It's Edgar! I'm here with your daughter!”
He was on the phone. He was talking loudly, but he gave me a quick wave. Then he nodded at Edgar as though allowing him to leave. My father walked back-and-forth in his room talking on the phone. I did not know who he was talking to, but he said, “I have to be allowed to do what I need to do. The government should not be involved in this. If they want answers, then they will have to let me use my own tactics for getting them. I have to go now.” Then he hung up the phone.
I could see the gorgeous view from the glass that covered an entire side of his office. There were woods all around us. It was very beautiful.
"Trish,” he said as he gave me a brief hug. “It is good to see you, daughter,” he said.
"You too, father, as always. Thank you for letting me come. It will be very important for my thesis."
"Yes, daughter, about your thesis. We must go over the rules and regulations,” he said, sitting behind his desk in a very formal manner.
"Rules? Regulations?” I said, sitting in the chair in front of his desk as though I was interviewing for a job.
"Yes, I allowed you to come here because it is a facility that will give you a lot of clout when you are searching for a job. The fact that your thesis is centered on this facility will impress many research universities and give you an advantage over other applicants. But there are certain things that you may not cover in your thesis because of privacy regulations. The reason you have never visited me here, daughter, is because it is a very classified research facility. Therefore your thesis must be about the facility itself, and not the actual work going on here.”
"I don't understand? The whole reason I came was to write about your research, not the buildings,” I said, getting annoyed.
"Well, you have misunderstood. When you grow up, you will see that certain research can't just be put out into the world in a reckless manner,” he said sternly.
"And yet not old enough to understand what I speak of. I will have no more argument about it. I will show you which labs you may observe to your heart's content. You may come and go when you please, just like a real scientist. Come with me,” he said as he stood up and headed toward the door. I followed with a sigh of annoyance.
"This entire building is only offices. We are going next-door to the main research building, Building 8," he said, getting into the elevator.
Soon we were walking into the building. My father stepped into the elevator, and I followed. “Floors seven through ten are off-limits to you, especially floor ten. But floors two through six you have access to. There are many different labs with different experiments going on in biology and microbiology. You will feel at home here. All the scientists have been informed of your presence, and they are open to answering any questions that you may have, but keep it general. Do not ask specific questions about their projects. You may ask questions like, how do they schedule their time in the labs? Why did they come work for this facility? Things like that. Is that understood?”
"Yes, father," I said, completely annoyed by the fact that he was not allowing me to do more. What was the point in coming at all? But I didn't know then that the 10th floor held my answer.