Renee flipped through the patients on the clipboard. Doctor Cyrus looked more tired than usual. His peppy nature ebbed and flowed, but this time it seemed to be permanently stunted. The last few weeks had been buzzing with energy after some chance meetings with some colleges, but that energy was now drained and no progress had been made.
“Coffee?” She said putting down the clipboard and checking her energy drink, which was bone dry.
“Wha- yes, I will go get some more coffee, you want anything”
Renee stood up “I’ll get it, try and get a little rest, we don’t have any patients for another two hours”
Cyrus stared at her “You? Leaving to get coffee?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know I usually never leave this room besides to go home, but you know, it looks like you could use some alone time. Break room is just down the hall to the right?”
Cyrus smiled and nodded “Yes, it is.” He took off his glasses and put them to the side of the console “Thanks Renee. I know I don’t express it enough, but I am glad that you are here to help me out.”
She patted him on the shoulder and exited the room.
The Animah Institute was a huge creepy place. Bright soft lights, rounded corners, posters telling you to be happy and that you can do what ever you want. Some very strange messaging about ascending. Renee shuddered every time she walked through the halls, which she didn’t usually. So why did she work there? Pay was good, really good, the hours kept her from home, which she didn’t want to return to and her study of psychology pushed her to see how they were ‘healing’ people. Since day one, she still had no idea. The patients came into the room, they dialed in some thing, the lights went out, they were no longer there, and then they watched the monitors. An hour later, the lights went off and returned and there they were, sitting in the chair that they had been. The first couple of days, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but Cyrus was so disinterested and dry about it that she soon adopted it as normal life.
She turned the corner and stepped to where the break room should have been. A large barricade had been placed at the opening where it was.
“Closed for deep cleaning, please use another break room” Which below it had a list of them.
A2
B2
N8
Z9
There was no map. Just vague directions for where to go from where she was.
“Typical, let’s see” she ran her fingers down the list, A2 should be the closest, right?”
It said go straight make a right, then left, follow hallway, break room A2 will be on the right.
She made the turns and kept walking. The Animah institute was separated in two sections. The wellness center, which sat on the edge of a large hill. The public facing side. It held all the staff, some special rooms for patients, and a bunch conference and therapist rooms. Renee looked out the windows at the large trees that seemed to go on forever, soon they dropped away revealing the megapolis which was PolyCube Dynamics. The owner and entity behind the Animah Institute. It seemed that the trees acted as a barrier, a shield if you would for the whole facilities. The bridge from the smiles, the public good, and into the secret, the edge, the real intent of the company. Renee had the suspicion for a long time that they were not the most kosher of companies. Then she saw how vast their facility was.
She kept walking. A2 seemed to be much farther away than she anticipated. She past large hallway after hallway separated by huge windows that looked into the courtyards of sprawling fountains and trees. She saw the opening which looked like the break room. A large A2 sign plastered on the wall.
Finally. She turned. It looked like the others. Circular tables, kitchen shelving built into the right side and vending machines on the left wall. The only difference was the large window that outlooked past two towering walls to the forest edge in the distance. She spied a lady sitting at one of the circular tables. She had her head propped up on her wrist staring out the window. Renee moved towards the counter to make some coffee.
“What is this thing?” She stared at the large machine, it’s pipes and knobs were nothing like her press to brew machine she was used too. There was nothing else on the counter. “Great”
The women at the table snapped out of her trance “Oh, looking for coffee?” She stood up, heels clicked behind as she approached.
“Yeah, but I don’t know what the hell this thing is” Renee tapped the machine.
The lady laughed “Sorry about that, I’m a bit of a coffee snob, I had the machine in here replaced with this one. Here let me make one for you.”
The women, seems to dance and started pulling beans from the counter, measuring, grinding them and working the machine as if it was second nature.
“Latte?” She asked.
Renee moved toward the refrigerator “Yes, he would like that” the fridge had nothing to stimulate her. She drooped.
“You know, coffee or tea will do you much better than those caffeinated drinks.” She pulled out a bottle from the counter and slid it towards her “Take one of those if you are drinking coffee, or even your little energy drinks, they will curve the crash.”
Renee took the bottle. The machine whirled to life, and coffee aroma filled the whole space. If she closed her eyes she would swear that she was in a cafe somewhere. Next she frothed the milk form the side of the machine and poured a twelve ounce cup, a heart in white floating on the surface.
“It’s L-theanine, here” She handed Renee the cup. “I haven’t seen you around here before”
Renee took the cup reluctantly “Yeah, I work with Dr.Cyrus in the Animah Institute, the break room was closed, so I tried to find the next one”
The lady laughed, it was childlike. “Well you might of picked the furthest one away. Dr.Cyrus, I met him a couple of weeks ago. Here” she guided her to the table she was sitting at.
“I’m Ada Noether” she extended her hand.
“Renee” She shook it.
“Give me a minute Renee” Ada moved back to the machine and started the whole process again. In no time she slid next to her with a cup of her own.
Renee stared at her.”I hear a lot of about you, I was expecting you to be a bitch”
Ada took a sip of her coffee “I can be sometimes” She smiled and laughed “I like your forwardness.”
Renee stared down at the heart. “Thank you for the coffee” she took a sip and her eyes lit up “It’s a lot sweeter then I thought it would be”
“My own special sweetener. Keeps the healthy properties of honey, but can be added to hot things. Hope it’s not too sweet. I thought thats how you would like it.”
Renee hadn’t noticed before, but Ada was extremely beautiful. Her hair, makeup and clothes seems like she had just walked out of a clothing ad. She held herself with just ease and confidence she found her self drinking her in with her eyes.
Their eyes met.
“Fuck” Renee looked away immediately.
“Dr.Cyrus, how is he doing? Any progress on his project? I have some additional resources coming to him, please express my apologies for the delay. Red tape and all that.” Her eyes grew sharp and Renee could see a billion tasks, convocations and decisions flash upon her face before it returned to its serene calm nature.
“He’s frustrated. I actually don’t know what he is trying to do, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere right now. I can only handle some of the admin work for him. I will let him know.”
Ada leaned back, crossed her legs and turned her head to the ceiling. Her eyes searched as she hummed. “Yes, I wonder what he could do. What could we do.”
Renee turned the bottle Ada had given her to see the label.
“Take one of those with you next sip” she said with out looking away form the ceiling.
Renee followed as if commanded.
“You won’t feel it now, but later. Take the whole bottle for you and Dr.Cyrus” She let out a sigh and returned to her own cup. “To many things right now, so little time.” She perked up and grabbed her mug “But that’s always how it is, isn’t it. What will you do now Renee?”
“I-“ the questions was deeper. It wasn’t about her going back to Dr.Cyrus. It was about her, her personal endevours, what her life was going to be. The way Ada asked, it twisted something in her. “I will do what I can” Renee answered, a swell of emotion filling her.
Ada nodded, stood up and moved back to the espresso machine. Her hands worked again, the machine roared and hissed and soon she set down a coffee in a to go cup. Dr.Cyrus written on the side of it with a heart after the name. “Good girl, please tell Dr.Cyrus I wish him the best of luck. And you, Renee, I hope you keep progressing. I’m sure we will meet again. Until then” Ada took both of their mugs, washed them and strode out giving Renee a wave.
“What in the world was that” Renee grabbed the bottle and coffee. When she got to the hallway Ada was no where to be seen. As if she was ghost, only her heels clicking somewhere in the facilities could be heard.
Renee strode back through the facility, not seeing a soul. She looked out at the forest that rose high and stood dark out in the distance. What did this place look like from the outside? She shuddered at the thought. The Animah Institute where she entered already gave her the creeps from the outside. She couldn’t imagine stumbling upon this monstrously from the outside.
When she entered the office Dr.Cyrus awoke from his slumber with a stretch and groan.
“How long was I out for? My gosh” he rubbed his eyes.
Renee set the cup of coffee next to him and sat down in her regular seat. “A little bit longer then I thought I would be, I ran into someone.” She handed him the bottle “Take one of those before you have your coffee.”
Dr.Cyrus looked at the name on the cup and at the bottle. “Hmm interesting, who was it?” His eyes ran to the back of the label.
“Ada Noether. She said that she was sorry for the delay, but extra resources were coming”
With her name, his eyes shot up to her “Mrs.Noether? You ran into Ada Noether? How far did you go?”
“A2, I kinda got lost”
He laughed “You went pretty far, what did you think of the place, pretty big huh?”
Renee didn’t laugh though, she had never asked, afraid of what he would say. “What is PolyCube Dynamic? What are they doing back there, it’s” she searched “insane. A whole city”
Dr.Cyrus popped one of the pills in his mouth and took a sip of the coffee. He looked at the cup in surprise “Wow” then he nodded to himself and leaned back in his chair. His looked turned serious as he studied her. A calculation was running in his head.
“How would you like to get a pay raise Renee, I think you would be valuable here. But you will need to learn a bit more about science, quantum, and dimensional space mirroring. How would you like to change the world?”
The world keeps getting deeper, PolyCube Dynamics seems to a lot larger then one might seem. The Animah Institute, the head of the beast that is PolyCube Dynamics. Ada continues to meet a spin her web, while Dr.Cyrus might get a new partner.
When I was scripting my game, I had Renee as a like an uninterested intern. She was the complete contrast to Dr.Cyrus’s bubbly, excited attitude when working. She will still be sort of moody, but maybe she will find a new found goal.
What will she do now?
We will see in the future. Cheers~