Into The Unknown

Chapter 5

Alisha Evans walked briskly down the hallway, clutching a heap of papers close to her chest. Every scientist she passed greeted her with a beaming smile and quick hellos, each of them hoping in vain to strike a conversation with her. The only thing Alisha granted them was a swift glance, which evidently was enough to make her colleagues feel a sense of pride.

It was always an honour to have the attention of Alisha Evans.

Alisha hurried to the elevator, and forced the doors to slam shut before anyone else could walk inside. With her few moments alone, she adjusted her glasses, straightened her coat, and played with her curls, hoping to make her hair rest slightly more on her right than her left. The elevator doors slid to the side, and she stepped out to her destination.

She entered the laboratory and quickly recognised Matteo Carter who stood in the centre of the room. He stared at the panels on the projector ahead, seemingly distracted by the many images broadcasted of the outside world. Alisha adjusted her glasses one last time before approaching him.

"I was called?" Alisha asked.

Carter turned to face her and simply nodded. His face was tired and drawn, and his hair looked like it had been combed with a garden rake, which is to say, a little messier than normal. "Mr Shen wanted to speak with us," he explained.

"...Us?" Alisha raised an eyebrow. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, checking her glasses were in place rather than meeting his eyes.

"Miss Evans, Mr Carter," a strong voice called out. Alisha and Carter looked to a short corpulent man with noticeably aging skin, and a thick head of silver-grey. He gave them a warm smile which may have fooled Alisha, if she hadn't seen it so many times before. "I'm assuming you got my message?"

Alisha nodded nervously. "Something about a cryo pod, am I right?"

"Yes, but that's not the full story," Shen looked at a young scientist across the room. "Hayes. Please show us what you found."

"Of course sir," Hayes tapped away at a tablet, until large quantities of data and images appeared on the projector. The group stared at the streams of numbers, letters and other information, too complicated to relay succinctly.

"There's been strange activity with a cryo pod, about 34 miles outside of Los Angeles," Shen began. "We believe it was activated about five days ago."

A bead of sweat fell down Alisha's face. She wiped it quickly and tried to stay calm, analyzing the data for an excuse. "And you're only finding out about this... Now?" Alisha questioned.

Hayes stepped forward to interject. "Well uh, Miss, the information of the activity was hidden. It's as though someone was trying to hide it's very existence."

The back of her neck made the Niagara falls look positively dry.

Hayes looked smaller standing from his desk, reflecting his position within the company. He was only an apprentice - young and gullible. Strands of his hair fell across his face, covering his rounded glasses and darkening his skin. Alisha looked away from the boy and down at the floor, feigning deep thought. It would be best to keep her mouth shut.

"And that's why it's caught our attention," Stephen added. Alisha felt his eyes on her, watching her like an owl staring into the night. "Do you happen to know anything about this, Miss Evans?"

Alisha looked up in surprise, knowing full well she was a suspect. "No sir... It's very suspicious, that's all. It could just be a malfunction with the pod. Maybe someone was trying to cover up their negligence? Either way, I don't think it is something we should be worried about."