"Okay, where is he?"
Without announcement, Mimi appeared at the door of the pathology department.
Dr. Berman sat at his desk with a stunned look on his face.
"Who? Elliot? I'm not sure... "
"Please, Dr. Berman! Please don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," the female HP officer said. "Like you don't know what's going on! I don't have time for these bureaucratic charades!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted someone wearing goggles, peeking from around the doorway of the next room.
"Elliot!"
He stupidly ducked out of view.
"Elliot! Come back here! I saw you!"
She stormed into the other room and immediately found Elliot in his work suit, just inside the entryway. He held up a wired brush and glassware, and extended his arms, distancing himself from the female officer.
"Okay, Elliot, where is he? Where's Aless?"
"Aless? I-I don't know," Elliot said. "He should be coming back from class, any time now?"
"Oh, don't give me that nonsense!" Mimi said. "Okay, fine! He's not here. Who is he? Who is he, really?"
Dr. Berman appeared at the entryway behind the two.
"Elliot, have Alessandro and Mimi already met?"
Elliot swallowed. "Well, umm, that's a funny thing, Professor... "
Mimi grabbed the wire brush out of Elliot's hand and shuffled him further away from the three-person conversation.
"Who is he, Elliot?" Mimi continued. "He's obviously not from Renderton, so where's he from?"
Elliot put the glassware down and took off his goggles.
"And don't tell me he's from some unknown colony, because there's no evidence of that!" She tossed the wire brush aside.
Elliot took off his gloves.
Mimi grabbed the gloves from his hands.
"Elliot, we were attacked on the Center's premises! That doesn't just happen! You and I, and Aless-in-Wonderland go outside, and the next thing I know, we're facing six canines! Six, Elliot! How is that? How did that happen?"
Elliot put his hand at his jaw and looked to the Professor behind them.
"You already know why, don't you, Elliot? Don't you? Tell me! Tell me who he is!"
Elliot opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
"Tell me what's going on!"
She punched Elliot firmly in the arm.
"Oww!"
"Tell me the truth!" she demanded.
"Okay, okay!" Elliot relented. He held his shoulder.
Across the room, Dr. Berman quietly nodded.
"Aless is from one of the human time capsules," Elliot said. "Dr. Berman and I brought him out of his coma."
"What capsules?"
Elliot turned and stepped away.
"A couple of years ago, we... uh, we uncovered several hundred capsules in an underground storage facility."
"In the mining quarries," Mimi cut in. "I remember this."
Elliot flinched. "Y-you do?"
"Yeah," Mimi recalled.
Elliot paused. "The capsules contained people."
"It was a mass burial, right? All the humans were dead."
"No, Mimi, they weren't. In fact, they're alive. They're in suspended animation. We're trying to save them."
Mimi stared. "What are you saying? That Aless is from the mining quarry? That's impossible... "
"No, it's true."
"There were hundreds of coffins... "
"Not coffins, Mimi! Time capsules. Aless is from the year 1985."
"What?"
"At least that's what he says. We haven't been able to confirm it."
Mimi studied Elliot's voice and face closely. She glanced back at Dr. Berman. "I thought those mines were sealed off. They didn't want the bodies to attract scavengers."
"The facility's closed now, but not completely sealed off. We can still get to the capsules... if we wanted to."
"How many people like Aless are there?"
Elliot glanced at Dr. Berman, who still said nothing. "Just Alessandro. We tried to revive several others, but none of them survived. The rest remain at the quarry."
"Who else knows about this?"
"Just us three now."
"Human Protection doesn't know about this?"
Elliot shook his head.
"No one else at Anderson knows about this?"
"No one."
Mimi squinted her eyes.
"Why are you keeping it a secret?"
"It's controversial because the emergence process is experimental. It borders on unethical because it involves people. We're trying to save their lives, but we're also talking about centuries-old people. We just haven't found a proven protocol yet. Dr. Berman is set to present all of our findings -- all of our attempts and failures -- at the next board meeting. Alessandro was our lone success."
Mimi was thoughtful.
"And you did all of your experiments here at the lab?" She looked at the senior scientist.
Dr. Berman nodded.
"Yes," Elliot acknowledged.
"How did you do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"How could no one not notice you were transporting human bodies into the facility?"
Elliot hesitated. He shifted in his stance while eyeing his mentor.
"We, uh, we smuggled the capsules into the Center."
"How?"
Elliot looked away and bit his lower lip.
"You said the HPU wasn't involved," Mimi persisted, "so how did you do it? How did you transport your experiments?"
Elliot looked to Dr. Berman.
"We, uh, we moved them ourselves."
"What?" Mimi glanced at Dr. Berman and then back at Elliot. "No, you didn't!"
"Yes, we did, in the middle of the night," Elliot admitted.
"At night? That's impossible! It's too dangerous without the Human Protection Unit."
Elliott stalled.
"Elliot?"
Mimi waited. Elliot seemed to know, but was sidestepping the truth.
Why is he not telling me? Mimi thought. Because I'm in the Human Protection Unit?
"I don't understand. You must've had help."
Elliot cringed, but said nothing.
"The HPU would never condone such a dangerous operation. Who else could have helped... ?" Mimi's voice trailed off.
She gasped and covered her mouth.
She stared at Elliot.
"That's how Dad died, isn't it?"
She searched Elliot's eyes for the truth, but he could barely stand to look at her in the face.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I'm sorry, Mimi," Elliott kept his head low. "I couldn't... I didn't know how to... the capsules were supposed to be a secret."
"Oh, Elliot!" She took a step back and shook her head. "You and your stupid experiments! You and Dr. Berman... you killed my father!"
"No, Mimi, no!" Elliot said. "He wanted to help us!"
"No, I don't believe you!" Mimi cried and stepped away from him. "You've been lying to me all this time!"
Elliott was speechless.
"And Alessandro is what you brought back? That is what was so important? That... that freak?" she screamed.
She ran out of the lab, leaving Elliot and Dr. Berman to the consequences of their actions.