The Secrets of Syntec

Chapter 1

I yawn as I hold onto my cup of coffee walking into Syntec location 1, the laboratory I worked at. Scientists great me as I walk through the building to find my mentor's office. I had only been at Syntec for a few months but the progress I had made on my work had impressed a lot of the scientists I worked. Since I had only started a couple months ago, I was assigned to test a serum Syntec was creating on lab rats. I wasn't given much information about the serum other than it was highly radioactive and was given the name Life's Blood.

I knock on the door of my mentor's office and waited for her to call out before I walked in. Upon walking in I smile at the blonde hair scientist sitting at her desk

"Good Morning Deb!" I say to her.

"Good Morning Y/N! Please have a seat we have something to discuss this morning. Wesley will be joining us shortly." Deb says to me.

Wesley was one of the cofounders of Syntec. From what I had gathered during the past months was that Wes and Deb were pretty close. I sit down in the chair across the desk from Deb and silently drink my coffee until Wesley arrived.

"Morning Ladies" Wesley says as he enters the office and closes the door behind me.

"Good Morning" I say back to him.

Wesley goes to stand beside Deb. "Y/N how would you feel about being transferred onto another part of the project?" Wesley asks me.

"Oh I would be honored!" I say excitedly

"Awesome! Deb and I are going to be pairing you up with Ben. You remember him don't you?" Wesley asks.

Benjamin Cobalt. A black haired, blue eyed scientist, who is only a couple years older to me. He was one of the first scientists I was introduced to upon arriving for my first day at Syntec.

"Yes I remember Ben" I answer.

"Good. Ben has been working by himself for a bit but after seeing your performance we think that he could benefit from having a partner like yourself" Deb says to me. I nod understanding. "Okay so why don't we head over to the unit Ben is working at and get your settled into your new office"

I smile "Sounds good" I say as I gather my things.

Wes says goodbye to us before heading back to his office. Deb leads me out of her office and down the hall to the front door.

"Congrats Y/N" I hear someone behind me say.

I jump slightly and spin around "Oh Thank you Nelson" I say meeting the eyes of the other cofounder.

"Deb tells me you have been excelling with your work. I have to say I'm extremely impressed with you work and documentation" Nelson says to me as he walks with Deb and me.

"Thank you. It means a lot coming from you" I say to him as we walk together.

"Please don't hesitate to come talk to me if you have any questions. My door is always open. Take care" Nelson says before heading to his office.

Deb watches as he leaves before rolling her eyes and pulling me along. I could tell there was some tension between them two, but I decided it wasn't appropriate to ask. Deb leans me across the parking lot to another unit. She opens the door and leads me inside.

"You will have a set of keys on your desk for the doors in the building. Each one is labeled for what door they go to. You will also have a stack of files on your desk. I suggest you go through them today before work tomorrow" Deb explains as we walk through the building and into the laboratory.

In the lab sitting at one of the machines with vials of Life's Blood was Benjamin. He looks up at us as we walk in, his eyes lighting up at the sight of Deb.

"Good Morning Ben" Deb says.

"Good Morning Deb" Ben says back as he stops working and walks over to us.

"You remember Y/N right?" Deb asks.

"Yes we met once when she first started" Ben answers his eyes moving from Deb to me.

"She will be working with you from now on. Her work in the rat laboratory has impressed Wesley and Nelson, so she was asked to be moved to this unit to work with you" Deb explains.

Ben nods. "I look forward to working with you then" Ben says to me causing me to smile.

"I look forward to working with you as well" I say back.

"I am going to show Y/N where her office will be. She has been tasked with going over all files regarding what you have been working on for today. Please make sure you are available to answer any questions she may have" Deb says causing Ben to nod. Deb then leads me to my office. "Good Luck" Deb says to me before leaving.

I look around my office before sitting down at my desk. I pick up the first file on the desk and read through it. My eyes widen in shock as I realize what I was going to be doing. I was no longer going to be experimenting on rats, instead I would be experimenting on human patients. I drop the file onto the desk as my hands shake.

What the hell did I get myself into?

I bite my lip as I lean back in my chair. I sit there for a moment to compose myself before picking up the file again to read over. I tried to push the thought of experimenting on humans to back of my mind. As I was reading the file a knock at my office door caused me to jump. I look up at Ben who was standing in my door way.

"May I come it?" Ben asks.

"Of course" I answer.

Ben walks in and sits in the chair across the desk. I sit the file I had in my hand down on the table. "What did they have you doing before then moved you over here?"

"I was testing the serum on lab rats" I answer.

Ben was silent for a minute looking at me in shock. "I see so this must have come to a shock to you" Ben says pointing to the file on the desk.

I laugh nervously "Yeah, definitely not what I was expecting. Why are we experimenting on human patients if we are still testing the serum on lab rats. We haven't perfected that serum yet" I ask.

"Nelson wants to speed up the progress on the project." Ben answers me.

"But it's wrong. It's extremely inhumane" I say to him.

"You aren't the first person to tell me that" Ben says to me. "But Nelson will do what he wants, and we are here to get what he wants done for him"

I shake my head as I look through the file. "How have the patients been reacting to the serum so far?" I ask.

Ben looks at me in shock for a moment. "It's different between each patients. Some have mild reactions while others have very severe reactions" Ben explains to me.

"How often is the serum administered?" I ask.

"Depends. Some are once a day; some are once a week while others are every few hours. Which patient gets which is in the files along with their reaction to the serum." Ben answers causing me to nod.

"Alright. As much as I think this is inhumane I know this is the job we are assigned so I will get started with going through the files" I say.

"Alright I will let you get to it then. Come find me if you have any question" Ben says before he leaves.