Chemical Reactions

Part 13

Two weeks later...

With some delay and following further investigations into your past and present, you finally arrived at Los Alamos and were shown around the civilian quarters by Officer Nichols.

Officer Nichols had been told to keep an eye on you, and when he made some remarks again about your integrity and relationship with Dr. Oppenheimer, you felt as though you were being singled out.

This, of course, did not surprise you as, at least for now, no one in the department believed that you were here on merit, and you knew that you had to make sure that, soon, you would be known for your work and intellect rather than the fact that you were sleeping with the man who oversaw the project.

Just like Robert Oppenheimer, you had a brilliant mind, and even your lecturers at Harvard, some of whom were here now, concurred with this.

According to Robert Serber, for example, there was a good reason Robert wanted you in Los Alamos, which was your good understanding of how atoms work. You were young and had an open mind for new-age physics. You had a belief that had not been tainted by the old teachings that were no longer relevant, and, most importantly, you had a great desire to progress in your career. You only learned from the best in the field, including Hans Bethe and Robert Oppenheimer himself, and this made you who you were.

As such, you were welcomed by most scientists in your field, and you, indeed, were not the only student working on the project. There were three of you now, and you all were once students of Robert Oppenheimer or Hans Bethe.

Since most scientists on the project were men, however, you almost ended up in the communications room by mistake, as Officer Nichols pointed out that, realistically, you had no place here. Physics was still a male-dominated field, and you quickly realized that even the living quarters assigned to all the female workers were rather primitive.

Like all the other single women, you were assigned to live at T-101, a civilian women's dormitory that housed women civilians or non-military staff working for the Manhattan Project.

The dormitory was outside the designated project area, as were all of the scientist's lodges of those scientists who arrived at Los Alamos with their families or who were well known and more important than you.

This, of course, included Robert, who had a large house located about three hundred meters from T-101 and, according to Lilli Horing, another female scientist you met during your first hour at Los Alamos, he and some of the other scientists occasionally hosted dinner parties, to which one was lucky to be invited.

"I don't see Dr. Oppenheimer as a cook," you joked, seeing that Lilli already knew that, before being assigned to this project, you had studied under Robert Oppenheimer himself and therefore had built a professional relationship with him.

"Of course, he doesn't cook himself. There is staff here who cooks for everyone, and food is catered to the lodgings. That is, of course, unless the wives of these great minds are around. They seem to be bored here and cook and bake all day. I couldn't imagine anything worse," your newfound friend said with great amusement.

"Neither could I," you told Lilli before she took you around T-101 and showed you to your room and the adjacent facilities.

***

Unlike many other women in T-101, you and Lilli each had your room with a bathroom you shared. Your space was set out primitively, and you were glad you took some books with you, although you had nowhere to put them.

In your room, there was a small bed and a small desk. You had army blankets, sheets, towels, and washcloths, all of which had the words "USED" written on them, making you chuckle.