Separated By a Wall

Work Just Got Real

I held up my key card to the entrance plate and pushed the doors open. But instead of seeing the usual office, with the Anoch on the other side, a scientist questioning and everyone staring blankly at computers, I saw Ms. Greystone. Everyone else in the office was staring at me and Ms. Greystone held her usual aura of sophistication. For a second, I thought I was caught. I thought they knew about me and getting the CareBot off. But instead, it took a painful three seconds for the office to burst into cheer.

Ivana held up a hand to silence everyone and the applause slowly died down. She tilted her head to the side with her hands clasped in front of her. She was wearing a black pencil skirt this time and a white long-sleeved blouse. Her hair is the same and her eyes are glazed with some sort of pride. But otherwise, if you were meeting her for the first time, you would have found an empty shell.

"Congratulations, Ms. Evans. You got the promotion." she says giving me one of her tight lipped smiles. Christina and Diamond appear at my side, shrilling into my ear. "YAY!" Ivana raises an eyebrow at them and they shrink away from me with smiles still on their faces. "I decided that we needed more security after the... incident yesterday." I try not to cringe at her words.
"So I also hired Christina and Diamond."

They squeal in excitement again each grabbing one of my hands and spinning us around in a circle. While they were screaming in joy, I was becoming rather dizzy and trying to process what Ivana said. News must have spread about yesterday. "You three get to be on the other side of this glass and working with the Anoch." Ivana says, causing Christina to stop abruptly and Diamond to crash into her. But I was ready and stopped before I could send all of us sprawling on the floor in front of our boss.

Ivana walks around us and to the door that leads to the Anoch's side. This is just like standing in front of the wall all over again. As if Ivana heard me, she pauses and turns to me with a raised eyebrow before she turns the knob of the door and walks in. Diamond, Christina and I follow in anticipation. "Diamond, you will be handling this." She turns around with a syringe I know all too well, filled with red liquid. "Inject the Anoch when testing is over. Christina, you control the electricity."

While she shows her how to control the levels of the bands, I stand off to the side staring at the empty tube. "Ms. Evans." I try not to cringe at the tone of her voice or the fact that she addressed me as Ms. Evans. She addressed Christina and Diamond on a first name basis. This should have been my first clue.

"I'm sorry Iv-" I quickly correct myself. "Ms. Greystone." Everyone else in the office called her by her last name. I should be no different. "Please, don't wander off in your thoughts. You're job is the most important of all." I nod, bowing my head and not daring to look her in those bitter-filled eyes. "As you know Dr. Openhaimer is very old. It's his time to retire. Watching you work, I can only see you filling his position." She turns to me expectantly.

"What an honor." I say, instantly regretting my words. I couldn't reject her but I didn't want the promotion either. How could I live with myself knowing I was torturing another species. I knew the office couldn't possibly know what has happening. They would do something, right? At least one person, would do something. There was something Diamond told me on my first day. What was it? I shut my eyes trying to remember. Why couldn't these lenses could back a month instead of a day?

"Do the bands of electricity hurt them?" I say with a certain edge in my voice. "No. They're perfectly safe. The electricity only weakens them. They aren't like humans where they got fried!" Diamond waves her hands around and laughs mocking it. "It's more like rope to them. It holds them in then the humans return them to where they came from. That's what Ms. Greystone says anyways. But we trust her so we believe her." 

I hold back a collective gasp, trying not to get the attention from my boss. That's what Ms. Gresystone says anyways... There was no way that Ivana knew about this. Does she want to hurt them? I get that it's in the name of science but didn't she have respect from them? "I will leave you to it. Rose, here are the questions." she hands me a small blue orb and I look at her questioningly.