lost in time

The Search Begins

He smiled at all of us. "You guys all ready?"

It was the morning after I'd encountered Adrian on the balcony. Andrew was standing in front of the door that opened to the Hamilton Labs, a hand on one of the large steel knobs. All of us, the Survivors, were standing in attention, just waiting for him to push the doors open.

I heard Lucas behind me. "Of course we are."

"Then here you go." Andrew twisted the knob, and the doors opened noiselessly.

I stepped in along with Violet and surveyed the lab. It was huge, all glass and steel and coolness radiating off the surfaces. The computers were in one corner, cabinets filled with equipment on the other. Storage marked with caution signs- I saw Jared smile in anticipation as he saw those.

The lab wasn't as big as they would be in our time period, and I suspected they were nowhere near as advanced as the tech and equipment back home. But we would have to make do.

Violet beamed at Andrew. "Thank you so much. Thank you."

He waved it away. "Don't mention it. Take your time and settle in. You'll find all you need right here. And the samples I'm afraid you'll have to arrange for them yourselves. Although, that business with the man in Switzerland..."

"Yeah," Chang said eagerly. "He's come in at an opportune moment. Although, I'm not sure if the labs in Geneva would be willing to lend us a blood sample."

I stared at Chang. "Opportune moment?"

He blinked. "Well, yeah."

"It's a disease. It's not opportune."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I know! I only meant-"

"Cut it out, you two," Violet said loudly. She turned back to Andrew as he continued to speak.

"I could try and help you with that, though. I was very much pleased when you suggested his case," he said, his eyes twinkling. "I could pull in a favour or two. But if I do, I will expect results. Can I count on you?"

Jared nodded in all seriousness and said, "Of course. We won't let you down."

"Speaking of cases, though," Andrew said, "I want to see what you've got in your case files. I assume you've got reports?" He broke off suddenly, pulling out a phone as it vibrated in his pocket. "Hang on, this will only take a minute."

He turned and walked towards the large doors, jabbing a finger at the screen and putting the phone next to his ear. "Yeah, Jon?"

The second he's out, Violet turns to Chang and Jared. "Only the supplementary files. We can't show him our full reports."

"Yes, Violet," Chang said. "Of course, Violet. Absolutely, Violet."

Jared swiped a hand at him but only managed to cuff him in the ear­, as Chang ducked away from him. "Shut up and let's get to work."

"Yes, Jared. Of course, Jared-"

Chang ducked away again as Jared took another swipe. Violet fumed, but I only stifled a laugh and moved towards the computers.

Computers are more my forte than labs and microscopes. Actually, the one thing I excel at is fighting. Survival skills. Strategy. Investigation. It's the same with Lucas. It's what we were here for- the both of us and Violet are charged with protecting information & figuring out the origin of UTOPIA, while Jared, Chang and Violet work out what went wrong with the serum.

There's a reason Violet is heading our group. She's the most talented of us all. She already looked at home- composed and focused as she dumped Chang's backpack on a table and pulled out a sheaf of papers.