Bad Guys?

Part 1.2: The Expo

August 21 2017

7:50 PM, Julian's Science Convention Center

The headlights of the green truck shined against the bleak white walls of the building, some people's faces lit up as they walked past. The truck's engine came to a halt, and the light stopped shining. Thomas slicked his hair back, then straightening his tie.

"Okay. So here's the plan. I'll go in from the front, looking for this Scalder. He's supposed to give a speech sometime, so you'll chase him down afterward and ask him some questions about his research. I'm gonna snoop around and see if I can find anything shady. And just so you know, I'm not skipping any drinks they might have." She nodded and then got of the truck, he followed and then proceeded to go through the glass doors of the convention center.

It was a big building, mostly made of windows, blue lights, and white stone. The inside of the building was packed. At least a hundred people were there, and they were all sharply dressed in either a suit or a dress. Thomas felt a little undressed for the occasion, although he was wearing a button up and a tie. Classical music played in the background, the low plucking of a bass was very pleasant to Thomas' ears. Thomas had always loved music, and for some reason, he had forgotten that. He began to walk through the crowd of people to find something to do while waiting for the speech. Smart looking people in lab coats had set up small booths presenting products, that Thomas was sure he would never get a chance to actually use. But he didn't care, he wanted to see cool shit while he was here. He walked over to one area where a small group of men were. A woman was in the middle of them, holding a small box. As she gripped the box, a pitch began to play and the box lit up green. The harder she pressed, the higher the pitch got. The color also began to change colors, to an orange. Thomas didn't know what it was, but it was weird. He began to go look at something else, but that was when he was interrupted by a crisp voice over a microphone. Thomas looked in the direction of the stage. The band had cleared away, and now a screen stood where they were. There was a man standing at a podium, dressed sharply, and he was holding a white microphone.

     "If you may bring your attention to our main event of the night! The presentation, and reason of this facility's building! Dr. Scalder!" An older looking man came out from the side of the stage, taking the microphone. He had ash colored hair, along with a trimmed beard to match. He didn't have too many wrinkles, but he was clearly an older man. He was wearing a red button up with black slacks. He had paper-thin glasses, and his smile was warm. 

    "Good evening, fellow scientists and citizens. If you aren't aware of who I am, then I'll tell you. I'm a doctor, a man of science, who is dedicated to finding revolutionary ways to help the medical department, along with any other field that could use improvement. With help from the Julian Innovations corporation, I plan to fulfill this goal." When he spoke, it was as if an angel was talking. His voice was very low and soft. It was like a cello. Thomas knew this man wasn't exactly good, but hell if he wasn't charismatic. Scalder pushed a button, and the screen showed a picture of a sphere. He walked in front of the screen. 

    "What you can see here is our newest invention. We call it MultiCorium. It scans someone's current skin cells, and replicates them. If you were to apply this to a wound, it would heal you almost within seconds." The crowd cheered as the screen showed the sphere multiplying. Thomas was impressed. This could be big. And this was just one thing they were working on. 

    "Now, I know what you're thinking. 'Well, this is just skin! It isn't that big of a deal.' You may be right. However, we're testing to replicate someone else's organs. That way, people who need a new lung or heart can just find a suitable donor who has a similar body makeup, and we can scan their body part and replicate it, giving them a new healthy body part." The crowd cheered even louder. The screen showed the process he just explained in progress, with an example video of how it worked. Thomas didn't really understand it. Either way, he needed to go snoop around while everyone was distracted.