The Newbloods

The Assignment

The screeches from the machinery of last night's shift ring in my head like a banshee scream. The beeping of the computers replay over and over, driving me insane. But that's the daily downfall of my job. I, Susan Barrow, am a scientist, and I am currently as the head biologist at Science Minds Corp. Today is the first day of the month, meaning that the chief, Dr. Liam, will assign all head-biologists a new assignment for research.

Now, Dr. Liam is a unique man. He is known worldwide for his revolutionary marine research and findings. He is a bit of an old-timer, but we all care for him dearly at work. As I thought about what's to come, I pulled my golden, amber brown hair into a tight bun on the top of my head and wrapped my shivering body in the clean and pristine scientist uniform, the lab coat. Grabbing my newly-brewed coffee, I sprinted into the car and gunned all the way to the building. It was sleek and modern, completely quartz white and covered in mirror-glass. The entrance doorway whooshed open as I walked inside. Fellow co-workers greeted me as I strode over to my office space.

The familiar sound of chemicals hissing, screws turning, bottles clinking, and people chattering like monkeys fills my head with chaos. You would think that after working here for almost two years, I would have learned to tune-out all the noise and only focus on my work. On the contrary, it seems that all the commotion gets louder and louder, deafening anyone unaccustomed to our busy beehive of a corporation.

Can you bee-lieve that?

Anyways, later throughout the day, hour 4.5 of my 12-hour shift, the director of SMC walked into the room. It was as if a blanket had drowned out all evidence of any disturbance. Absolute quiet flooded the office. At this sudden change of environment, I looked up from my papers, just to see a tall, lean elder staring into my green eyes. Startled and perplexed, I used my calmest tone to address him and smiled, "Good morning, Dr. Liam, now how do I owe you the pleasure?"

"Good morning, Dr. Barrow. I am here to deliver you your assignment of the month," he responded cooly. The glimmer of his life experiences twinkled in his eyes, while my own swirled with curiosity.

"Why, thank you sir." I politely took the papers, wrinkle-free, brand-new, and saw a big, unmistakeable stamp across the front. The red bolded letters have always haunted my thoughts, but I never even had the slightest idea he would hand me the folder.

"Sir," I inquired, "May I ask why you are assigning me a 'CRUCIAL' assignment?"

"Well, Dr. Barrow," he hollowly explained, "This is your make-or-break assignment. You will complete this 'expedition' with no doubts whatsoever, and if you fail to have the documents by the end of the next 17 days, you shall be fired." He eyed me carefully, making his point sharper than any blade.

"Yes, sir," I replied meekly. He walked away, each step like a shot fired at me, slowly bringing me down. I opened up the folder and found a letter with the following information:

September 7th, 2003

To whomever this may concern,

This is a "CRUCIAL" document. Do not lose this paper and absolutely do not show this to your co-workers. The only person that has the knowledge of this specific assignment is your director, you, and essentially, your assistant. You have exactly 17 days to turn in the data, or 408 hours.

Assistant Rules:

They must work in the same facility.

They cannot be a family relative.

They must be working in the same branch in science as you are.

Assignment Location: Rambunctious Ruins, California

Goal: Discover something mankind has never seen before

Find a suitable assistant.

The clock is ticking.

Good luck,

The SDD

I couldn't believe my very eyes. The Science Discoveries Department (SDD) wanted me, and average human being, to accomplish an impossible task. Well, what I had to do is find a "suitable" assistant. Scanning across the room like a hawk, I finally spot someone I just know that would be compatible enough to deal with my mad scientist craziness.