“Why is this agency called QUANTUM? Does it stand for anything?” I asked.
The woman who had appeared behind me before – whose name, now I knew, was Farise – was giving me a tour of the agency.
“Well, actually, it sort-of stands for something” Farise replied uneasily.
“What do you mean ‘sort-of’?” I interrogated, stopping in my tracks and placing my hands firmly on my hips.
Farise stopped right next to me and sighed. “Well, it stands for: Queen’s Unofficial spy Agency with the Newest Technology Under the british eMpire.”
“Queen’s? British Empire? We’re in America. And Empire starts with an E, not an M”, I stated matter-of-factly.
“That’s why I said sort-of”, muttered Farise. Then loudly she said, “So would you like to continue this tour or do you want to play questions and answers?”
“Can I choose the second option?” I asked, but Farise just walked off. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’”, I whispered under my breath before jogging to catch up with her.
We passed a large glass dome that was tinted green. “So what’s in there?” I asked, pointing to it.
“‘In there’ is the next stop on our tour”, Farise replied.
“Cool. So what’s in it?”
“You’ll see.”
“When?”
“If you’ll shut up, you’ll find out.”
I was taken aback at the sudden mood change. “Okay… but then you owe me.”
“Owe you what?” she replied in surprise.
“Owe me a double swirl chocolate-chip cookie gelato”, I replied calmly.
“You like them?” she asked me.
“Yeah”, I said simply with a shrug of my shoulders.
“Well then that’s one thing we don’t have in common.”
She continued on into the green dome without a backward glance, leaving me stunned in her wake.
How could she not like double swirl chocolate-chip cookie gelatos?
I followed Farise into the dome cautiously. Anything could be in there. Anything, like…
My imagination of what would be in the dome flew out of my head and my breath flew away as I soaked up its interior.
There were tall trees that seemed to be so high that they physically could not fit inside the dome, with their fronds swaying majestically. They created a sort of canopy for the lower plants, their shadows casting long dark lines that rippled over the shorter trees and the dark earthen ground. The shorter plants seemed to be a refuge for the fauna that lived in the dome.
“It’s beautiful!” I commented in a hushed whisper, gazing adoringly at my surroundings.
“Wait ‘till you see the experiments room”, replied Farise. She walked off towards a small door hidden just in the undergrowth.
I followed her once more, and she led the way into a small chamber so small that there was hardly any space to walk in for the shelves that lined all the walls. The shelves were stacked full of small bottles and jars in all sorts of colours, making the room look as though it was a swirling vortex.
I looked around me in disgust. How could she like this place?
“Isn’t it wonderful?” asked Farise, turning to me.
YOU ARE READING
The Spy Act
Mystery / Thriller"I'm not really a spy, I'm just acting as a spy." Beulay Chantrey is a newcomer to the acting industry and has been chosen to play the lead in a spy flick called The Spy Act. When she is chosen to be a real spy, her first mission ends up being more...
