How To Kill Love

Chapter 42- The Sexy Test

"Are you aware of your position here in NASA?" The director asked as Harith sat down in front of him. "Not quite, Sir. Although, it has always been my dream to be a Senior Scientist, MSFC." Harith replied, stuttering out of nervousness.

Harith's P.O.V

"That's right. You are a senior scientist even as an intern with your background of scoring the highest out of all our applicants. It almost seems like you've been studying the planetary since the day you were born." The director grinned as he raised his cup for cheers. "Cheers." I smiled. "I've always been studying things involving NASA space because it's my dream to be here."

"Sir, do you know why black roses only exists in the mountains of Siberia?" I asked the director with a grin because maybe he's the only one who'll get the answer right. You see, no one really knows why, but among the NASA researchers, we know why.

"Well, you started your job even as a college student. Now I'm impressed with your background. Black roses only exists in the mountains of Siberia because it's caused by the fungus Diplocarpon rosae, black spot begins just as its name suggests, with black spots showing up on the surface of the petals. The fungus is no normal fungus, it's from the comet samples that trace back to Jupiter's moon, Europa." The director answered with a grin. Now someone gets me in analyzing the universe. This world is not the only place we are in. We are in a universe with so many unknown things that we are yet to discover.

The director gulped and continued his explanation. "Imagine the bottom of an ocean. The water is icy cold and impenetrably dark, without even a glimmer of sunlight. But in one patch of the ocean floor, a jet of hot water spurts upwards out of a rocky vent. This water is laced with life-giving chemicals, and around it, a collection of strange microorganisms has gathered. These tiny organisms are like nothing anyone has ever seen before. But that's no surprise, because it's not from Earth. It's 630 million km from Earth, on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter. No one is supposed to go near those black roses because we haven't really looked into then yet. They might be a species of normal roses turned into alien life. Stay away from them and how'd you know?" The director questioned as he chugged the wine glass in front of him. Science discovery spilled from the director's very mouth.

"Our school has bushes of them and they are kept safe from students except for me. I did some research and I pointed out the dots when I last heard a comet struck the Šar mountains in Serbia then that's when I had theories on the black roses' origin. I honestly brought two roses with me here because I knew this day would come. The day we'll analyze lifeforms possibly from Europa." I explained and the director nodded to my words. He seemed star struck because who would've known that an intern would know all these extraterrestrial stuff.

"You know what, forget about being an intern. You're an official senior scientist here in NASA. It's like you're not even an intern like you've built your whole life to be one great scientist. No one has ever gone far into extra terrestrials life because the government can't handle protecting the citizens if something crazy happens. Well, I think back roses are not of any harm unless they spread which is happening." The director said and crumpled my contract of 3 years to an official employee of NASA. "We have to track down all those black roses if we find anything dangerous on the plants you have as test organisms."

"Of course. I'll run some tests with your advanced equipment and we'll look into the findings." I replied. "It's not my equipment. It's our equipment, young man." The director smiled as her offered his right hand for a hand shake. "You can call me Josh. By the way, what made you get black roses for before knowing all this?"

"Someone I love likes the scenery of black roses in her view." I chuckled. "It's as mysterious as her. I honestly don't want to talk about it."

The director grinned. "Hmpf. No one in NASA really has a family because of our mission to explore the universe because our world is not the only world. Just don't let her get into your work and if possible, break up with her. Our universe matters more than our lives. Someone has to give up their life for the betterment of the human society."