The Portum (Undergoing Rewrite)

Part Seven

The girl looked up from the book in her hands and smiled at me. "Hi there! How can I help you?"

I smiled back, "Hi! I'm here to pick up some work things that my dad left behind." I lied a little, but she would hardly let me go in if I just wanted to speak to someone.

"Alright, what's your dad's name?" She glanced at me before turning to her computer, I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the tears that would well up at the mention of him; I mumbled, "Ian Evans."

The receptionist stopped typing to look at me, I was staring at the floor, trying to stop the tears from falling down my face. I heard a small sigh in front of me. I heard a chair screech in protest as it was moved and footsteps approached me.

I felt someone hug me, I glanced up to see it was the girl. I wiped my tears away and smiled a little. "I'm so sorry I didn't recognise you, your father talked about you a lot. I was his intern, before the incident." I stifled a small laugh, "You were his intern?" I couldn't believe it, my father had never told me he had an intern at work.

The girl nodded and pushed her glasses back as they had slipped down a little. "My name's Evie, nice to meet you Rose, I knew someone would come to pick Professor Evans' things; I just didn't expect it to be so soon."

I sighed, feeling guilty I had lied to her, Evie seemed like a nice person. I coughed a little to get her attention, "Evie, I'm not here to just pick up my father's things, I needed to speak to a colleague of his, I don't suppose you could help me answer a few questions?"

Evie smiled and nodded, she didn't even seem like she cared that I had lied to her. She grabbed my hand and led me round the reception desk, through a door that read 'Break Room.'

She made me sit on a Leather sofa beside her. "What questions did you want to ask me?" I took a deep breath, wondering what question I should ask first.

I finally spoke, "What sort of work did my father do? Did it make him again some sort of enemy?"

Rose bit her lip as she thought, "I'm not sure how I can explain the work Professor Evans did, but it definitely didn't gain him enemies as far as I know. I tell you what Rose, why don't I show you his work, it will be easier than explaining it."

I nodded, "Yes please Evie."

Evie grinned and stood up, she walked and I stood up, following. She walked out of the reception area, expertly dodging and stepping over the tools that littered the ground. She stopped by a similar door to the secret entrance downstairs. It was white with a frosted glass window. The sign on it read, 'Lab R-0-5-3' I stifled a laugh, wondering if my dad had named me after his lab, or his lab was named after me.

Evie saw me almost laughing, she smiled. "I can see where you might have gotten your name from." She used the fingerprint scanner on the door handle and the door clicked open, revealing a room in the similar state of the basement lab back home. Shelves stood on the walls, the floor was actually tidy and at the far-right corner of the room stood a desk, with a computer and a printer.

I smiled, remembering sitting on the desk as a child and watching my father work.

I approached a large object that was masked in a white dust sheet. I pulled it off, the machine was a small metal box, with a hole cut out of it that looked large enough for a hand. A blue lit shone on it.

I gasped, vaguely having a clue of what it could be. But if I wanted to be sure, I had to make sure Evie wouldn't tell anyone.

I coughed, "Evie, I think my dad was building a machine, that could possible disable the watches..." I mumbled.

Evie started at me in disbelief. "So what? You're not going to use it are you? Rose, you could be arrested!"

I laughed, "I'd like to see them try; look Evie I need answers and that machine will probably help me get them, so either you help me or you can go back to your job and pretend nothing ever happened, if you stay, you're clearly going to be a good friend, if not, you get the idea.

Evie sighed. "I'm going to be your friend but please, stay here but don't use that machine, it's a bad idea!" I shook my head, my stubbornness kicking in, "No chance, I'll look at the other things later, I want to see what that machine does!"

I wandered over to it and held out the arm that had the smart-watch on it. I placed it in the machine and waited while Evie reluctantly wandered over to the control panel and flicked the on switch. The machine whirred to life.

I heard Evie press a few buttons and suddenly I felt a needle poke into the watch, I recognised the needle, it was a part of my father's nano-tech technology. After a few moments the watch's screen died down and the watch fell off of my wrist. The normally seamless plastic band part of the watch seemed strange as it lay there in the metal tray it had fallen into.