blogwithvalor

It was well after regular working hours when Maria walked into the room. Green gas was curling and slowly filling the space behind her as she moved. The gas mask on her face was heavy and bulky but she knew almost everyone in the building was gone and the two people in this room were fast asleep. So she wasn’t going to need to move quickly anyways. She had been working at this research facility for the past 6 months as a custodian. Cleaning the floors and taking out the trash. It was a perfect cover. No one even took a second glance at her when she would walk into the wrong room. To them, she was part of the background. She’d learned about the locations of everything in the facility. Some of the areas were still closed off to her, but she was aware of the things coming in and out of there. The room she was now in was the one she’d been sent to investigate.

Maria was hired by a competitor to the company that owned this research facility. They were in the business of bioengineered substances mostly for medical purposes. There was a lot of money in medicine and getting something to market first was a guaranteed way to edge out the competition. She was informed that this facility had created something that didn’t exactly have medical applications. They were awarded a small DARPA contract to research the feasibility of a substance that could help generate ideas. Generally, this level of funding was only meant to create a strong research paper to argue for continued funding. That is what her employer had been doing, basic research. However, word got out that this facility already began testing and made a huge discovery. So, her employer hired her to steal some of whatever was being brewed there and bring it back to them.

Two scientists were lying on the ground in front of Maria. The gas she’d leaked into the room through the closed off vents having done its job. One of them had been holding a beaker than was broken next to him. The liquid inside spread across the ground like an odd Rorschach test. Maria grabbed his keycard from the lanyard around his neck, and for good measure, took the keycard from the other scientist as well. She walked up to the walk-in fridge at the back of the room and held both lanyards up to the RFID reader. The light turned green, and she pulled on the large handle. As the door opened a small white mist fell out the door, seeming content to take its place below the green gas already occupying the room.

Inside the walk-in refrigerator Maria saw lots of boxes and half-filled containers. Most of it was just items that required low temperature storage. But on the back wall was vial rack with 6 full vials. It was labeled with a DARPA contract number. Maria knew this was it but wondered if all 6 vials were the same. The goal was to try to get in and out without anyone knowing what she’d done. The vials all had serial numbers. Was that a simple inventory tracking thing or were all 6 different? She had to assume it was just a part of their inventory management system to label everything. She grabbed the last vial in the series and placed it into a padded container. The padding would not only keep it safe from breaking, but also help keep the vial cold while she moved it. Her hope was that anyone finding a missing vial would think they added a sixth to the system by mistake.

When Maria turned around, she realized one of the scientists was slowly getting to their hands and knees. The cold air from the refrigerator had given him enough fresh air to start waking up. Before Maria could reach him, he pulled out his phone and text someone. Then he fell back down onto his stomach. She closed the door behind her, trying to prevent any more cold air from coming into the room. As she walked up to him, she looked at his phone screen and saw a reply message. A HAZMAT team was on their way and would be there in 1 minute. Maria realized the scientist probably never saw her and she might still be able to get out without anyone knowing she’d been there. Quickly, Maria put the lanyards back on each of the scientists. Perhaps they’d assume a dangerous combination of chemicals outgassed and caused the incident.

She peeked outside the door and didn’t see anyone coming. So, she stepped out into the hallway and pulled off her mask, throwing it into the trash portion of her janitorial cart, along with the padded container holding the vial. The cameras in the building were only in the hallways, and she set them to a 1 minute loop that she controlled through her phone. She pushed the cart around the corner and turned the loop off. As she strolled down the hallway, she put in two earbuds. The wires dangled slowly with each step. The HAZMAT team came running towards her and she froze. She took a step back and as they approached they moved to the side and flew past her. They were heading straight to the room with the scientists.

Maria finished her shift by putting the cart away and cleaning up in the locker room. As she hopped into her car, she looked at the container that was sitting in the seat next to her. The cold vial of idea generating substance lay within. She wondered, ‘Does this stuff really do what they think it does?’