After making my way through the line and getting slices of pizza for both of us, I headed
to the back and eased into the booth. We ate quickly, Amy going on about her test today in her
class and I explaining about the pop quiz in chemistry. The medical trial didn’t come up again
since Amy could tell it was still a bit of a touchy subject for me. I almost never ignored my
hunches or feelings and doing so now was not sitting right with me.
“So did you get a chance to call Kittlesby yet?” Amy asked me when we were done and
heading outside.
“No, not yet. I figured I’d wait until he closed today and call him. You know he stays in
the room above the shop,” I replied absently, looking for the car.
“What are you going to do if he won’t give you the month off?” Amy continued, walking
confidently towards the car. “Are you going to back out of the trial?”
“I signed, didn’t I?” I asked, unlocking the car and sliding in again. “Besides, he’s always
worked with my schedule before.”
“Good. I really want you there with me,” Amy explained, repeating herself from earlier.
She sent me one of her dazzling smiles and I couldn’t help but smile back. We drove back to
our apartment and pulled out our homework. An hour passed in pleasant silence and I deemed it late enough to call Mr. Kittlesby. Taking the phone into the bedroom so I didn’t disturb Amy, I
dialed the number I’d come to memorize.
“Thank you for calling By The Stack, Jack Kittlesby speaking,” Mr. Kittlesby’s familiar
bass drone came across the line. “What book can I help you find today?”
“It’s George, Mr. Kittlesby,” I said, sitting down on the bed. “You have a couple minutes
to talk?”
“Can you give me a couple minutes to close?” he asked, rustling coming through the
phone. “And how many times do I have to say you can call me Jack, George?”
“I can wait,” I replied, smiling. “It just seems odd to call you Jack. You’re my employer.”
“Friend too, I’d hope,” Jack laughed, more shuffling coming over the line. “I’m going to
put the phone down now. Give me five minutes.”
I waited while a muffled thunk indicated the phone had been set down. I could hear
footsteps through my phone as Jack walked around the store. He was probably making sure all
the customers were gone so he didn’t lock anyone in. I heard the bell over the door ring and
then silence. Another minute of footsteps and Jack picked up the phone again.
“So what do you need, George?” Jack asked, light panting and heavy footsteps
indicating he was walking upstairs.
“I was wondering if I could get some time off,” I said hesitantly. “Amy talked me into
signing up for this medical trial thing. It runs for a month and they want all the participants to
stay in this facility offcampus for the duration.”
“When does it start?” Jack asked curiously. “What kind of medical trial? Is it safe?”
“It starts next Thursday,” I told him. “Dr. Carnesby wanted to give us enough time to
square away everything we needed to with classes and work. He didn’t tell us what the drug is
for but it does seem safe. He was very thorough in the presentation we went to. Can I get the
month off?” I heard Jack muttering to himself over the phone and could barely make out a number
here and there. He must have been looking at the schedule for his employees over the next
month. I held my silence, not wanting to push since I wanted to go back to my job once the trial
was done. I really enjoyed working in By The Stack and the employee discount didn’t hurt either.
“If I shuffle a few things around, I can make that work,” Jack finally asserted. “This whole
thing is actually rather good because business has been a bit slow. I was thinking about letting
one of the part-time kids go. But by the time you come back, we should be into the end-of-term
rush. You are planning on coming back, right?”
“Of course,” I defended myself. “This job is one of the best I’ve ever had. I don’t want to
lose it. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t fire me for taking off so long.”
“No, I can let you have the time off. Like I said, it works perfectly,” Jack replied, laughing.
I smiled with relief, letting a chuckle escape me. “Just follow your schedule until Thursday and
call me when the trial is over. If you need more time due to side effects or something, let me
know.”
“Thanks Jack, I definitely will,” I told him, the smile still on my face. “And if I can, I’ll let
you know what it wasall about. I know you’re probably going to go crazy with curiosity while I’m
gone.”
“How well you know me,” Jack murmured drolly, the sarcasm dripping from his words.
“But seriously, I would like to know what it’s all about. See you tomorrow, George.”
“See you tomorrow,” I replied then hung up. Amy had been right: Jack had no problems
at all with letting me take the time off. She looked up curiously as I walked back into the living
room, the tip of her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as it always did when she was
concentrating hard. “He let me have the month off. I can go back to work after the trial is over.”
“That’s wonderful!” Amy exclaimed, getting up to hug me. “I worked it out with my
professors today to turn in my papers after the trial. Everything’s set for me.” “The only thing I needed to do was deal with my job,” I replied, walking into the kitchen to
get a drink. “I’m ahead in all my classes and nothing is due until after the trial is over.”
“This is going to be fun,” Amy called from the living room. I could only hope that’s all that
it was. We turned in early that night, both of us having morning classes. The ease with which we
were able to put everything on hold should have reassured me but it didn’t. I didn’t think I was
going to shake the dread I had until the trial was over. Chapter 4
The next week passed slowly but, all too soon, the day of the trial crept up. I met Amy at
the same cafe and gave her a hug. She was excited, almost vibrating in place with emotion. I
sighed and pasted a smile on my face. I could pretend to be excited for her. I didn’t want to dim
any of her enthusiasm.
We drove to the address Dr. Carnesby had given us, parking in the lot next to the
building. I studied the warehouse as I got out of the car. It was made of gray concrete, the
windows small and very high up. It looked as if it would take an army to get in if the people
inside wanted to keep others out. The front door had an electronic lock on it and no knob. We
shared a confused look then Amy pressed the button on the intercom.
“Name please?” a robotic female voice answered.
“Amy Veksler and George Ormond,” Amy replied for both of us, her head tilted to the
side. She glanced at me and whispered, “I thought it was just going to be us and the professor.
Whose voice is that?”
“Maybe there’s one other person to help?” I suggested, just as quietly. “I mean, five test
subjects is a lot for one person to deal with.”
“Thank you,” the voice continued after a few moments. We heard the locks on the door
click and it swung open with a hiss. It looked as if the door was hermetically sealed. “Please
enter and go to the lounge. The others are there along wit
h Dr. Carnesby.”
“Uh, thanks,” Amy said, slanting a strange look at the intercom. We walked inside, the
door sliding shut smoothly behind us. When it closed, our ears popped. Shaking my head, I led
the way down the corridor to the sound of voices at the end. When the corridor opened into a
large room, we saw we were the last of the group to arrive. “Welcome guys,” Michael said, waving at us from a corner. He was sitting on a
comfortablelooking armchair, a glass filled with something brown in his hand. “Refreshments
for all are here. I don’t think Adam is going to make us stint on things while we’re here.”
I looked over to the small island that Michael was waving his drink at and saw a huge amount of
bottles. There were alcoholic ones and I recognized one of the rum bottles as what Michael was
drinking. Sandra was the only other person drinking something alcoholic, a fizzy pink drink with
an umbrella in it. Billy was drinking what looked like Sprite or 7-Up.
Amy walked over to the island and poured some drinks for us, sticking to the non
alcoholic things. I was glad of it: I didn’t want to go into this drunk. I wanted to have all my
faculties for this first day of the trial. I took a seat by Billy, wanting to draw the shy guy into the
conversation Michael and Sandra were carrying on animatedly. He sent me a small smile but
went back to looking down into his drink.
“So what made you decide to go to med school?” I asked after a few moments.
“I wanted to help people,” Billy replied. “I know it’s what everyone says but it’s true. My
mom died a few years back from complications with a surgery. I want to help make sure that it
doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
“Sorry to hear about your mom,” I said, sharing a commiserating look with him. “But it’s
nice you’re becoming a doctor in her honor. You said you wanted to work at the U of C
Hospital?”
“I do,” Billy nodded, taking a drink. “I don’t want to move away from my family if I can
help it. We’ve lived in Chicago for as long as I can remember. Plus, the U of C has one of the
top hospitals and I want to be challenged.”
“I was thinking about becoming a professor here,” I explained, nodding at the word
challenged. “I love this town and once I’m done with fieldwork, I think I’d like to end up here.
Plus, there’s plenty of companies that Amy is looking into that have headquarters here.” “How long have you two been together?” Billy asked curiously. “You seem very
comfortable around each other.”
“We’ve known each other since high school but we didn’t start dating until our second
year of college,” I replied, laughing at the memory. “We both went to the same party and got a
little drunk. We ended up making out on a couch and the next morning decided to give dating a
try. How about you? You seeing anyone right now?”
“I don’t have the time. School and studying is pretty much my life right now,” Billy
admitted, shaking his head. “It’s part of why I decided to participate in this study; I could really
use the money.”
“That’s partly what finally convinced me,” I said, looking over at the others when a loud
burst of laughter rang out. Michael was miming something with his hands, his drink sloshing
perilously close to the rim of his glass. Sandra and Amy were laughing, leaning on each other
as they laughed breathless. Michael seemed to have made excellent inroads on the rum and
was more than a little tipsy.
“What was the other part?” Billy asked, drawing my attention back to him.
“Amy actually,” I admitted. “I didn’t want her to do this on her own. I don’t know how to
say this without sounding like an alarmist but I had a bad feeling about this. If I’m here too, I can
do my bestto watch over her.”
“As good a reason as any, I guess,” Billy shrugged, taking another drink. He had
emptied his glass by now and got up for a refill. I took the momentary lull in conversation to
study the lounge. Other than the island currently holding drinks, the lounge was filled with
armchairs and a table surrounded by formal chairs. A flatscreen TV was hung on one wall with a
PS3 hooked up below it. Dr. Carnesby hadn’t been lying when he said we’d be able to entertain
ourselves. One entire wall was taken up by a bookcase, several authors and genres
represented. One portion of the shelving was filled with magazines. I could see another hallway
that led deeper into the building that had white doors leading off from it. Each door was painted with a black number and I assumed they were the rooms we’d be staying in. I saw five doors
total and wondered where Dr. Carnesby would be staying.
“So what made you decide to go into anthropology?” Billy asked, continuing our
conversation when he sat down.
“I like studying people, I guess,” I answered, shrugging. “I’m able to read them very well.
Plus, learning about other cultures and travelling is fun, so I just put all my likes together into a
future career. I want to study Amazonian tribes because they survive in a rather difficult
environment. Even thrive.”
“That does sound interesting. And hey, travel perks are never bad, right?” Billy smiled
widely, revealing white, even teeth. I was really starting to like the shy guy and was glad that
something good had come out of this so far.
“Nope,” I agreed, smiling back. “So have you seen anyone else around? I know Dr.
the intercom.”
“I haven’t seen anyone else yet,” Billy said, looking over at the others in the corner.
Michael had just stood up to refill his cup and he was stumbling slightly as he made his way to
the island. I shook my head and figured he’d have one hell of a hangover tomorrow. “But that
voice didn’t sound quite human to me. It sounded... tinny.”
“She did sound like a robot to me, too,” I said. “I wonder who she is and if we’re going to
meet her.”
“Seeing as I’m the only one here other than you five, probably not,” Dr. Carnesby’s voice
interrupted me. The professor walked into the room, dressed in his usual polo and jeans. He
smiled at us all and continued, “Who is this she you’re referring to, George?”
“The voice over the intercom,” I explained, gesturing down the hallway towards the door.
“I thought you said you were going to be the only one here during the trial.” “I did indeed. The voice you heard wasn’t a person,” Dr. Carnesby explained, his eyes
lighting with mirth. “She is an AI that is helping me run the trial. Her name is Jane and she will
be keeping electronic records on all of you during your stay.”
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen,” the robotic female voice said. “It is nice to meet you all.”
“Jane has audio pickups and speakers in every room,” Dr. Carnesby explained, laughing
as we all jumped. “She’ll be here to help you monitor any and all side effects from the drugs.
You merely need to say the word if you need help. And if you are unable to speak, Jane will be
able to pick that up and summon me.”
“It’s my pleasure to assist all of you in the trial,” Jane added before falling silent. I shook
my head at that. It was a little creepy to think that something with an ever-watchful eye
was
going to be keeping tabs on all of us.
“I see you’ve all helped yourselves to the refreshments. We have a kitchen at the end of
the hallway,” Dr. Carnesby said, rubbing his hands together. “We can take turns cooking since
it’s just us in here. The refrigerator is fully stocked. Everything will start tomorrow. Today and
tonight are for settling in and getting to know each other. I hope you all get along, you’re going
to be stuck here for a month with each other.”
“We have been so far,” Sandra observed, looking around the room. We all nodded and
Dr. Carnesby nodded.
“Excellent,” he said, satisfied. “I have a few more things to finish up before tomorrow so I
will leave you all to your evening. Feel free to pick a room, they’re all furnished the same. And
George, Amy, I know you two are together but I want you to take separate rooms. I don’t want
any overlap in Jane’s readings of you two. Good night everyone.”
With that, Dr. Carnesby headed back down the hallway and into the kitchen. Apparently,
his room was on the other side of the building. That got me wondering, worried that the side
effects of other things he’s tested here might have been extreme. I pushed my fears away,
reasoning that guessing now would accomplish nothing. I’d get my answers soon enough. “Billy, George, why don’t you join us?” Sandra asked, waving us over. Her words were
only slightly slurred; she hadn’t drunk nearly as much as Michael seemed to have. He smiled
blearily at us, wobbling a bit in his seat. Billy and I got up and dragged our armchairs over. We
ended up sitting in a circle, able to see each other’s faces.
“Nice to see you again, George,” Sandra said. “Amy here was just telling us about how
you guys met in high school.”
I turned red at the memory; it wasn’t one of my finest moments. I was very clumsy during
my adolescence and had a tendency to trip down stairs. I had just fallen down the stairs trying to
get to my next class. My books flew everywhere in the stairwell and the other students had just
laughed and walked on by. Amy was the only one who’d stopped to help me. Ever since then,
we've been inseparable. As Amy related the story, the others laughed heartily. I responded by