Chapter 16.

Arrival.

Sarah Reyes.

Time/Area: Le Marais, Paris. July 9th, 2013.

“Um- Merci.” I said to the Taxi driver, remembering the tiny bit of French I had learned from Middle School before handing him a couple of U.S dollar bills.

He smiled at the money, “Mon plaisir!” He yelled, driving off and leaving me on the sidewalk. I had no idea what that meant, but I couldn’t dwell on it. I was currently standing on the wet sidewalks of the Marais in Paris. The night air was still moist from the rainfall that had occurred a couple hours ago and water droplets still blanketed the scene. It was pretty nice though, as every tall, fancily built building and every wide, car polluted street was glistening against the rising moon because of the weather. It made the famous ‘swamp’ of Paris glitter and glow in a way that almost made me forget why I was here. The feeling ended however, when a large car rushed right by my line of sight, ripping me back into reality while splashing leftover water from the ground onto my black overcoat. For other people, that could’ve been quite demoralizing, but I was a New York girl so the act was only a minor inconvenience.

I sighed, turning away from the beautiful sights to look at my destination. The building was as tall as a skyscraper with giant posters plastered onto its front. Each long, white banner had the words “International Science Award Competition'' written on them in vibrant green, but engraved in both French and English on the actual stone of the building was the statement ‘Private Property’. This was a private building that had been rented out by the sponsors of ISAC to serve as the final testing facility for competitors. Energis had just ‘finished’ their testing early so, naturally, we got the first run through.

We.

Well, technically I was fired, but that wasn’t the point.

In the grand scheme of things, the whole idea of ISAC was still relatively new. That was why there wasn’t an official testing ground for this kind of thing but, as this building portrayed, people all over the world were getting more and more excited to see their country represented in the scientific field.

This was the place. The place where the testing was to go down for Energis. The place where it would all go wrong. It was Twelve in the morning in Paris, and jet lag was still haunting me. New York was behind by six hours so over there it was only six in the afternoon. I took a deep breath, the sliding glass doors opening as I stepped inside the tall complex. The inside was equally as brown as the outside, just with more style. Two sets of three pillars were evenly set apart. One row was on one side of the entrance, and the other row was placed on the opposite. It created a makeshift hallway that led to the front desk. An old man with a blue hat sat at a chair behind the desk, sipping what smelled like hot chocolate.

I walked up to him, my footsteps echoing off the otherwise empty lobby area, “Hello?”

I got his attention, not sure if he spoke English. It would be pretty sad if he didn’t, seeing as this was an International competition.

He smiled, “Well aren’t you a rose!” He said, putting down his blue mug while proving his English speaking capability, “What can I do for you today?”

I enjoyed his hospitality, “Hi,” I returned his smile, “I’m here to see Doctor Elizabeth Diamond?”

He nodded, opening a drawer from the other side of the desk and producing a packet of paper,

“And what might be your name?” He asked.

“Sarah Reyes..” I responded.

His smile widened, “What a pretty name!”

I chuckled nervously. I didn’t do too well with compliments.

He stopped flipping through pages once he found my name, “ahHa!” He exclaimed, “Sarah Reyes Johnson...There you are... Here you go!”

He handed me an elevator pass, “You know where to go, yes?” he clarified.

I nodded, remembering some details that Doc had given me earlier sometime before my flight, “Observation Deck.” I stated.

He smiled once more, tipping his hat towards me as he went back to sipping his hot chocolate.

“I hope all French people are this nice..” I wished, giving the man an awkward wave before slipping past the desk and entering the rose gold colored elevator cart.

-----

Ding!

The door slid open to reveal a massive viewing deck. Computer consoles were in every spot imaginable except for the front; That wall was made of glass. The area looked to have once been a meeting area, as hinted by the few empty tables left sprawled about the space and the professionality the room brought to my mind. Doctor Diamond stood at one of the consoles located in the back, the noise of her fingers typing proving to be the only sound present in the room. It stopped, however, when I walked up to her, nearly tripping on several wires and cords in the process.

Doc had obviously set this all up in a hurry.

She slowly looked up from the blue light of her computer screen, her equally blue eyes blinking for a moment as if to register if I was really here.

“Saraaaahhh!” Doc exclaimed, both of us shrieking as we embraced,

“I know it hasn’t been that long, but it’s good to see you Sarah.” Doc calmed down, still grinning.

I laughed, “Believe me,” I said, “the flight was long enough.”

Doc laughed as well, “I take it your parents don’t know you’re here?” She guessed.

I shook my head, “They do, but only Damien and Lorica know why.”

Doc slowly nodded, “Lorica huh?” She liked Lorica, but she claimed she gave her a headache.

I laughed, “Anyways,” I started, pulling out the Energis tablet I had stolen from my purse. Doc’s eyes widened when she saw the device, “I was wondering where that went..” She said, “Anything else you stole?”

I winced, absently running a finger through my black, currently droopy hair, “No...Not from you at least…”

She chuckled at my response, waving it off as nothing, “So let’s see it.”

I walked over to a semi empty table, taking out the Electric Regulating Liquid and placing it carefully on the top. Doc did a double take when she saw it, “That’s from Synth!” She realized, her shocked expression slowly morphing into that of a proud teacher, “Look at you, already becoming a master thief.”

I ignored her, slowly nodding in minor embarrassment, “They’re working on stuff to regulate electricity, so I thought that we could use it for this.”

“Oh, did you cause that Radiation leak?” She accused, eyeing me suspiciously. I quickly shook my head, “No,” I told her, “but I did use that to steal some of this stuff.”

“And your experiment worked?” Doc asked.

I smiled, “On a squirrel.”

She tilted her head, the action seeming to be half from surprise and half from worry, "That’s wonderful news, but will it be enough?"

I gave her a confused expression, "What do you mean?"

Doc sighed, "I think what you've done will definitely help, but with the way the test might go, It might only make us less screwed."

I groaned, "What could make this 100 percent death proof?" I wondered aloud, completely done with trying to hide the obvious.

Doc thought for a moment, "Probably something that can stabilize the byproducts made by the radiation caused from that E.R.L…because, as you know, that very liquid caused the radiation leak in the Bronx."

She continued, “Assuming your plan is to use Synth’s half baked excuse for a stabilizer to regulate Inverse, we’d first need to find a way to regulate it.”

I looked at her, "How long would it take to make something like that?"

Doc slumped in a nearby chair, "Too long."

"Can we get something that stabilizes it?" I suggested.

She began to rub her temples, “Depends,” She said sitting up, “Was Synth working on something that stabilizes the Electric thingy or was this more of a random science project idea that was tossed out a window the moment he realized it was stupid?”

I shrugged.

“Well,” Doc went on, “if they were, adding that to the mix would probably work...a sort of stabilizer for a stabilizer.”

I nodded, “Synth is so secretive, no one but him and his trusted advisors would probably know about anything.”

“No worries,” Doc spoke, putting her hand on my shoulder, “You did good, and you definitely saved lives today.”

I smiled.

She removed her hand, “Well, still do worry...like a lot.”

I frowned.

“Now, we have to incorporate your genius into the project!” Doc moved on, grabbing a pair of goggles, “Let’s get to work..”

I laughed, remembering what happened last time we said that.

It was only a couple of days, but it felt like so long ago.

“Yea,” I agreed, grabbing my own pair of goggles and slipping them on.

“Let’s get to work.”