Elaine thought she’d recognized the voice over the intercom system, but hearing the familiar voice and seeing the face attached to it were two wildly different experiences. Just what the hell was Brad’s dad doing here?

To be fair, as far as she could remember, Elaine hadn’t really seen much of Brad’s dad growing up. The man had a business to run, after all. Long working hours were just to be expected in the Asher household for both parents, but Brad’s dad in particular had always seemed distant, which might explain the distance between the two. Did Brad even know that his dad knew Matsumoto, or that he had extracurricular business ventures?

She cast a quick look in Brad’s direction. Unfortunately if Brad was emoting much, she couldn’t really tell through his masked uniform. His posture seemed a little stiff, but there could be any explanation for that. The uniform was notably tighter, stiffer, more restrictive than the more casual outfit he was accustomed to wearing, as was the combat armor, which added an extra 7 or 8 kilos of weight he wouldn’t be accustomed to. Hell, even wearing the light armor she had as part of her job as a police officer hadn’t prepared her for this. She’d have to corner him at some point during their tour to get a feel for how he was doing.

Then Rami said something that returned her attention to the conversation he was having with Mr. Asher. “So say we find alien life down here. What are the plans then?”

She looked at Mr. Asher, who began laughing, replying, “That would be for the scientists to worry about. I am merely here to oversee my own investment, though anyone hoping to join on the project is fine by me. But I suppose before we do that, you’ll want to actually see the facility in its fullest. Thankfully, in the interest of safety, I’ve taken the liberty of mounting cameras to the autonomous workers throughout the facility so you can see through the eyes of one of our units a typical day at work here. After that, we can negotiate.”

Elaine was aghast. So he was out here for the money, though she’d missed what Rami had said about there being aliens involved.

She watched the holographic viewscreen that appeared in the middle of the table, showing the various parts of the facility. She took this as her opportunity to send a quick message to Brad, thanking her lucky stars for the communication device built into her uniform. If nothing else, the gesture-based “imaginary” keyboard accessible through the gloves in her suit were cool as hell, once she’d gotten used to which letters were paired with which finger. She was also grateful for the backspace key, since she’d skipped out on learning home row when learning how to type.

Hey, you holding up okay?

It wasn’t long before he responded.

Should I be? My dad’s up to sketchy shit. Does my mom know? Too many questions.

Fair response.

Yeah, I don’t like it either. I want to leave. If it’s a choice between being bored or being pissed off here, I’d rather just not be here to begin with.

After sending the message off, she quickly took another look at the viewscreen, timed just perfectly to see a door marked Primary Specimen–Extremely Dangerous.

Mr. Asher explained, “The specimen we have in this particular laboratory is the most recent one. The material we’ve managed to extract from it is the most intact, at any rate, so the eggheads say.” He chuckled. “Sorry, I shouldn’t joke like that. My wife works in medicine, and if she had any idea the possibilities of what we’ve found here, she’d lose her goddamn mind.

Elaine looked around the room for any reactions. Rami leaned forward, saying, “Oh? What makes you say that?”

Mr. Asher leaned forward as well, saying quietly, “Well, I can’t tell you much. Y’know, security clearance and the like. But what I can tell you is that what we’ve managed to extract from the specimen has a ton of potential. The science guys keep saying things like ‘breakthrough’ and ‘miracle’ which should speak for itself.”

“So are we going to get to see the specimen?” Rami asked in a tone that suggested…enthusiasm? Was Elaine hearing that correctly? The old man seemed into this. Though considering this was likely the thing that caused the deaths of a bunch of his friends and coworkers, there being some curiosity made sense, but she wasn’t expecting enthusiasm.

Mr. Asher responded with a smirk, “In due time, sir, in due time. It’s another one of those security clearance things. After all, I’ve shown you an awful lot of consideration considering you’ve been relatively secretive, Mr. al Faris. In fact, if I recall correctly, you never did give me your last name.”

Elaine looked Rami over. He had a pretty good poker face, but something felt off. “Ah, so you did some homework,” Rami responded. “Well done. What else have you managed to find out about me?”

“Rami al Faris. Formerly employed at this very facility, one of the two only survivors from the incident. The only one who is still alive in an official sense, since his counterpart passed away years ago, happily surrounded by his family. Meanwhile, Mr. al Faris, you’ve been busy. The only thing we haven’t worked out is why you’re so interested in the facility. Surely you’re not hoping to close it down before we find our ‘treasure’?”

Rami responded. “Of course not. I’m just as curious about what’s in here as you are.”

“And if it turns out you don’t like what we find?”

“I suppose we’ll have to worry about that when the time comes.”

Mr. Asher frowned, obviously disappointed with the response. “You’re not making yourself a very appealing business partner, Mr. al Faris. Why would I go in on this with you if I don’t know how you’ll respond to whatever we discover?”

Rami chuckled, “I could always turn in what information I have to Earth Federation authorities. Things might get kind of stuffy for the colony during the investigation, but I’d be willing to take that risk.”

“You’re anticipating a repeat of the incident.” Mr. Asher’s response was not a question.

“Just preparing for failure so I can be pleasantly surprised by any success,” Rami said softly.

Mr. Asher paused for a second, before leaning back and saying, “Well, it’s a shame we couldn’t see eye to eye. He then pressed a button on the table, setting off an alarm.