Chained in the Lab

Trouble Blows In

Henry

Henry bumped into Dr. Taylor in the hall outside the on-site gym a few days after the poker game.

"Hey, Doc. Need a spotter?" Henry offered.

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm not here to exercise. At this moment. Although, yes, in the future. I was actually searching for you."

"Me? What do you need?" Henry asked.

After that one somewhat awkward conversation about Zar, they hadn't really spoken beyond the occasional greeting as the scientist passed Henry's guard station.

"I wanted you to take a look at something we're building to test Zar's flight capabilities. The engineers promise me it's safe, we've adapted the kind of upright wind tunnels used to train skydivers. But you've seen procubi in flight, so I thought one more person checking it over before I present the idea to Zauriel would be best."

"Oh, sure Doc, no problem. Let me drop my workout gear in my locker."

Another scientist, going by the labcoat at least, rushed up to them right as Henry turned away. He paused, curious. Henry didn't recognize the man; he hadn't been introduced during his orientation and he hadn't been by any of the areas Henry had been stationed to guard.

"Eric! You old son of a gun!" the newcomer said, slapping Dr. Taylor on the back hard enough to make him stagger.

"Darryl?" Dr. Taylor choked out.

"Yeah, it's me. I've been granted a residency here at Ash Labs. Isn't that great?"

"Yes, wonderful," Dr. Taylor said.

To Henry, the scientist looked more startled and headed for a minor freak out than happy to see an old friend. Hendry decided to linger rather than politely vanish back into the gym. Just to be sure.

He studied the newcomer critically. Darryl was a tall man. He towered over Dr. Taylor and would easily be eye to eye with Henry. He had a bulky build that said he spent at least a little time in the gym. His hands were soft and uncalloused. His eyes were a murky color that defied easy description, maybe green, maybe hazel, maybe light brown. His ash-blonde hair was neatly styled.

"I just started today, so I don't even have an office yet but I couldn't wait to come to see you," Darryl continued.

"I'm glad you did," Dr. Taylor said, rallying. "Oh. My manners, I apologize. This is Henry Cartwell, he also started recently. He's security. You should feel safe here; we only hire the finest. Henry, this is Dr. Darryl Hauge. We were roommates in college."

"Nice to meet you," Henry said.

Dr. Hauge nodded absently.

"What projects are you thinking of joining?" Dr. Taylor asked.

"Oh, you'll see, you'll see. It's not so much what I'm thinking of joining as what the higher-ups have assigned me to. You understand how it is, right Eric?"

Dr. Taylor nodded. "Of course."

Henry frowned to himself. Not at being effectively closed out of the conversation; they were old friends so it was only natural. It was more he didn't like the nervous way Dr. Taylor suddenly found the ground so interesting. If Darryl was a friend, why did the Doc look so tense all of a sudden?

"Anyway, enough about me! Let's talk about something interesting. You. I haven't seen you in ages, how have you been?"

"I'm quite well. I stay busy. I'm in good health."

Darryl laughed. "You still talk like a robot. It's the best! Man, I love that. I really do."

Dr. Taylor gave a soft, tentative laugh.

"Oh, I hear you're heading an exciting new project, too," Darryl said.

"Well, yes."

"That's great! I have to go talk to the lab chairs right now, but I want to catch up later. Is that cool? We can do lunch."

"Of course. My contact information is in the lab directory," Dr. Taylor said.

"Right, mine will be too, very soon. I'll text you. I know how you hate talking on the phone."

"Thank you," Dr. Taylor said. Then, "It is good to see you again, Darryl. I look forward to collaborating."

Darryl wandered off then, leaving Dr. Taylor alone with Henry.

"Old friend?" Henry asked.

"Yes, I... he was pretty much my only friend in college," Dr. Taylor said.

Henry didn't point out that most people were happier to see their friends. Maybe the scientist was just startled by his sudden appearance.

"I apologize for his rudeness," Dr. Taylor added. "He's quite... focused. You'll see he's really charming... in his way. Um. Yes. We were going to inspect the wind tunnel apparatus?"

"Sure. Let's head on down."

Henry followed Dr. Taylor across the courtyard to yet another gymnasium. This one was larger, and used for experiments, not employee health. Although there were occasionally morale-building sports events held in the larger gym, Henry had been told. He looked forward to the Lab vs Security Dodgeball Match coming up soon.

The larger gymnasium was crawling with construction personnel and eager scientists and lab technicians.

"We've been looking for an excuse to build a wind tunnel apparatus of this type and size for years," Dr. Taylor confided. "There are already a dozen projects lined up to utilize the facility."

Henry looked at the mass of metal and the fans bigger than his car. "Are you sure this is... safe?"

"Oh, yes, entirely. I'm not worried about the equipment harming Zauriel, I simply wanted to run through some of our proposed testing measures. I want to be certain we won't be placing too much strain on him. I should ask him directly, but I fear that if I did, he'd agree to any test no matter how strenuous just to please me."

The scientist wasn't wrong. Zar did have an unusually strong drive to impress his contractor.

"Sure, let me take a look."

Henry and Dr. Taylor studied the notes Dr. Taylor carried under his arm. Henry was so busy wracking his brain for what he'd seen procubi accomplish in the air and flying in enclosed environments such as caves and ravines that he entirely forgot the encounter with Darryl Hauge.

That was an oversight that he, and Zar, would soon regret.