Raiyev Part 4
#4 of Raiyev
Flashes from the bulbs of a dozen newspaper photographers bounced lightly off the greying fur of the well-dressed President. President Alexis McKenzie was the oldest feline president the USA had ever seen inducted into office. However his wisdom, experience, and physical training from spending decades in the Marines (ending at the honorable rank of colonel) gave his appearance a strength and dignity that most other cats his age could never have. So, it was with a courageous "full speed ahead" attitude that allowed him to speak to the public with no hint of fear at the situation.
"My fellow Americans," he began, his stony face resolute and unsmiling, "it has come to my attention that an emergency situation has arisen--not just for our country, but for the world entire. This situation will call for all of us to band together and unite our efforts into one. The US Government has discovered, thanks to the brilliant minds of our country's expert scientists, that a rare and so far unexplainable phenomenon has begun a drastic shift in the mass of our planet."
Raiyev watched from the eerie silence of the cafeteria as the dozens of reporters surrounding the President started chattering all at once. Word had already spread like wild fire throughout the entire facility of EarthTech Labs that morning, so no one in the cafeteria needed to chatter away like everyone else in the country must have been doing at that very moment.
After a couple seconds, the banter died down, allowing President McKenzie to continue. "What this means for us is that we have an approximated seven and a half years to find a remedy to this problem, before our planet's new mass shifts us out of orbit." There was much more uproar from the reporters at this point, but McKenzie raised his voice over them. "Scientists all over the country are working as we speak to provide us all with a solution. However, we already have a plan in progress, though it will take the combined efforts of many nations as well as many tax dollars. An emergency meeting with The United Nations has been scheduled for tomorrow, where we will further discuss possible solutions. I regret to inform you, however, that I cannot speak any further of this. I can only ask for everyone's full cooperation through this inexplicably rough time. Thank you."
As the President stepped out of sight again, bodyguards took their place to ward off reporters trying to follow the President with questions. The CNN correspondent popped into view on the large TV, and Raiyev turned back around face his fiancée as the rest of the room went back to their own conversations.
"So now everyone knows," Raiyev said, sighing.
"Hey, don't fret it," Brad offered in return, seeing the slight droop in Raiyev's face. "We'll find an answer. Someone will."
"I sure as hell hope so," Raiyev said, poking indifferently at his lunch with his fork. "So, anyway..." he said after a moment, finally beginning to eat, "tell me about your morning. Any developments?"
"Nothing yet," Brad answered after swallowing a bite of his salad. "We've been checking different sites all over the globe known to have large amounts of radioactive exposure, the biggest ones first--you know, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Hiroshima..."
"Well, at least you've got your work cut out for you," Raiyev said. "We're still brainstorming as to where the hell we should start, but there's really nothing we can think of so far. Hey!" Raiyev yelled out as his bottle of water was knocked over.
"Sorry," came the voice of the perpetrator. Raiyev looked up to see that it was Thomas Ferai, the squat, red-breasted bird he worked with. He talked hurriedly after he picked up Raiyev's bottle of water. "Just needed to talk to you--now. I just thought of something. If you're finished with lunch, I'd like to show you now...I honestly don't know why I didn't think of it before."
Raiyev looked down at his half-eaten veggie burger and nearly untouched salad with a bit of a frown. "You want the rest of it?" he offered to Brad.
"Nah," Brad replied, waving his paw at it. "You want I should wrap it up for you?"
"Um, okay. Thanks."
"Hey, don't mention it. You just run along."
"Okay, good," Thomas said with enthusiasm as Raiyev stood and followed his hurried footsteps out of the cafeteria.
Raiyev had to run to catch up with Thomas once they were outside. Once they were side by side, however, Raiyev was able to slow down to a quick walk.
"So what is this that's so urgent?" the raccoon asked.
"A few years before you and Brad came here we worked for a while with the chemical effects of complications of the pituitary gland. We had to quit by 1999, though, so we only got a couple months of work done at the end of '98 with Gigantism. We never got to learn too much about what was the chemical cause of Gigantism, so the records we have are very limited and unfinished, with some of the shakiest and most unprofessional conclusions ever drawn up."
The two entered the Chemistry department and jogged down to Lab 8. Thomas hurried over to a set of filing cabinets lining half of a wall and leaned in close. Squinting his eyes, he ran his finger down a column of filing cabinets before pulling open a drawer marked "1998" in small print on a yellowing index card attached to the drawer. He thumbed through an assortment of large, thick manila folders and darker brown expandable portfolios before pulling out a half-inch thick folder with the typed label "Pituitary: Gigantism."
"Here," Thomas said as he thrust the folder towards Raiyev.
Raiyev took it and began looking through it. He paced slowly towards his workstation, skimming over the pages talking about the various test patients used, their reactions towards the different injections concocted by the team working on Gigantism, the reaction to placebos...it went on, but not long enough.
"I see what you mean about shaky and unprofessional conclusions," Raiyev said finally, now sitting on a stool at his workstation. "But tell me--why ever was the work cancelled?"
"I honestly don't know," Thomas answered, then paused, listening to the sounds from the hallway that told the two that the rest of their coworkers were returning from lunch. Thomas continued as other furs entered their lab. "The excuse given us was so shady and horrible that I don't even remember what it was now. Just stupid politics, I think--using test subjects and all of that 'immorality' crap the extremists try to feed us."
"Right," Raiyev said, returning to the front page of the file. "Can we get any new subjects? I'd like to see if we can try to find the chemical cause to Gigantism; it may well hold a key to...something. Geez, this all sounds so shaky anyway. Do you really think it could work?"
"What could work?" asked a voice right behind Raiyev. The raccoon turned around to find Dr. Harper standing before him. Raiyev was almost surprised at how tall she appeared up close.
"Dr. Ferai here thought about trying to do something with Gigantism. He showed me what you all had worked on a few years back."
"Oh? I hadn't thought of that one," Harper said, looking oddly at Thomas. "Raiyev is right, though--it DOES sound shaky..." She continued to stand there, almost glaring at Thomas for a moment before shaking her head, as if coming out of some deep trance. "Anyway, Raiyev, I was asked to deliver this to you." She held out a piece of paper that was folded over and taped shut. "I can't say who it's from--I got it through some sort of weird chain of deliverers. All I was told was to tell you that you'd understand it."
Raiyev took the piece of paper and removed the tape as he unfolded it. He frowned a bit to find that the inside was only as blank as the outside, though. Suddenly, though, he had an idea. "Excuse me. I'll be right back," he said to Harper and Thomas. He walked hurriedly out of the lab and into the nearest washroom, sighing in relief to find it empty.
Pouring a bit of soap onto the paper, he gently rubbed two fingers over the paper, spreading the soap around until he found what he was looking for. The soap revealed a message written in invisible ink that read in shaky pawwriting: "Meet me at the Western Entrance of the Main Building just after 5 o'clock this evening, after everyone else has left. Come alone."