Raiyev Part 7
#7 of Raiyev
Raiyev was reluctant to get up in the morning?the previous night had been wonderful beyond description?but he had wanted to get to work early, in hopes of catching Toni and talking to her before anything else happened that day. When he and Brad finally got to work, though, it was nearly nine o'clock, so Raiyev only had time to get his security badge and run to the Chemistry department.
I'll get her during lunch, he told himself. When he got to his lab, he found that a small television on a tall, wheeled stand had been rolled into the lab and plugged in. Raiyev spotted Thomas sitting amongst a few other colleagues, all watching CNN.
"As you can see," came the voice of the reporter on the news, "we are experiencing a complete media blackout for this UN meeting. I'm standing here across the street from the UN building..."
"Instructions from Dr. Frost," Thomas said to Raiyev as he sat down next to him. "Every lab's got one. This meeting could change everything we're working on, depending on what they decide, so we need to be in the know the moment something has happened."
"Any news on our test subjects?" Raiyev asked.
"Dr. Frost said they oughtta be here tomorrow," Thomas answered.
"So...what do we do for now? Just watch this?" Raiyev cried a bit incredulously, pointing to the television.
"Well, if you want, you and I can go over the Gigantism file more, see if there's anything more we can gain from it. I personally think we've done all that we can do. We already have everything set up for tomorrow. We just need the subjects now."
In the end, Raiyev decided to just sit and watch with the rest of them for a short time. Realizing that the meeting would take a good while, though, he decided to go off to the Astronomy department to see Toni.
"I'll be right back," he told Thomas, and quietly slipped out. He quickly made his way to the Astronomy building, near the main building, and entered a hallway somewhat similar to the main corridor to the Chemistry building. Reading the room list on the wall to his left, he found what he was looking for: "Dr. Amelia Paxton ? Dept. Head ? Room 116"
He hurriedly looked at each room number as he sped down the corridor with anticipation. When he got to room 115, though, he was at the end of the hall, and no other rooms were left. Dumbfounded, he peered inside the open doorway of room 115. Behind an empty desk was a shut door with the number "116" at the top of its doorframe. The door read "Dr. Amelia Paxton ? Head of Astronomy Dept." He had guessed, then, that the empty desk before him was supposed to be Toni's desk. But where was she?
Hesitantly, he knocked on Paxton's door. "Come in," called a high-pitched voice Raiyev recognized. He opened the door and saw Dr. Paxton sitting behind her desk, busily typing away at her computer. "Dr. Kosekovic?" she asked oddly, looking up at him.
"Yes, but please, call me Raiyev," he answered.
"How can I help you?"
"Is Toni in today?"
"You mean Ms. Hawthorne? No, I'm sorry?she didn't come into work today." Raiyev didn't know what to do for a moment. He cast his eyes down, as if looking on the ground for an answer.
Looking up again, he said, "Well, then, can I have her home phone number?"
Paxton smiled and shook her head. "Now, Raiyev, you know well that I can't give you such information without just cause. Besides, I've been trying to call her all morning, and I haven't got an answer yet."
Raiyev paused, as if completely lost. "Oh...okay..." he said, and reluctantly turned to leave. Suddenly, he remembered something. Turning back, he said, "One more thing, Dr. Paxton."
"Yes?"
"What happened to Edward Haskins? Why doesn't he work here anymore?"
Paxton studied Raiyev for a moment in silence, then said, "He fell extremely ill and had to be hospitalized last week. The doctors don't know what it is yet. Why do you ask?" she said, a foreboding ounce of curiosity in her voice.
"No reason," he lied. "Just wondering." He turned and left the office quickly, but slowed his pace as he went down the long path back to the Chemistry building. Something seemed wrong here. A seemingly simple ferret tries to tell Raiyev that something big is going down, is interrupted before she can explain, then seems to disappear the very next day. Raiyev convinced himself that there was a perfectly normal, logical explanation to this...but one little voice in his head kept telling him to stay on his toes.
****
The rest of the day was uneventful. The UN meeting was still in progress with no new news when everyone left at five that evening. When Brad and Raiyev got home that evening, Brad started for the kitchen to prepare dinner, and Raiyev turned on the television to CNN.
"Brad, you might want to come see this," Raiyev called, his eyes not leaving the television screen. Brad came in and watched with Raiyev as one of the American representatives?a tall and aging husky?made a statement to the dozens of reporters surrounding him.
"After much debate," he started slowly, "it has been decided what the best course of action is to take on this matter." The media seemed impatient with the politician, but held their breath as he lethargically continued. "Through a combined effort of all the major nations, their people, their space programs, and the taxpayer's dollar, two large omni-directional jet-like thrusters will be constructed, one on the North Magnetic Pole, and the other on the South Magnetic Pole. These thrusters will reach as high into the sky as they need to, and will be rotational to the point that they can safely keep the Earth in its proper orbit. By using the thrusters to counteract the gravitational pull of any outside forces, the Earth will remain on the same path it has been a part of for billions of years."
"Do they know what has caused the shrinking of the Earth?" a small Schnauzer reporter yelled from further back in the crowd.
The husky replied slowly, "Top scientific minds from all over the world are still working on..." Raiyev turned his attention away from the TV to see Brad standing by the kitchen entryway, still holding a box of rice in his hand, entranced by the events on the television.
"Brad," Raiyev called, but Brad remained unmoved. "Don't watch too much of that guy, Brad?he's got a voice more potently ethereal and tiring than Bob Ross." Brad shook his head a bit and looked at Raiyev, grinning dopily. "Better turn this off?for your own safety," Raiyev smirked as he pointed the remote at the TV and pressed the power button. "Otherwise, you'd end up burning the apartment building down or something." Brad laughed and went back into the kitchen to prepare the meal.
****
The next day, Raiyev strode eagerly into Lab 8 to greet the new test subjects: six young furs, all between the ages of seven and twelve, and all quite large for their age. Raiyev, Harper, and Thomas were the most friendly and caring with children, so they took the blood samples.
"Their parents are all waiting in the main building, Raiyev," said Thomas softly, "so we'd like to make this as quick as we can."
Raiyev smiled, nodding in understanding, and approached an 8-year-old vixen who looked a bit worried. "Don't worry," he said, holding the syringe. "I promise that this won't hurt too badly. You'll just feel a small, quick prick." She still looked tentative, her head cocked against her shoulder and eyes cast downward. "What's your name?" he asked her.
"Sarah," she said softly and sadly, her eyes now focused on the hypodermic in Raiyev's paw.
"Well, hello, Sarah. My name is Raiyev."
She smiled a bit. "That's a funny name."
Raiyev chuckled. "I'm glad you think so," he whispered, "because I think so, too, but they won't let me change it." The vixen giggled and loosened up a bit, looking up at Raiyev. "And you know what else?"
"What?" she whispered.
"You're a very important furson today. You're helping save the world, you know."
"Really?" Her eyes lit up with wonder at Raiyev.
"Yes, really. Plus, I have a lollipop here for you if you're a good girl and sit still during this." She smiled at Raiyev and allowed him to draw some of her blood from the back of her neck.
"And now, we see exactly how special you are," he said as he drew her blood, more to himself, and with a sense of wonder and hope in his voice. He really hoped this plan would work?for the sake of the world, for the sake of science, and partly for the sake of letting an 8-year-old vixen be a heroine not only in her childhood fantasies.