Chapter 2: Gather Information

I was a bit startled to see three beautiful teenage girls frolicking in my pool. They were all wearing bikinis and all three shared the same golden-tan complexion. When I saw that one of them was Stacy, the neighbor girl, I remembered my promise to let them use the pool. I figured the other two girls must be her sisters.

When one of them saw me, she gasped. Stacy saw me then and cried, "Keith!"

Stacy scrambled out of the pool, dripping wet and slicking back her hair, which made her look even more sexy. I had to fight my dirty thoughts a bit and keep my erection from tenting my slacks. When she got close to me, she smiled and said, "Thank you so much for letting us use the pool. It's so fu- ... uh ... it's so damned hot today."

I grinned when I realized she didn't want to cuss in front of me, probably because I was an adult and she didn't want her parents to hear about it.

Speaking of her parents, I asked, "So, do your parents know you girls are over here?"

Stacy nodded, "Yeah. I told my mom you said we could use the pool. She'll be home from work in an hour or so. She wanted me to invite you to dinner to thank you for letting us use the pool. Can you come?"

"Uh ... I just ordered pizza a few minutes ago."

"Oh," she looked disappointed.

"Hey, why don't you call your mother and tell her I invited your family first. I ordered plenty of pizza probably. It's just your parents and the three of you, right?"

"No. Parent. Our dad left years ago. So it's just the four of us."

I nodded, "Yeah. I never met my father at all. He left my mom before I was born."

Stacy nodded in understanding.

"So ... can I use your phone?" she asked.

"Huh?"

"To call Mom."

"Right. Of course," I fished out my cell phone and handed it to her.

She deftly punched in the number and told her mother my offer. Stacy smiled and nodded at me, then told her mother goodbye.

"She said sure. Since she doesn't have to pick up anything for dinner now, she should be home in a half hour or so."

"Right in time for the pizza then."

Stacy beamed happily. If I was ten years younger, this girl would be in serious trouble. She was sexy, and seemed pretty bright. Definitely the kind of girl I used to date, back when I had a life.

Stacy pointed out the two other girls and introduced me, "This," she said indicating a girl with short brown hair, "is my sister Bree."

"Hello Bree."

"Hi," was all she said. She didn't exactly seem to like me very much. She didn't smile, didn't wave, and she was the one who had gasped when she saw me come out of the house.

"And this," Stacy said, pointing to the other girl, who was basically a younger clone of Stacy, "is Nicole. Nicole's our baby sister."

"I'm no baby, I'm almost fifteen!" she cried indignantly.

"Hello Nicole," I waved.

She smiled, coyly and said, "Hello Mr ... uh ... Keith."

"It's Meridian. Dr. Keith Meridian, but you gals can just call me Keith, OK?"

They all nodded, but Stacy said, "You're a doctor? You look pretty young to be a doctor."

I smiled, "Not a medical doctor. I've got a doctorate in Chemistry and Pharmacology. I do mostly research ... like finding new medicines and such."

"Ahh. Anything I'd know?" Stacy asked.

"Not really. I used to work in cancer research, trying to find a cure ... but I've got a new job now and it's not really very interesting."

"Oh," she said. "Too bad though. I'd rather work on something interesting than something boring."

I nodded. Amy had told me it was easier to tell people I was working on something uninteresting than to try to come up with a lie. They had one prepared if someone asked, but even the lie made me bored—and I like drug research.

Bree climbed out of the pool and wrapped herself in a towel before joining us on the patio. Luckily, the patio already had furniture which came with the house. She said, "Chemistry huh? I can't imagine anyone actually wanting to deal with chemistry every day."

"You don't like Chemistry?"

"Not really," Bree answered, "It's not hard, just a lot of memorization really. I guess I just don't find it interesting. I'm glad I'm done with it. This year I'll be taking Physics, and that sounds like more fun."

I nodded, "It can be. I really liked Physics in high school, but I hated it in college. It gets a lot harder."

"So why Chemistry and Pharmacology? You a drug fiend?" Bree snickered.

I laughed, "No. My mom died of cancer when I was in college. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life, but I did like Chemistry, so I kinda through myself into my studies. And actually, I really do like the research."

Bree and Stacy both nodded at my response. Nicole was still in the pool, but she was lying on a floating raft, lounging in the heat of the sun.

"So, you're going to be a ... senior then?" I asked Bree, fishing for an age. I already knew that Nicole was fourteen, nearly fifteen.

Bree nodded, "Yeah. I'll be a senior this year."

"Nicole's starting high school this year," Stacy added. "And I'll be a sophomore at the University."

"UH?" I asked.

Stacy nodded.

"That's where I'm doing my research. I'm not a professor or anything, just a visiting researcher."

"Cool. Maybe I'll see you around campus then."

"I doubt it. Like I said, I'm a work-a-holic. I rarely leave the lab for lunch or anything, so you'll probably see me around here more than there. Plus our building doesn't have any classrooms, it's all research labs and such, so there's no visitors or anything."

Stacy smiled, "Oh well. Maybe I'll be able to convince you to join me for some lunches though."

We chatted for another twenty-five minutes or so before I heard the doorbell ring and paid for the pizza. When I returned to the patio, the girl's mother was coming into my back yard from the side gate in the fence.

"Hello?" she called.

She looked a bit tired and run down, a sight I was familiar with from when I was a teenager and my own mother was a single-parent. She obviously worked hard to provide for her family, and it was taking a toll on her. She had blonde hair like two of her daughters, and basically looked like an older, blonder version of Nicole. She was wearing a women's business suit that really wasn't all that flattering to her figure, and her tired face did nothing to show how attractive she really was.

"Hello Miss ... uh ... Belkin? Right?" I said hesitantly.

"Actually, it's Donna McNeil. The girls all still have their father's last name, but I went back to my maiden name."

"Ahh ... sorry. I'm Dr. Keith Meridian," I held out my hand and she shook it.

"Doctor?"

"Not an MD. I do research in pharmacology."

"Ahh. So like, new cures for male pattern baldness and anti-aging creams?" she laughed.

"Oh no! Those would be much more interesting than what I work on," I laughed with her.

Stacy said, "He used to work on cancer drugs, but now his work is pretty boring."

I smiled at her, "Yeah. Pretty much."

Nicole noticed I didn't have any plates or cups for the soda, so she ended up running back to their house for picnic supplies. When she returned, the five of us sat around my patio table, ate pizza, and generally enjoyed each other's company.

I learned that their mother was Donna McNeil, she was divorced for three years, and she worked as a paralegal for a local ambulance chaser. She said her boss didn't practice the most honest form of law, but he was a nice guy and usually was just trying to help people out who got into accidents. According to Donna, her boss wasn't the kind of lawyer who advised clients to wear neck braces and complain to doctors about their pain, but instead went after clients who really were injured and usually had huge medical bills because of it.

That night, after the Belkin girls and their mother had left, I began reading all the materials Amy had sent home with me. I picked out two of the proposals that seemed perfect for a first round using human 'testers'. I didn't like using the term 'subject', because the ones we would be giving the drug to would in fact be the subjects. Those around them would be the ones being tested though.

I also read over the complex chemical analysis of 'Vulcan' and saw that it was an ingenious combination of hormonal triggers, an SSRI, and a mild stimulant. When I'd finished reading everything, I decided that tomorrow I would discuss the two proposals with my team, we'd decide together which one was best to proceed with, and then begin rounding up test subjects.

In the morning, I showered, shaved, and ate the last two pieces of leftover pizza. Where I thought I'd have several days worth of food, instead, the ravenous teenage girls from next door had nearly eaten it all.

Amy showed up promptly when she said she would, this time with her own car to drive us in to work. I decided to wear my suit, but would leave my suit jacket in my office for most of the day. I didn't have a lab coat, but I assumed there was probably one in the lab I could use until the rest of my belongings arrived.

I told Amy my plan for the day, and she said, "That sounds good—though we've already arranged for several test subjects and 'testers'. They'll just need to be called and a schedule made for testing. We might even be able to start today if enough of them have time after lunch. Most of them are local students, so finding a few that don't have class-schedule conflicts should be easy, especially since UH's fall semester hasn't started yet."

It almost sounded too good to me. I was worried about how I'd handle being in charge, but Amy sure was making my job easy. She seemed to anticipate my needs before even I did. Heck, when we arrived at the building, she showed me the code for the elevator, had a building ID pass for me, and even brought me a lab coat right as I was taking off my suit jacket in my office.