Chapter 1: Monday

“In a lot of ways, I consider myself a pretty average person. I run right down the middle of the standard distribution in nearly every category. The only thing that has ever made me exceptional in any way is my mind. There, I have been blessed, especially with my skill in science. I was driven to it for as long as I can remember, and I never dreamed I would end up doing something different than I am today. Back when I was taking home first place ribbons at almost every science fair, I knew I had found my calling. Eventually, I would receive my doctorate in genetics from MIT and land my dream job here at EveTech Genetics.

For the last 5 years, I have been working at EveTech Genetics with an emphasis on reproductive science and fertility. I have had many major wins and published well received reports that have continued to elevate the company. I have been passionate about this work since I started. I personally suffer from infertility. My husband and I have been unable to conceive for years. I understand the pain that women experience when they can’t have children. There is a feeling of incompleteness that can take hold. It can make a woman feel like she is something less than she ought to be. It can make her think that she is somehow less of a woman. I want to alleviate that pain from them. I want women to feel that they are a whole woman. This personal investment and my love for science is why I pour my heart and my soul into this work. That is why I know that with just a little more time, I will solve this puzzle. When I do, it’s going to change the world forever. That is why I insist that you renew funding for this project for another six months, sir.”

Emma sat in the bathroom stall quietly repeating this to herself as she read from the notecard she’d prepared a week ago. She always over-prepared for everything. As far as she was concerned, this is exactly what made her exceptional at her work. After two years in the making, her project was up for another assessment today. Evetech performed these assessments every 6 months to determine whether sufficient progress was being made on a given project before renewing the funding for another half year. Normally Emma didn’t worry about these assessments because she had always made large strides forward and had the impeccable documentation to prove it. Today’s assessment was different however. The last 6 months had been slow. While she felt she was just on the verge of a breakthrough, there was nothing concrete to show for it.

It was time to face the music. With a sigh Emma stood up from the stall and went to the mirror to make sure she looked okay for the meeting. Her red hair was a little frizzy, which was not an optimal combination. Her glasses were sitting slightly crooked on her face, and she suddenly worried that they were not a very flattering frame to begin with. As she examined herself, the stall next to the one she’d been sitting in opened, and Shannon, a tall and elegant woman, came to the sink next to her.

“Nervous for the assessment today, Emma?” she asked with a knowing grin as she removed a tube of lipstick to her purse and brought it to her lips. Shannon must have heard her whispering to herself in the stall. How embarrassing. Shannon worked in the executive suites as an accounts manager, and she likely already knew the outcome of Emma’s meeting today.

“A little, My project has been a pretty big success so far, I think. Things are just a little slow right now, but I feel I am on the verge of something big,” Emma said, admiring Shannon enviously. Shannon was so pretty and projected so much confidence. Everything seemed so easy for her. Emma watched closely as Shannon pulled her red lips together and flicked her long blond waves over her shoulder.

Shannon turned to Emma, “I know you’re not asking but If you want my advice, Emma, you should think about the way you present yourself here. A little effort can go a long way. This place is run by a bunch of Men. While they might be bright men, they are still very much men. They are highly susceptible to influence if you know what strings to pull and how. You don’t have bad features, Emma. Just work it, and I think you’ll find that the budget is more flexible than they say it is.” Shannon turned around and walked through the bathroom door, flashing Emma a patronizing wink and smile as she left.

Emma suddenly felt completely deflated. Whether or not it was Shannon’s intention, her minor worry about how she was presenting herself at this meeting had become much larger. Looking at her watch, she saw she only had minutes now. She quickly wet her hands and tried to flatten out the stray frizzes in her hair. She reached into her purse to see whether she had any makeup floating around from the rare occasion she used it but found nothing. Finally, she tried to get her glasses straightened. That was the least she felt she could do to be taken seriously.

She took a last look in the mirror. “You’re okay,” she thought to herself, “you may not have Shannon’s figure, her full lips, her petite nose, her bright blue eyes or blonde hair. OH GOD! Why am I doing this to myself? Ok. You don’t have that, but you have your brain. You are a brilliant scientist. That is why you were hired and that is why you will get this extension.” Emma closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and headed out of the bathroom and straight for her boss’s office.

Drawing together all of the confidence she could generate, Emma knocked firmly on the door. As she heard two sets of heavy footsteps approach the door, the confidence quickly escaped her. As the door swung open, she was taken aback when she saw Dr. Evan Pett exit with her manager, Dr. Brickman, in tow. She had never really seen him up close and in person before. Maybe a few times she’d seen him get on the elevator from way down the hall, but she’d never seen him from this close. Dr. Pett was a legend in genetics. He had founded the company 10 years ago when he was only 29. He must have published hundreds of peer reviewed papers and made dozens of huge breakthroughs in the field. Emma was stunned by what a youthful and healthy appearance he had. How did this man manage to have it all?

“Can I help you with something?” Dr. Pett asked, turning from his conversation with Dr. Brickman and looking Emma directly in the eyes.

Emma’s face went white. She hadn’t realized she’d been starting at him. “No. No, Sorry Dr. Pett. I just. I am just a huge fan of yours ... Your work. I’ve read so many of your papers. I just came ... I came to EveTech because I wanted to be under you ... Work under you. Sorry. I am just nervous. You’re huge ... In terms of what inspired my work. Sorry”

Dr. Pett smiled. “Happy to have made such an impact. Dr. Evan Pett, and you are?” he asked, offering his hand to her as she felt him study her closely.

“Emma. Sorry. Dr. Emma Rose,” she replied.

“Oh, you are Dr. Rose? I suppose I should let you and Dr. Brickman get to your assessment then. And Emma, don’t worry. No matter what happens, we will always have something important for you to do here,” He said with a wink before turning to walk away.

Emma watched him as he left. She couldn’t believe she had finally met him and acted so foolish. Once again, she was interrupted from the thoughts she’d lost herself in.

“Ok Emma, let’s get this over with. It shouldn’t take long,” Dr. Brickman’s voice came, jolting her to attention. As she turned to face him, he gestured to the door.

Emma walked past Dr. Brickman and took a seat on one of the chairs facing his desk. She had always been intimidated by him. He was about 6 foot with broad masculine features and was twenty years her senior. He wore a short beard with dashes of gray throughout it. If his appearance hadn’t been enough to scare her, his demeanor would have. Dr. Brickman always seemed distracted. She would almost never feel as if she had his full attention. In the rare moments that he zeroed in on her, it was usually to grumble about something or bark an order. As he sat down across from her, Emma offered him a sheepish smile.

“So, Emily,” he began in his low gravelly tone as he lifted her file and performatively paged through it, “I am just going to cut straight to the chase here. We really respect the work you have been doing at this company. You have been a great tech and this project has shown a lot of promise over the years. However, we are going to have to suspend funding for development on your fertility project at this time. It’s purely for budgetary reasons. That isn’t to say that we can’t talk about picking this back up in another six months to a year. Right now, however, it just isn’t viable. Do you have any questions for me?” he asked looking down at the report he held in hands, not having raised his eyes to her once since they sat.

Emma started to tear up. She had worried that it would be a challenge to persuade them to continue the project, but she expected to at least have the chance to try. She sat in silence for a moment before pulling herself together enough to let out a shaky, “No, sir.”

“Good,” he replied, tapping the papers to his desk to straighten them and then finally looking up at her, “Well it’s twenty after four now. Why don’t you pack up for the day and we can discuss your new assignment tomorrow after you write your project wrap-up. Take care Emily, enjoy your night.” His attention immediately shifted to his computer monitor as he finished speaking.

Emma stood up and left the office as quick as she could, heading straight towards her work station to pack her belongings before anyone could see her looking teary eyed. As she grabbed her bag and jacket, she stood over the file containing all of the documentation of her research that she had prepared yesterday for the meeting. Next to the file sat a case used to carry samples around the lab with a label reading, “For Emma.” They must have just been returned from her team while she was away from her desk. Emma took a moment to consider the position she found herself in. She had worked on this project for years. It was going to be her life’s work. She was going to change so many lives with this. Emma decided she had a responsibility to keep the project alive. She took a look around to make sure no one was looking, grabbed the vial from the case and her research file, put them in her bag, and made her way towards the door. Just as she was about to exit the building she heard a voice calling.

“Dr. Rose?” the young woman’s voice rang from behind her.

Emma turned around, “Yes, Alyssa, What do you need? I was just on my way out,” she said trying to present herself with as much composure as possible.

“Oh. No it’s okay. It can wait until tomorrow.Have a good night,” Allysa, one of Emma’s research assistants, replied with an air of sweetness and concern in her voice.

Emma nodded, “tomorrow then,” and made her way out the door and over to her train.

Somehow, whenever she left work and no matter where she sat, Emma would find herself sitting across from the same overly affectionate couple on the train. The two looked to be in about their mid twenties, but they still seemed the have the sex-drive of a couple of teen that had just fallen love. Emma was always put off by their somehow unavoidable presence on her commutes home. She would usually try to read or collect her thoughts about the day’s research, but they made it impossible to focus. All she would hear was the sounds of their lips smacking, his whispers to her, and her giggles and slaps to his leg. She put up with it every single day, but today she couldn’t take it.

She leaned forward, “Hey. Excuse me. Could you two knock it off for a minute? Some people here are trying to relax after work,” she could feel the tears welling up again, “not everyone wants to see you two going at,” She didn’t like conflict and as soon as she opened her mouth to complain she felt silly and embarrassed.

The guy whispered something to his girlfriend, who laughed loudly. Whatever he said, Emma knew it was at her expense. Slowly, and with a mocking exaggeration of a seductive walk, he approached and sat down next to her. “What’s the matter, babygirl? Are you jealous?” he teased.

“John, stop,” his girlfriend called out, with a now quieter laugh.

“You know, Lucy and I are pretty open. We could always use a third. You aren’t our regular type, but something tells me you have a freak in you. We just need to find her,” he continued. Emma put her face in her hands and turned away from him in her seat. She was crying again and now felt more embarrassed than ever.

“Look what you did you did you idiot. John, you aren’t funny. Leave her alone and come back over here, baby,” his girlfriend called again. This time her laugh was almost entirely under control.

Emma was mortified. Why had she brought attention to herself? She hated attention, especially when it was something so crass as this. Thankfully, her stop was up next and she would not have to deal with it any longer. She jumped from her seat and walked to the door to wait. As she stood with her back to the couple she could still hear whispering and giggling behind her. She just couldn’t wait to get home, vent to her husband over dinner, and maybe go over her research before bed. More than anything she was ready for this day to be over with.

Emma opened the door to her apartment and went straight to her office to unload her report and the vial at her home station. When she removed the vial from her bag, she noticed something strange about it. All of the other solutions in this trial had always been a faint translucent yellow, but this one had taken on a deep almost opaque pink color. Emma was confused and immediately opened her drawer to pull out her glass microscope slides. She opened the vial, took an eye dropper, and carefully placed a drop on the slide. Just as she was placing the top piece on the slide, she heard her phone ringing in the other room. Surprised, she pinched the glass, breaking the slide and cutting the tip of her finger.

Emma panicked. She rushed out of her office and straight for the kitchen sink. She looked down to her finger expecting to see the pink solution on the tip, but there was no sign of it. She washed her hands and ran over to the phone to catch it before it stopped ringing.

“Hello? ... Hello?”

Nothing. The number was blocked so she couldn’t call back. It had probably just been a wrong number, Emma figured. Emma started making her way towards the bathroom medicine cabinet to grab a bandage for her finger, but as she walked she was overcome by a sudden and intense dizziness. She started to fall and braced against the kitchen counter for support. She could barely hold herself up. Slowly and while leaning against the wall, she made her way to the bathroom and sat down against the edge of the tub.

As she sat, the dizziness increased. The room was spinning. She felt like she’d just been on a week long bender that was coming to a head in a single moment. A warm tingling sensation started to move across her body. A piercing and painful heat took hold on her lips. Nervously, she brought her hand up to touch them and noticed they felt swollen and sensitive to the touch. That same painful heat started moving through her breasts before spreading like a wave across her. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She knew this must be a reaction to the chemical on her skin and started to panic.

She had left her phone in the other room and felt too weak to stand.”This is it,” she thought, “this is how I die. I die on the worst day of my life after making a stupid mistake with stolen chemicals. I die on the day that I made a fool of myself in front of my idol. I die on the day that I embarrassed myself in front of that horrible couple on the train.” She leaned her head back, preparing to make peace with her fate. Maybe this was exactly what she deserved. How could she have acted so stupidly today? How could someone as bright as her be so socially clueless? Suddenly, as Emma was the dizziness stopped. The pain, the heat. Everything had passed. She was okay.

“Oh, thank God,” she thought with her head still back over the edge of the tub, Emma brought her hand to her lips again. They were still swollen but they didn’t hurt. The feeling of her fingers against them actually felt good. She stood herself up carefully in case the dizziness set in again and walked slowly toward the mirror. Her vision had become blurry and she could barely see a thing as she fumbled her way.