Chapter 11

“Arsenic?” Eitan screamed. “What in God’s name possessed you to put arsenic in my eggs?”

Akemi looked amused. “You should read more Sherlock Holmes, dear brother. He has a fascinating case of man who shared eggs with a woman killing her and leaving himself unharmed. He built up a tolerance to arsenic by ingesting minute quantities of it over time.”

“You gave me a fatal dose!” Eitan wanted to leap across the table and grasp her neck in both hands.

“Pfaw, the good doctor would say,” Akemi said. “The case demonstrates that the body has the potential to overcome arsenic. Your body needs the practice.”

“You are insane,” Eitan said.

“No, I’m proactive,” Akemi said. “Your roommate got mono, and you did not. Your two-minute girlfriend got strep, and you did not. No allergies reported. You’re juggling the biohazards well, but you have not exposed yourself to the poisons yet.”

“Warn me next time,” Eitan said, wondering what revenge would look like. He stood up and swung his backpack over his shoulder. As they stepped out of the V.I.P. lounge he asked, “How did you swing business class seats?”

“Airline consortium wanted some consultation work on improving the waiting and the boarding experience at airports,” Akemi said. “My negotiated fee included a certain number of business class seats per year.”

“Did you solve their problem?” Eitan asked, as they walked down the corridor with gates on either side.

Akemi shrugged. “Logistics remain relatively static. The best solution was to train personnel to be a bit more personable. When schedules screw up, that little bit of goodwill becomes the target of all the building anger in customers, moving the target away from corporate. Gate agents are a dime-a-dozen, easily replaced. Corporate skates past the crisis.”

“You are evil,” Eitan said.

“I am the clear-eyed realist,” she said, placing her hand over her heart. “They could have accepted or rejected my recommendation. The fact they chose to accept puts the judgment upon their shoulders. Now, shut up and enjoy the perks that I have rightly earned.”

Eitan did enjoy the flight from New York to Seattle. He was comfortably pampered and feted, leaving the plane rested and ready to go. Foundation security met them on the other side of the aiport barrier.

Other than exchanging pleasantries, the security team had little to say. They were more cautious than Eitan remembered, taking time to examine their surroundings, making a concerted effort to confirm that no vehicle was following them. Eitan could see that Akemi had noticed the uptick in engagement as well, falling into silence instead of her usual chatter.

Once inside the village gates, the security team visibly relaxed until they drove into the village centre. A line of SUV’s with the Hobart logo on the doors caused the driver to jerk his vehicle onto a side road, which led them past the original houses of the development. Once they were out of sight of the research facility, they sped to the house.

The SUV was unable to pull all the way into the driveway because of the moving truck that was parked in front of the garage. A pile of furniture wrapped in moving blankets cluttered the walkway up to the porch. Akemi and Eitan moved to the side as two men struggled with a cupboard from the dining room set as they navigated the steps. They watched until the two men made it past them.

“Are we taking these stupid coffee mugs from your sister with us?” Joseph called out from the kitchen.

“Only if you don’t want to be neutered,” Akemi called out.

“Akemi, you’re home!” Joseph shouted. Then something in the kitchen broke. “Oops.”

Nikki came running out of the back of the house shouting their names. Her hair was wrapped in a kerchief and she was covered in dust. She insisted on hugging and kissing them and hugging them again.

Sten wandered in and gave them both baleful looks. He looked as if he was suffering amid the tumult. “You’ve got a couple of boxes each to pack,” he said. “Or you can just toss it all in the garbage bags – it’s easier.”

After four hours of concerted effort, the last box was shoved into a hole under the chairs. The workers pulled down the rear door and drove away. The five looked at each other until Nikki said, “There are two six packs of pale ale in the fridge. Anybody?”

They leaned against the counters and appliances in the kitchen as they sipped from their bottles and caught up on the last bits of gossip. Joseph had surrendered his badge and passwords yesterday. His boss and his boss’s boss from the main campus were inventorying his work for the next researcher.

“They never signed on for the fecal implantation,” Eitan asked. “It was the easiest series of them all for me.”

“Shit sells,” Joseph said, “but someone else’s shit, not so much. The procedure should be done outpatient at a surgical clinic, which is too expensive for this set of executives.”

Eitan’s phone rang. “Hi, Sammi, it’s been a long time. How are you? Uh huh. Yeah, we just finished and the truck left. I think I can come by. Let me ask.” He looked up and his parents nodded ‘yes’, Akemi stuck two fingers in her throat pretending to gag, and Sten pinched his nose with a face of disgust. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll swing by your house.”

After a quick shower and change of clothes, Eitan felt presentable again. Joseph dropped him off in the center of town before running over to the market. Eitan walked the few blocks to Sammi’s house and knocked on the door. Her mother answered the door with a stern face, inviting him in. Stepping past the foyer, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Before he could turn to look, he felt a prick on his neck, and Eitan’s world went black.

Eitan did not know how much time had passed when his consciousness resurfaced. His limbs still felt remote, but he was awake enough to pay attention again. He heard murmuring. Straining his ears, he listened as the murmuring evolved into muffled voices, speaking at a normal volume from the other side of a door. He could not decipher any words clearly though.