I Dated a Mad Scientist by Viola Grace
Chapter One
Arcady finished her shift at the soup kitchen, nodded to the regulars, and hung up her apron. She washed her hands for the third time and dried them.
Thomas looked at her. “Are you nervous?”
“No. Not really. I know that I can be an asset to them, just as I am here.”
He laughed. “Then, go to Z-Tech and get to your interview. You have me sold; now go work with them.”
“For them. I will be working for them.”
“You won’t be doing shit unless you leave; now go!” Thomas flicked the tea towel at her.
Arcady headed to the public transport and was down in the tube, rocking slightly when she had a compulsion to pick up items on the way to the interview.
She got off a stop early and picked up eight coffees and an herbal tea. All the cream and sugar were on the side. She checked the time and scuttled along. She checked in at the security desk and headed up to the boardroom to run the panel interviews.
The receptionist took her name and looked at the coffee wistfully. Arcady blinked. “Oh. Right. These are for you. Where can I put them?”
The receptionist said, “How many did you get?”
“Eight and one herbal tea. Sugar and cream on the side.”
“Oh, my god. You are an angel. Come this way.” The receptionist got up, and they walked into the breakroom where a woman with dark hair and a blue man with horns that took up a lot of his skull were standing in conversation.
Arcady set the trays on the table, and she handed the tea to the blue man. She smiled at the receptionist and said, “I will just wait in the reception area.”
The woman with the dark hair paused. “You are our interview?”
The blue man sipped the tea, and his brows raised in surprise. “How did you know?”
She shrugged. “It is my job to know, isn’t it? Well, not yet.” She nodded and went to sit out of the way in the reception area. She waited for three minutes, and the dark-haired woman came by and said, “Come with me.”
Arcady got up and walked after her into a boardroom where a table was prepped for the interviews, and the blue man sat with a tablet open, and the dark-haired woman paused and introduced herself. “My name is Zera, and I own Z-Tech. I will be your boss’s boss’s boss if you get hired.”
“Pleased to meet you. My name is Arcady.”
The blue man sipped at his tea and raised his heavily horned head. “Researcher Krizt.”
She nodded. “Pleased to meet you, Researcher Krizt.”
He smiled slightly. “There is a point.”
Zera chuckled. “Everyone else has skipped half of his name.”
“Ah. Well, if you introduce yourself that way, that is how you want to be addressed.”
He nodded. “Interesting. Be seated.”
She sat.
Zera asked her questions about how she handled stress. Researcher Krizt asked her how well she took direction.
“Fairly well. I can’t give specifics unless I have specifics.”
He nodded. “Good answer. I might need you to enter a research space or project and be my hands. You have to follow directions precisely. As you can see, there are some protective pieces of equipment I can’t fit into.”
“Oh, of course. Yes, that will be fine, but you can’t stop giving the direction until the project is complete.”
He quirked his lips. “Why is that?”
“Because if I am acting as your hands, I have to let my mind go blank. My problem-solving will be put into neutral so that I don’t interfere with the desired result.”
“Have you done that sort of thing before?”
“Yes, when my brother burned his hand and I had to cook at the shelter. He would give me precise instructions, but as soon as he stopped talking, I just stood there, and the food nearly burned. So, I know that I will only be a set of hands until I am done.”
Zera nodded, and Researcher Krizt nodded.
He asked, “Would you be willing to try right now?”
“Um, of course.”
He nodded and stood. “Come this way.”
He left the way they had come, and he walked down to the lift and entered it; she followed behind at a respectful distance. When he got into the lift, she waited until they turned before stepping in and to the side. Zera stepped in just as the doors closed.
They descended into a subterranean lab, and he swiped a key card and then keyed in an override. “This way.”
He walked at an easy clip, swiped again and again at a few locks. Nobody talked. Arcady walked at a safe distance, and they were soon in the research lab.
“So, you have lab experience?”
“I do. Show me once, supervise me once, and I have it.”
“Good. Put on this suit.” He pointed to a hazmat suit with negative pressure.
She nodded and stepped out of her shoes before stepping into the suit. She had to pause to yank her pencil skirt up and put on the nitrile gloves, and then, she flipped the hood and sealed the suit. She pressurized the suit, and he nodded. “Good technique. Now, walk in there and clean up. A tech spilled some benign projects but refused to go back in. I will give you specific orders if an item requires it.”
“Yes, Researcher Krizt.” She detached her umbilical and walked through the doors that he opened for her. Arcady went through the airlock and was decontaminated before she entered the lab. There was a mess of broken glass and spilled substances. After hooking herself up to the air supply, she got a cleaning kit and went to work. She cleaned up the large glass and put it in the incinerator chamber, then got some dampened blotters and absorbed the substances, more stuff to incinerate. She was careful, precise, and when the spill was taken care of, she started to hear instructions, and she took the vials in the vent area and closed them, one by one. They were put back in a rack, stowed in a freezer, and the lab was clean and ready for an automated clean.
“Please proceed to decontamination.”
She left the lab, checked one more time, went and closed an open cupboard, and then went out into the airlock. The decontamination blast nearly knocked her over, and she lifted her arms above her head and turned to make sure she was covered. She stepped out when the door opened, and Zera was grinning. Researcher Krizt looked at the monitor, and a slight smile crossed his lips. “Report to human resources. You can start immediately.”
“I can?”
“Be back down here in an hour after you have gotten your provisional security card.”
Zera laughed. “I will take you. Come on.”
“So, I am hired? Just like that?”
Zera nodded. “Just like that.”
“Why?”
“You closed the cupboard. He could deal with the broken experiments, but the open cupboard was driving him nuts. The fact that you did what he needed without him saying anything was huge.”
“Oh.” She opened the suit and stepped out of it, wiggling her skirt down to below her knees. It was a little wrinkled but otherwise fine.
She looked up to see a strange expression on Researcher Krizt’s face as he stared at her thighs. “I will start wearing slacks.”
He frowned. “Not necessary. Perhaps a skirt which is not so snug.”
Zera snorted and took her arm when the suit was on the wall. “The clock is ticking. He wasn’t kidding about you being back in an hour.”
They headed up to the tenth floor, and Zera swept her into the human resources office. “This is Researcher Krizt’s new assistant. He has authorized it himself.”
The HR lady typed, and her mouth hung open. “Yes, he has. He has also authorized her pay scale. You are going to have to sign off on this.”
Zera came around the desk and looked at the number. She barked a laugh and nodded ruefully. “Drop it by twenty thousand, and she can have it if she lasts six months.”
Arcady’s eyes were wide open when she heard about the drop of twenty thousand, but when the HR lady turned the screen, she swayed. “Is that serious?”
“Of course. It is coming out of his budget, so it is very serious.” Zera grinned. “What do you think you will do with it?”
“Not a clue, but I might get a skirt with a bit more fabric.”
Zera laughed. “For all you know, that is what got you the extra zero. You are going to be working with the hardest task master we have at Z-Tech. If you can keep him productive, you will receive performance bonuses.”
“So, bonuses on how well he does?”
“Yup. All you have to do is keep him productive.”
The HR lady grinned and said, “Let’s do the biometrics and get your codes selected. That is the rough part. Krizt hates it when folks have to refer to documents for passcodes.”
She went through the scans and registered all parts of her, including a blood sample. The code was eleven digits long, and she wrote the code on two slips of paper. One went into her bra and the other into her shoe. She used her personal shorthand and put marks on her fingertips that would help her remember it. The lanyard she got went around her neck, and then, Zera was leading her back down to the labs. The first test was the elevator, where she used her credentials and then the code.
Zera grinned. “Well done. The code is an override in case you have someone without credentials with you. You also need to do it at your first scanning station.”
“Right, and if you mess up in an elevator, you just have to wait and ride up and down until someone comes to get you.”
“Yeah, or we gas you, and you will become one of Krizt’s experiments.”
“You are joking, right?”
Zera smiled. “Am I?”
Arcady blinked and stood as they descended.
“Once you do your six-month trial, let me know, and I will interview you for an in-house project.”
“A what?”
“You are an active?”
“Yeah. Boring and discrete, but yes.”
“Good. Come to me in six months.”
Zera escorted her to the lab and handed her over. “She’s all yours, Researcher Krizt. Take care of this one. We want to keep her in one piece.”
He snorted, and he gestured to a desk covered with documentation, tablets, and vials strapped to courier packs. “That is your desk. When you have cleared it, let me know.”
She nodded, “Yes, Researcher Krizt. I will let you know.”
She looked at the documents, flicked her lanyard over her shoulder, checked the time, and went to work.
It took her two days to clear the desk, and everything was filed, mailed, or couriered to other facilities, supplies had been ordered, and an inventory was scheduled.
She had found his main com and plugged it back in as she started to answer his un-secured calls. She took notes and messages for him, and then, she went to find him.
He was bent over a microscope and checking his visual findings with what the computer imaging was showing.
She spoke softly, “Researcher Krizt, I have a series of messages that were not time-sensitive but need to be addressed.”
He nodded. “Read them to me and then send a reply.”
She stood and took notes as she went through the requests for copies of monographs that he had written, requests for him to speak at schools or colleges, and a call from his mother.
He gave her a dark look through his solid black eyes. “You are giving me a message from my mother?”
“Well, your father called as well, but he said to call your mother, so it was an economy of effort.”
He sighed. “Tell them I will attend the holiday celebrations and then find out what I need to bring and get it for me.” He looked back into the microscope. “And then remind me when the event is approaching.”
She nodded. “Yes, Researcher Krizt.”
Her com vibrate, and she asked, “Do you need anything else tonight?”
He shook his head. “If I do, you will probably know before I do.”
She nodded. “Okay, I will return these messages, and then, I am done for the night unless you need me.”
“I will not need you.”
Arcady nodded. “Right. Well, then, good night.”
He flicked his long fingers, and she left.
Arcady was still stuck at her desk two hours later, laughing until her eyes teared as Sophie and Melvil were telling her stories about Krizt before he activated at thirteen.
She was laughing, and suddenly, the faces of the two older members of his family stilled in concern, and Arcady grimaced. “Good evening, Researcher Krizt.”
“I thought you were leaving, Arcady.”
“I said I would return the calls first, and your mother was the last call.” She inclined her head toward his parents. “I wish you a good night.”
They both grinned and waved. “Bye, Arcady.”
Krizt spun her chair around and loomed over her. His fangs were markedly visible. “As you are here, you can watch me have dinner.”
She blinked. “Dinner?”
“My activation requires blood to function. My dinner is being delivered.”
She blinked, and then, she heard the chime. She got up and went to answer the door.
A middle-aged woman stood there and smiled. “Oh, you must be the new assistant. You weren’t here yesterday. I am from the blood bank.”
“Oh. Right. Please, come this way.” She smiled pleasantly and brought the woman to the sitting area outside the lab where Researcher Krizt was waiting.
The woman greeted Krizt, he indicated that he would take from her arm, and the woman flicked an understanding glance toward Arcady.
She rolled up her blouse sleeve and extended her arm toward him. They sat, he bit, and Arcady watched it all as he got what he needed from her. It took about five minutes, and he lifted his head, licking his lips, and in a second, he looked like nothing had ever happened. The woman’s arm sealed and healed in seconds.
Krizt nodded and looked to Arcady. “See her out.”
Arcady got some moist towelettes from one of the cupboards and blotted away the blood left behind. The woman smiled. “Thank you. I am Molly, by the way.”
“I haven’t seen many regens around. You must be in demand.”
Molly fixed her cuff, and Arcady got rid of the cleaning wipes. “I am, but Krizt is always precise without any stupid shenanigans, so he is one of my favourite clients.”
They headed for the lift and headed up to ground level.
“So, you are his assistant?”
“Um, yes. I have been on the job for two days, and so far, I have only spoken to him three times. Maybe four.”
“I just do what you saw, and I have been feeding him for three years. I think you and he will work well together. If I ever get a call to cancel service, I won’t feel bad about it.” Molly smiled brightly.
“So, he drinks every night?”
“Yeah. On the weekends, I still come here. He works weekends and doesn’t sleep much.”
“Nothing is going to happen between us. Our connection is strictly professional.”
Molly nodded. “For now. Let me know if that ever changes.”
Arcady blushed and walked Molly out past security. She waved and then returned to the lift and headed to the lab. Time to finish up and go home for the night.
