Page 2 of Convergence

“The pleasure is all mine,” Daisy giggled as she sat back down and looked at me with wide “Can You Believe It?” eyes.

“I'm Evangeline, Eva, Reid,” I introduced myself with a clearer voice than before and shook his hand. He gave a kind, closed-mouth smile and a nod as he shook my hand. He was quiet. I liked it.

“Now we are waiting on Mr. Nathaniel Gibson,” Professor Hoffmann informed us. “We'll give him another few minutes before we-”

“I'm here, sorry,” a guy said breathlessly as he practically ran into the conference room. He wasn't late by any means. In fact, he was two minutes early, but the receptionist must have told him he was the last to arrive. He came in with an outstretched hand to Professor Hoffmann, who shook it as cordially as with the rest of us. Nathaniel had brown hair with sun lightened streaks through it, though his was longer than Everett’s and had a curl at the ends. It gave him a skater vibe, like he would look at home in a beanie hat. His eyes were a deep green that looked almost black until seen up close while shaking his hand. He wore thick Ray-Ban glasses and was wearing cargo khaki shorts and a short black sleeve button-down shirt, buttoned all the way to the neck. Where Everett was muscled, Nathaniel was rounder. He was not overweight, but it looked like weightlifting was not part of his routine. He had a boy next door aesthetic to him.

We all introduced ourselves quickly and looked to the Professor for the next instruction.

“Alright, now that we are all here,” Professor Hoffmann began after clearing his throat. “Welcome to Truman College to the three newcomers.”

“Woo!” Daisy gave a little cheer. “Tru Tigers!”

“Yes, Miss Rossi, has been a student here before this semester and can show you around,” Professor Hoffmann said without giving more than a small smile at her cheer. He was more straight-laced than I thought.

“Truman College prides itself on its thriving scientific community and contributions to the field. I have selected you four for this new endeavor, as we have discussed in our interviews. Before we can continue, a non-disclosure agreement must be signed. After it is signed, we can continue our discussion on how your groundbreaking contributions to the scientific world will be compensated by financing your doctorate degrees and upon completion of the project each of you will earn your PhDs from Truman College,” Professor Hoffmann said and began handing out paperwork to us with fancy new black pens.

Daisy let out an excited squeal and quickly signed her paper without reading it. I, at least, looked it over. I'd never seen an NDA before.

The document was full of legal jargon, and a general idea of “Do not speak to anyone about this ever in a million years, and also do not take your work out of the lab.” Nothing about it was surprising for what I considered an NDA to be. I signed it carefully with my new pen and looked up. Nathaniel had already signed and was looking around at us with his openly friendly green eyes. Everett was the last to slowly sign the agreement, a stern look on his face. A small crease played between his eyebrows, and I wondered if he was concerned with the terms.

Professor Hoffmann gathered the forms and checked our signatures before giving us a flat smile. “Now we can begin.”

I quickly took my notepad out of the outer pocket of my overnight bag, leaving my ‌ plain Bic pen in the bag to use my fancy new pen from the school. This thing was legit. It wasn’t some metal-colored plastic pen; it felt heavy enough to be real metal with a gold plated pocket hook.

“Your roles in this project have partially been assigned to you based on your areas of study and experiences. You will work closely on this project, so your roles will probably fluctuate. Daisy, your role will not change, as you are not a scientist,” Professor Hoffmann said with a terse smile to Daisy before continuing. “There will be three major phases of the project. The first will cultivate a strong, antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The second phase will create a new treatment for it that will be effective in both humans and animals. This treatment might help model future treatments for other resistant bacteria. The third phase is studying the short-term effects of the treatment.” Professor Hoffmann paused for a breath, not allowing us space for discussion. “Your contributions to the scientific field would be held in the highest of regards, and you would earn your complete PhD diplomas at the completion of your project upon publication. This is a monumental project for Truman College, and we are deeply honored to have three promising young scientists in our midst.”

While he ended with another terse smile, I couldn’t help the unease that crept up my spine. Well, I had already signed the paperwork. I guess I could at least let him finish the meeting and I could think about it later. Shifting in my seat, I looked around at the others. Daisy appeared in awe of the project, Nathaniel had a look of apprehensive acceptance, and Everett was unreadable but still had the creased brow.

“Ms. Evangeline Reid, your superior work in your graduate program qualifies you to be the person overseeing the development of the bacteria. Mr. Everett Monroe, your experience and graduate work has you overseeing the bacteria’s effects on human and animal biology. Mr. Nathaniel Gibson, your knowledge and work qualifies you to oversee the development of the treatment for the bacteria. Ms. Daisy Rossi, you will be the one to compile the date for statistical analysis and publication,” Professor Hoffmann announced with what I could consider warmth in his voice as he looked at each of us.

“Sir, with all due respect, this is a huge undertaking. Creating a new antibiotic?” Everett said, glancing at me and Nathaniel. He also had a notepad open on the table and was turning the pen over in his long fingers in what appeared to be a nervous habit.

“Indeed, it is,” Professor Hoffmann confidently said. “And I have every faith you three will have the beginnings of some fantastic research at the end of this project.”

“If I might add,” Daisy spoke up in a soft, feminine voice. “If this bacteria is medicine resistant, then why are we messing with it? Like, why create it to begin with?”

“They will not be creating the bacteria in the sense that you are implying, Daisy,” Professor Hoffmann explained. “The bacteria already exist. We will cultivate it and allow it to grow so we can create the cure for it. In terms you may understand, respectfully.”

“Well, isn’t that, like, a little bit dangerous?” Daisy asked, her outgoing nature faltering for a moment.

“It is. Which is why there will be some rather intense safety measures going forward,” he explained and took a breath, as if this was exactly where he was going next with the orientation. “Because of the nature of this project, you three will have incredibly limited interaction with people outside of the experiment. Meaning, the three of you will live together in a college-owned home just off campus, commute to the research facility together, and will have no contact with other people outside of myself and Daisy on designated days based on the bacteria’s status. While I know this sounds daunting to not have access to girlfriends or boyfriends, parties, shopping, and family, but not only is public safety of the utmost importance during this project but so is the secrecy of the research.”

He took a moment to reach into the pocket of his navy-blue slacks and pulled out four credit cards. “These cards are a credit line sent up for the project for you to use for your food, clothing, toiletries, and other necessities as you see fit. We at Truman College know this will be an intense project with isolation from the world, and we want to help you feel as comfortable as possible. I have a handbook here with information about how to get food and other items delivered to your house, who to contact about home repairs if needed, who to contact about health concerns, and what to do if, God forbid, one of you gets sick.” Professor Hoffmann handed us the credit cards and the one-inch-thick handbooks. “This handbook outlines the safety procedures that will be followed in the research facility.”

I took a deep breath. It was a lot to take in. This research sounded more dangerous and difficult than I had expected. All the secrecy and isolation made sense, but accepting it as my job and life now was what I was struggling with.

“Do we get time to think about it?” Nathaniel spoke up.

Professor Hoffmann looked troubled by that question. “You may have until tomorrow afternoon to drop out of the program. Though I would have to ask for your credit card back, your tuition would not be paid, and you would need to sign a non-compete agreement and another non-disclosure agreement.”

“Our tuition is paid?” Nathaniel asked, hesitantly.

“Yes, your tuition and room and board in the college’s house, and a weekly stipend of $200,” Professor Hoffmann informed us.

Okay, well, that kind of changed things, didn’t it?

We went over some more basics about the college’s science department, the staff who work there, and some of the other projects going on in the school. Afterwards, Professor Hoffmann gave us the access cards to get into the research facility that was entirely ours for this project.

---