1
I now know that I shouldn’t have done this to begin with, but I’m in too deep now and don’t have a choice other than finishing it. I’m staring into the barrel of a loaded gun just waiting to be fired. From above the gun, Dr. Geiger’s eyes are looking at me, and I know I’m about to die, but I still have a sliver of hope left.
It all began yesterday, as I was making my way throughout the courtyard in the middle of the science building of BSA, the secret government complex for which I work, I started hearing excited whispering around me, and I decided to ask one of my colleagues, who was chatting with two others, why everyone was so excited.
“Oh, didn’t you hear?” she told me, “Dr. Geiger is back from his expedition. Some say he discovered ‘The Serum’ and brought it back.” She air-quoted the last two words, and the term immediately became a proper noun in my mind.
“You mean he found God’s—”
“Don’t say that name aloud!” she chastised me. “Remember, it’s ‘The Serum’, and yes, that’s what they’re saying, but we don’t know for sure yet.”
Now, I should explain. “The Serum” is a code name we have for an exotic flower that could be found in the past and was reportedly used by ancient civilizations in the East. It’s said to have a component that enhances brain function exponentially and stimulates the left side of the brain, which allows you to be more creative and generate ideas and solutions in a matter of seconds. That’s why it was also dubbed “God’s Mind”. We had some records that proved it existed, but we’d believed that it had gone extinct until two months before, when a small subdivision of our team located in Senegal found what appeared to be small particles of dust that were believed to make up about 15% of the flower’s structure.
That’s why he’d been gone, he’d been searching for the flower under the pretext of uncovering ancient tombs and all that. Mr. Geiger is a highly respected archaeologist, so he can get away with that pretext. The Archaeological Division of our organization approved this cover-up without batting an eye.
I got into my own lab. I’m a microbiologist, and had been working on developing an antidote for snake venom. Not as exciting as Dr. Geiger’s job, but pretty important, if I may say so myself. I wasn’t able to focus that day, however, because my mind kept wandering back to “The Serum” and Dr. Geiger’s return. He’d announced a speech with everyone in the main auditorium which would end in a Q&A session for us to ask all the questions we had, but it was at noon, and the hours seemed to drag longer and longer with each passing second.
When the clock finally struck twelve, we made our way to the auditorium. All of us were chattering animatedly, wondering what Dr. Geiger would tell us about his journey, what he’d found about the flower, and all the important scientific advances he was planning with it. We poured into the seating section of the auditorium and took our seats. The excitement was palpable, and the silence that ensued was charged with expectations and hopes as I’d never seen before.
When Dr. Geiger finally appeared in front of the red velvet curtain covering the back of the stage, we positively lost our minds. We applauded, whistled, screamed, and yelled our praise for the revolutionary genius in front of us, and he responded with a good-natured smile that lit his blue eyes and waited for us to settle down.
“Thank you so much,” he said finally. “It’s a great honor to be back in the place that has seen me grow for so many years before the groundbreaking discoveries I’ve fronted for the last few years. I’m grateful for my colleagues, who support me and drenched me in their warm applause and words of appreciation today, and I’m grateful with my superiors, who believed in me from day one and helped me achieved what I have until now. And now, let us stop with these formalities and proceed, without further ado, to present my findings.
“First of all, ‘The Serum’. I want to put all your speculations to rest and tell you that we indeed found traces of fine dust particles in Senegal. We found lots of it buried in a mountain close to where most of our research pinpoints the use of the flower in ancient times. We, however, didn’t find the flower itself. It seems to be that the flower is, as we believed, extinct. It is a sad turn of events for us, as it is to you, but—”
I tuned the rest of the speech out. Extinct? Just like that? So, no more expeditions or investigations on the plant whose existence he just confirmed? That was certainly odd. What led him to state that as a fact and not as a hypothesis? I didn’t know if it was just me, but it struck me a bizarre, that kind of thinking from a scientist.
The meeting progressed and it was finally time for the Q&A. I wasn’t going to ask anything, but then decided to take a chance and raise my hand. Dr. Geiger spotted it and pointed at me with a pen he was holding.
“Yes, Dr…”
“Ferreiro. Thank you, Dr. Geiger. Just a small question, really. Why are you so quick to dismiss the flower as extinct after a two-month expedition? What makes you so sure?”
Dr. Geiger stroke his beard. Then he said, “The fact of the matter is that, as you know, Dr. Ferreiro, you cannot prove a negative. You can, however, prove that there’s overwhelming evidence that points to ‘The Serum’ being extinct. If there’s traces of its particles in one place, but the flower is nowhere to be seen, then what does that mean?” He looked condescendingly at me and gave me a slight nod. Then he addressed the whole audience again. “Next question.”
I didn’t argue, but even though the answer seemed scientific enough, something was still bothering me. I didn’t know what, but I knew it was fishy. Looking back now, I can think that was the moment I decided to spy on Dr. Geiger.
After my next day’s shift, I drove my car over to the far side parking lot and waited for seven o’clock. I put on thread gloves and a balaclava and entered the archaeology building. The lobby was completely deserted, and in the main hall the only light came from the third door to the left. I had to make my way to the third floor, where Dr. Geiger’s office was located, so I took the elevator. I emerged and noticed that the grate covering the air ducts was partially unscrewed. I rattled it a little and was able to open a big enough gap to wiggle through.
I crawled through the duct in the direction of Dr. Geiger’s office using my best judgment. I finally stopped on top of another grate that opened to an office, and I thought I was in the right place. Maybe it was sheer luck, maybe my sense of orientation, but I was in the right place. I peeked between the slits and saw a low pulsating yellowish light coming from a corner of the room. I decided to take a closer look and kicked the vent. It gave in, and after a couple of other kicks, it was completely off. I jumped down and approached the light. I gasped. It was an unbelievably beautiful purple and yellow flower. Next to it, a small vial of a silvery-yellow substance. He must have extracted the flower’s powers into a literal serum. I knew he’d been acting weird the day before. And now I had all the proof I needed. I tool both the flower and the vial and took them with me. I exited the air duct and the building, and finally was able to breathe normally when I got in my car and took off my mask. I drove home.
I went to sleep, anticipating the praise I’d receive from my colleagues the next day, and how the applause would be directed at me this time. I was dreaming of pleasant flowers and serums when a strong arm grabbed me by the collar and flung me to the ground.
“You thought I wasn’t going to realize until tomorrow, you meddling shit? Well, surprise.”
The bright yellow eyes—yellow?—and salt-and-pepper beard of Dr. Geiger greeted me in my state of sudden awareness. “Wha—” I stammered.
“Don’t start with nonsense. You know what!” He grabbed my arms and dragged me to the living room, where he bound my arms and legs and forced me to sit on the floor. I caught a glimpse of the flower and vial in my bedroom, my heart sinking when I noticed that the vial was two thirds empty. He’d drunk the serum.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I’m gonna kill you, of course. I already had a neat little story prepared for this situation. I’ll tell them I was hiding The Serum from them because one of the people who went with me drank a concoction made from the flower, and it drove him batshit crazy. I brought the flower back with me just to showcase it, but decided it was still too risky, so hid it. You saw through my bluff and stole the flower for yourself, because we know how bad your projects are going.” He made a whiny face that I’d have gladly slapped if not for my bonds. “I’ll tell them I came here as fast as I could to warn you, but you had already drunk the concoction. I tried to restrain you, hence the marks on your arms and legs, but it was too late. You grabbed a gun and shot yourself in the head. It won’t matter that they take the flower away from me, because I have gallons and gallons of the serum already. Amazing how much you can get from a single flower, huh?”
I spat on his cheek. “You’re disgusting! They won’t believe you.”
“No? Whom do you think they will believe? Lowly Dr. Ferreiro or archaeologist star Dr. Geiger. Pfft. Please, Doctor, do the math.” He put his hand in his back pocket and retrieved his gun. He pointed it at me.
And that’s where you joined me. Pretty hopeless huh? I’m about to die and there’s nothing I can do. Dr. Geiger is pointing his gun at me and checking his watch.
“One minute to midnight. You know what? I’m a sucker for symbolism. I’ll kill you in a minute, just as the clock strikes twelve.”
A minute. Maybe that’s all I’ll need. I have to think of something, quick. I—
“You know what? Why should I kill you with a gun with so many possibilities? I could strangle you with the ropes on your hands. Wouldn’t that be fun? Or—or maybe, I could crash my car into the living room and kill you with it. Or put a hose in its exhaust pipe and watch you suffocate from the window. Maybe even something more gory, like a chainsaw…” He begins gesticulating with the hand holding the gun, pointing every which way. “What about bashing your brains in with a hammer? Ha-ha-ha! Delicious!”
I look up and met his eyes. They are bloodshot and as yellow as ever. It looks like The Serum is actually dangerous, only he didn’t know. Maybe it is the dose, though. Meanwhile, he is still going, but the gun is no longer pointed at me.
“I can waterboard you, or set you on fire. That would smell like a barbeque! Or I can buy fireworks and shoot them with you tied to them. That would be nice! AAAARRRGHH, so many options! I can’t take it!”
I need him to do something stupid before his watch strikes midnight and he remembers to shoot me. I steal a glance. Fifteen seconds to midnight. Fourteen. Thirteen. Twelve. He is still babbling.
“What about removing your fingernails one by one and then slitting your throat with them?” Five minutes, four minutes. I’m doomed. I close my eyes, waiting for the church bells. But then it happens: Dr. Geiger screams, “This is too much!” and a single shot echoes in the room. I open my eyes and see the smoking gun next to my feet and Dr. Geiger lying on the ground, blood gushing from his temple.
I call the police and they come in minutes. Thankfully I was bound and didn’t touch the gun, because I’d look pretty suspicious otherwise.
I’m received as a hero the next day as I carry the flower and the vial into the complex. Everyone claps and thanks me for my service. I hand the flower to the Archaeology Division’s director and tell him what happened.
They say they are going to study the flower and learn more about its properties. I guess that’s okay. As long as no one goes batshit crazy again, that’s fine by me.
