Pandora's Box

A man in a science coat hurried along a pathway shielded by walls of glass. Today was a very important day for him and his fellow researchers. Even as the head scientist in this operation, with hundreds of successes throughout his career; this experiment would be his masterpiece - should it work.

“Dr. Amir, we’re ready to proceed with opening the box.” One of his coworkers called out to him, pacing alongside him, carrying a binder full of checklists.

“Well, what are we waiting for?”

“There are still a few more tests that need to be run to confirm the safety of proceeding.” the scientist explained to Amir, looking down at a massive stack of papers.

“Well let’s get them done, shall we? Wouldn’t want to make corporate wait on us.”

“Yes, sir!” The scientist received his command and quickly dispersed throughout the containment center, testing various equipment and directing other scientists.

“We’re finally doing it eh? The higher-ups must have completely lost their minds… Well, a little risk never hurts when you're in this kind of business. Can’t say I agree with the risk of wiping out the entire planet though.” Amir muttered to himself looking at the massive purple, rocky-looking box outside the glass walls of the hallway he paced through.

This “box” had been found not even a year ago and sealed underneath the earth in this secure bunker his company funded for. It came down to our planet in the form of a “meteor” - at least that's what everyone else thought it was. The alien box confused everyone, even the scientists couldn’t make out what kind of message it was. A gift? A curse? Or maybe it was even a ticking time bomb that would eventually set off and destroy the entire planet? Their company's best engineers and researchers still didn't have an answer - even till this very day.

Who knows what lies inside that purple heap of unknown material.

“Ah! Dr. Amir, you're finally here,” A man dressed in an extravagant suit called out as Amir finally made his way into the room, “I was beginning to wonder if we should start opening our package without you.” the man pointed to the box sitting right outside of a twelve-inch thick bulletproof window as he finished his phrase. This was the president of their company, Alexis, a tall, pale-skinned man. He had short black hair and a face that would give anyone the shivers just looking at him, but for the sake of their job - and quite possibly their own life, no one ever commented on it.

“Oh, Mr. Darwin, I'm sorry I couldn't get myself here sooner. We had to run some diagnostics on the box to make sure it wasn’t emitting anything strange that could potentially kill everyone here, should we decide to open it.” Amir laughed along with the President as he said that but everyone in the room, including the president, could tell there was a hint of aggression in his tone. The room instantly fell silent for almost a minute before Alexis finally spoke up and said something.

“Dr. Amir… We know very well that you disagree with this decision. You made that very clear at the meeting with your ‘special’ speech, but this operation will continue. With or without you. Do I make myself clear?” Glaring into Amir’s eyes and grabbing his shoulder the president clearly expressed his intentions to him.

“Y-Yeah…” The head scientist conceded to his boss, fearful of his intentions.

“Good, I’m glad we could get an understanding of each other.” The president made his way back to his viewing seat with a grievous look on his face, almost verbally saying without words his regret for giving Amir his position; sending shivers down his spine combined with that absolutely horrendous face.

Sensing relief, Amir sighed deeply before putting his professional look back on. After getting his composure back, he motioned some of the guards to seal the room off completely; his arrival meant that they’d begin the procedure to open the box. Just thinking about it made him tremble, the subtle idea of “Complete Destruction” echoed throughout his mind, putting him in a sudden cold sweat.

The box glowed as Amir stared at it, inconspicuously vibrating a foul version of the color purple. It was so beautiful that it could be placed under a title like “The Five Wonders On Earth” and easily be number one; in another way, it was terrifying, for some just staring at it for a little too long made them want to spew their insides out. Many scientists went insane just working around it for a little too long unsupervised, they had to wear six layers of the most top-of-the-line quality equipment just to get within ten feet of it without succumbing to its power. It just made the doctor wonder even more so,

“Just what was inside that box?”

“Hey! Dr. Amir! Doctor Amirrrrrrrrrr….” a female scientist had approached him, calling his name to get him out of his sudden trance, becoming increasingly annoyed by his lack of response she began to get violent. “DOCTOR AMIR!” she screamed, punching him in the gut, that sure as hell got his attention.

Falling to his knees and gripping his belly from the sudden act of barbarity, Amir looked up at the suspect for the intense pain he was feeling. “Tracy…?”

The woman looked down at him, still annoyed at him for ignoring her. “I was calling out to you for a decent five minutes! What the hell could you possibly be daydreaming about right now when we have so much work to finish?? That box isn't gonna open itself y’know…” Tracy explained, knocking her long braids to the side after they started shaking in her face.

How typical of his assistant, resorting to violence whenever life even slightly ticked her off the wrong way. Her official name for the company was Tracy Mcguire, Vice-Head Scientist for Alexis Inc. She was a light-skinned, short, averagely shaped woman, most thought of her as beautiful but most of the time she had bags underneath her eyes and lacked a facial care routine so Amir couldn't see it; nevertheless, he still respected her and treated her kindly like any other - even if she had a tendency to hit him at times.

Regaining his composure, the head scientist stood up and gave his assistant a warm smile before responding, “I was thinking about what would happen if this operation went into the worst-case scenario. What would come of our friends and family? Should I really risk murdering everyone I’ve ever known just to keep my job and my life?” staring down at Tracy, his face turned to more of a serious expression.

Tracy looked up at her boss's face, it seemed he really was deep in thought and not just goofing off like usual; thinking about something stupid, like “what would happen if I flew a kite next to the box?”. Just thinking about that stupidity made her want to punch him a second time, maybe even harder. However, keeping that to herself she answered him honestly, “I really don’t think this is a good idea either, life isn’t something that should be dictated by the opinions of others. Especially, not that damned president!” she exclaimed, bawling her fist up, wanting to teach that bastard a lesson for threatening her life all these damn years; luckily for her, Alexis was too busy mingling with guests to hear her, but not stopping her boss from letting out a loud chuckle at her behavior. “But y’know Dr. Amir, sometimes for the good of science you’ve gotta have the will to try.”

“That may be so.” Amir sighed, getting a feeling she may be right.

“Now start your damn speech already! A second later and our boss might start throwing glares at us!” She handed him a stack of cards she prepared that had his speech written down.

“Alright, Alright…!” the head scientist grabbed his source material from his assistant and made his way to the stage.

Each step had been nightmarish for the doctor, the tugs of fate strangled his heart at every stair he climbed. In all his years as a scientist no speech had left him this nervous, he had even presented a plan in front of the president of the country himself and still had a better composer than he did right now.

Finally, the last step had been taken after what seemed like an eternity of scrambling himself up a staircase. He stared down at the crowd in front of him. What seemed like thousands of normal people watching him as he seized their attention, watching his every move and judging him. Were groups of people from several different companies, wealthy families, and even politicians; which only added to his anxiety from before. What if there was an accident? All these people and their children would be killed… and it would all be his fault. Breaking into a cold sweat, Amir reached for the microphone in front of him.

“L-Ladies and gentlemen of Alexis Inc. and our viewers coming from all across the globe, today we open Pandora's box.” With a single wave of his hand, the curtains behind him flew open revealing the cubic purple heap of alien material to the entire world for the first time. Being kept underneath the ground, with only the top levels of secrecy meant no one that wasn't one of these important figures in the room never even knew it existed before now. The reactions were immense, the crowd cheered, and the room was filled with amazed smiles and subtle comments about just how beautiful it was to look at.

“What beauty…”

“My god…”

The men in the crowd could not help but to make remarks on it. The box allured even the greatest of minds, bewitching them into almost an illusion of sorts; staring was almost irresistible at this point.

“From the depths of our solar system, this box made its way into our orbit and crash-landed here on earth about four years ago. Our great company, Alexis Industries, found it and brought it here, Alexis Containment Center!” The crowd was fired up, inspired by his speech, they could no longer wait for the grand finale. Any further words would probably only bore them, delaying the inevitable.

Looking over to Tracy for confirmation, who was at the bottom of the stage coordinating everything, which she gave him with a single nod before turning her attention to getting prepared; it was finally time for the main event.

“Thank you to everyone who attended this pay-per-view event! And a special thank you to our sponsors who helped pay for the research used for the weapon in this operation!” the act of gratitude earned a few claps from the crowd, which only confirmed his suspicion from before. All these people are only here to witness their curiosity be placated; opening Pandora's Box was a priority to them, anything else would only serve as a nuisance for their arrival. Even if he went along as planned, the sharp glare his boss was giving him said otherwise. Along with the original plan, the bitter frown his boss was giving him said otherwise.

“W-We will now begin the climax of our showing.” Amir stuttered out, walking off the stage to direct his subordinates. The lights flickered and turned off enclosing the room in silence, every guest patiently waiting for something magnificent to happen as per their investments in this company said there would be.

The doctor took a deep breath, walking over to Tracy and her fellow researchers. “Start it,” he whispered, his assistant nodded and waved to a scientist in the control room. Amir felt that same nervousness popping up inside of him once more, the earthquake within him once more made him quiver. He felt himself slowly slipping away, the resolve that he had while making his speech was all but gone.

“Dr. Amir. Believe in your own research. It’s all the hope we have right now.” Tracy whispered to her boss, softly placing her palm against his tugging it ever so slightly.

Amir’s eyes widened as he looked at her, Tracy’s eyes wavered as she felt his gaze; her hand trembling just as much as he was. Yet, she stood tall, not faltering for a second underneath the pressure of this assignment like he was. Even under her stress, she still comforted her boss and gave her fellow researchers someone to revere when they fell underneath their fears. Tracy truly did her job as a vice-head scientist and now Amir needed to do his.

Amir chuckled a bit under his conclusion, “Maybe you should be the head scientist instead of me…” he whispered to Tracy, causing her to tighten her grip around his hand as if to send a message. “Ouch…”

“Just focus on the damn experiment…”

“Sure thing boss.”

The weapon had finally made its appearance, weirdly to the crowd, as a gun of sorts. It looked heavily robotized but a gun no less. Almost appears like something you’d see inside of a Star Wars or Marvel movie. Just how far did these researchers develop their weaponry? Would the box be that tough to open? Many questions racked the bright minds of the crowd probing their minds as to just how far Alexis Industries has come in the technological world. Little did they know the answer was just as astounding as their beloved box.

The gun zapped out what seemed to be a purple laser, exploring the insides of the box ever so slightly. Splitting its way through that tough rocky surface, sending shock waves all-around, even the thick glass they placed in front of the box and the crowd was not spared. The box became enraged almost, vibrating like a bomb on its last leg; the explosion was the only thing that had not happened.

Of course, the crowd was astounded, this weapon had exceeded any technology humanity had created thus far. Anyone in that gathering could die to get their hands on it, had they known it existed beforehand, they probably would’ve invaded the place just to get their hands on a single piece of research. Naturally, all of that is extremely safeguarded, or had been destroyed; that still didn’t stop the wealthy from secretly plotting.

“Sir there seems to be a problem…” One of Amir’s researchers approached him holding a tablet, looking at it with a dead expression.

Amir immediately took the device from him, sweating bullets, dreading what his facial expression would be the moment he looked at that tablet.

“There's… nothing in it?”