chapter 1

Sammenah

Chapter 1

Arriving at on her evening shift Sameenah swiped her I.D. card to unlock the turnstile. This was part of her routine when entering her place of work.
She had been employed at Newfood
Research Corporation for 2 years now, and didn't mind the night shift, as it was a lot quieter than during the day.
She made her way down the hall to the locker room and placed her jacket and purse in her locker. Then she put her lunch bag in the fridge in the lunch room. There was only one other person working in this area at night but, she worked on the other side of the main corridor.
Sameenah didn't know her at all but, she assumed she did the same type of work. The glass separating the work areas made it completely sound proof.They had waved and nodded at each other from a distance, other than that they were strangers. Sameenah had been told that all the products developed and tested here were top secret, and were being used to develop new food sources. As good farm land became more scarce, new products to feed the ever increasing population were being developed in Labs around the country. Trading in food products had ceased around the world due to disease and virus loaded fruit and vegetables finding their way into different countries. Growing good, healthy food, strictly for domestic use, or developing new food products had become big business here in China, and in many other countries.
Sameenah was glad to have this job, and wouldn't say or do anything to jeapordize her livelihood or her work visa. She had come from the Middle East and knew the feelings toward her people by some citizens in other countries. Living in Asia was very different, but eventually she hoped to save enough
to return to her native land, and support her young widowed sister and her sister's 3 children. Sameenah's parents had been killed in a bombing raid several years earlier. At 23 years old she now had the responsibility of looking after her family. She had applied for this job through a hiring agent in her homeland, and was very grateful to be here working. This was her dream.
On her walk around she was to record numbers that showed on digital readouts on the sides of 6 rooms, which weren't to be entered except by trained personnel. The rooms were numbered 45 to 50. She was told that inside each room experiments were going on, part of the program at Newfood Research.
Sameenah had seen technicians and what looked like medical staff entering some of the rooms. She tried to ignore it, and asked no questions.

The numbers she recorded were all different.The first was 497.24, then 668.88, 376.43, 762.89, 1789.56, and 2469.25. She wasn't sure what these numbers signified. The numbers were different every day, increasing gradually. Even though the pay was good, the job was very routine, but she wasn't going to complain. On each round of the rooms, as well as recording the read-outs, she had to check a clear glass port in which a small red ball spun as a liquid flowed.The liquid was not clear, but a light blue shade. If the flow stopped, a low flow alarm sounded, and Sameenah was to push a button labelled "Restart Feed" Then she was to make sure there was a flow and continue with her rounds. If the flow didn't resume she had an number to call.
Sometimes after pushing the button she would here sounds coming from the rooms. Usually a sighing sound or sometimes a groan. The sounds were barely audible and Sameenah wondered if she was really hearing anything at all. She was told right when she started that her main priority was to make sure the flow didn't stop. The sounds coming from room # 50 were almost like barnyard sounds, like hogs or pigs, very faint but Sameenah swears that is what she heard. She knows better than to ask her superior or anyone else about it. She knows to concentrate on her job and leave the thinking to the trained staff at Newfood Research.