chapter 1: meeting my boss

“North Arlington Research and Nutritional Laboratories.” I looked up at the large, imposing and fancily adorned sign that sat atop the gates in front of me. Then I looked back at the flyer in my hand.”This is the place,” I sighed.

Seeing a buzzer on the gate, I pressed it and waited.

“Hello?” A voice crackled through a speaker attached to the buzzer. “Please state your name and purpose.”

“Umm, my name is Jamie- err, James Byers and I’m here about the paid study? I held up the flyer I was holding to the buzzer as if the voice could see it. “For the food tasting? Or something.”

Ok, the truth is that I was not entirely sure what I was about to sign up for; I had lost my job just in time for summer, and was pretty strapped for cash at the moment. A paid work study right across town? It seemed worth checking out.

“One moment, please,” the voice crackled once more, before the gates slowly parted automatically. “Please make your way to the front desk.”

I began striding to what looked like the main building to me. The sheer size of the entire compound was impressive. As I made my way toward a large and imposing set of revolving doors, I steeled myself and pushed my way through.

Well, the lobby was nothing too special. It looked like the waiting room for any typical hospital, only quite a bit bigger. I expected to see rows of patients, people bustling by in sterile lab coats, anything. But the whole place was eerily empty save for one woman behind a desk.

Not knowing where else to go, I made my way to her with my flyer in hand.

The woman was thin, middle-aged and had a look of such passive disinterest it made me wonder if the place was usually this empty.

“You’re here for Dr. Cowley’s work study?” she more told me than asked me.

Dr. Cowley… Yes, that was the name on the flyer. I nodded, smiling weakly. The smile was not returned.

The woman procured and handed me a green key card. “Lab 227,” she said. “Classified.”

"Classified?" I asked, "Um, w-what's in it?" I shifted nervously on my feet.

The woman stared blankly at me, her face unmoving and her expression cold.

"Oh. So that means it's really classified, huh?" I chuckled, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. The woman, clearly in no mood for conversation, handed me a key card and pointed towards a door. "Thank you," I muttered quickly, and started in its direction.

'Awfully warm reception,' I thought to myself as I swiped my card and crossed through the door into a long corridor. I walked down slowly, not really knowing where to go except forward toward a large, very wide set of double doors with a sign over them that read, "Lab No. 227 Main Operational Facility".

That seemed like a good enough indicator to me.

Sighing and bracing myself for whatever may come next, I pushed against the double door and entered Lab 227 in earnest, not knowing what to expect.

What I immediately encountered was a woman looking up at me from a clipboard.

“Oh Hi!” the woman stood and turned to greet me with a smile. “I’m Dr. Cowley, but you can call me Miranda.”

Woof. Talk about a contrast from the lady up front. Dr. Cowley didn’t fit my bill of a typical scientist. Not only was she young, probably in her late 20’s compared to my early 20’s, but she was remarkably gorgeous. She was a few inches taller than me and quite a bit on the heavy side, but she wore her curves incredibly well at her size and the light blue blouse that she was wearing hugged the outline of her rather large breasts before tapering in above the waist. She had a bit of a belly on her, sure, but I wasn’t shy about having an attraction to girls who were a bit bigger. Especially given the set of extra-wide hips that that belly was resting on… I suddenly had a curious longing to see a view of my new boss from the back, but for now I did my very best to keep my eyes firmly glued to her face. She had her hair worn up, meaning I could see her soft, tan cheeks, plump and fuller than most women’s. In between her cheeks rested a jovial smile with dazzlingly white teeth. The smile pushed her chin into a second one especially as she had to look down in order to speak with me.

I realized that I had been staring. No, it was obvious that I had been staring.

“I’m umm, James but I go by Jamie,” I finally managed to spit out.

“Great!” Miranda clapped her chubby hands together enthusiastically, sending her upper arms jiggling even through her coat. “I’m so excited to have you on board for my study!” She jostled toward me and shook my hand.”You look confused, but you’re in the right place.”

“Umm right,” I began, trying to recall anything else I had read in the flyer that I had, at this point, callously and carelessly folded and shoved in my pocket. “Taste testing for a nutritional supplement?”

“Something like that, yes,” she perked up. “Its a highly condensed nutrient paste comprised of reconstituted fats and dietary supplements!” For the first time since I’d entered the room, I finally felt like I was conversing with a scientist. The fluidity with which she spoke her nutrition jargon gave a strong impression of someone with years of expertise in their field.

“Its intended as a solution to world hunger,” she continued, beaming. “Highly compacted nutrient pastes that we can fly into impoverished countries. I’m calling it Chemical 9! Umm for now,” she finished with a giggle.

At least until she could find something more appealing, I hoped. “So its a chemical? Is it really safe for people to eat?”

“O-of course it is!” she responded. I noticed that she broke eye contact when she said this to me, as if there was something more to tell. “Its intended to help people, Jamie. All we have to do is get through the human testing phase, and-”

“Wait,” I said, startled, “am I going to be the first ever human to ever try this stuff?”

“Oh no, far from it! You’ll be working with a team of testers!”