Raiyev Part 5
#5 of Raiyev
Raiyev read and reread the paper. He had spread the soap over the rest of the paper, trying to find anything more to the message, but there was nothing else. Surely this must be some kind of a practical joke, he thought. This is something that you only see in the movies. But he could think of no one he knew who would send him such a thing. After spending another couple of minutes just staring at the paper, he decided it was best that he just comply. After all, it's not as if anyone was out to get him for anything.
Tossing the soap-smeared paper into the wastebasket, the raccoon washed his hands and returned slowly to Lab 8. When he got back, Harper and Thomas were in a debate over whether or not a more in-depth study of Gigantism would prove useful. Some of the other furs were standing around, listening and shaking or nodding their heads in agreement or disagreement.
"I just don't see how anything without a pituitary gland could be affected by this," Harper was saying. "This is the entire world we're talking about here--not just us animals." The sun bear, who had been the first in Lab 8 to declare the whole predicament as being ludicrous earlier that morning, was whispering into the ear of his coworker fox and gesturing to Harper when Raiyev walked up to Thomas.
"Well, it's at least worth a shot, isn't it?" Thomas said. "I mean, what else have we to go on in our field? 'Lo again, Raiyev. Where'd ya go?"
"Had to use the restroom was all," Raiyev answered passively.
"What happened to that paper?"
"It was trash," Raiyev lied. "Nothing but a blank piece of paper. Just someone's idea of a practical joke." Raiyev wanted to believe that it was really a joke, but he was still seriously considering going to see whoever it was that wrote him that message. The problem would be that he'd have to tell Brad that he needed to stay behind for a couple minutes...well, he couldn't be really sure about HOW long it would take--it could be just a couple minutes, and it could be some hours. This was really puzzling him. He decided to give the thought some rest until later.
"Anyway," he said, returning to the situation at paw, "I have to agree with Dr. Ferai." Harper cast her eyes to the ground and stuck out her bottom lip in a sort of soft grimace of malcontent. She looked at Thomas again, the same way she had been glaring at him before Raiyev went off to the restroom. Raiyev got the distinct impression that there was something more between the rabbit and the bird that he wasn't totally clued in on, but that feeling passed as Harper spoke again at last.
"Alright," she said. "So where are we supposed to get some subjects to study? The file shows us that we never did totally figure out what was chemically different that caused the Gigantism--"
"I know that, Dr. Harper," Thomas returned quickly, a note in his voice showing a wear of his patience. "I was thinking about calling back the placebo victims we had when we studied all this before."
"I honestly don't think that we would have problems getting the facility to approve of us acquiring test subjects, Dr. Harper," Raiyev added.
Harper was starting to look flustered. "Yeah, fine," she said, raising her voice a little, "but how long will it take to get them? A month? Two months? What do we do until then? Just sit around on our asses, arguing like we're doing now?"
"I would suggest you take a good, long, and thorough look into that file to remind yourselves what you already have learned," came a voice from behind Raiyev. Everyone looked at the doorway to Lab 8 to see Dr. Frost standing there, a stern executive look on her face. She began to approach the group as she continued. "Furthermore, you needn't worry about waiting a couple of months for any test subject. In a situation as drastic as this, the facility can provide them for you pronto, and without all the damn red tape getting in the way. Well, what I mean is that the government should help speed things along."
"What do you mean, exactly, Dr. Frost?" asked Thomas, an inquiring look etched in his eyes.
"Well, it's rather obvious, Dr. Ferai," Frost answered. "The government, like the rest of the world, is in dire need of all the help they can get to solve this problem. It's like I'm sure you heard the President say at lunch today: 'This situation will call for all of us to band together and unite our efforts into one.' So, since they can't legally put us under military rule yet, stating that we should work only for the government, the best that they can do to encourage us is to give us whatever we require."
"And at top speed," Raiyev added, understanding.
"Exactly," Frost said.
"So how long then?" said a bit calmer Harper. "How long should it take us to get our test subjects?"
"Within the next day or two, I believe," Frost answered. "Now, I just got here in time to hear that you needed test subjects, but I didn't catch what type of test subjects."
"Ah, well," Thomas began, "we were considering looking into the chemical cause for Gigantism to see if we could somehow use that to counter-act the shrinking planet." He handed her the thin manila file, then asked, "What were you here about in the first place, Dr. Frost?"
"Oh, just checking up on all the labs--seeing what they were approaching." She thumbed through the file, nodding her head and mumbling to herself. "Ah, yes, I remember this...didn't get far, did we?" She handed the folder back to Thomas, and then started for the door. On her way out, she said to the group, "Just do as best as you can. That's all this company asks of you for now."
****
The rest of the afternoon went slowly, with Raiyev and his coworkers going over copies of the Gigantism file, discussing possible tests and procedures they should try once they got their subjects. They had agreed that a blood sample from each subject would be needed, and not just for the general physical each subject was required to take. Also, Thomas had pointed out that during the initial study, children had proved to be the best subjects to study. It was various details like this that were the points of discussion for the rest of the day, until the clock in the lab showed them all that 5 o'clock had come.
As everyone was starting to leave, Raiyev remembered his requested meeting with the anonymous letter sender. He was still trying to think of something he could say to Brad that wouldn't seem too unreasonable. He had thought about just saying he needed to use the restroom before they left, or about saying that Dr. Frost wanted to talk with him. In the end, though, he decided to tell the truth--or at least, part of the truth. He used the phone in his lab to call Brad's cell phone.
"Hello?" Brad answered.
"Heya, sweetie. It's me," Raiyev said.
"Oh, hey. I was just about to come over to your building."
"Well, um, something came up."
"Oh?"
"I'm supposed to meet someone about something--they didn't say what exactly. So, could you just wait in the car for a little while?"
"Um, okay." Brad sounded a little confused. "Who are you meeting?" he asked suspiciously.
"Uh..." Raiyev tried to think of someone quickly, but just gave in to the truth. "I don't really know--I just got a note, and it didn't say who it was from or anything." Raiyev paused, but there was no sound from the other line. "You there?" Raiyev asked.
"Yeah, I'm here," Brad said finally. "It's okay. I'll wait for you. Just in front of the main building. Is that okay?"
"That's fine. Thanks a lot, love."
"No problem. See you soon."
And with final goodbyes, Raiyev hung up. By now, most everyone had left. He went a bit slowly to the main building, to allow everyone else to leave. When he finally got to the main building's Western Entrance, he could still see a few others preparing to leave, so he ducked into a nearby restroom for a couple minutes. When he came back out, everyone else had gone, except for Ms. Bilicek, whom he could see far at the other end of the building. He looked back at the two sets of double doors at the Western Entrance--and he saw the messenger he had been waiting for looking right at him. Her?! he thought to himself in disbelief. But it was no mistake; it was Toni Hawthorne, the ferret he had run into earlier that morning.