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own.
    “Damn it, Larson, I’m here. I told you
earlier that I would handle this. Let’s go and let these guys work.
I’ll explain it all to you—probably very slowly, so you’ll
understand.”
    Lucas looked at Drew who was sitting in his
wheelchair, smiling. Lucas took a deep breath and then let the air
seep out through his lips. Kleezebee had come to their rescue as he
had done countless times before. It seemed like any time they
needed help, Kleezebee would somehow know and magically arrive just
in time to assist.
    Just then, the lab doors opened again. It was
Kleezebee and he looked pissed. “Next time, run the paper by me
first,” he said to Lucas. “You’re lucky nothing in it violated this
project’s confidentiality agreement.”
    “Sorry, boss,” Lucas said, assuming Larson
had just told Kleezebee. The professor returned to the hallway as
quickly as he came in.
    “What was that all about?” Drew asked.
    “Nothing. I’ll tell you later. Let’s get to
work.”
    Lucas and Drew began their shift by dressing
in their customary white lab coats and logging into the computer
network.

Chapter
5
    Elegance
     
     
    Drew was seated next to Lucas at the lab’s
center worktable when the lab doors buzzed behind him. He hoped it
was Trevor and the new lab technician. He turned his wheelchair
around and saw a lovely young Asian standing next to Trevor. She
was a petite, dark-haired beauty with an adorable figure, who
revealed a gorgeous set of white teeth when she smiled.
    “Hi,” she said to Drew.
    Drew’s tongue shriveled up and swallowed the
words in his mouth, leaving him to muster an uneven grunt. His
lungs forgot how to breathe properly, taking shorter and shorter
breaths.
    Her hair shimmered under the lab’s
fluorescent lights like heat waves rising up from the desert sand.
Her long curls wrapped around her neck and cascaded gracefully down
the front of her shoulder. Drew couldn’t help but stare at her: She
was a vision, a goddess who wore a yellow flower just above her
right ear.
    Lucas extended his right hand to her. “Hi,
I’m Dr. Lucas Ramsay. Welcome to Project AG-356-12.”
    She bowed her head and shook Lucas’ hand.
“Hello, I’m Abby Park.”
    She looked at Drew. He dropped his
paperwork.
    Lucas chuckled. “And this slobbering member
of the male species is my brother, Drew.” He held out an open palm
toward Drew. “Trevor, I assume you have already introduced yourself
to Abby?”
    " Ja , I did."
    “Have you signed your non-disclosure
agreement?” Lucas asked her. Abby nodded. “Well, then, let’s get
started,” he said, motioning for her to follow him toward the
reactor chamber, only a seven-step walk. It was on the side of the
room opposite from the lab’s entrance doors.
    Drew remained behind with Trevor to organize
the items scattered over the top of the rectangular worktable in
the center of the room. He could not take his eyes off her.
    * * *
    Lucas began her introduction with the
control station located just to the right of the reactor chamber’s
door. Attached to the wall below the viewing window was a
seven-foot-wide stainless-steel counter with a flat panel computer
screen at each end. In front of each console was a black wireless
keyboard and matching mouse.
    In between the two stations was an angled
instrument panel that covered up most of the wall below the viewing
window. The panel was covered with switches, knobs, instrument
gauges, and the like. Two rolling desk chairs were offset to the
left, leaving room for a third on the right end of the counter.
    “This is the Primary Control Station where
all the action happens. Drew sits to the right, and the other
console is mine. The chair in the middle is yours.”
    Abby opened her spiral notebook and started
taking notes. “What about Trevor?”
    “He usually stands over there and monitors
his system,” Lucas said, pointing at three heavy-gauge steel
shelving units installed on the wall to the left of the