Adonis Sequence, Chapter 1, #2 (Patreon)

I walked into the room. It was just another office, that’s all it was. I’d been in dozens of them since I first started going here. This one was no different.

“Can I help you?” said the guy behind the desk, a graduate student, definitely. 

“I’m David Plemski,” I said, “with an “i”.”

“Oh yeah, sure,” said the guy, standing up and offering his hand over the desk. “I’m Ron.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” I said. Was I smooth, or what?

“Have a seat,” he said, and I did.

“I’m glad you’re interested in our program,” he started.

“It comes with campus housing, right?” I blurted out. I couldn’t help myself.

“Yes, it does,” said Ron.

“I only ask because ever since Bickford Hall burned down last year, I’ve had to live off campus and the closest place I could find is an hour away, an hour! That’s 2 hours a day I spend commuting, 2 hours I can’t spend studying. I’m an Electrical Engineering major and the work load is crippling! It would be hard even if I didn’t have to spend two hours a day on the road. It’s coming out of my sleep time right now. I fell asleep at the wheel and almost drove into a tree 3 times last month! I can’t do this anymore. I have to have campus housing!”

“I understand,” he said, trying to look sympathetic. “A lot of people are having that issue.”

“Personally,” I said, “I don’t know why there isn’t a line out the door for your program.”

“You understand we’re taking about gene therapy – genetic manipulation here. It’s brand new territory. Most people are scared of it, because they don’t know what the effects are going to be 10 years down the line, none of us really do. That’s one of the reasons for the study.”

“I’m much more concerned by the imminent danger posed by the trees along route 39,” I said. “I’d like to live to graduate. I’ll worry about 10 years down the line, 10 years down the line.”

“You need to understand,” he began.

“Yes, yes,” I said. “I read all the legalese. I’m signing my body away to science, etc., etc.. As long as you let me keep it in a room on campus until I graduate, it’s fine with me.”

“It’s not just while you’re here,” said Ron. “We’ll be keeping tabs on you for the rest of your life.”

“Or until your funding runs out,” I said. Okay, that wasn’t the smartest thing to say, but I’d have said anything to move this along. I was pressed for time. I was meeting my study partner in an hour and I wanted to be done with this by then.

“Okay,” said Ron. “There’s some paperwork to sign and then we can get you started.”

Some paperwork was the understatement of the century. I spent the next half hour signing my name to document after document after document. Holy crap, I thought the pen was going to run out of ink!