The Scientist by Sian Webster (top rated ebook readers txt) 📕

“Three things, though. Rules, almost. Break them, and you’re gone.”

His expression slipped a little. “The first?”

I looked down at his watch in front of me, staring at the little screen asking for a passcode and a fingerprint, before looking back up to him. “Ever committed any felonies? Fraud? Breaking and entering?”

David’s brow furrowed. “No…”

“Get ready to wipe your innocent slate clean. We have felonies and frauds to commit, and places to break and enter.” I shoved his watch towards him, angling it so he could clearly see the words flashing on the screen in the back of it. “Starting with this.”

He noticeably gulped, but nodded. “Second?”

I gave him a stern look. “Don’t touch anything without my permission.”

He nodded again, his eyes travelling once more over his watch.

Smiling, I shoved his watch to the side of the table and pulled my hair up into a quick pony tail, getting it out of the way, but at the same time, revealing the true extent of my scar. My scar was the main reason I usually kept it down. It hid the part of it on my neck, whereas my shirts tended to cover the majority of it on my arm. I picked up my bag from where I had left it down the bottom of the stairs and turned back to David. “You coming?” I asked sweetly.

He nodded, grabbing his bag and meeting me at the bottom of the stairs.

He didn’t follow me up, I realised as I was on the second last step. I turned back to face him just as he started talking.

“Calliope,” he said curiously. “What’s the third condition?”

I smirked, “Don’t fall in love with me.”

“Why not?” He asked carefully.

“Before long, everything I love turns to ashes. I can’t afford to lose anyone else.”

***

“You’re not serious.” Was all David said when we ducked down behind a dumpster outside the perimeter of the Scientists’ workshops. “You can’t be serious.”

A smirk worked its way onto my features. “Something you’ll learn about me eventually,” I said calmly, “I’m always serious.”

“Really?”

“The majority of the time.” I shrugged.

David’s eyes travelled over the compound in front of us, a look of dread on his face.

“Come on,” I said grabbing his hand and pulling him up from out hiding space, only to have him pull me back down to the ground behind the dumpster again.

“Are you insane?” He whispered fiercely.

I shrugged. “There’s a high possibility.”

“We can’t go in there.” He told me in a stern voice. “There are police. There are rules—”

I covered his mouth with my hand. “Rules are only made so someone can break them, my dear David.” I said, filled with delight. “They only exist to stop people having fun.”

“Fun?!” He was exasperated. “Fun is sitting at home playing video games or watching movies or playing football. Not breaking into the Scientists’ compound!”

“Well, I don’t play video games. I don’t watch movies. I don’t play football. I don’t go to parties. I don’t talk to people. I don’t let people in. This is my kind of fun. Love it or leave it, it’s up to you. But I will find a way to alter my watch even if it’s the last thing I do.” I said fiercely.

“I can’t let you go in there alone, Calliope.”

“Then we’ve reached an agreement.” I snapped, standing up. “Are you coming?”

He grudgingly got to his feet, looking around awkwardly. “This isn’t safe at all,” he commented.

“Neither is giving people watches that have the capacity to explode if knocked the wrong way,” I pointed out, “but they gave us them.”

He sighed. “Ok. How do we get in? We can’t climb over the fence – it’s electric. And it’s buzzing. So it’s on.”

I smirked. “Not for long, it’s not.”

“What do you—”

“Fun fact; the Scientists made the fence inferior to substances like gold and copper, so if someone forgot the codes to get in, they could tap their necklace or earring or something onto the fence, and it would power down the section that came in contact with said substance.” I told him.

“But how—”

“No one forgets the code. Once you become a Scientist, you’re a Scientist for life. The other Scientists become your family. The compound becomes your home. I’m pretty confident that they forgot about it altogether. Now, it’s practically a fault in their security system. But it’s a fault we can use to our advantage.”

“Won’t they notice two people climbing the fence on the security cameras?” David asked, looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Why would they be filming the fence?” I asked innocently, taking the gold necklace from around my neck – feeling the absence of Libby’s ring immediately in my heart – and wrapped it carefully around a strand of the chain-link fence. “It’s electrified 24/7,”

“That…” he gapped. “That’s one big security fault.”

I smiled slyly, touching the fence with my bare hand. “The most powerful people in the world, brought down by a mere necklace.”

“They should probably get that fixed…” David commented.

“Yes, probably, but if they did, how would we get in?” I asked him.

He blinked. “You’re saying we’ll be coming back?”

I rolled my eyes. “For scientific purposes, of course,”

“Your scientific purposes could land me in jail,” he muttered.

“Look. Do you want me to fix your Soul Mate problem or not?”

He looked down, suddenly finding the gravel below our feet incredibly interesting.

“That’s what I thought.” Was all I said before placing my foot in a chink in the fence and launching myself up, before climbing the rest of the way up and dropping down to the ground on the other side, standing opposite him, the fence separating us. “Come on, then.”

In seconds, he was up and over and standing next to me. “What now?”

“Now?” I asked, unable to keep the smile off my face, “Now we get on the roof.”

“The roof?” He asked uncertainly.

“The roof.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Why?”

“Elevator shafts. The only way to get into the compound undetected.” I explained simply.

He shuddered. “Would now be a bad time to mention the fact that I’m claustrophobic?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Yes, probably. But we’ve got a job to do. Come on.”

He sighed, but followed me.

I walked over to the first ladder I saw. It was attached to some sort of water tank – stark white like everything else. It was about a foot away from the edge of the roof, but also about a foot taller. Crossing that distance from that height wouldn’t be a problem for the two of us. I gripped the rung above my head and pulled myself up. After I climbed a few more rungs, I heard David mount the ladder beneath me.

“Just remember, Williamsburg,” I said lightly, “If you’re staring at my ass, you’re in an excellent position to be kicked in the face.”

He just laughed. “Puh-lease. I’m nothing but professional.”

“Only checking,” I laughed, reaching out to grab the next rung as the wind whipped around the tank violently, throwing my balance. I bit back a squeal before quickly securing my hand back on the ladder and continuing to climb.

“You’re not scared of heights, are you?” David called up jokingly.

“Of course not!” I defended myself. “But everyone’s afraid of falling.”

David paused as the wind whipped around the tank once more. “In which meaning of the term?” He asked carefully.

“All of them.” I said simply, finally pulling myself up onto the top of the tank. I helped David up after me.

He looked down. “What do you reckon they keep in here?” He asked.

“Oil?” I suggested. “Water? The blood of their victims?” I joked.

David’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he realised I was joking. “That’s not comforting at all,” he complained.

“I’m not here to comfort you, David.” I snapped.

“I know,” he said, dropping down to the floor and twisting the wheel on a latch that opened up into the tank. “Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

Instead of answering, I bobbed down next to him, peering into the tank as he opened it.

“Is that…” he paused, his eyebrows furrowing. “Is that petrol?”

The smell filling my nostrils was definitely petrol, but, “That’s not possible.” I pointed out. “They stopped making petrol centuries ago. Everything’s run on solar or water or vegetable oil now. But, it certainly smells like petrol.”

I only knew what it smelt like because we had it shoved down our throat in history – not literally – when we were taught about Global Warming and how the human race nearly destroyed the atmosphere by polluting it with things like that. Still, why would the Scientists have petrol?

“Why…?” David started to say.

“I have no idea.” I admitted. “Something’s going on here, David. I’m not sure what, but something’s wrong. The Scientists work about saving the planet. Not destroying it.”

“Well,” David remarked, closing the latch, “they’re doing an excellent job. All that petrol must be great for the environment.”

“I wonder what they’re doing…” I muttered, staring down at the now closed latch, lost in thought. Why would they even need petrol? It was completely unnecessary to 26th century life.

“We should get going,” David pointed out.

I nodded, rising from the latch and making my way over to the edge of the tank that over-looked the roof of the compound. “We have to jump,” I told him.

“We have to jump from a, like, million litre, fifteen metre tall water tank – or rather, petrol tank, sorry – onto the roof of a six storey building that’s one foot away.” He said shakily. “Tell me something, Calliope, are we absolutely mental?”

Filled with adrenaline, a smile etched its way onto my face. “Most definitely.”

I jumped.

Wind snatched at my clothes violently, thrusting my hair into my face and obscuring my vision. I swung my head to the side in an attempt to get my hair out of my face and blinked, the cold air burning my eyes as I fell. I was sure I left my brain somewhere on the top of that tank with David when I jumped. I never had been afraid of heights, but like I had told David not long before, I was afraid of falling. And whether I jumped or not, it felt like I was falling.

Then it was over, and my feet collided with solid ground. I forced my knees to bend and took a few steps after landing to keep my balance, then turned around to face David. “You coming?” I asked him breathlessly, my heart pumping a new dose of adrenaline through my veins.

All the blood seemed to drain from his face as he had watched me drop, but he nodded. He slowly made his way to the edge of the petrol tank and made the biggest mistake possible; he looked down. I screamed obscenities at him in my head but didn’t dare say them out loud in fear of us being heard and being caught, or of me startling him and him falling.

“You can do it, David,” I insisted softly, but still loud enough that he could hear me. “Just bend your knees and jump. Dead easy.”

He nodded again, his face still as white as a sheet. Not long ago, this boy had been teasing me about being afraid of heights, and now he was in the same boat. He closed his eyes, his body swaying