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  Something startles Caper. He quickly leaps up and over the fence and disappears into the woods. Yet I’m confident he’s only just out of sight.

  “Are you meeting someone here?” I jump and spin around at the deep voice.

  “What?” I lash out, annoyed by the disruption.

  A guy appears and shifts nervously from foot to foot. “I was wondering if you’re waiting for your boyfriend or something, because I asked my girlfriend to meet me here.”

  First, he interrupted my time with Caper, and now he wants to invade my spot. “What for?”

  The look he gives me tells me the answer is obvious, at least to him. “It’s the kissing tree.”

  Oh great. Ryan’s intentions were kindhearted, but by planting the tree here, he inadvertently turned my thinking area into both a wedding location and a make-out spot.

  “You want me to leave so the two of you can lock lips?” I ask.

  “Well no, that’s not what I mean. It’s just that we had our first kiss here.” He reaches into his pocket, pulls out a small velvet box, and flips it open. “I thought it would be the perfect spot for this. Do you think she’ll like it?”

  I realize I’m taking out my frustrations on the wrong person. The guy seems nice and he’s nervous enough without me adding to it. My scowl fades as I examine the classic solitaire ring. “It’s nice,” I say.

  He hurries over to the fence. “It gets better.” He flips a hidden switch, and the words “Marry me,” appear in twinkle lights.

  “Oh, wow,” I blurt and the guy releases a breath. “I’ll go,” I say, feeling nauseated by the overly cute display. I might think the gesture romantic and sweet if he was older and his feelings real.

  “Thanks,” he calls after me.

  I hurry back to the rec halls. It might not be too late to join everyone bowling. A high-pitched giggle pierces the night from the girl of yet another couple who think they’re truly in love. I see the twosome’s outline inside the edge of the building’s shadow. I imagine the sickening doe-eyed expressions on their faces.

  The girl giggles again. “Stop,” she protests. “That tickles.”

  An icy chill runs through my body. Oh, please let me be wrong. Please don’t let that voice belong to who I think it does. The clouds above me shift, revealing a moon, and take away all of my hope. Kelly is leaning against the wall with Ryan’s hands clasped in hers. She lets him go only to drape her arms around his neck and slowly pull him toward her. Suddenly, I feel as if I’m back in the cryogenic chamber, drowning on the green goo that surrounds me, but this time no one is going to open the door to rescue me. The overwhelming hurt in my heart cannot be repaired.

  He didn’t sleep in the pods—this shouldn’t be happening. He should feel nothing for Kelly now. He shouldn’t be in her arms leaning in for a kiss. I hunch over and force myself to take deep breaths until my dizziness subsides.

  I slowly step backward, hoping the movement doesn’t catch their attention. Unwilling to watch their romantic display, I turn away.

  Then, I run.

  I run as fast as my legs allow. People and buildings blur past me. I need to get away.

  A day is all it took.

  Less than a day.

  I’ve been back on the base for less than a day, and everything has gone to crap. I’ve lost my job, my friends are engaged, married, and in one case, pregnant. Life sucks, but I could deal with all of it except the image of Ryan in Kelly’s arms, about to kiss her. After all we’ve been through how could he forget me so easily? He said he loved me – it’s too painful a betrayal.

  Everything seemed fine this morning when we were released. Nothing in his kisses worried or warned me. This morning, when Kelly greeted him by wrapping herself around him, I told myself I had nothing to worry about.

  I’m such a fool.

  I should have known something was up when he refused to meet my eyes. He was hiding his guilt from me. He’d already chosen Kelly over me.

  Blinded by tears and completely disorientated, I trip on an unseen object. I can’t catch my balance and fall hard. A sharp pain slashes through my knee and shoots up my leg. The pain subsides enough for me to think nothing’s broken, just a deep and painful cut. I’ve run deep into the married housing area and am well beyond the occupied units. I hobble a few steps and know I can’t walk back tonight.

  I try the front door of the closest house and am relieved it’s unlocked. I feel across the wall until my fingers find and turn on a light switch. There’s electricity, but that’s where my luck ends. Besides furniture, the house is completely un-stocked. There’s not a single towel, tissue or band-aid to be found. I wash my knee in the bathroom sink and rip a strip of fabric from the bottom of my shirt to serve as a bandage. The knee is not as bad as I originally thought and probably won’t need stitches.

  With nothing left to distract me from my heartache, I turn off all the lights and stumble my way into a bedroom and onto the bed where I curl up and surrender to my overwhelming emotions. My tears roll down my cheeks and drench the soft pillow beneath my head.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning I go to Dr. Brant’s office and wait. I don’t have an appointment, but I’m determined to wait until she’ll see me. One way or another, I’m getting my job back. I need to keep busy and drown myself in work, so I won’t drown in my own misery.

  Two hours later the receptionist finally announces that Dr. Brant’s ready to see me.

  Dr. Brant shakes my hand as I enter her office. “Brett, I haven’t had a chance to tell you how relieved I am that you and Ryan survived.” I’m tempted to tell her she has a funny way of showing it, but I bite my tongue. “I’ve been reading through your reports,” she continues, “and your survival is nothing short of miraculous.”

  I blush. “Well, in a way, that’s sort of why I’m here.”

  “Oh?” Dr. Brant seems curious, though there’s something else in her expression that I can’t identify. She quirks her eyebrow and leans back in her chair.

  I squirm under her watchful stare. “I…I’m anxious to get my team back together and return to the field. I’ve been away for so long. I don’t want us to lose the chemistry we share as a team.” I know there won’t be any chemistry between Ryan and me, but that doesn’t matter. I just want to get Molly and Jake back with me, and away from Elliot.

  “I don’t think chemistry like that can simply fade away. Right now I think it’s important that both you and Ryan take the time you need to get settled in.” Dr. Brant’s words sound kind, but I have the feeling she’s patronizing me.

  “But I need to be back with my team out in the field,” I protest.

  Dr. Brant frowns. “Why the desperate need to work? Did something happen out there that’s not in your report?”

  She’s suspicious. “No,” I quickly say. “Everything’s in the report.”

  “I don’t feel comfortable releasing either you or Ryan for field duty just yet. But there is a way the two of you can be useful.” Her words are drawn out, measured.

  “How?” I ask hesitantly.

  She begins typing on her computer, then turns the screen to face me. “The database is a mess right now. Teams after team of scientists have entered their discoveries improperly. I need you and Ryan to sort through it all. Credit each discovery and its name to the original scientist. Make a link so that all known names link to the credited name, and clean up any conflicting data.”

  I don’t need to look at the screen. The site was a huge mess even before I got caught in the flood. “That could take months,” I protest. I don’t want to get turned into a glorified data entry clerk for the next year. The last thing I want is to be stuck behind a desk all day long with Ryan as my only company.

  Dr. Brant shakes her head. “It must be done eventually. We might as well have the two of you start the work while you’re waiting to be cleared for the field.” Her tone makes it clear she’s not willing to debate the matter.

  “So, we’re just goi
ng to start the work? We’re not going to be stuck on the project until it’s completed. Right?” I ask.

  “We’ll just have to see how everything goes.” A strange smile twists her lip and the hateful tone from yesterday returns. “Think of it as an opportunity to prove to me that you can be responsible.”

  I stare back, unable to form a coherent retort. Talk about a no-win situation. If I don’t agree to the work, I’ll never get back into the field. If I do the work, it might be months and months until I finally get back into the field. The situation seems hopeless for me but not everyone should have to suffer.

  “What about Molly and Jake?” I ask. “They’re miserable on the other team right now. They’re not allowed to do anything more than data entry and cleanup.”

  “They’re new members on a team. Once they have proven themselves competent and trustworthy, their team leader will give them more responsibilities.” Dr. Brant’s tone warns she’s losing her patience. “Until then, they need to be patient and continue to do their best. Now is there anything else I can help you with?” Her icy cold glare seeps into my bones. I don’t know what happened to her, or what I did to make her so angry, but this is not the Dr. Brant I once knew.

  I hang my head in defeat. “Fine.”

  Dr. Brant clasps her hands together. “Wonderful. I’m glad to see you can be a team player.” She gestures toward the door. “You can work in your old base lab—nobody’s currently using it.”

  “Thanks,” I grumble and hastily exit. Great, now I’m a team player, the person who doesn’t add anything distinctive to a team, just a body filling a position. Further, to be given permission to use my own lab is humiliating, not to mention the implication that the field lab is no longer ours.

  Despite my dislike for my new assignment, I enter my old base lab and begin working on the database. At least I can keep busy enough to bury my worries about the pods, Dr. Brant’s change in behavior, and any thoughts of Kelly and Ryan.

  The scientific database is a complete disaster. For months and months, scientists have haphazardly uploaded their data without checking for duplicate entries or comparing notes against existing data. I find ten separate entries on meerkits, and each one claims discovery rights and labels them, but with different names. Elliot’s entry has the earliest date. His entry must have been lost in the system at the time I entered mine, because I always check. Elliot named them Catmonks. Uh-uh. I will not call my meerkits “catmonks.” I comb through the report hoping his entry is really for a different species, but it’s not. Fortunately, I stumble across the true entry date of the article which is almost two months after my entry. The stinking cheat changed the dates just so he could claim the discovery.

  That settles it. There’s only one way to approach this mess. Start a brand new database from scratch and add information one piece at a time. I spend the rest of the morning formatting the new database, making sure to add the much-needed safeties, which will prevent double entries and blatant cheating.

  I’m going cross-eyed by lunch, so I snag a sandwich at the dining hall and visit Molly and Jake.

  When I get to their base lab, I only find Jake who informs me that Elliot called Molly to clean up a spill in the field lab.

  “You’re joking, right?” I ask and Jake slowly shakes his head. “Unfortunately, my news isn’t going to help your day either. Dr. Brant assigned Ryan and me to clean up the database.”

  Jake’s jaw drops. “You mean the database that’s such a mess there’s no way to find anything useful in it anymore?”

  “That’s the one.”

  Jake looks at me sympathetically. “So she’s really not planning on letting you and Ryan back into the field again. Damn, I knew she took your disappearance hard, but I never expected this.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Jake motions for me to sit, so I hop onto the stool next to him. “It was hard to tell who was more upset when the search was first called off—Andi or Dr. Brant. Despite her direct orders to call off the search, Dr. Brant tried to organize a search party of her own. Molly, Dean, and I were going to be part of it. But before we could leave, the chairman discovered what we were doing and stopped it.” Jake suddenly shivers and continues. “It was more than a little scary being surrounded by several dozen soldiers pointing guns at us while Dr. Brant screamed at him. The whole time he just smirked at her like he was completely unfazed.”

  “Thank you. I had no idea you guys went through that for us.” The awe I feel for my friends outweighs my anger toward the chairman and how he treated them.

  Jake waves off my thanks. “Anyway, after that day it was as if something snapped in Dr. Brant. She became distant and cold toward everyone except Elliot. Suddenly she was a stickler for the rules. Not just the big safety rules, but the pointless little ones, too. Most of the time we just do our best to stay clear of her. Maybe now that you’re back, she’ll get better.”

  I sigh. Her behavior might improve for everyone else, but not for me or Ryan. As far as I can tell, she’s focusing all her frustration and anger from the situation onto us.

  “Maybe,” I say. “We can only hope.”

  Suddenly Jake’s face brightens. “Hey, maybe you and Ryan can work in here with me and Molly. The rest of the team is never in here. Molly and I can even help you since the small amount of work Elliot allows us to do doesn’t keep us busy.”

  I have no intention of discussing Ryan, but as soon as his name is mentioned, my face drops and tears well in my eyes. “I should warn you things might be a little tense between Ryan and me.” I dryly say.

  Jake regards me with a look of suspicion. “Are the two of you fighting already?”

  I swallow the lump in my throat and take a deep breath, but the words still stick. All that comes out is a strangled squeak, but my expression seems to tell Jeremy everything he needs to know.

  “You broke up?”

  Unwanted tears stream down my face. Jake embraces me in an awkward hug. I know I should clarify what happened, but I can’t bear the idea of my friends pitying me. I wipe my eyes and say, “Ryan and I are better off as friends.”

  Jake looks at me sympathetically but then in a facetious tone says, “Kissing, fighting or ignoring each other, I’ll take whatever company I can get. I’m not sure if I can handle any more days of non-stop wedding talk.”

  “You mean Molly’s engaged, too?” Worry quickly overshadows my initial shock.

  Jake nods. “She waited to tell you. She figured you had enough to deal with already.” He lets out a sad laugh. “She’s always thoughtful like that.”

  Comprehension hits me. “So, that’s what was bothering you at dinner.” Jake doesn’t answer but the defeated crumple of his face tells me all I need to know. I decide to take a chance and share my theory. I have to choose my words carefully, and even then, Jake may think I’m crazy. But if I’m going to take a chance, who better to believe me than someone who’s suffering a broken heart?

  “I think I can help you, if you promise to keep an open mind,” I say.

  “Yeah, of course I can. How?” He regards me warily.

  “I’m serious. I need you to be open, because what I’m going to say is going to sound crazy.” He nods giving me his undivided attention. “Think back to when Molly first met Alex. Did it seem like a case of love at first sight?”

  Jake’s nostrils flare in disgust. “Yeah, something like that. But I figured she’d come to her senses by now. He’s bossy and condescending and —”

  I hold up my hands to stop him. “It was kind of like when Andi met Jackson, or Wendy met Adam, or Zachary met Sarah?”

  Jake’s eyes suddenly brighten. “It was just like that. Really weird and creepy.”

  “Tell me about it.” I sigh. “Actually, I can tell you what it’s like from firsthand experience. When I was with Brody, nothing else mattered other than being with him. I didn’t like his friends or many of his opinions, but the overwhelming attraction I had for him cancelled out all rati
onal thought.”

  “So what changed?”

  “I got away from the base.”

  Jake stands up and paces the lab. “You think something on the base is causing these exaggerated romantic attractions? Something’s making Molly want to be with Alex, no matter how badly he treats her?”

  I brace myself for Jake to say I’m insane when I say, “I think the field managers are using the pods to manipulate everyone’s feelings and thoughts, but if I’m right, the solution is pretty simple.”

  “That’s what’s happening to Molly and the rest of our friends? They’re being brainwashed?” He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. The uncomfortable silence in the lab stretches on. I fear I’ve said too much, more than he can accept.

  “Then why haven’t Dean or I been affected?” His voice is as hard and cold as his stare.

  “I don’t think you’ve met your assigned match yet.” My voice quivers. I can’t tell if Jake’s angry at me or the situation. “You probably think I’m crazy right about now.”

  “No. I’m not blind.” His voice softens as he drops into a computer chair. “I’ve noticed the strange relationships. If you told me it was something in the water that would make sense, but to think that someone’s intentionally doing this to us—” Jake’s eyes are wild with confusion and fury. He bangs his fist against the counter. “If what you’re saying is true, we should tell someone.”

  I pull over a chair and sit across from Jake so I can look him in the eyes. “Of course we should tell someone, but even if we had evidence, just who would we tell? The field managers? The very same people I suspect are responsible for this? Up until a few days ago I would have confided in Dr. Brant, but with the way she’s acting it’s no longer an option.”

  “Yeah, I see your point,” Jake concedes. “But what I don’t understand is how and why? What’s the point in it all? Just what are they getting out of it?”