Abducted

It was dark. That was the first thing I noticed as I awoke from my (assumed) drug induced stupor. What had happened? I tried to pull memories from my foggy brain, but it was reluctant to comply. The last thing I remember was sitting at the table with... him. He smiled so sweetly; offered me a tall glass of iced tea. What a fool I was not to suspect anything, the tea was obviously laced with something.

Where was Grace? Had he done something with her as well? It wasn't likely, given that she was in the lab today. The location was top secret and hard to find unless you knew exactly where it was; heck, even if you DID know exactly where it was. It was a large facility, in the middle of the desert, contained entirely underground. We utilized what primitive cloaking tech we have to camouflage the entrance.

If anything happens to the research there... I shook my head to clear the grim thoughts that came tumbling in. I needed to deal with the problem at hand. First thing's first, where AM I? I stood up and felt along the walls; they were cold to the touch and slightly rough, maybe brick? Yes, they definitely felt like bricks. I followed along the walls, slowly feeling my way along. I came to a corner, eventually I came to another, then two more. Odd. It was a room with no door. I surmised that it must be a pit of some sort. I must have been lowered in; harder to escape that way.

Suddenly the room was illuminated by a bright, yellowish light. After being in such pitch black, I had to shield my eyes from the glare. As they adjusted, I realized that I had been correct in my assessment; the room had no door. It also had a quite sturdy looking ceiling. Suddenly the wall in front of me; the one that had been solid brick only moments before, became like clear glass. My eyes widened in surprise at the transformation. The surprise immediately gave way to anger. This was technology developed at MY lab by MY scientists. How did they... The question died on my lips as two people walked into the room behind the glass. One was him, the one who drugged me. The other was Grace.

The room began to spin. I couldn't understand; why was she here? With him? Their faces were amused as they observed me through the glass. Grace didn't even look like the person I'd known for the last three years. Oh the features were the same, but her countenance had changed.

"Surprised, Anna? You are so intelligent and yet, so naive" she said as she shook her head. Turning to the man, she said, " I told you she didn't suspect a thing".

"Yes," said the as-yet-unnamed man, "I see it on her face".

He looked at me with eyes that seemed to burn right through me. I wanted to look away, ashamed that I hadn't caught on to the deception. But I couldn't; that would show weakness.

"My name's Rutherford. I see you and Grace already know one another." I wanted to slap the smirk from his lips.

"People will know I'm missing. I have other scientists working for me. They'll look for me". It was a lame attempt, I knew; but what else did I have? They wanted to steal my main project, of that I was sure. I'd been working on it, well, my whole life. But I'd been working on it with substantial results for the last four or five years. I'd hired Grace three years ago to help me with the final work. She was the best in her field, quantum mechanics, and I'd wanted the best. Obviously my background checks could use a little work.

The man continued as if I hadn't spoken, "I own RTG Technologies. I'm the "R", and Grace here is the "T". Your work has been invaluable to us. Honestly, it's a shame you have such high morals; we could have come at this from an entirely different angle." He spoke the word 'morals' as if he were saying something distasteful.

RTG Tech -- it all made sense now. Five years ago I had been approached by them. They'd offered to fund my research, provide me with a lab, assistants, anything I needed. With one catch: all my research would be freely shared and used by the RTG militia group. Since the United States Military was now controlled by the European Coalition, militia groups had formed all over the U.S. to "defend" the citizens from terrorist attacks. Nothing was the same after the third World War. Now that Europe was the guiding power of the world and China had closed its gates once more, it was as if history had been propelled backward.

I had been researching a technology called quantum tunneling, or "QT". We just finished the human trials last week; that must be why my abduction occurred now. They have everything they need to launch. With this technology, they could deploy their troops in less than a second, anywhere in the world. Then extract them just as quickly. The country with this advantage will soon rule.

Of course that's not what I had in mind as I developed it. I had grand visions of travel being forever transformed. Visiting relatives overseas for the day, sending our people to the Discovery moon base instantly, without the pollution caused by shuttles. That was why I had turned the job offer down; I wanted this to be used and enjoyed by all, not as a military advantage. Obviously they found an alternative route to the tech: Grace. She had become my best friend. How could I have misjudged someone to that degree? Did anyone at the lab suspect her? Am I really that naive? I sighed and sat on the floor. "What are you going to do with me now?"

"I suppose that's entirely up to you, Anna. You can work with us, or..." he let that sentence trail off with a shrug.

Suddenly the room around me began to shimmer and spin. I heard Rutherford and Grace shouting, then the sound faded

I found myself in my own lab. My lab assistant was standing over me, a harried expression on his face and the QT controls in his hand. "Grace!" he said, "She, she's..."

"I know" was all the reply I could muster.