Prologue

Two figures in suits stood in a secluded lab. On tables and benches lay hundreds of machines and samples sitting inactive, silent and cold. On one side of the room there was a wide window betraying the climate of the outside. A large unforgiving desert of ice and snow fields, stretching out for miles until it found the mountain range on the horizon. Between two of the peaks there was a tiny dot, growing slowly larger.
One of the figures turned. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, with a lab coat slung over her shoulders. The top button was fastened around her neck and the arms trailed loosely as her own were crossed in front of her.
The other figure was leaning against a bench, rubbing his eyes in thought. A button up dark blue shirt and suit combination was his choice, with a visitors tag hanging form his neck. As he stared at the floor the woman spoke.
"look, I'm sorry to force this onto you but I need your decision now. This will be the last chopper coming to this base in a long time. Will you stay on the team?" the man sighed before he replied
"look, after what you've just told me how can I? What you're doing here, it could have serious consequences even if you don't succeed. Ten billion credits down the drain, traced to a fake company? Tarius will never survive that."
"It will work. Look, half the research we've already got is worth millions anyway, and the powers that be are happy for us to keep the licences for them. All they want is the finished project."
"it just screams dirty to me is all I'm saying. By the way, what is this last chopper doing here anyway, besides being the point of no return?"
"its bringing in the last shipment of supplies..."
"...and?"
"and the test subject, for when we've got the inhibitors working and we're ready to test."
the man stared at her for a long time, eventually letting out another sigh and looking around the place.
"look, I cant. I've had another job lined up at InterSec just in case this went south in the early months. I'll live off my severance package until they pick me up. I'll be fine"
"I want you to stay. You were the main reason I signed up for this, and we've come so far!"
"I didn't start this business as a freelancer like you, I took an oath." he stood up from the bench and moved closer to her. "and unfortunately that means turning down plenty of jobs. I'm sorry. I wish you the best of luck."
"I'm sorry too. And good luck to you too. The chopper will be here in about 15 mins, and it leaves at 1500. I'll be on the pad when you go."
the man put out his hand to shake.
"its been a pleasure" she took it
"Likewise" as he turned his back on her and left the room, she looked after him, with a grimace on her face. She hadn't told him everything, and it made her feel uneasy. Her orders were strict, and info was on a need to know basis. Still, he was her mentor.
She turned out and looked through the windows at the dot between the mountains. It had grown larger, and she could now make out the fuselage of the helijet even at this distance.