The Mysteries of Lab 327 (Version 1.1)

Original prompt: I had just found out about the Boston Marathon and was not in a good place mentally. Everyone I know was safe, but my head was ringing with a certain someone saying "And you wonder why I hate people." I just felt absolutely compelled to write something, so I sat down and immediately wrote Chapters 1 and 5, and the rest of the story unfolded in the following days.

I initially described this story as "dark" but I think people read that as "tragic". What I meant was that I fully intend to write the characters as the amazingly brilliant, but maddeningly fallible people we adore. Also, the story main characters are Tesla, Henry, and Helen, but the posting used to read Helen/Henry which was weird so I pulled his name from the list.

Chapter 1: Lab Assistant Wanted

Most people weren't dumb enough to accept a job offer that they hadn't even applied for.

Most people didn't turn down positions at highly respected universities or lucrative offers from wealthy, global companies to go be a lab monkey at some tiny, unknown private research facility.

Most people wouldn't ignore the fact that this particular company had been around for almost a century, but had only started patenting technology in the last few years, after their Old City laboratory exploded.

Most people weren't crazy enough, it's true, but Stefan Miller was not most people.

He had looked at this particular company, and remembered whispers on the web about their real purpose, whispers that had predated the company's massive downsizing years ago.

He had been bored by the idea of doing the same jobs everyone else in his year was doing; he wanted to be somewhere new.

He had been flattered by an offer he hadn't even courted, and he thought it spoke well of his potential coworkers to if they were all hand selected too.

Stefan was intrigued, so after several Skype interviews with the company's young CEO, a Mr. Henry Foss, he had been convinced to come out for a visit. The offices were unconventional, the company's resources were impressive, and the job itself was certainly... unusual.

He would be given an impressive budget for his own independent work, but a list of oddly primitive responsibilities for the lab's head researcher, serving almost as the man's secretary as well as his lab assistant. It seemed almost like the postdoctoral offers he had turned down, but for a scientist who according to the internet, had never published any papers, attended any schools, or filed any patents.

Mr. Foss had told him to hold judgment until he met his new boss, and he had, only to be blown away by the man's brilliance, his insight, and the depth and breadth of his knowledge of biology, chemistry, electronics, computer science, and engineering. Stefan realized that his own work would soon be sidelined, gladly, for the chance to assist this man in his work.

And so, Stefan came to work in Lab 327 at Sanctuary, a small research company based in London, England, as assistant to the technically non-existent Dr. Nikola Young.

Most people would've questioned the identity of the odd man who seemed to never sleep and outworked Stefan every night of the week. Many people would've questioned the fact that when Dr. Young traveled for business, he gave Stefan the days off, even insisted Stefan not come in to the lab.

Most people would've demanded to know why there seemed to be no logical processes to the projects they worked on, or why so few of them ever seemed to make it to the patent office.

Most people would've been suspicious of the mysterious door in the back of Dr. Young's lab, that Stefan was told explicitly to never enter, "or the least that would happen would be his immediate dismissal". Most people would've eventually been overwhelmed by curiosity and opened the door. Most people would've regretted doing so immediately.

Stefan Miller liked his new job very, very much, and luckily, he was not most people.

I'm being very nebulous about what happened post SFN2 (for now). That's cause you'll be seeing this story though Stefan's eyes.

(And guesses and reviews are always appreciated! - But if you're going to complain about my grammar, please be specific!)