00: Push and Pull

  Evelyn

  It starts with the pull. Not the blinding flash, not the heat. Those come later.

  One moment, Evelyn stands in the observation deck, datapad in hand, watching her father mill around the drive casing, her mother’s hand resting proudly on her shoulder. The next, her stomach lurches, drawn— even at this distance— toward the whirring device in the room below.

  The walls groan inward as the air itself bends and warps. Loose equipment shudders toward the drive core, metal tools snapping through the air like bullets. Evelyn’s legs buckle. Her body lurches forward, dragged by a force she can’t see but feels in her bones.

  Then—searing white light.

  A deafening roar pairs with exploding glass, turning the air into a swimming pool of glittering knives. Heat smashes into her left side as she tries to turn away, glass and metal shredding her uniform, tearing at her skin. She slams into the reinforced wall behind her with a crack that rips the breath from her lungs.

  The last thing she sees before the world swallows her whole is the twisted wreckage of the observation bay peeling away—and her mother’s hand, reaching.

  But it never reached her.

  Click.

  The door to the boardroom hisses shut, grounding Evelyn back in the present. She blinks, forcing her mind to steady. Around her, the last sharply dressed executive finds his seat, smoothing his jacket with sweaty hands and dabbing at the perspiration on his glistening forehead with a white cloth.

  Everyone in this room is afraid. Well… nearly everyone.

  Evelyn stands at the head of a long, sleek table surrounded by the company’s top executives. The boardroom at corporate headquarters is sleek, pristine– a chamber with digital displays embedded in the walls and floor-to-ceiling glass windows thick enough to hold in the artificial atmosphere. The view looks out over the dusty red plains fading into the famous blue twilight of a Martian sunset. At the center of the room sits a polished wooden table made of earth’s finest mahogany. At its head: NovaTech’s CEO, Benjamin Shaw. His presence fills the air with a near humid, palpable tension. The conversation hasn’t even started and Evelyn thanks the stars the other executives remembered to put on their strongest antiperspirants. Men stink when they’re nervous.

  Shaw clears his throat as the last board members take their seats. “I have gathered you here today to discuss the upcoming 34th Triennial Innovator's Conference. As you know, StellarCorp is ready to announce their new FTL drive prototype. They claim it is exponentially more efficient than the current standard and will completely revolutionize interstellar travel."

  The board members exchange glances, fully aware of the implications this has for NovaTech. They are rigid, professional, yes-men. All of them. Afraid that one wrong word will cost them their position– and salary. Despite Shaw’s intimidating presence making the other executives shrink in their seats, Evelyn remains composed, knowing that Shaw's exacting standards have always pushed her to excel rather than to fear.

  "StellarCorp's technological leap could severely damage our brand," Shaw says, his head turning slightly toward Evelyn. "We cannot allow them to overshadow us at the conference."

  "This," he gestures to Evelyn, "is Doctor Evelyn Stone, the lead engineer overseeing our research division. Perhaps NovaTech's best guarded secret. Despite her brilliant technological portfolio and academic acumen, she's brought something else to our organization. She the one responsible for the Datasphere and Diamond Dynamics acquisitions, and the collapse of one of our biggest competitors: Griner Technologies.”

  Dr. Stone does her best to hide the smile creeping in behind the edge of her mouth.

  “All of that said, I’ve brought her here today to impress upon her the gravity of our current predicament.”

  Unexpected.

  Until this moment, Evelyn had assumed she was here to provide a progress report on the Celestial Reaper project. Her mental outline was precise. Numbers. Milestones. Contingency budgets. Expected revenue. All the things boardroom executives want to hear.

  But “impress” lands wrong. It’s too performative, like a warning.

  She doesn’t like being surprised, even worse– unprepared. He’s looking at her now, expectantly. As though any moment she’ll figure out what he’s brought her here for.

  Her gaze flickers toward Cruz, all too comfortable in his chair, like a hunter watching its prey caught in his trap.

  "I understand the gravity of the situation, Mr. Shaw.” Evelyn says carefully. “But rushing my project could lead to unforeseen consequences.”

  Shaw smiles and meets her eyes. His piercing gaze misses nothing. Always analyzing, always assessing. Here in his boardroom, Shaw is in his element, smug and feeling powerful. On the desk in front of him is a small glass of centuries-old scotch, and the ice is beginning to sweat. Cruz looks all-too pleased with himself, the only other director in the room who’s not wearing their fear on their sleeve.

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  "Doctor Stone," Shaw says with a hint of fondness in his voice, "Always straight to the point.”

  You’re the one who taught me the value of efficiency.

  But her stomach coils. Something’s wrong. She expected a challenge, yet this feels more like a trap. The last time a powerful man smiled through a technical shortcut, she nearly died, and her parents’ bodies were found in pieces.

  “I’m a very busy woman,” Evelyn says, the edge of her voice frigid and icy.

  “We need something groundbreaking to show at this conference,” Cruz interjects, uncrossing his stubby legs and leaning forward in his chair. “Our reputation is at stake here. Ever since StellarCorp’s CEO entered the race for Federation President, they’ve controlled the conversation. Now with their prototype on the brink of launch, we’re nothing but an afterthought."

  “The algorithms for the prototype are still pending proofs," Dr. Stone protests, shifting her focus to Cruz, a short, dumpling of a man sitting across from Shaw. “Then there’s months of testing before–” she catches herself as his smile curdles. “You know this.”

  “There’s an old saying,” Shaw snickers, watching the two of them bicker, “‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.’ Are you suggesting we’re doing just that, Doctor?”

  “Our reputation is exactly why we need you to advance the deadline on the Celestial Reaper project,” Cruz adds. “We need to show that NovaTech is still at the cutting edge. That we are the frontier of technological advancement. Of progress. Your work highlights how our FTL technology can be repurposed."

  Dr. Stone's eyes narrow as she swallows the anger rising in her chest. She clears her throat, appealing to Shaw. "Sir, you know what you’re asking me to do.”

  A thin smile spreads across Shaw’s lips. “I do,” he says cooly, breaking eye contact with Dr. Stone to address the other members of the board. “Now, the Innovator's Conference doesn't award new technologies that have a violent application.”

  But Evelyn isn’t finished protesting.

  “Then why showcase it at all?” she asks through clenched teeth.

  “Why indeed,” Shaw continues, injecting the slightest venom into his voice. “We will present it as a theoretical application, something to demonstrate NovaTech's adaptability and ingenuity."

  “So we’re not trying to win any awards,” Dr. Stone thinks aloud. “You’re just doing this to hold on to investors.”

  “And potential new ones,” Shaw admits with a smile.

  Evelyn is still trying to process Shaw’s proposal. He is well aware of her personal history, and every fiber of her being screams for her to tender her resignation. But she is at a crossroads. Here and now, finally, after years of work, her diligence and ambition are paying off. She’s in the board meeting, personally asked to attend by the Director of Research and Development at NovaTech, the largest corporation in the Federation of Sol. She is being given the chance to prove herself, to secure a position amongst the scientific elites. She can make a name for herself, and make her mark on what is surely one of the most defining moments in human history.

  It has taken her four years to become the head of engineering in NovaTech’s research and development division. Now the CEO of NovaTech Industries is proposing she accelerate the timeline of her Celestial Reaper project, superseding safety protocol, to engage in the same negligence that killed her parents.

  “With all due respect, Ben,” Evelyn begins, using his first name in a way no one else in the board room would dare, “I joined NovaTech because you assured me it was the only company with a clear stance on the ethical development of FTL technology, and track record to prove that commitment. What you’re asking me to do–”

  Shaw’s smile fades. “I’m not asking you to compromise your principles, or the principles of this company. I’m asking you to apply them… creatively.”

  “Doctor Stone,” Evelyn says, bristling. She didn’t endure a decade at the University of Sol to be called ‘Miss.’

  “Doctor, Stone,” Shaw concedes, lifting his fingers off the table. “Perhaps the announcement of the keynote speaker will motivate you, then.”

  Evelyn raises an eyebrow.

  “Dr. Harper,” Shaw says nonchalantly.

  “Allison, Harper?” Dr. Stone sucks in a breath of the hot, stuffy boardroom air.

  Shaw tilts his head playfully to one side, “The one and only.”

  Evelyn has clashed professionally with Harper before. Harper has held her own in debates on even the most nuanced and complex interstellar theory, but it is the woman’s convictions on the application of FTL technology that baffles Evelyn. Humanity is still in its infancy of galactic exploration. There is always the possibility of encountering a civilization more advanced out there, and without the means of protecting against this hypothetical threat, humanity is left open to the very real possibility of enslavement, or worse– annihilation.

  Beyond the threat of extinction, it is a mere name that crawls under Evelyn’s skin. She knows that she is being played– that Benjamin Shaw understands that above all else Evelyn is proud. Dr. Harper openly criticizes her work, though she doubts Dr. Harper even remembers her name. This is a chance to confront her rival. Evelyn presses her tongue against the back of her bottom teeth, and takes another deep breath. "Very well, Mr. Shaw. I'll advance the project's deadline, provided you allocate the necessary resources to my division.” She picks up the folder on the desk in front of her. “However, I will not violate NovaTech’s– nor my, ethical guidelines."

  Shaw nods, tapping the table in celebration. "Excellent, Doctor Stone.”

  “Oh, and one more thing,” Evelyn says suddenly, adding to her demands. “Pull whatever strings you have to, but get me on a panel with Doctor Harper. I have a bone to pick with her.”

  Shaw’s smile widens and he turns to the other board members. “Gentlemen, the future of NovaTech is brighter than ever."

  Moments later, as the other executives file out of the boardroom, Shaw motions for Evelyn to stay behind. When the room is empty, he drops his shoulders and rolls his head back and forth. "That went well. You continue to impress me, Doctor. Don't worry about Cruz—I'll handle him. Focus on what you do best." He taps the folder containing her project specifications. "Just remember what I always tell you..."

  "Innovation without responsibility is just destruction with a marketing budget," Evelyn finishes his oft-repeated mantra with a self-assuring nod. Shaw has taken a chance on her, by hiring her as a fresh graduate from university. For four years she’s outperformed every metric the company has set for her. She isn’t about to falter now.

  "Precisely," Shaw says, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Now go make history. I’ll see to it you’re on that panel."