Chronicle of Nautilus

Chapter 4: Home of The Evolution

Today Landau had an opportunity to take a long walk again. To visit the biological enhancement facilities he needed to get to the edge of the city. Only this time Tom did not notice pedestrians, nor did he enjoy the city view. All the way from home Landau was thinking about the mysterious person who outwitted Glen, about the research Claire was doing. Was she smart enough to avoid the fate Usher had?

Yes, she learned from mistakes, even when they were made by someone else. If there was a person, that Tom considered to be the best at searching and tracking, it would be Claire. The villain refrained from killing Glen and escalating the situation. It must have been a sign that he was not ready to act yet. They still had time to find him.

As Tom snapped back to reality, he was standing in front of a tall building, twenty to twenty-five stories high. The light of the sun, coming from behind, reflected on the one-way mirror windows and blinded him. Landau lifted both hands to cover his eyes. Words made out of holo-letters on the top of entrance were 'Home of The Evolution.' He made a few steps closer and letters changed to plain 'Welcome'. A few more steps and he was already inside.

Many things had changed since the last visit. The place became livelier. Green color dominated the interior. Rare trees, stretching to the ceiling, extended upwards to no less than the third floor of the cylindrical building. Surrounded by them, bubbled an immense fountain of crystal clear water with fish, jumping over artificial waves every few seconds. Flowers, the kind of Landau had never seen before grew by the paths leading to the labs. The view was relaxing and hypnotizing. Tom approached the administrator and asked to call Cyrus Everton. During the five minutes of waiting he walked a circle around the oasis in the middle of the hall and took a seat on one of the benches, which gave a great view to the fountain.

A moment passed and a man with white hair approached him, walking speedily. Cyrus was a few years younger than Claire. He was somewhat lean and just a little taller than Tom. The scientist looked much younger than he was; probably he used some of his own medicine.

"Nice to meet you, it's been a while," Cyrus greeted him.

"Yes, it was."

"Please, let's take that elevator to my office." He pointed at the direction he came from. Landau stood up and they continued the conversation on foot. Cyrus continued, "You know, Claire talks a lot about you."

"Oh, and what does she say?"

"She says that you are a great man, and she admires you a lot." Cyrus turned towards Tom and after their eyes had met he said, "I just wanted to ask if you could help her stay out of trouble."

"I always do that. But frankly, most of the time safety of an agent depends on his methods. I can assure you, Claire always takes precautions."

"I understand. I hope she does."

They stepped into an elevator made of glass. It slowly moved up. Landau took a moment of silence to admire the beauty and design of the building - a perfect example of nature mixed with technology.

Bubbles of mercury were dancing in the center of the structure, jumping and connecting, they formed obscure shapes. Gravity in space was not that difficult to manipulate, here, the application of gravity field reflectors was adjusted to form a magical piece of art. Everything in this building seemed to be made to distract people from reality and promote their thinking processes.

"Seems that you get a lot of support from the community," Landau noted.

"Yes, many people admire our research and contribute. We try to put their donations to a good use. The garden below was made by children volunteers from the local schools. Many of them hope to become scientists one day. We try to cooperate with other educational institutions as much as possible.Perhaps later you would like to visit our newest laboratory? I could show you some interesting equipment."