Main Street, Rangerville, Tuesday, May 4, 2021, 8:20 PM
As Molly's feet pounded against the dusty sidewalk, she realized she felt pretty good. The sun was sinking into a fat crimson ball on the horizon, and the heat of the early desert summer had already faded into a pleasantly cool evening.
Molly relaxed into the familiar rhythm of her evening jog. She'd started jogging in college, after a rough breakup, in an effort to reinvent herself. Now, nearly twenty years later, it was just part of her life. She found the simple ritual of movement and breath helped settle her, especially after a long day at work.
Work, of course, was proving to be a new and interesting challenge.
She'd started yesterday at FutureTech's Rangerville facility. Over her years with the company, Molly had seen so many FutureTech labs, they all looked pretty much the same to her.
Bonnie, the facility manager, and Susanne, the lab's senior engineer, had given her the tour. At first, Molly had mostly tuned them out. She was used to facility managers showing off, while bitter senior engineers explained why missed deadlines, out of spec products and demoralized teams were someone else's fault, all while they both - with varying degrees of politeness - made it clear that some outsider sent by corporate wasn't wanted.
So, Molly had been pleasantly shocked when they went off script.
"Of course, the sensor module is a challenging project," Stern Susanne said curtly. "We've been working in coordination with the biotech team, designing a new system of detecting and analyzing biological contaminants. It will be a revolutionary device, once the work is complete."
"Which is where you come in, Dr. Prescott," Bonnie of the Bounteous Bosom put in. "Your talent for bringing difficult projects in under seemingly impossible deadlines..."
"Everything is perfectly on schedule," Stern Susanne pointed out. "Or it was until two weeks ago, when the MoD suddenly moved up our deadline!"
So that was the problem, Molly reflected. Well, it was hardly the first time the Ministry of Defense had asked for the impossible. Fortunately, handling the MoD's demands were Bonnie of the Bounteous Bosom's problem. Coordinating between biotech and the engineers was now Molly's.
The engineers she was confident she could handle, being an engineer herself. The bio guys... well, it wouldn't be the first time she'd dealt with people who talked to plants as if they expected the plants to talk back.
Even better, her lead engineer turned out to be something of a fan.
"It's really great to work with you, Dr. Prescott," Dylan Sigworth said. He was skinny as a reed, clearly dedicated to his work, and also way too excited.
"Please, just call me Molly," she smiled at him.
"Wow, cool," Dedicated Dylan chuckled. Molly wondered briefly when FutureTech started hiring kids this young.
"I doubt you remember me, Dr. Pres... I mean, Molly," Dedicated Dylan continued, "but you did a series of guest lectures on engineering and project management while I was at the Foxbury Institue. You really inspired me."
"That's great," Molly smiled. "I look forward to working with you."
I'm not even 40 yet, Molly chuckled to herself as she jogged through the gathering twilight. I'm not old enough to feel this old.
The little shack up ahead, undoubtably the curio shop her rental agent had warned her off, appeared to be open. Smiling, and maybe perversely determined to prove to herself that she wasn't that old, Molly decided it was high time to look for some things to decorate her new place.
"Hey, welcome to Curious Curios and More," the guy working the stand said brightly. "No one ever asks me about the 'and More' part but any-hoo, I'm Erwin. What'cha lookin' for?"
"Just some stuff to decorate my place," Molly smiled, checking out the odd assortment of things.
"Oh sure, got lots of stuff," Eccentric Erwin said. "Got some posters, old lamps, bunch o' books..."
"I'd like to look at your posters," Molly said.
"You from around here, Erwin?" Molly asked, making conversation.
"Nah, I moved here from Oasis Springs," Eccentric Erwin replied. "I was... uhh... well that ain't important. Any-hoo, it's a strange little town."
"Small towns are like that, I guess," Molly said.
"Yeah, well this one's even stranger," Eccentric Erwin said conspiratorially. "You know about the Army base, right... and the secret lab, up in the old crater. Then there's this whole bunch of gov'ment types pokin' around the town library. They's lookin' for somethin' in the old town records."
"You don't say," Molly said, not really paying attention.
"Yeah," Eccentric Erwin nodded knowingly. "The way I heard it, there was an explosion at the secret lab a couple weeks ago."
"Explosion?" Molly blinked. "Wait, two weeks ago?"
"Yeah, that sounds 'bout right," Eccentric Erwin said. "Big explosion 'bout two weeks ago... no one's been in or out of that lab since. The Army guys ain't sayin' nothin, but stuff has been gettin' seriously strange since then. That's Strangerville for yah. You want them posters?"
"Yeah." Molly shook her head. "Yeah, I'll take these."
Ok, Molly thought, granted Eccentric Erwin's a little... well, eccentric... but what if he's on to something. The MoD did move up the deadline on the sensor project two weeks ago, about the same time as this supposed explosion at the Army lab outside of town. That's... interesting.
Of course, Molly chuckled to herself, maybe I shouldn't give too much credit to a guy wearing a colander and holiday lights as a hat.
Still, this town has a strange vibe.
What did Exccentric Erwin call it?
Strangerville?
Yeah, this town is definitely a little strange.
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