The Beginning of Something Epic

Heavy rain poured down as Sophia slunk behind the wall of the darkened physics building. Peering around the corner she spied two men arguing over something she couldn’t make out. The parking lot was empty except for two sleek luxury cars, one red and the other black. Their headlights cast the men’s shadows against the building, as she crouched down low. As she strained to hear what they were saying, her mind drifted back to earlier that morning.

The alarm clock went off at 7 am, but overuse of the snooze button left her exactly 10 minutes to get ready and out the door for her early morning physics class. Sophia’s roommate Tammy had dragged her to a party the night before, and her only reward was a headache and physical exhaustion. One cringing look into the mirror verified that her naturally curly hair was matted, her eyes were bloodshot, and there wasn’t enough concealer in the world to cover up the bags under her eyes. With a sigh of defeat, Sophia pulled on a hoodie, jeans, old sneakers, and a hat, and prayed her tinted lip gloss would be enough to distract attention from her exhausted eyes.

Looking to the other side of the room she enviously observed Tammy blissfully asleep, making her give into the impish impulse to slam the door as she exited. The last thing she heard was a thud and a groaned curse, as Tammy’s jolt awakened body hit the thinly carpeted floor. Chuckling to herself that it served her right, she hurried away with her head down in hopes of avoiding unwanted attention. Hastily exiting her dorm building, Sophia ran smack into her best friend Carlos.

“Hey, careful Sophia,” Carlos said. “Everything alright, you look exhausted.” Carlos was usually upbeat and cheerful, and this morning was no exception. His handsome face slightly obscured by his baseball cap and wire frame glasses, came into focus as Sophia looked up into his now concerned chocolate brown eyes.

“Thanks Captain Obvious,” Sophia said sarcastically. “Tammy dragged me to a frat party again last night and…wait, what are you doing here, this isn’t your normal route to class,” she sniped.

“Oh, so you forgot already I see, we’re supposed to be discussing our upcoming presentation on the way to class…remember? I don’t know about you, but I plan to win our pitch contest and we still have some kinks to work out,” he quipped. As the light bulb switched on in her brain it cleared out the residual fog of exhaustion. How could she forget about their presentation, if they did well their names would be entered into the national science pitch contest.

For months they had been secretly developing a limitless energy power device by tapping into the ionosphere. There was just one stubborn glitch that needed to be worked out. Carlos always kept a notebook to jot down their trial and errors since he was afraid someone could hack into their cloud drive and steal their idea, but Sophia often dismissed his paranoia by saying, “Why would anyone be interested in what two nerdy college kids were working on.”

Chatting on their way to class, Sophia couldn’t shake a feeling that they were being watched. Trying to be inconspicuous, she stole a backwards glance and spied a tall man in a black business suit and sunglasses walking a few paces behind them. Just to be sure he wasn’t following them, she altered their route to class. Yet, when she looked back and still saw him, she alerted Carlos.

Carlos immediately became pensive, and shared that he found something he wanted to show her. Cutting through the engineering building they blended into the crowd of students, before exiting. Not seeing the man, they still cut through another building before heading to their class in the physics building. Somewhat relaxed knowing they were no longer followed, Sophia pulled Carlos into an empty classroom and demanded answers.

“What in the world is going on,” Sophia demanded. “And why were we being followed?”

Sheepishly Carlos opened his backpack to reveal a little black book he found that contained information that could completely solve the issue they were having with their device. Flipping through the pages, Sophia was amazed to see the complex formulas and advanced technology sketches throughout the book. As her jaw dropped open, Carlos used his index finger to lift her chin up, and was rewarded with a swift punch in the arm.

“How long did you have this, and why’d you hide this from me,” Sophia asked in a wounded tone. “You know I never hide anything from you.”

“First of all, enough with the dramatics. I wasn’t hiding anything from you, I was planning to tell you about it on the way to class. I only found this book yesterday,” Carlos stated.

“But why were we being followed,” Sophia asked again. “You didn’t break into a top-secret facility without me, did you?”

“No, nothing like that,” Carlos laughed nervously. “But what’s in here I know some people wouldn’t want coming out. Just think about how we could change people’s lives.” Turning their attention back to the little black book, they imagined the possibilities. Lost in their thoughts, neither heard the classroom door quietly open.

“I’m sorry to intrude, but I’m glad I found you,” a deep male voice abruptly interrupted their train of thought. Startled they spun around to see the man who had been following them enter the classroom and close the door.

“Don’t be afraid, my name is Milo Sergoff,” the man stated. “I’m glad you found the book I intended for you Carlos. I’ve been following the work you two have been doing for quite some time, and I thought this was just the boost you needed to complete your project,” Milo shared. “You see, I have been searching for people like you. People who don’t want to just capitalize on their scientific findings, but actually care about dramatically improving people’s lives, even if it means giving away valuable information. Are you still willing to do that?”

With jaws dropped, both Sophia and Carlos nodded their heads. They had no idea that they'd been secretly observed, and were at a loss for words.

“I know you’re now late for class, so before I leave, I want you both to meet me this evening at 10 pm in the parking lot of this building,” Milo requested. “I have something else for you, and there are a few things I want to go over.”

The slam of a car door snapped her attention back to the arguing men. The arguing stopped as another man joined them. Sophia’s heart was beating a mile a minute with apprehension and fear. What did Carlos get them into, she lamented to herself, and how did her uneventful life take such a suspenseful turn. A touch on her shoulder caused her to almost jump out her skin and scream in fright. Whipping around she caught Carlos’ mischievous grin.

“You scared me half to death,” she seethed. “Where were you, you’re late?”

“Sorry, I was held up at work, and could only clock out five minutes ago,” Carlos apologetically whispered. “Who are those men, and where’s Milo?” The rain had finally let up, as Sophia updated him. As they turned their attention back to the men in the parking lot, someone called out their names.

Startled that they were summoned, both Sophia and Carlos shot glances at each other and froze in place. Who were these men, and how did they know their names they wondered. As if hearing their thoughts, the man who called out their names announced that he was Milo’s brother, and that he had a proposition for them. Still skeptical about stepping forward, they waited with bated breath to see what would happen next.

Sensing their hesitancy, Milo’s brother proceeded to tell them that he had no intention of hurting them. He knew what Milo had done, but he offered a much sweeter deal.

Looking at each other for confirmation, they slowly stepped forward. All eyes turned on them as they approached the waiting men. Drawing closer they spied a briefcase on the ground. Clearly this was what the two men were fighting over earlier.

Milo’s brother introduced himself as Sasha Sergoff. Sasha proceeded to tell them that if they gave him back the little black book, he would give them the brief case of money sitting on the ground. “How much is in the briefcase,” Sophia quickly asked.

“It’s $20,000,” Sasha responded. “However, think of it as just the beginning of your reward. If you agree to my terms, you won’t have to worry about another bill for the next 30 years, you will be able to travel anywhere you want in the world, and you will have a job lined up as soon as you graduate college. I will take care of it all. All you need to do is give me back the book and promise never to bring its contents to the light of day.”

Carlos and Sophia stared at him and then each other in shock, not sure what to say. “Can we have a moment to discuss this privately,” Carlos finally asked.

“By all means,” Sasha said and smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. As Sophia and Carlos walked away from where the men stood, they whispered to each other nervously.

“What do you think we should do,” Sophia asked. “I think we should keep the book,” Carlos responded. “$20,000 may seem like a lot of money to us now, but think about the long term impact the technology could have on the world. Remember what Milo said about the characteristics he was looking for? We can’t so quickly prove him wrong now. We’re better than that.”

“I guess your right,” Sophia sighed, as she mentally deleted the things she was thinking about buying with her share of the money. “But you be the one to tell him,” she quickly stated.

As they walked back to where the men were waiting, Carlos shared that they decided to keep the book, since its information was too important to not share with the rest of the world. Upon finishing his speech, the back door of the black car opened, and to their surprise Milo stepped out.

“See I told you Sasha, this is why I selected them,” Milo smugly stated. “My brother and I debated over whether you were worthy of this information. Even our assistants were unaware of our intentions.” The two previously arguing men sheepishly glanced at each other, before looking down.

“However, since you proved yourself to be more motivated by helping others than by money, we will proceed as planned. Everything Sasha promised you still stands, as well as the briefcase of $20,000,” Milo explained. “We will stay in close contact with you as you proceed with developing the technology blueprints provided, just do not share your work with anyone until it’s finished. If you have any questions and need to reach me, there is a device in the briefcase with a red button, push it and I will contact you.”

Upon sharing that information and answering a few questions, the four men went into their prospective cars and instead of driving away, lifted off the parking lot, cloaked their vehicles and disappeared.

Dumbfounded, Carlos and Sophia with eyes as wide as saucers, dragged their attention away from the now empty night sky only to stare at each other in disbelief. Carlos recovered first and after using his index finger to lift up Sophia’s chin, he was once again rewarded with a punch in the arm. As they walked back to their dorms with the briefcase between them, they couldn’t stop expounding on what just transpired.

“This is the beginning of something epic Sophia,” Carlos stated. “Yes, it is,” Sophia responded. “And we have much work to do.”