Read Online Calypso Directive by Brian Andrews - Free Book Online

twelve of these little guys working together, I have a small, infinitely configurable, mobile antennae.”
    â€œUnbelievable. Tim would love this! Tim wouldn’t believe this,” he mumbled. “Any other robot bugs on the loose around here I should know about?”
    â€œYeah, spiders. They’ve been in the field for twelve months. Maybe you’ll get to see them in action,” Abbey said.
    Briggs spoke up. “Okay, show-and-tell time is over. Time to get moving. Say goodbye to the Queen of the Nerds. We’ve got work to do. Let’s go see your lab.”
    â€œNice to meet you, Abbey,” AJ said as he turned to follow Briggs to the elevator.
    â€œLikewise,” Abbey replied with a grin. “Gadget Girl, out.”
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    â€œ HERE WE ARE ,” Briggs said, motioning to a dark room with a partially closed door. A shining new nameplate was attached to the wall next to the doorframe and etched into its surface were the words: AJ Archer—RS:Bio.
    AJ shot Briggs a quizzical look. “I was expecting to be working in a lab.”
    â€œThat’s right. You will be. This is your lab,” Briggs said. “Go on. Take a look inside.”
    AJ hesitantly pushed the door open and stepped across the threshold. The lights in the room brightened automatically upon entry. The windowless workspace was semicircular, with an expansive brushed stainless steel desk that graced the full curvature of the facing wall. Three black leather task chairs were parked underneath the overhang of the desk. Rich, brightly colored computer images suddenly illuminated on the wall panels in front of him. The images appeared as if they were projected, but he saw no projector in the room. Upon closer inspection, he found no LCD monitors, no plasma screens, no seams or bezels—the light simply emanated from the wall, in tidy 16:9 aspect ratio windows.
    â€œOLED fabric wall covering. Infinitely configurable. Multitactile, pressure sensitive. Pretty cool, huh?” Briggs remarked.
    AJ dragged his fingertips along one of the images, lightly caressing the surface. The window shifted, repositioning with his touch.
    â€œCool,” he mumbled and then turned his attention to the desk. Neatly positioned before two of the task chairs were wireless keyboards and wireless trackball mice. In front of the third chair rested a sleek notebook computer, screen open. “Do these control the screens on the wall?”
    â€œYes. And the notebook computer is yours to keep. It’s linked to our cloud servers so you can always access all of your files, whether you’re in or out of the office.”
    â€œNice.” Then his giddy schoolboy grin slowly morphed into a bewildered stare. “This is a cool command center, but it’s not a lab. There’s no stuff here. No microscopy, no analyzers, no batch bioreactors, no centrifuges or microbial storage . . . nothing, but a very shiny desk.”
    Briggs laughed loudly. “Archer, you’re in the big leagues now. We’re not hiring you to stain microscope slides; we’re hiring you to direct, analyze, and interpret lab work performed by others.” Briggs pressed the “0” button on his mobile phone.
    â€œC. Remy. How may I help you, Mr. Briggs?” a woman’s voice resonated from hidden speakers in the ceiling. Her tone was placid and calming.
    â€œCoordinator, I’m here with our new hire, Mr. Archer, in Bio Lab One. Can you please bring Bethesda online so Archer can see his laboratory,” Briggs instructed.
    â€œYes, Mr. Briggs. Bethesda biolab coming online now,” C. Remy said.
    As fluidly as the nightly news transitions from the anchor desk to a remote camera on location, the screens on the wall switched to camera views inside a bustling microbiology laboratory. A young, handsome Asian man entered the camera frame labeled “Bethesda” and