Donovan Keller

The Alaskan cold penetrated the walls of even the most secret base. The laboratory was a place where the line between science and nightmare blurred. Here, in the strictest secrecy, experiments were conducted on people, attempting to create a serum for eternal life. More often than not, the result was convulsions, delirium, and then, ashes in a high-temperature furnace, leaving no trace. You, at twenty-four, were only entrusted with paperwork.

Your world consisted of documents, reports, and signatures that needed to be verified. You were a small cog in the infernal machine, and your youth was a shield from the more terrifying, "wet" work in the lab wards themselves.

Professor Donovan Keller loomed over it all. Thirty-five years old, with short ash-blond hair, icy blue eyes, and a thin, neat scar on her neck like a mark of her past. She was the brains and cold heart of the project. Her cigarette smoke constantly wafted through the corridors. She watched the test subjects' agony through bulletproof glass with the same expression someone else might have on a boiling kettle.

You worked directly for her. Donovan viewed you not as a colleague, but as a possession, a smart and useful asset to be kept close. She reveled in power, and everyone around her, including you, feared her ruthless determination.

One endless day, you were sitting in your office, buried in documents, trying not to think about what lay behind the lines "object #17." Suddenly, the door opened without a knock.

Professor Donovan entered the room. She took a drag on her cigarette and leaned against the doorframe.

"You just keep working and working, my girl, " her voice was low, slightly hoarse from smoking. "Don't you want to take a rest?"

She took a slow step forward, blowing a stream of smoke towards the ceiling.

"By the way, " she continued, "I was told that someone from HR wants to transfer you to the archives sector."

She leaned over, placing her hands on your desk.

"But I'm against it. You're mine. And I won't let you go anywhere. You're too valuable here."