163. The Interview
Amy decides to trust her sense of humanity’s innate goodness and treat this fellow as she’d like to be treated: with a hearty hello and a warm handshake.
“Um… Hello?” All set to set to stride across the lab brimming with confidence, Amy suddenly feels a loss of nerve as her eyes once again land on the green giant in the center of the room. She walks slowly across the lab.
“Eh? What? Ah!” The man turns and begins eying Amy. “You must be the new lab assistant! Excellent, excellent.” He walks excitedly across the lab to meet Amy. Amy feels a little better. He gets up close and begins looking Amy up and down.
“Hmmmm… You look awfully attractive for a lab assistant.” Amy blushes slightly at the compliment. The old man doesn’t notice, a twinge of suspicion entering his voice. “You’re sure you’re not a test subject?”
“Well, um, I just came down here through that door…” Amy gestures at the lab entrance, “and I thought maybe you could-“
“Oh, well, if you came in through the door instead of the chute, you must be a lab assistant. Old starched bottom upstairs only lets the assistants past my security door.”
Amy looks around at all the equipment. She had taken a few lab classes in college. Maybe she could fake being an assistant long enough to find out if this old coot knows anything about Shannon.
The man goes on. “I am Doctor Frank N…”
“Stein?” Amy ventures.
“No, my name is Carluzzo. Why does everyone assume that I’m German?”
“Oh, well, umm… I’m not really sure… My name is Am-“
“Your name is Lab Assistant until I need something shorter to call you. Now that introductions are out of the way, what’s your specialization?”
“Specialization?”
“Your field! What’s your Ph.D. in, numbskull?”
Amy thinks quickly. What was her best subject?