Such Great Heights

Chapter 1

"Test Subject 27 regaining consciousness."

The sounds of monitors beeping along with doctors and scientists speaking in loud volumes leads to a rude awakening. A bright beam of light shines in Lauren's eyes, alternating back and forth between the two. A lot of the words that come out of the mouths of the people observing her are muffled. What she does pick up is mostly medical jargon, but some of it can be understood.

"Pupil response positive."

"Heart rate 83 beats per minute."

"Blood pressure 86/60, appears slightly hypotensive."

"Normal BP reading 118/20. Other subjects are also waking up with temporary hypotension that goes away."

Even processing words like "hypotension," something that she could have easily understood any other day, strains her. Gloved hands poke and prod at her skin. She doesn't even feel human; this makes her feel like a lab rat. Is she allowed to complain, though? After all, she did sign up for this.

200 years ago, at least.

****

Year 2018. Lauren Jauregui had just recently graduated college from the University of California, Los Angeles with BA in Psychology. Simply a Bachelor's degree in that major was not nearly enough to secure any decent job, though. She would have to go on to get a Master's degree at the very least. Unfortunately, as a UC school, UCLA provided barely any financial aid to her as a student from out of state. It didn't help that her parents also had to deal with paying for Taylor and Chris' schooling. There was no way she could ask her parents for more money unless she wanted to send them into bankruptcy. Neck deep in debt and completely out of options, Lauren thought she would be forced to move back in with her parents and find a job at the local McDonalds for a few years before she could even think about returning to school.

And then a unique opportunity presented itself to her.

A week before she was going to be evicted from her apartment in LA, she received a letter from the Department of Health and Human Services. The content of the letter went along the lines of that she had met the criteria to be a part of an opportunity that would benefit not only her life, but the lives of millions of Americans forever. It would be life-changing. Her name would go down in history, and she would be paid for it. It almost seemed like a prank. Something that someone sent to her as a sick joke who knew that she was struggling financially. However, the seal on the letter was real. The address was legitimate, as was the name that was signed at the bottom of the paper.

She was to meet them at their headquarters in the city the next day promptly at 6 AM. With almost nothing to lose since she was already at rock bottom, Lauren decided to go.

Upon arriving at the large building marked as the HQ for the Department of Health and Human Services the next day, Lauren gave her name to the secretary and was immediately escorted by an important looking woman through a confusing path full of twists and turns. Several doors, elevators, and escalators later, they arrived at what appeared to be a secret wing located in the basement marked "Department of Futurology."

If it hadn't been for the fact that this was the official government building, Lauren would have been positive that this was all a joke. What the hell is the Department of Futurology, and why hadn't there been any news about it? Or at least, any leaked information? She remembered how WikiLeaks exposed tons of top secret information a couple years. Surely, if this department was legitimate, something would have leaked by now.

Lauren was led to the office that belonged to the head of the department. What he told her seemed unreal. It seemed like something out of a science-fiction movie. There was no way this was a real thing. Perhaps they were conducting some sort of strange social experiment on her to see how far they could make up bullshit before the person stopped believing it.