Selector

Five

I opened the door to Alvy's lab without knocking first. "Hey, Alv. See and I went to breakfast, I got you a-" I looked up to find Dr. Keelton perched on one of the metal lab stools. "Oh, Dr. Keelton. I wasn't expecting you." I cleared my throat, "Do you know where Dr. Pope is?"

Dr. Keelton looked up from the book he was reading, "I sent him to fetch us some coffee, but it looks like you come bearing gifts."

I nodded and set the bag of breakfast tacos down. "Yes, sir. I wasn't expecting to find you, but help yourself, there's plenty. You can also have this extra coffee." The coffee wasn't an extra, it was mine, but I felt obligated to give it to him. I really should've been drinking water anyways.

"Lets eat them in Dr. Pope's office. Don't want to cross contaminate, do we?"

"No sir." I grabbed the bag and headed through the side door into his office.

"So, will you please explain to me what exactly is a breakfast taco?"

I smiled and pulled out the cylinder wrapped in tin foil and handed it to him, "That one there is bacon, egg, and cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla." I dug around in the bag, "Here is the salsa, if you want to spice it up a bit." I passed the small container with the red liquid.

"I think I'll try it first. But, what's not to like out of that?" He chuckled and unwrapped the foil around his taco.

"How long are you going to be in town for?"

Dr. Keelton took a bite, chewed, then swallowed. "Well, that is just fantastic." I smiled and then he responded to my question. "As long as it takes for Dr. Pope and I to formulate an answer to why his cultures aren't produce the correct result. I think he's onto something now. He presented quite an intriguing idea to me yesterday. We'll see how it plays out."

I nodded, "So, honestly, is you being here a good thing for Dr. Pope?"

He shrugged as he swallowed another bite. "I think Dr. Pope has phenomenal potential, really. He's bright, driven, and full of great ideas. I just think that maybe some of the work he is proposing is hard for someone who is inexperienced. He's reaching for ideas that, if they become successful, would revolutionize the bacterial world. But his inexperience is a hindrance. I think by learning from myself and Dr. Lygand, he can really make something of himself."

I nodded, feeling better about Alvy's situation. It seemed that if someone like Dr. Keelton thought highly of Alvy, then maybe he wasn't in as much trouble as he thought. "I'm really glad to hear that."

Just then, the door to Alvy's office swung open, "I thought I'd find you in here." Alvy noticed me, "I hope you aren't torturing Dr. Keelton with your conspiracies about space travel. "

I smiled and threw him a taco, "No but I introduce him to the world of breakfast tacos."

Alvy nodded as he caught and opened his taco, "These things can change a man. Toss me the salsa, will you?"

I slid the salsa to his side of the desk. "But, I will tell you that I do completely believe that they are doing secret space missions. How can they not be?"

Dr. Keelton laughed, "You're not telling me that you think that they are launching rockets into space without any one knowing?"

I nodded, "Yes. How else would you explain the fact that they cut funding to the space program?"

Alvy rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath, "Here we go."

Dr. Keelton, however, was unaware of my passion for the subject. "They cut funding to the space program because there's nothing out there. We traveled our whole solar system and found nothing but rocks and dirt and poisonous gas."