As soon as she was passed the custodian, she realized that she had been noticeably dripping with sweat. She reluctantly used the sleeve of her nice cashmere sweater to wipe her brow. She should look normal now; the black tights should hide the sweat and the sweater was too thick to easily soak through. Sue stood up straight, took a breath, and continued back towards the lobby.
She forgot to check her watch so couldn't time the 10 minutes. At least 2 minutes had to have gone by before she left the snack bar. Walking fast was difficult. After the long hours, she was getting sleepy and tired with her full belly. Her feet were wobbly in the lusterite heels as she worked her sore and tired muscles in a different dance of forward momentum, surprised at how quickly her legs and hips tightened up while sitting.
Passed the learning center, she started looking for the turn to the geology wing as she ignored the meteor cases along the main corridor. The timer had already turned off the lights so the meteors now just looked like hunks of black rock in shadow. Her heart sank; her intern, Cindy, and the museum artist/cosmetologist Maya were coming the opposite way.
She liked Maya. Maya had redone all of the mannequins in the Nuymean room with historically accurate make-up a month or so ago. She was very precise and matched the few historical depictions while filling in the rest with tasteful and elegant details. She even used authentic pigments and materials taken from inscriptions transcribed by Dr. Barnes. The Nuymeans were fantastically detailed in matters of beauty and obsessed with jungle plants, beauty treatments, make-up formulas and all manner of botanical aids. In fact, they were the only ancient people who could make a paper-like sheet, termed paperi-veli, for writing that did not rot and survived the jungle climate. An artist by trade, Maya also studied a little archaeology and a little anthropology. She was the real deal, an educated artist.
Cindy, however, was a different story. She took care of the daytime duties just fine, but she was exactly the kind of person Sue didn't like: a former popular cheerleader, stuck-up, fantastic looking and self-confident. She didn't care much about archaeology and was in fact a Psychology major. She took the internship in order to work on her Master's thesis,
Societal Accommodation of Aberrant Sexual Behavior.
Exactly the kind of condescending, judgmental attitude that Sue saw with every move Cindy made. Sue was desperate to find someone willing to take the low pay so hired her, but she didn't trust her and didn't give her access to any of the secured Nuymean artifacts in the basement. Besides, after she was done with her thesis, she would be out of here like a shot.
Cindy and Maya were talking away. Well, Cindy was talking away and Maya was mostly listening. Cindy didn't realize that even though Sue had bad eyesight there was nothing wrong with her hearing. She heard the snide comments as they approached. Voices carry really far in the old tile and stone hallways of the museum. Cindy sneered for a second and talked sideways towards Maya. "Looks like the four-eyed muffin is trying out new fashions."
Maya might have hesitated, maybe. "I think it's an improvement." It sounded mostly sincere to Sue.
Cindy countered instantly, "Better than before, I guess, but what's with those heels?"
"Little does she know," thought Sue as they closed distance in the hall. They quieted down and switched to small talk, assuming Sue was now in earshot. They met up. "Thanks for covering for me earlier," Cindy said with a touch of insincerity.
"I'm glad you're alright," Sue replied with a precisely matched touch of insincerity.
Before Sue knew it, Cindy was relating all the details of her fender bender like it was one of life's great tribulations. Talk also jumped back and forth to how her new boyfriend Hank worked at the autobody shop. Sue knew from the constant parade of boyfriends what would happen. Once her car was done and any discounted bills were paid, he'd get a couple more sympathy dates before he was yet another set of ignored voicemails. He might get laid if he plays his cards right and he would certainly remember it for the rest of his life. She wished him luck. As Cindy babbled on, Maya stood by politely, but Sue caught her occasional eye roll.
Suddenly Sue heard a beep from her bag. It wasn't her phone. It must be the remote. There was no way she could pull it out to check. It would raise too many questions instantly. The white plastic looked more medical than cell phone or tech gadget. She had no idea what it would be beeping about. Cindy paused in her story for a moment in reaction then kept going like nothing happened. Did she need to breathe? After about half a minute or so, the remote beeped again. Cindy looked like she might say something but still kept right on going about the other driver, the cute cop and the bitch female cop. At least the fact that Cindy got a ticket was a small vindication. Once again there was a beep, then Sue finally had a chance to explain how she had an experiment running and the timer was telling her she needed to get back down check it.
Cindy seemed to accept that excuse and Maya seemed to feel spared. They made some polite good-byes and left as the remote beeped again. Sue wondered what was going on. She was clearly past the 10 minute mark, but the squid was still as a rock. The lobby was still a ways off and she didn't want to attempt making it to her planned lobby restroom. Her choice about stopping in the geology wing was made for her. She checked that Maya and Cindy were not watching and then turned down the side hall just as the remote beeped yet again.
As soon as she was far enough away, she snuck a look at the display on the remote. It said, "Plug in headphones to continue."
What?
She checked the remote and there was no evident headphone jack. She tried to scroll back, but it was difficult while walking and she wanted to be far out of sight first. Walking faster, she was a little winded. Her sweater was too warm up on this floor. Rocks didn't need much climate control and the geology wing seemed like an oven in comparison to the basement. Damn the hot lube, it had a way of heating up just when she thought she was used to it enough to put it out of her mind. It fuelled the heat rising within her as she kept going.
The geology wing was so quiet it was starting to get a little creepy. She walked past the "Wing closed, please visit again" sign. She knew that it would be another hour or two before they actually started to close the gates and lock up. She remembered a restroom further down. It should be a safe place to hide. Suddenly, she felt a sharp electric jolt inside her from the squid and heard a beep from the remote. Where did that come from? How far would this thing push her? She hurriedly grabbed the remote out of her purse. The display was blinking:
