Quantum Runner

        He set the briefcase on the floor by the large table. He was alone in there, looking around the exquisite decorations and taking in the air of awesome authority that surrounded him. Orange sun poured into the bureau through the large window, tinting everything orange and casting deep, black shadows. On a stand to his left there was a cage, and inside it a little bird. He approached it with slow steps and looked at the yellow and blue-plumed creature, which begun chirping in a melodic tune as he got close.

 

        "Do you like our bird?" he heard a female voice coming from the entrance.

        He turned around to look. He saw a woman with dark hair, cascading around sides of her head, wearing a blue blouse and a black, knee-length skirt. He looked further down to see her fishnet stockings and a pair of high-heeled shoes on her feet. He took a step back away from the cage and the bird ceased its song.

 

        "Its a songbird,' isn't it?" he asked.

        "Of course it is. A robin." She started walking towards him with her right hand on her hip, taking fast, direct steps.

        "Must be difficult to get hold of," he stated further.

        She stopped few feet away from him, looking at him directly with her azure eyes. "Very. I'm Elizabeth."

        "DeWitt."

 

        She took her eyes off him and walked around him, stopping at the table. "It seems you feel our work is not to the benefit of the public."      

        "Singularities are like any other scientific phenomenon - they're either a boon or a danger," DeWitt said, turning to her. "Their benefit is not my problem."

        She looked at him directly at him again. "May I ask you a personal question?"

        His reply was nonchalant, as he sat down in a chair that stood by the table. "Sure."

        "Have you ever extinguished a human by mistake?"

        He looked at her with a smirk. "No."

        "But in your position that is a risk," she kept her gaze on him.

       

        "Is this to be an empathy test?" A male voice joined them. They turned their heads to see a man, dressed in dark suit, with thick mustache hiding a sly smile, who approached them slowly as he spoke.

        "Capillary reaction of the so-called blush response? fluctuation of the pupil? Involuntary dilation of the iris, followed by radiation flux..."  

        Booker got up from the chair. "We call it the Lutece test for short."

        The man in the suit gave him a small nod.

        "Mister DeWitt, Mister Fink." Elizabeth introduced the men to each other.

        "Demonstrate it," Fink said as he approached DeWitt. "I want to see it work."

        "Where is the subject?" DeWitt asked.

        "I want to see it work on a person, I want to see a negative before I provide you with a positive."

        "Whats that gonna prove?"

        Fink smiled roguishly, flashing his teeth at Dewitt. "Indulge me."

        "On you?"

        "Try her."

        Dewitt stared at the man and then threw a glance at Elizabeth, who kept her curious eyes on him. Her carmine lips curved slowly in smile and she walked around the table to sit on the opposite side.

       

        "Its too bright in here, photons can disturb the test," DeWitt said.

        Fink walked over to the window to block out the light. Soon enough, the whole office went dark. DeWitt took off his trenchcoat and hung it on the chair. He took the apparatus out of the briefcase and set it in front of him. Setting it up took about a minute, with aperture of the apparatus and various elements protruding from it pointed at the woman sitting opposite to him. The machine hummed quietly as it components came to life, accompanied the slow but constant clicking of the radiation counter.

 

        "Do you mind if I smoke?" she asked him.

        "It won't affect the test."

        Elizabeth reached out to the cigarette box that stood on the table, with her gaze firmly set on Booker and the eye of the apparatus. She took out a lighter with her other hand and held both awkwardly in front of her for a moment, as if trying to get the order of actions right before lighting up.

        "Alright, I'm gonna ask you a series of questions, just relax and answer them as simply as you can."

        DeWitt looked at the monitors of the apparatus, reading the measurements and the counter. Everything seemed normal.

        "It's your birthday. Someone gives you a crocodile skin wallet."

        "I wouldn't accept it. Also, I'd report the person who gave it to me to the police."

        "You've got a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection plus the killing jar."

        She didn't reply to that immediately, but instead silently stared at DeWitt, taking yet another puff of the cigarette. He could see how she enjoyed it, sucking on it with deliberate motion and exhaling the smoke slowly. "I'd take him to the doctor."

       

        "You're reading a book. Suddenly you realize there's a bee crawling on your arm."

        He noticed a minuscule flinch at mention of a bee, but radiation remained nominal. "I'd kill it."

        "You're reading a magazine. You come across a full page nude photo of a girl."

        Another angry flinch. Small flux of radiation, but within the accepted range. "Is this testing whether I'm a singularity or a lesbian, Mister Dewitt?

        "Just answer the questions, please -- You show it to your husband. He likes it so much he hangs it on your bedroom wall."

        "I wouldn't let him."

        "Why not?"

        "I should be enough for him."

        The test was drawing out. The readings were nominal, DeWitt was getting nothing but background static and ordinary reactions. But he carried on with questions.

        "One more question. You're watching a stage play. You see an orphanage for little girls. The children are taken from poor parents and given comfortable rooms. The girls are then implanted with sea slugs."

        She didn't answer that one, but he saw the signs of disgust and revulsion on the instruments. The counter still clicked away slowly at steady pace before the apparatus gave a long beep. The machine reached its default testing time.

 

        "Would you step out for a few moments, Elizabeth -- Thank you." Fink interrupted. Elizabeth only threw a blank look at both men before putting out the cigarette and getting up from the chair. She walked out quickly from the office.

        "She's a singularity, isn't she?" Booker asked.

        "I'm impressed." Fink replied jovially. "How many questions does it usually take to spot them?"

        "I don't get it Fink."

        "How many questions?" he repeated his question in a deliberate tone.

        "Twenty, thirty, cross-referenced."

        "It took more than a hundred for Elizabeth, didn't it?"

        "She doesn't know?!" Dewitt was confused.

        "She's beginning to suspect, I think", he replied with a smirk.

        "Suspect? How can she not know what she is?"

        "Commerce, is our goal here at Fink MFG. Man and Science united is our motto. Elizabeth is an experiment, nothing more. We began to recognize in them strange instability. After all they are emotionally burdened with powers which you and I cannot fathom. If we implant them with reformed personalities we create a cushion or pillow for their emotions and consequently they can control their powers better." As Fink talked, he walked around the table and finally took seat in the big leather chair. Smug grin was still stuck to his face.

        DeWitt was overwhelmed by the revelation. "Memories. You're talking about memories."