Katrina woke up suddenly at her clock’s alarming screech. It reflected the unwanted time of five-thirty in the morning. There was a meeting for the students that had been chosen to be part of the new project at seven, in a lecture hall across campus. Even after a shower she was still groggy from the party that she had attended the night before.

The party had been held at the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity house, of which several of the new interns were members. The four story brownstone had been rocking from the party that had been thrown in celebration of the project, as no less than three of its members had been chosen for this prestigious team, more than from any other fraternity.

Everyone had drank too much, partied too much, and were probably now afflicted in the same way that she was. Thank god coffee would fix some of her problems.

~~~

Dr. Jenkins showed up at his office at the same time every morning. Today he was supposed to have the first of many meetings with his newly picked team in a class room down the hall. After today they would be meeting off-campus in a building that had been provided by the investor, who had turned out to be much more ‘hands on’ than he had expected.

He sat at his desk with his coffee as he waited for the appointed time, remembering the meeting where he had first met his investor’s representative to discuss the guidelines for the project.

At exactly six o’clock there had been a knock at his door.

“Come in.”

A pudgy man had walked in. He was balding and had a bad comb-over that in no way covered the large bald spot. He had also reeked of cigarette smoke. The man wore an expensive light gray suit and carried a briefcase. It too looked expensive; its faded light brown leather could only have been intentionally ‘distressed’. The man had waddled around the chair in front of Dr. Jenkins’ chair and had seated himself without being asked. Dr. Jenkins had raised an eyebrow at his lack of consideration.

If the man had noticed he had ignored it and instead began to speak. “I’m here at the request of my client.”

The man wheezed when he inhaled.

“I am Silvio Brenant, one of his many lawyers. All of your communications with him or from him will occur through me.” Wheeze. “My client is very confident in your ability to produce a car that can win this contest. He has done much research into your career.” Wheeze.

“The first thing that my client requires is with respect to the mechanic. As you know, in the contest rules, a driver is allowed to have one mechanic to accompany them for the race to help maintain the vehicle, among other things. He wants that mechanic to be a woman. Apparently the driver that he has chosen has some ‘social issues’ and in an enclosed environment would prefer to have a female teammate.” Wheeze.

“I wanted to begin with the driver’s preference in order to allow you time to find a worthy candidate so they can be part of the team early enough to know how fix any problems that may arise when the time comes. It’s very important. To win this race, this girl must be up on every aspect of the device.”

Dr. Jenkins put his hands together to mull over what he just heard. “I have already chosen three girls to be part of the team based on the applications that I received. They were chosen because of their skills in mechanical engineering. If all three of them stay on the project throughout its entirety I will choose one of them to be the race team mechanic.”

Dr. Jenkins sat a little straighter. “So… you arranged this meeting to say that the investor is comfortable with my ability to design a winning racecar but that I need to find a female weapons specialist to sit next to the driver so that he can try to win the race without being distracted by his ‘social issues’? Seems like a lot of money spent to deliver a message in person when an email could have done just as well.”

The lawyer smiled before he wheezed. It was a long wheeze this time. “Because of the sensitivity of the information, all communication will be handled in person. There will be no documentation left behind as evidence nor will there be any possible electronic ‘monitoring’ by rival teams. All communication and all designs must be on paper that will be hand delivered. I will pick them up at the end of every day and return them the next morning. The chain of information begins and ends with me on a daily basis.

“Your workspace will be inspected every day and any computers that you use (off-line) will be kept under lock and key. I will have the only key. All documents will be backed up on thumb drives that I will keep under lock and key as well.” Wheeze.

“Therefore I will arrive every day at six and be here until you call it quits at the end of each day.” Wheeze.

Dr. Jenkins listened to Brenant’s wheezing. The sound of it grated on him as if it were fingernails on a blackboard. He couldn’t focus and instead wanted to be out of the confined space of his office so the wheezing wouldn’t sound so terrible.

Finally, he said “I have to caution you though; you cannot approach any of the students to ask questions about what they are doing or bring up even the possibility of a mechanic who will ride along for the race. It would only sidetrack the enormous amount work that needs to be done. Is that clear?”

“My only purpose is to show up at the beginning of the day to deliver materials and unlock the work area then lock it all back up at the end of the day. What you do in between is not my concern. While you are in the process of finalizing your project team I will find a suitable location for the actual work to be done. I understand the need for proximity to the campus for logistical purposes. New computers with the most advanced engineering software on the planet will be provided, along with drafting tables and whatever else you may require.” Wheeze.

At the end of the meeting Dr. Jenkins had stood, walked toward his office door and opened it to allow his visitor’s exit. “If you are in need of an office while we are working please feel free to…” he began.

Brenant had stood as well. “Your offer is kind but I will also have work to do. You will see me again soon.” He had picked up his expensive briefcase and left through the open door.

Jenkins shook his head as he passed. He had known that there would be some oversight on the project but this guy rubbed him the wrong way in more ways than one. He sighed at the thought that he may have to walk on eggshells going forward.

~~~

Katrina dragged herself into the lecture hall ten minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin. Those who had already arrived exhibited symptoms similar to those of her current affliction. Katrina at least felt that she was on equal terms with everyone. They were all very quiet, their wide eyes blinking as if fighting to stay awake. A couple of the guys in the back looked like they had lost that battle. But at least they had all gotten the message about professionalism with respect to clothing choices and showering schedules.

Slowly others filtered in. Dr. Jenkins came in a few minutes late but was excited and full of pep. He strode into the hall and took his place at the podium. When he first took in the faces that looked down at him, or in some cases at the floor, his attitude changed quickly to that of disappointment.

“I thought that everyone would be excited to be here this morning. Judging by what I’m seeing I may have to call another roster to fill the positions I thought you wanted.”

The entire hall of students sat up slowly and pretended that their eyes didn’t hurt to have them open so wide. Jenkins laughed.

“Can I assume that the party to which I was invited last night is the cause of everyone’s pain this morning?”

Almost everyone nodded.

“Let me assure you that this day will not get any better. I know it’s the end of the year and finals are upon you. But you have to make time for this project. After classes, we will meet back here. Luckily for me, most of you will have recovered from the party by then and I can fill you in on the specifics of what we are going to create. Take this time now to get know each other, without any stimulants. All of you will be working closely together through the summer. Be back here at three thirty.”

Dr. Jenkins smiled before exiting. He stopped short of the threshold and turned. “Those of you who are in my classes have finals tomorrow. I expect high marks if you made this team.”

Katrina watched him speak but her head had a hard time processing his words. She watched him leave before she realized she had her final with him tomorrow and that she had already known that it would be her hardest this semester without the newly added pressure. She sighed and slouched back in her seat.

As Katrina stewed in her dismay, one of the other female students that had made the team walked up and introduced herself. “Hi. I’m Silvia Thruwell.”

Katrina sat up and extended her hand, “Hi, Katrina Morgantree, what’s your major?”

“Mechanical engineering. You?”

“The same.” Katrina said. “Glad to see there’s a few of us in this all male field, well almost all male.”

They both chuckled at the remark. Katrina observed Silvia a little more closely. She was pretty with blond hair, somewhat lanky, but somehow shorter than a lanky person should be. Of course Katrina was seated but she could tell that she was much taller than Silvia. For a moment she considered that Silvia was perhaps a tall midget. Something about the proportion of her body was off but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“…I think we can show up some of these boys.” Silvia finished.

Katrina realized that she had missed the first part of the conversation as she had been scrutinizing her teammate’s looks, an unfortunate habit of hers.

Katrina just said, “Yes, I think so,” trying to cover for her inattention. Afterwards Silvia trundled off to meet others in the room. Katrina got up and did the same.

What was difficult about the meet and greet was the fact that all of the boys considered her more of a mascot than a teammate. Katrina was getting more disheartened after she met the fifth boy. They had all asked her major, as Silvia had, but with the boys her response was met with either disbelief or humor, as though she were not worthy to claim the title of engineer of mechanical studies.

She was a junior and graduation was only one year away. The only way she wouldn’t achieve her goal was if she were to die in a car accident or something equally ridiculous. So why was it so hard for them to believe that she was an engineer? She gave up and headed to her class with plenty of time to stop for more coffee in between.

Katrina attended her classes as normal but her heart wasn’t in it. All that she could think about were her own possible inadequacies. What was it about her that made all of the men think that the only way that she could contribute to the project was by making them coffee?

By the time she returned to the lecture hall to meet with the same team that met earlier in the day she had hit a low that she hadn’t seen in many years. For one thing she was very sure that she had just flunked a final and for another she had perhaps alienated her roommate completely.

The explosive nature of their argument had been based on something so trivial that she couldn’t believe it had escalated to the level it had. She felt very certain that she now needed to find another roommate for her senior year. To think, it was all about what type of pizza she had ordered and how she should have known better. Obviously something had been building up over the entire year, and pepperoni and pineapple had been the straw that had broken the camel’s back.

In the same seat that she occupied that very morning, Katrina threw herself down and slouched as far back as possible crossing her arms. It was uncomfortable but was a testament to her mood on such a bad day. She was brooding about the possibility of having to take one of her classes over again next year. Would they kick off this team if her GPA dropped?

A nerd from the team sat next to her. Admittedly almost all engineering students were nerds at heart or in body. The one that sat next to her was both. He had scruffy brown hair, matching eyes, a short pudgy stature and was wearing a black t-shirt with jean shorts and unlaced Nike sneakers.

Katrina recognized him. He lived in her dorm. He said “Hi” every day when he saw her. Katrina hadn’t responded early in the year but as the winter had faded she had tried to be nice to an occupant of the same dorm. He wasn’t exactly her type. In fact none of these nerds were her type. She was still working on that. But Dillon Trackson was never going to be her type. She smiled, trying to play nice one more time despite her sour attitude.

“Hey Dillon, how are your finals going?”

“Pretty good, you?”

“I think I failed one. Jenkins will probably kick me off the team once grades are in and I haven’t even taken his final yet.” Katrina said ending the sentence in a higher than normal pitch. Her lower lip began to tremble and suddenly she couldn’t stop the tears. She threw herself on Dillon’s shoulder and sobbed.

Dillon eyes opened wide. He was as stunned as he would have been if he had been hit with a taser. A girl that had never given him the time of day was now crying on his shoulder, her arms around his neck. He put his arms around her and held her close. Comfort was required at times like this but he desperately liked this beautiful girl. Holding her close felt differently to him than what his actions were supposed to be providing for her. It was terrible that Katrina felt so bad, but was it horrible that this moment gave him such joy? He became conflicted and had no idea what to do next.

His nerves were beginning to get the better of him. He had never had a girlfriend before. Did this moment mean they were going to be a couple? His breathing became erratic. Can your body forget how to breathe? This was too much feeling all at once. His long forgotten episodes of childhood asthma came back to him and panic took over. He had no inhaler with him. He tried to speak but couldn’t get enough air. Finally he stood; tearing himself away from the comforting embrace and running out of the lecture hall.

Katrina, with her tear-stained face, sat blinking, confused at what had just happened. She realized that she shouldn’t have cried on his shoulder, she barely knew Dillon. Great! Someone else she had alienated. She wiped her face and went back to sitting with her arms folded. At least no one else had noticed her outburst. Once Jenkins showed up and gave them their instructions she could go back to her empty room and really let the tears go.

Dr. Jenkins came in late and was accompanied by Silvio Brenant. By then the lecture hall was full of students. Jenkins looked winded when he arrived at the podium. He pondered a moment to calm himself before speaking.

“Today I would like to introduce Mr. Brenant. He is our...” Jenkins paused, unsure of how he should be addressed. Finally he settled on, “Our professional connection to and security consultant for our investor’s capital purchases. Today he has delivered the first of many pieces of equipment to aid us in our project. Soon we will be heading over to our off campus location to start getting set up and to make sure everything works. Be aware that we have equipment coming that will challenge the most computer savvy individuals out there.” Jenkins smiled when he said this.

None of the students smiled. They knew it just meant more work.

“But before we head over I will be separating you into specific groups for the project. There are many aspects of the project we need to work on concurrently in order to facilitate a smooth and timely finish. This is work, but work that you will be well paid for. This is the time for you to step up and show your skills.”

Katrina slunk further in her chair at his last comment. Her thoughts went towards her final and how she might not even be on the team in a few days.

Jenkins began looking through his notes. He read them aloud.

“For the team of conceptual design, there will be…,” Dr. Jenkins read off eleven names that Katrina did not recognize. She had probably met them at the party but she wasn’t even going to put in the effort to try and remember their faces.

Next Dr. Jenkins called out the mathematics team that consisted of a single student. Next to be called was the powertrain team, then the frame team, the body team, interior team, software team, suspension team (to which Katrina was assigned) and last but not least the wiring and logistics team. Kristin was on the frame team, Silvia on wiring. Katrina felt bad that they were all on separate teams. Having all of the girls working together could have been a powerful collaboration.

To Katrina it was hard to believe that they only had four months to go from drawing board to full scale car. As she pondered the complexity of the problem, Dr. Jenkins answered her questions without having them voiced aloud.

“Just so everyone is on the same page, we are building a racecar. But that doesn’t mean that we are building every aspect from scratch. Only one team has the job of designing a product from the ground up and that’s the conceptual design team. All the other departments will be using off the shelf technology. We already know that we need wheels to make a racecar roll. Lucky for us there are companies out there that already do that. We already know that racing suspension is required and there are companies who already build racecars, so on and so on. We will provide parameters from which you will design and build.

“And on that note, I will add that the body has already been designed and built. It will show up in three weeks. We will be building from the top down. That’s all I have today. Go and unpack your new equipment and see if it all works.”

Several moans came from the seats. “We can’t design how cool this is going to look?” Another student immediately followed with, “We can choose what color to paint it right?”

Dr. Jenkins chuckled. “I’m afraid not. The body is the only thing we can do absolutely nothing about. The skin has photovoltaic properties so we can’t paint it or put stickers on it. Every car must look the same with the same coloring and style. We cannot add to it or take parts away. We are to build everything else then bolt the shell on before we drive to the race on race day.”

More moans followed.

“Chop, chop.” Jenkins said to the team at large. “We have work to do. Katrina, Kristin and Silvia, please stay behind. I’d like a word with you.”

If Katrina could have melted into her seat and disappeared she would have. She was afraid of what was coming. Silvia obviously didn’t feel the same way at all and bounded down the steps towards the podium, full of excitement. Kristin walked down with a bit more reserve. Katrina sighed heavily and got up slowly to follow.

As Katrina approached the podium she could see that Silvia almost jumping up and down while standing next to Dr. Jenkins with his calm demeanor. Mr. Brenant waited patiently off to one side, wheezing as he did so, and holding a briefcase.

Jenkins used his hand to indicate that the other girls move a little closer for a more private conversation. “I will be assigning each of you additional responsibilities on top of your assigned team’s workload. The first is a position mostly of oversight where you will learn what is going on within all of the other teams.”

Katrina frowned. “You want us to find out if the other students are doing things wrong?”

“No I want you learn every aspect of this project. In the event that a critical person drops out of any one of the teams, you will be able to jump in to take their place.” Jenkins said plainly.

Instantly Katrina’s eyes grew at what was being asked. The implication equated to learning every word in a long play in case any person quit, so that you could take over in an instant. Silvia was obviously excited at the prospect. Kristin remained silent, unreadable.

Jenkins continued, “Your roles in the original groups I had put you in will be minimal. Your real goal is to completely understand all aspects of each group while participating in your primary team. But I will also be pulling you to work on a secret side project involving a more… aggressive racing strategy.”

This was when Silvia’s face changed. She wasn’t as excited now. “Secret? Like, we have to keep it secret from the rest of our team?”

Dr. Jenkins frowned at Silvia. “This whole project is secret; we will be working with serious security measures in place. If you can’t do this job I’ll find someone else. Decide now.”

Silvia looked to Katrina for help. Katrina made no expression of sympathy at her plight. Katrina knew what secrets could mean in her chosen trade and she was okay with it. She kept a straight face hoping that this might be just what she needed to keep her position on the team. She had no affinity towards Silvia so she maintained her silence in this matter out of self-preservation.

Silvia had the jitters suddenly. She didn’t want to be part of a secret cabal within the project but on the other hand she knew it must be an honor to be chosen. At odds with better judgement, she decided to stay and be part of it all. “Alright, I’ll do it. I mean, this racing strategy… we’re not talking about murdering anyone right?” Silvia said sternly.

At this statement Dr. Jenkins turned his gaze towards the attorney and laughed. Katrina followed his gaze, unsure of why he was laughing. Was he agreeing with Silvia that the secret was exactly what she said or was he laughing at the outrageousness of her statement?

“Nothing quite so cloak and dagger. I’m merely pointing out that many aspects of this project are a secret to all of the other team members involved in the race. And it is within that layer of secrecy that you three will be working.

You will be designing and building a device that will help ensure that we win this race. Every race team has the same secret project running in the background. That is the secret to be held by you. I’ll go into more detail later but I need to know that you are willing to take on the additional responsibility.”

Silvia and Katrina both felt better about the assignment now, even Kristin appeared to be slightly relieved and they all nodded in agreement.

“Good.” Jenkins said. “In the equipment that is being unpacked as we speak, there is a laptop that is labeled with my name. That is the one you will focus on. That device has the programs you will need to do your job. Find it, make sure it works, and place a label on it that says “Project overview only. For Dr. Jenkins.”

They nodded, understanding the task.

“Go on. Everyone is already unpacking the equipment.” Jenkins said. “They’ll wonder were you’ve been.”

The girls left the lecture room almost at a run. Once in the hall they slowed to a walk again, each lost in their own thoughts about what their project leader had said. They moved towards their destination until Silvia couldn’t take the silence anymore. She used her arm and held the other girls back to talk. Her short stature left her looking up at the taller girls.

“Listen, I know I said I would be okay with this side project but...”

“No you listen” Katrina shot back. “I don’t have a lot of opportunities like this just fall into my lap. There was a reason we were chosen, three girls on this team, no boys. I don’t know all the reasons but I know it makes us more important on some level than the boys. You better not screw this up. We have to design something and build it. That’s good enough for me. That’s what we came to school for.

“If we’re part of a larger group working on some insignificant part of the car, how much acclaim would we get even if the car won the race? Only that we were on the team. That’s like being the janitor. I think our resumés would look so much better if it said we had built one of the most important parts of the car.

How do you think that would look as opposed to being just a participant on a team? Do you want to be looked at as the janitor, or worse, as the girl who did nothing more important than show up every day and bring coffee? An hour ago I was happy to be selected as a participant. That in itself was great but now that I have been chosen to be on special team, I want that acclaim, that step up… badly. I need it considering the nose dive my GPA is going to take after today.” Katrina quickly placed her hand over her mouth. She had said too much.

Kristin and Silvia stared after Katrina as she ran down the hall. Silvia looked fearful.

“No cloak and dagger, my ass! Something else is going on.” Silvia whispered, almost to herself.

r~P

Next Chapter: Chapter 3