A pile of papers flew around in the small office of an inconspicuous building at a secret location in the USA. ‘Ridiculous! How can they fire me?’ Jack silently thought to himself. Not being given anymore time to himself, a single knock on the door sounded and the door immediately opened. Stepping inside was a beautiful woman dressed formally, although it could not be said what her job or status would be. She stepped on the papers as if they weren’t there and sat down in the single guest chair across the desk.<br/>“Alicia”, Jack grumbled. The last person he would want to see now. She may be beautiful to anyone else, but to him she was just an annoyance. Those piercing eyes that look right through you. The kind and lovely smile, which never reaches those eyes. He didn’t know all that much about her. Just that she always knew exactly what was going on, even the deepest secrets one had. When he first met her, he thought she must be with a secret service. By now, he had met several secret agents and they only varied in amount of stupidity and ignorance. Alicia on the other hand, seemed to be at a different level. Jack had met her when she introduced him to his current job. Which is now his previous job. Regaining his calmness, he sat down in his chair.<br/>“Are you behind my de-employment?” Jack bluntly asked.<br/>Alicia faintly smiled. “Did you not read the letter properly, Jack? It says ‘reassignment to a different department’.”<br/>“Demoting me away, or firing me is the same. However, since you are here, you surely have an ‘amazing’ opportunity for me,” Jack answered with the needed sarcasm.<br/>“Did you not find this job ‘amazing’?” Alicia countered with the same amount of sarcasm. “Surely you did not forget that you are employed by the government and thus your employer is free to add your resources to a different project.”<br/>“Surely you remember my opinion which I gave at the beginning of this project. It is a waste of money, time and resources. It would be better to invest those in mechanical weapons. That way, even an otherwise incompetent person would be able to accurately hit targets at a great distance without their life being in direct danger. Additionally, even if that person would become unavailable then replacement is quickly arranged. Moreover, if the weapon is damaged then with the blueprint, an exact duplicate can be made. This project focusses on the wrong part. If one of these soldiers dies then there is no quick replacement. The same huge amount of resources and time needs to be invested to create a new one. Not to mention that building a mechanical weapon is easier than modifying a human.”<br/>Jack had already given a much more elaborate version of this argument when he was first assigned to this job. Even though Alicia wasn’t there, she knew about it.<br/>“Let’s set aside your non-existent success on this job and the resources that were lost.”<br/>“Just because some experimental subjects deceased, doesn’t mean that we were not on our way to a success. This can only work as a long-term project and the expectation for short-term results is unrealistic. The reports clearly show the progress which was made.”<br/>“I am sure you will like the next job,” Alicia continued, ignoring Jack’s objections. “You will have a more differentiated field of research and you can perform experiments more freely. You should start packing.”<br/>“Where is it?”<br/>“You will find out.”<br/>“Do I get a lab?”<br/>“Maybe.”<br/>“A team?”<br/>“No.”<br/>“An assistant?”<br/>“A partner will be assigned to you.”<br/>“What do you mean with partner?”<br/>Alicia stood up. “A car will pick you up tomorrow morning at 7:00. Make sure you are ready. Anything which can not be taken directly by car needs to be packed in boxes and labelled accordingly. Have a nice day.”<br/>With that, she left and closed the door behind her.<br/>Jack sat back in his chair and sighed. That woman only meant trouble. It was true that he did not have much choice in the matter.