Ithaca, New York, United States.
Trudging through the forest, Eden looked up and squinted while gingerly balancing the laboratory notebook on top of the styrofoam box.
"How much farther to the lab?" he muttered, taking extra care not to drop what lay inside.
Packed in ice and damp burlap were several plant root cuttings and soil-core samples from a trial plot he had tended for months.
You see, Eden here is a scientist. More precisely a scientist in plant pathology and soil science. And after so, so long, he is in the final year of his PhD.
Born into a family of academia, his future seemed almost predetermined from the moment he was born. Both of his parents were researchers and his two siblings eventually followed similar paths, entering clinical and experimental research. One worked in tumor immunology, while the other studied GIS and IoT integration for smart city planning. [1]
Don't get him wrong, though. It wasn't that he regretted being born into such a family. In fact, he had been fascinated by all kinds of sciences. Biology, chemistry, physics, even engineering to astronomy, Eden had already been exposed to it since he was a kid. For him, there was something undeniably intoxicating about the endless amount of knowledge out there waiting to be seized. Not to mention the things that defied his common sense, despite his collective knowledge.
With mud-stained gloves and protective shoe covers, Eden followed the trail that twisted left and right until he finally saw it.
The building stood at the edge of the clearing—a squat concrete lab surrounded by chain-link fencing and weathered sheds. Large glass windows ran along the walls with a row of metal vents humming softly on the roof.
A faded university emblem hung beside the entrance door, half-covered by creeping ivy. This was where his samples would be analyzed to determine whether a year of grafting, fertilizing, and sleepless dawns in the fields held any scientific value.
Inspired by his parents and siblings, Eden also set his sights on the Ivy League to continue his education. He decided on agricultural sciences, aiming to become an agronomist.
It all went downhill from there.
The coursework were fine: he studied a range of subjects, from plant biology to soil chemistry. Though much of it felt irrelevant to practical farming or crop research, learning about cutting-edge, ongoing studies left Eden inspired.
The practical, however was disappointing. Most of his work boiled down to a set of standardized protocols—collecting soil samples, measuring plant growth, recording data. It was intellectually stifling to go from an environment where the horizon seemed limitless to one that adhered to a strict set of rules.
Bored to death, Eden decided to switch to a PhD. And so, his second mistake.
Potential faculty are selected from recently graduated PhDs who have the most groundbreaking research—or probably the latest "buzzwords" in their thesis. The aim is to bring in money and in fact, there is a 50% loading on grant funding that is taken by the university for "administration" and infrastructure. So usually you end up with a newly minted PhD with minimal experience in teaching or anything beyond their thesis, and this new PhD must bust their tail to bring in money, or their contract may not be renewed.
This is the very reason most Ivy League schools have a bit of a fetish for research, and for Eden, everything would have been fine if Professor Dip Shit hadn't kept pushing for results even though it was obvious the whole experiment was a failure.
Knowing he was doomed, Eden transferred labs, which meant a new project, new data, and new samples. In other words, what should have been a five-year program would become six.
Eden shook his head to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand. Now all that was left was to break down the plant tissue and running them through the analyzers. With that in mind, he quickened his pace
The laboratory always smelled faintly of ethanol, plastic, and soil. The greenhouse was attached to it, separated only by a set of heavy glass doors. Young wheat, corn, and tomato plants grew in rows, each with different strains, treatments, and infection trials. Some looked healthy and green, while others were spotted, yellowing, or covered in powdery patches.
Eden carefully set the styrofoam box down before peeling off his gloves and rubber field boots. Then he headed toward the workstation. His fingers tapped the mouse, waking the computer from sleep—until something unexpected happened.
[Configuring Windows Update… 1% complete… Do not turn off your computer… 49 minutes remaining]
"Whaaaa—"
Seriously? Auto-updating now?!
He tapped the computer next to him, but it asked for a password. He stood up and looked around. Apparently, everyone had already gone to grab coffee.
Which meant he wouldn't be able to leave the notice for another 49 minutes.
"Fck Microsoft—! Fck—!"
Cursed Eden, wondering why SAS and ArcGIS were exclusively Windows-only. And these so obnoxious, unnecessary, and taking forever to install updates.
And what do you get?
Rounded corners, centered menu, dark mode, auto-tiling, etc.… They've done nothing but copy features from KDE Plasma, i3, Gnome, Pop!_OS. What an innovative company!
Eden pressed his palm against his face. So, as any person with a lot of free time would do, he made the only sensible decision currently available: to take a nap. And so, with his thoughts running idly as they were, he looked for some benches to stretch out on… until he did the unthinkable.
He tripped.
Yes, literally tripped—headfirst.
Life flashed before his eyes: the books he read as a kid, the expectations of family, the pressure of publish-or-die mentality. Heart rate spiking, he gasped—not from death, but from the thought of the fruits of his research being ruined, or having to repeat another year due to injury or lost samples.
In a panic, he reached out. Alas, the only thing he managed to grab was the styrofoam box… which, unfortunately, came with him when he pulled it.
Eyes wide, the stainless steel chair nearly smashing into his face as he leaned forward—only then to feel a sudden lurching sensation, as a bright flash of light surrounded him.
All at once, his vision flared and whitened.
Then it cleared, but his panic didn't stop.
This—
'I can't breathe… why can't I breathe?!'
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[1] Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software that maps and analyzes spatial or geographic data, example: traffic patterns, land use, or water pipelines. Internet of Things (IoT) network of connected devices and sensors that collect and transmit real-time data, example: traffic flow sensors, air quality, water leaks, or energy usage.