Jade Read Online Free PDF Page A

work.  
    The day flies away, and suddenly it’s 6PM. I’m done, and starving. I go back to the refectory and scout the buffet. It’s almost the same thing as this morning, except that the white unidentifiable stuff has been replaced by a dark meat. It’s beef or more likely water buffalo?  I take the noodles and vegetables, and look for a place to sit. James is there with a bunch of gruff-looking guys who appear to be almost done with their meal. Their plates are piled up on the table. They are having a heated discussion about the merits of some European soccer teams. I slide onto the bench next to James.
    “Let me introduce you,” he says. The guys look in my direction for a second and nod as James gives me their names. “Liam, Patrick, Dylan, and Jack. They’re here to revive an old mine.” He then introduces me. “Agatha’s friend and assistant, Doctor Cooper.” 
    I figure that if everybody else is on a first name basis, it should be the same with me, so I say, “The name’s Jade. Nice to meet you.”
    My name gets a smirk out of the four of them. I’m missing something; probably a dirty miner’s joke about the stuff that they wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing with me.
    “Has Olivier met her yet?” asks Patrick to James.
    James nods. I frown; I hate it when someone talks about me like I’m not in the room or can’t talk for myself.
    I’m about to say something, when Liam asks, “So what kind of doctor are you, Doctor Jade?”  
    James answers for me. “She’s a biologist.”
    This is getting annoying!
    Patrick looks at me, and says, “So, you’re a lab person. You stay away from real life. A thinker, not a doer.”
    Now I’m pissed, and take offense at such an artificial vision of the work of a biologist. I snap back, “Some of us can think and do.”
    “Really?” His tone’s gone almost nasty. He sounds like I insulted him by telling him that I can think and do, while he can’t. The man’s got a chip on his shoulder. Or maybe not… maybe it’s me and I came on too strong. 
    I’m about to apologize, when, looking at me with defiance, he asks “So, pray tell, Doctor Jade, what job did you have before you came here?”
    He’s testing me, and I will not be intimidated. That’s one of my major issues, I refuse to be intimidated, whatever the circumstances.
    “I participated in the creation of a DNA data base of all the different breeds of bulls that one can find on the American continent. We put together a bull sperm bank.”
    As I say the words “sperm bank” I see a smile spreading on his lips. He looks very pleased with himself, like he’s found something very clever to say.
    “Oh, right, you really are a doer. You got to do the bulls!” 
    They all guffaw, James included. I can’t help but smile. It is funny, in a very immature sort of way. They are worse than kids. I shrug and decide to ignore them.
    But Patrick doesn’t let it go. He thinks he’s got me in a corner and he pushes. “Tell me, Doc, how did you do the bulls? How did you get them to donate their sperm?”
    “You don’t wanna know.” Really, he doesn’t. Few guys can hear about the collection procedure without shuddering.
    “Come on, you can tell us. We won’t judge. We know a gal’s gotta to do what a gal’s gotta do to get ahead in life.”
    “Well, if you insist,” I say, looking at my plate and forking a vegetable that looks like the longest string bean I’ve ever seen. 
    “As you very well know, Patrick, to cause an ejaculation, you need stimulation.” 
    I look up from my plate to see him nodding with a cocky grin. I pause to let him enjoy it before I wipe it away from his face. 
    “Now, to provide the needed stimulation, all you need to do is to insert an electric probe in the rectum of the patient, and send an electrical stimulus at the right intensity.” 
    I bite into the bean, and look down to my plate. There’s an eerie silence in the room; the five guys at my table have