Kiki stood outside of her apartment and chewed her gum as she waited. The taxi from her company should come any minute now. She shifted her weight to her toes and then back to her heels again impatiently. She had already said goodbye to everyone yesterday and pretended that she was leaving just after the party. This was not true, she got a good night's sleep before waking up at 4am to stand outside in the fog for a taxi. Finally, at 04:15 a blue taxi with no light on top pulled around the corner, she waved and they slowly pulled up beside her and rolled the window down. She pulled her headphones around her neck and leaned forward.
“Excuse me, do you know if a Ms.Williams lives here?” a man said in fairly good Swedish as he looked up into the windows above.

She scoffed, “That would be me. Do you see anyone else standing outside with luggage?” she held out her arms, both she and the driver were flabbergasted.
“My apologies, Miss!” he quickly jumped from his seat and met her on the sidewalk, “It’s just, I usually pick up doctors and biologists for this company,” he chuckled, the faintest smell of aftershave on the middle-aged man’s cheeks. “Are you the daughter of someone in the company? If I would have known I would have never made you wait, Miss Will-”
The man stood up as he heard a door shut. She was already sitting in the back with her headphones cupping her ears again. He sighed and placed her carry-on in the back before returning to his seat. She watched with her head resting on the cool window as they drove through the sleepy town. She had only been in her hometown for two weeks but it felt like a lifetime of suffering and enduring her family and their questions. It was quite annoying to explain what she was doing and what she found over and over again and in a simplistic way that they could understand. She was glad to be on the road again.

The neatest thing about going with a company rather than a research team was that she had a card of magic, otherwise known as a credit card. She could use it on essentially anything she wanted, so long as it applied to the mission. If she spent an ungodly amount of money they might look into it but they are covering all of her food, boarding and other various expenses for this trip. Not to mention, she’d be staying with some incredible scientists to work alongside them and learn from them. They’d lead her through everything from their labs to the mountains, teaching her how to make discoveries of her own. Sure, companies were more about finding a use for a discovery but that just added another element to this trip. She was at work, working and it was too good to be true. She bounced as they drove over a bump and groaned. It was an hour ride to the airport and she doesn’t want to think about the amount of time she will spend on a plane.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep but the slowing of the car pulled her out of the light snooze. Her headphones had fallen off of her head and rested on her shoulders. The man was speaking English with someone outside the car. She sat up and leaned forward to see a man in a suit peering back at her, “Ah, you must be Miss Williams!” he was rather obviously American or had spent a lot of time in the country.
She kept a stone cold look, “Yes, that’s me. And you are?” she paused the song that was blaring around her neck.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Dr.Andrew Jones. I’ll be briefing you on your stay in Tibet and prepping you. I’ll also be a kind of chaperone,” his smile was so warm it nearly seemed genuine. She just looked at him, deciding to keep her mouth shut. After a moment he clapped his hands together once and walked to the other side of the cab to open her door. She rolled out of the car and walked past him, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. The driver shuffled to the back of the car and gathered her luggage.

It was a long, gruelling wait as she waited for the plane. Dr.Jones here seemed to be able to talk for hours on end. He talked about his family, how he had two little girls,
“The little one’s Sarah, she’s just two,” he pointed to the little girl chewing on a stuffed dog’s ear, “And this is Hannah, she’s six and can already read quite well,”
How he had worked in Tibet for years,
“Beautiful country, Tibet. We’re going to have to take you to the mountains with us, breathtaking views,”
And odd little quirks including a love for birds.
This funny little guy is a hoopoe, and this is the Golden Pheasant, took the picture in western China while working on a blood-clotting plant. Oh and this is the crowned crane, and…

She had to admit, his ambition and energy were inspiring. She didn’t admit it, but she had taken a liking to this guy. Soon they were called to board the plane and found their seats in business class. It was pretty much like coach but with slightly more leg room and you get your food before coach. As she passed the members of coach she saw their grumpy faces, tiredness, and just a general hatred of being here. She noticed some staring, and even what appeared to be American armed service members, judging by the clothing.
She had the privilege of sitting next to the window and having her new guardian on the outside. After her stomach twisted at their ascent, her nerves finally calmed down and they to speak again. And they would be just Dr.Jones.

After some polite conversation, he smacked his lips together, “I almost forgot. I know you passed all of the exams and signed the papers but there’s one last step. I have to quiz you about a few things just to make sure you’re prepared,”
Kiki nods once and slides to turn towards him, pausing her music. He pulls out notecards, “Can you identify this plant?”
“That’s buckwheat,” she said plainly, he asked if it was edible, “Yes, of course. It’s a wheat,” she shook her head. She wondered if this entire “test” would be like this.
“Mustard, edible. Tea leaves, edible. Jasmine, edible. Are you just trying to make me hungry?”
She smiled and they both chuckled. After their test of basic flora, fauna, Buddhism, and geography was over he smiled and turned the paper around, “Not bad, 85%. Pretty average score. Just sign here,” He pointed to a small x at the bottom, “Now you’re officially on the team! Welcome.”

About this time the attendants came around with snacks and drink. After getting in some cheese and crackers with juice she rolled to the side and crumpled a pillow under her neck and dozed off. At some point during the flight she awoke to food on her table again. She looked over to a sleeping Dr.Jones and gladly ate her now-cold pasta and lukewarm salad. She drank down the water, passed the refuse to an attendant and fell back asleep.

An unnerving feeling grew through her stomach. She awoke and clutched at her middle, certain that she had food poisoning. She took off her headphones but it took her a few moment to understand the commentary above her. She looked around, dazed as an orange thing comes toward her face. She looked to Dr.Jones and saw an oxygen mask on him. The pressure in the air didn’t feel like it had dropped, her ears didn’t hurt too bad but the deep dips of the plane flipped her stomach over. Dr.Jones spoke loudly to her, “Bend over and put your arms behind your head, like this!” he proceeded to show her, sitting over in his seat and creating a shell over himself. She immediately copied him just as the plane took another dip, feeling like they were now driving over a very gravely road at a high speed. She gagged and winced as the pressure changed, her ears feeling like they might explode. The dip down hadn’t evened out like it had before, instead getting bumpier and throwing them around violently.

Kiki held on tight to herself but suddenly felt a large arm pull her over and a heavy weight on top of her before the disorienting feeling of tipping filled her body she panicked and then everything went dark at once.