Chapter 3 – Media Day

When Carlton Drake woke up, he was no longer amidst the flames of the burning spaceship but on a comfortable bed in a hospital suite. The moment he opened his eyes, countless nurses and doctors crowded around him. They performed a few checks and asked him some questions to see if there were any damages to his psyche or memory. Most of the questions went in one ear and out the other, instead of being glad that he was unharmed, he was perplexed by why he was unharmed. The last thing he remembered was a column of fire falling down onto him and before that the grey…thing that lunged at him.

"What happened to me?" he asked as he tried to sit up but was stopped by one of the doctors.

"Sir, you were knocked unconscious by one of the debris in the spaceship and your heat suit was torn. Luckily, some rescue workers found you in time but not before you suffered some third-degree burns on your chest. We've done some synthetic skin treatment, but the wound will need to be cleansed and the dressings changed. We also have you under some IV antibiotics and pain killers, but you'll need to rest."

Drake complied and laid back down on the bed but not before asking for Dr. Skirth. "Oh thank goodness, we thought we had lost you when your camera feed went off."

"The feed, what did it show before it went off?"

"Not much. You suddenly fell down after entering the cockpit and a steel beam crashed on top of you, that's where the video ended."

"I see…and the last organism?"

"Still unaccounted for. We believe it might have been lost in the fire." Drake tried his best to recall every single detail of his encounter with what seemed like the fourth extraterrestrial organism but decided that if the crew did not find anything even after rescuing him then it was most probable that the organism had perished in the flames.

The scientist lowered her head apologetically, interpreting her boss' silence as disappointment, but to her surprise, Drake's reaction was quite optimistic. "Very well, what is lost is lost. Let's focus our efforts on what we did salvage from the crash. Apart from that, is there anything else of note to report?"

"Yes, the crash sparked a lot of questions from the public regarding the safety of our space exploration program. Our PR team is doing their best but…"

"Tell PR to host a media day conference," said the young CEO as he got up from his bed.

"Sir?"

"I will personally address any concerns they may have."

"Are you sure? The doctors said that you needed rest to recover from your injuries."

"Dr. Skirth, I have three living organisms from outer space sitting in my laboratory that could be the key to improving the human race. Lying here on a hospital bed and doing nothing will probably do me more harm than good," he said as they both shared a light chuckle. "Plus," he said as he clenched his two hands in front of him and felt his usual strength, "I feel fine."

Reporters from dozens of news stations filtered into the conference room, each looking for a crack in the perfect façade of the prodigy known as Carlton Drake for their own scoop. But Eddie Brock knew that people like Drake could feed the press with horseshit all day. Someone who founded an empire at the age of 24 is going to slip up in front of a random Fox News reporter? No. The real scoop is what you find underneath, it's the stuff that they would never admit in front of a public audience in a million years. It's stuff that may lie beyond locked doors…like this one.

"There you go," said the Life Foundation technician as he got the door opened. "Your access card should be ready to go, Dr. Black."

"Thank you so much, my friend," said Eddie as he patted the young man on his shoulder. "I would say that I would treat you to a beer one of these nights but with your new baby coming in I doubt you'll have much time."

The technician laughed as he began packing up his equipment, "No, thank you for all the advice. If you ever have any more technical troubles, feel free to come by again anytime."

"For sure, have a good one," said Eddie as he waved the poor sucker goodbye. Was it wrong to trick new hires into helping you trespass illegally? Maybe. But one could argue that this was for the greater good. If Carlton Drake's skeletons were exposed, then Bob the technician will be remembered as a hero.

"Now let's see what we can find here." That's when the hard work began, Eddie dug through cabinets after cabinets of documents. But after hours of scouring for any legal documents stamped company private or experiment reports with human subjects, he was ready to settle for a speeding ticket. Everything was squeaky clean, well-documented, and to-the-book. Rumors about this empire being built on the dead bodies of vulnerable innocents, were they really just rumors?

No, Eddie wasn't ready to give up just yet. Maybe Drake was just good at hiding the evidence, perhaps he was looking in the wrong place. Just as he was planning his next move a voice called out from behind him. "A-hem."

Eddie slowly turned around and found himself face-to-face with, by his research, the head of the scientist here at the Life Foundation, Dr. Dora Skirth. "Yes? How may I help you?" he said with such a steady voice and smooth confidence that one would easily believe he was right where he was supposed to be.

Unfortunately, his opponent this time wasn't going to be fooled so easily with just good acting. "I was just wondering what you were doing here, Dr…Black," said Dr. Skirth as she held the employee tag in front of her. "In fact, I don't think I recognize you, Dr. Black, are you new here?"

"Yeah, just started today actually. I wasn't sure how about the company's documentation policies, so I decided to come here to check out how it was done for some of the past projects."

"Is that so? Which project are you working on, if you don't mind me asking?"

"The pancreatic cancer cure. You know our boss, not happy with just doubling the life expectancy."

"Triple. You are dedicated; I'll give you that much. You even dressed the part," said Dr. Skirth as she walked up and snatched the fake glasses Eddie was wearing. "You're that reporter on TV with his own show, right?"

"Wow, I must admit, believe it or not, you are the first person to ever recognize me when I have those glasses on."

"Call me perceptive."

"Very much so."

"But flattery won't get you out of this." Caught dead in the water. Should he make a run for it? Not much of a point if she already identified him. The doctor in front of him sighed deeply, "I should report you to security for this, but I know why you are here. You probably believe those online rumors about the Life Foundation and want to expose us, is that right?"

"I don't deny it."

"How about this then? I'll take you anywhere you want to go in this facility and answer any questions you may have, within my rights. Then, you can go back and instead of slandering us, write about the legitimacy of our practice."

Eddie nearly started jumping up and down in excitement. This was way more than he could have possibly achieved alone and he certainly wasn't one to pass up on opportunities like this. "Where would you like to visit first?"

"How about the place where you guys perform human experiments."

"Very funny, Mr. Brock."

"Oh does that part of the tour come after the body disposal room or the legal department where I sign all my human rights away?" He thought he truly messed up when his guide stopped in her tracks. He could never help himself when teasing people and always took it a little too far.

"Actually, it comes after our investigative journalist torture room." The statement was out of the left field but the part that shocked Eddie the most was the sweet and innocent smile Dr. Skirth said it with which made him begin to question whether they really had an investigative journalist torture room or not.

After a comprehensive tour of the facility and asking every single question under the sun that he could come up with, Eddie finally yielded. He tested her with all the tricks in his book, looking for any slip that there may be something beyond what she was telling him, but she passed every test with flying color. "Well, Dr. Skirth, you've sold me. You're either the best liar in this universe or the Life Foundation is indeed clean."

"I'm happy I was able to change your mind. I respect what you do Mr. Brock, I really do. But I want you to know that I would not be working here if I didn't believe Carlton Drake is trying his best every day to improve the quality of life for all of us. So instead of trying to bring him down, support him. I know an article from you will have to pull to stop other reporters from slandering us further."

Looking at the conviction from her eyes, Eddie knew that what she said came from her heart. "I understand. I'm a man of my word, I'll make sure to do right by the Life Foundation name."

It had been some time since the press conference was wrapped up when Eddie Brock left, so Dr. Dora Skirth decided to go find Carlton Drake. Despite it being a grueling session of non-stop tough questions, rather than taking a break, Drake was participating in yet another kids tour with an enthusiasm that she sometimes wished he had with the adults. "Very soon, another Life Foundation rocket will be sent on an exploratory mission. And that's how, one day, we might all live in space."

The statement earned the awe-filled exclamation from his young audience. "Cool, huh? And now that I've shown you some of the cool stuff that we do here. I'm hoping I've inspired each and every one of you to go out there and create things others have only dreamt of."

"Mr. Drake?" asked one of the girls shyly. "If we live in space, would we be living with aliens?"

To her embarrassment, the rest of the group began to ridicule her. "That's ridiculous, how could we possibly live with aliens?"

"Well why not?" said Drake as he silenced the rest of the group. "I, for one, think that we can have a symbiotic relationship with any life form that lives out there. We can learn from them and maybe, they can even learn from us." He gestured toward the little girl to come forward. "What's your name?"

"Allie," said the little girl who was on the brink of tears.

"It's okay Allie. You know, sometimes that's what people do. They try and silence those of us who ask questions. But you know what? In the end, we're the ones who change the world," he said as he removed the Life Foundation badge pin he wore and put it in her hands. The little girl's tears went away and were instantly replaced with a big smile.

"You know, our staff would probably cry tears of joy if you did that with any one of them," said Dr. Skirth as she approached him after the kids left.

"The people who work with us are the ones who carry the present. Those kids, they're the ones who will carry the future. They require more care than we do. But enough of that," said Drake as he clapped his hands together, "it's high time I meet our new alien friends."

Author's Note: Hope I didn't keep you guys waiting too long? Who am I kidding? I definitively did. For those of you that are still here, let me know what you guys think so far. Do you guys like the slight tweaks to Dora Skirth and Drake's character so far?