"Wanted: Volunteers for late-stage experimental testing. No qualifications needed. Negotiable payment, minimum $200,000. Details provided on-site after signing non-disclosure agreement. Come in person, long-distance application not accepted."
Located along Shady Elms Parkway, on the verge of downtown and a residential suburb, stood a large, unprepossessing building. The main structure was a blocky rectangle three stories tall, white in colour and fronted with rows of tinted windows to prevent the outside world seeing what was going on inside. Flanking it were two smaller wings, two stories tall, also lined with tinted windows. In between was a spacious parking lot. It was crisp and business-like, and could have been mistaken for any office or maybe a hospital, if not for the modest signs over the main entrances.
In fact, this was Kelly Laboratories, one of the most famous private research centres in the United States. Or, as some gossip-mongers had it, infamous. Its official reputation was impeccable, and several breakthroughs in a wide range of fields had come out of it. But what went on inside was kept strictly confidential, with security so tight it was said the government was envious; so inevitably rumours circulated about mad science and immoral experimentation.
The founder, owner and chief scientist was Doctor Krystal Ursulina Kelly. Although born into wealth, she was both a rare genius and a model citizen. Wise, generous, kind if a bit strict with herself and her associates -- or so they said. Her genius at least was undeniable; she was a gifted polymath with doctorates in multiple fields. And after her education, she had invested her wealth into furthering those fields in the facility she founded. For the betterment of humanity, she claimed.
Kelly Labs held the latest and greatest tech that money could buy -- or its scientists could create. Among the rumours it was whispered that there were things in there that nobody, not even the government, had access to. But due to the strictly enforced secrecy, nobody could say for sure.
Another ad had recently appeared in local media asking for volunteer testers. This was nothing new, and as far as anyone was aware, previous testers had come out unscathed and decently richer. Again, rumours circulated that some of these volunteers never did come back, but those were impossible to verify. Regardless, money was money, and with no qualifications needed it was a tempting offer.