Reservoir of Hurt

A woman (we'll call her Phyllis, because that's her name)

Worked in a small, windowless utility shack

Thirty meters up from the current shoreline

Of Puddingstone reservoir 

Measuring the emotional responses of brown trout

To human facial expressions

Phyllis was in her late twenties and had been a theater major

So she prided herself on her range and control of her facial muscles

She had even taught herself to cry without hesitation

Tears of joy or sadness

It was the reason she was hired

By Pinnacle Armor Corporation

This particular morning

She had three moderately sized brown trout

Eye-level with her on what she called the "fish shelf"

And she was making her rage face

The carefully wired fish were connected to a series of computers

On the far wall

Their responses to her expressions being transmitted

To Pinnacle's chief science officer

Who his colleagues referred to as "The Dragon"