October 7th, 8:00 PM GMT
"How is MA-14 looking?" asked Evan Donaghue as he walked into unit B-141.
Ken Rhee looked up from the lab mouse he had been inspecting, and watched his boss walking toward the door to unit B-142. Donaghue was an elderly man, but moved like he was much younger. Looking at the doctor, Rhee would have figured him to be in his fifties, but Rhee had once found a paper that Donaghue had published almost 50 years earlier, so he guessed that Donaghue's real age had to be at least 70.
Donaghue reached the door to B-142 and pulled out his security pass. Pausing, he turned to look at Rhee, who realised that he hadn't answered his boss' question.
"Uh...", he stumbled, "what was that, doctor?"
"MA-14", Donaghue repeated. "That is the specimen that you're inspecting, isn't it? How does it look? Has the swelling around the implant gone down?"
Rhee looked down at the mouse and noticed that his hands were shaking.
"Um..." responded Ree, realising that his mind had gone blank. He hastily grabbed the mouse, and roughly turned it over, trying to find the scar left from the surgery. The mouse reacted angrily to his rough handling and bit his finger, breaking the skin. Rhee gritted his teeth, forcing himself not to react to the bite and to focus on the animal's abdomen. The scar was clearly visible in the centre of the shaved patch.
"Yes," Rhee answered at last, relieved to have something intelligent to say. "The swelling is coming down nicely. It looks like the subject is not adversely reacting to the implant."
"Excellent," said Donaghue. "Don't look so surprised," he added with a charming smile, "I've done this sort of thing before."
Rhee tensed up again. "I'm not surprised!" he said in a near panic.
Donaghue laughed casually. "Don't worry, my boy. I'm only teasing you," then adopting an air of genuine concern, he added "are you feeling alright?"
Rhee shrugged. "It's this place," he answered. "I think it's starting to get to me."
"Courage, my boy. If you think it is hard now, just wait until it is permanently night time. That's when the isolation really sinks in."
Rhee swallowed hard, suddenly imagining never seeing the sun again.
"But you'll get through it and the next thing you know, you'll be on your way home with quite a story to tell," Donaghue continued encouragingly. "I'll even be sure to mention you by name when I am collecting my next Nobel prize!" Donaghue laughed good-naturedly.
Rhee managed a smile, while feeling intellectually dwarfed by the mere presence of his boss. No slouch in his own right, Rhee had never managed to even understand the work that Donaghue had completed to earn his first Nobel prize.
Swiping his badge at the security scanner, Donaghue swung open the door to B-142 and walked in. Rhee craned his neck trying to see into the neighbouring lab. He had never been allowed in and could only guess at the nature of Donaghue's work, despite working full time as his assistant.
Donaghue strode out of sight, and as the lab door slowly swung closed behind him, Rhee caught a rare glimpse at the inside of the lab. He saw an operating table, covered by a clean blue sheet. Something fairly bulky was hidden from sight under that sheet. As Rhee watched through the narrowing crack of the doorway, he swore he saw a pale human arm slip out from under the sheet and hang limply.
The door closed with a loud click and Rhee jumped at a pain in his hand. Looking down he realised he was squeezing the poor lab mouse, who had bitten him again. He struggled to keep hold of the squirming animal while relaxing his grip, but his hands were uncooperative as they shook violently. The mouse leapt from his grasp and in another moment, it was out of sight.
Swallowing hard again, Rhee frantically began searching the lab.
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Conditional Failure - Donaghue has inadvertently made Ree suspicious, while also possibly losing a test subject.
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