She can do nothing but watch as the test subject thrashes on his stretcher, a feral roar exploding from his lungs. His eyes are pink and bloodshot, but she can clearly see the signature blue ring setting around his irises.
Phase one, complete. She mentally checks off.
The other people in the room watch with a mixture of disgust and awe as the man's skin starts to turn a sickly grey. Her heartbeat quickens at the thought of being close to their goal, but then he slumps backwards with his mouth hanging open.
No!
For a few seconds no-one says anything until her boss, the one in charge of this project, clears his throat and steps forward.
"I thought we had it." He curses, picking at a scab on his neck.
"We were so close. Next time we'll have it for sure." She reassures him.
His gaze snaps to her and she can't help but stare at his eyes. Pure black but conveying such intense annoyance. For a second, she's afraid she's said the wrong thing, he has an extreme temper, but then his shoulders relax.
"You're right, Oceana. The positive thing is that he survived phase one. That has to count for something, right?"
Oceana dips her head. "Of course, Dr West."
He sighs. "Let's see what our investors have to say."
Oceana follows him out of the sterile white room, relieved to be away from the body. She could handle them while they're living and changing, but the second they die she gets squeamish. The second time she fainted while handling them, so Dr West now gets one of the cleaners to do it. She thought she was fired for sure; he was so angry.
Out in the hallway the 'investors' have gathered. Her eyes drift to the man with two large red tentacles for arms. He’s the one they have to please the most, as his unit is funding most of their project. His power still puts her off every time she sees him though.
"Dr West, we're impressed with what we saw."
Oceana has to grit her teeth to prevent her mouth from dropping open. How could they be impressed with that? The experiment was a total failure despite the subject lasting past phase one.
"I'm glad to hear that." Dr West replies, not even an ounce of surprise in his voice.
"And you, Fish Girl, how is the upgrade for the Bots going?"
Oceana flinches at his tone. It doesn't matter how many times she tells these people her name, they always call her Fish Girl. She resists the urge to stare at the green and blue scales that cover the back of her hands. The scales cover her entire body, giving her the 'look' of a fish despite the rest of her being human. However, she wasn't going to let it get to her. She was teased relentlessly about her power in school and isn't about to relive that again.
"Eighty percent complete." She answers, looking him right in the eye.
Uncomfortable, he looks away. "Good. On our next visit I want it at ninety percent."
Dr West glances over his shoulder at her. "Is that possible, Oceana?"
"Yes sir."
Although her main job is robotics and engineering in the Halo-O department, Dr West handpicked her to help with his secret project. She had been honoured at first, then horrified once she understood what it was, now it just leaves her with a numb feeling. Work isn’t as mundane as it used to be, but sometimes she wishes it was.
"Good. We'll be back in two weeks to check your progress." He says, trying not to glance in her direction.
Dr West nods and the group leaves, walking single file down the slim corridor. Fluorescent red strips have been added to the walls to lead the way, the colour red was chosen as Dr West assumed many people would think danger and not wander too far down. So far, apart from one or two, he had been right.
"Don't let him get to you," Dr West says. "He's one of the biggest assholes I've ever met."
She smiles politely, unsure of how to respond. "Do you need me to set up for the next round?"
"No. Go work with the Bots for the rest of your shift. We'll begin again tomorrow."
She tries not to let her relief show. Instead, she nods and follows the red strips out into another hallway. As she makes her way to the robotics department, marked with florescent green strips, she tries to calm her beating heart. They had been so close this time, the virus was so close to taking. But why hadn't it? She trusted Dr West's theories and knew that they would get there at some point.
At least the Sergeant was pleased.
Swiping her key card once she reaches the giant metal door, she ignores the stares of her colleagues as she makes her way to her desk, situated in the middle of the room. Blueprints and various wires are strewn across it, which she pushes to one side to log in to her computer. As she's scouring her emails for the day, she doesn't realise someone is in front of her until a Bot eye is dropped on her desk. It's grey with a single slit in the middle, storing the facial recognition software and direction input.
"This one broke down again." Her colleague says.
She doesn't bother looking up at him. "This looks like Warren's work to me."
The crazed cult leader was against anything that went against his view of the world. He believed that everyone’s powers are the work of the devil, and they should never use them. They need to avoid the urge of temptation and ignore their powers until God cleanses them of them. All his teachings ignore the fact that everyone is born like this, a lot of people don’t even want the powers they have. His followers have destroyed many Bots before, targeting the street cleaners. It baffles her that people could destroy something that is innocently trying to clean their area and make sure they're safe.
From the corner of her eye, she can see her colleague shrug. "You know Warren."
Oceana pushes her glasses further up her nose, this wouldn't be an easy fix, if she could even fix it at all. Most of the wires have been sliced through and the hardware inside is fried. The outer shell has been dented and crumpled like a piece of paper.
"I think we have to write this one off." She says with a sigh.
"No can do. Management wants this one up and running to look at its chip."
She plucks a frayed wire from the mess. "They want this fixed?"
Her colleague's face goes sour. "Dr West himself recommended your services. According to him you're the best one for the job."
She doesn't need to meet his gaze to feel the hostility rolling off him in waves. Ever since Dr West picked her for his side project her colleagues have been nothing but rude and jealous. At first it had bothered her, but then she realised that they were just waiting for her to fail, and she wasn't going to give them the satisfaction.
"Fine. It will take a few weeks."
"I'm sure Fish Girl won't disappoint."
She can only glare at the back of his head when he walks away. Everyone uses her appearance against her, not caring if it hurts.
Glancing at the mess on the table, she heaves a sigh. "I'll try my best."
***
As Oceana is on the latest shift, she's the last one out of her department. She’s managed to get a few of the dents out of the Bot but that’s about it. Its resilient shell proved hard to mould and shape. She nods to a security guard as she passes by, almost getting to reception before getting called back.
"Excuse me, are you Oceana?"
She pauses and turns back to the female guard. "Yes."
"And you're working with Dr West?"
Oceana's scales prickle at the line of questioning. "Yes."
The woman visibly relaxes. "There's an alarm going off in Dr West's office. I can't get hold of him and don't have clearance to turn it off. Can you help?"
"Of course."
The two women make their way down the corridor, smiling at everyone they pass. Once they get to Dr West's office the guard pauses before opening the door. A high-pitched alarm immediately cuts through, making Oceana's ears thrum. She opens the panel by the door and punches in the code and after a second they're left with only the ringing in their ears.
"Thank you. It’s been going off for ages."
"Do you know what triggered it?"
"No idea. I checked the CCTV; no-one has been in or out for hours."
Although Oceana knows that she should turn around and go home, a prickle in her gut wants her to go in. "Do you mind if I take a look around? Just in case it was a faulty wire."
"That would be great, thanks. I don't want it going off again after you've left."
The guard leaves her to it and Oceana peers into the room. Unlike the other offices this one has carpet, a deep burgundy. The walls are filled with Dr West's awards and achievements, with a few also standing up on his desk. There are two bookshelves at the back of the room, filled with textbooks about machinery and DNA. To her surprise there's also a famous romance novel shoved in the middle, she didn't take him as a fiction reader.
She slides under his desk to look through the wires, checking if any are damaged or frayed. Once she's happy that it wasn't a fire alarm that was triggered, she sits up and returns to the panel. She punches a new code to do a room check, which whirs for a few seconds before a message pops up on the screen.
"'Unidentified obstruction'? Where?"
She runs the diagnostic again, but it comes back with the same message. That's when the sound of scratching from behind the wall makes her skin crawl. She presses her ear against the wall, trying to locate the source of the sound.
"Oceana?"
The voice makes her jump. "Dr West! They finally got hold of you?"
"Yes, I just checked my messages. What are you doing?"
She taps the message on the panel. "It says there's an obstruction. I hear scratching so it might be a rat."
To her surprise he relaxes and runs another diagnostic check. "I hope not. The last thing we need is something getting wedged behind a wall."
"Maybe we could set traps in the vents. If they can get in a wall they can get in there."
"Good idea. I'll get on that tomorrow. Thank you for your help."
She smiles politely and walks out, back towards reception to go home. The scratching in the walls had been creepy, but it was just a rat. She hopes that they won’t chew their way through her desk as well.
