Experimentation [MOD]
Mar 28, 2014 15:28:18 GMT -5
Post by Cassandra Masson Descoteaux on Mar 28, 2014 15:28:18 GMT -5
The elevator hummed as it made its ascent up the tower. Above her head, a number ticked on by - six, seven, eight - and Cassandra began tapping her clipboard with an insistence that highlighted her impatience.
Nine, ten.
She shifted the clipboard to her other arm, pressing it against her bosom, while the freed limb lifted to expose a basic looking watch. Tick, tick, tick, the second hand rotated across the face of it; and she scoffed at the sound. Everything in the elevator was more tin-like in nature. The humming around her was low and often imperceptible when Cassandra was busy, but for now it lingered. Her watch hand, as it ticked away, sounded like a pin being dropped - tick, tick, tin, tin, tin - and the doors dinged finally, sliding open to reveal the 13th floor.
Before her was another door and the scientist was faced with it swiftly, as she manoeuvred out of the elevator and down the hall. With a swipe of a keycard and a few numbers dutifully input to the pad next to it, the new door opened. Cassandra slid inside of the hidden laboratory; she marched swiftly to one of the stations, and set down the clipboard.
Around her there were a few busybodies. Some attendants making sure files were in order, others clunking away at computer terminals. With a careful look at the passing Pravus members, Cassandra made her move. She abandoned the clipboard and the notes contained there (many of which were empty pieces of paper, piled thick enough to look like serious business); she moved with a certain commanding energy that said, 'I have work to do, get your ass out of the way!' and like a flock of birds, the other scientists made way.
The woman knew what she was after. It was in a specific room that only she had the codes for - as far as she knew - and it was this small side-door that she sought out. Next to a closet which was marked 'maintenance', down a dusty corridor that seemed to lack any use at all, Cassandra had found the perfect niche for her project. She withdrew a set of keys from her jacket pocket, and after a few moments of jingling them around to wrangle the proper utensil, she unlocked the archaic deadbolt. Next was a second lock, closer to the top of the door itself - a panel that recognized the swipe of her keycard; a piece of technology that she had bought after a few months of work and saving.
With another furtive look around, Cassandra pressed on through to the other side of the door. It clicked shut behind her, and she tasked herself with locking it as firmly as possible. One deadbolt, one keypad for the swipe-panel out front, and she was safe and settled.
When she turned to face the interior of the hollow room, there was very little to see. A desk with a computer, a chair, some shelves. Farthest from the door was a second table, a small one that looked to be attached to the floor. There was no room for legs if one were to sit there; instead, there was more shelving. Slots for paperwork and the like. Cassandra headed for this, meanwhile dropping her work bag in to the computer chair in passing. On the table was what she had come for - it was the pinnacle of her work thus far, her private work.
An old file box sat on the table, and inside was a pile of scarves. Scarves, socks, some fluffy insulating material she had found while wandering the more decrepit and unused hallways - mostly from storage. Everything packed in tightly, to keep the egg at the center snug as a bug. The woman stood by the table and loomed over the egg. A gleam of interest, of intent, lingered there. Carefully she reached for the object of her desires, and as delicate as she could be, the egg was lifted free from its man-made nest. The woman held it in both hands, for it was of medium size - comparable to many of the bird eggs she had read about. This one was slightly larger, and the colouration on the exterior was of muddy quality. It was unlike any egg, for it was an egg she had created herself.
"Hello little egg," Cassandra cooed, mothering the round object with her voice, for there was little else she could do for something that had no conciousness. "You'll be free soon." She mumbled next. Yes, by all accounts, the Pokemon inside would be hatching soon. It was difficult to determine when with any finality because of the nature of the creature inside, but Cassandra had done the work. One parent sample for the egg's DNA was of the quick-to-propagate Taillow; the other was a more recent find, at least for Cassandra. Some kind of fire bird that lived in Kalos. It was prolific in that area, or it had been at some point, and Pravus records indicated that it was a very common thing indeed.
Cassandra was hopeful. If this splice was successful then Pravus would see her for what she was: a true geneticist. Someone with the knowledge and the commitment to be of great use to them. Granted, Cassandra had already worked her way up in the world from a lab assistant and in to her latest position as a researcher; but that wasn't enough. She thought of all the things this egg presented to her, and was somewhat reluctant to place it back in to its nest; but as she moved to do so, it gave a shiver.