New Geneva...

Azrael Ballow Linx - Ballow in Name


Ballow looked to Ben adn his eyes gleamed over to an astonishing black, his speech became more drawn out and more educated, "Oh yes, I have been working on a new formula that will reverse GRAVITY! Thereotically speaking, it will allow, people to live for longer and help against a few diseases. Thereotically speaking of course. I've designed the formula, but one part is amazingly complex and unusual. I've been delaying in trying to finish afraid of rushing and making the whole formula absolute rubbish and useless."

He looked to Ben his eyes dancing with excitement, "Oh, I'm sorry when I converse about this subject, I get rather caught up and forget myself. You see the reason why I am actually working on gravity is because three weeks ago -"

He cut himself off, his eyes turned their normal red colour and he began to cry, "POOR Amy!"

Tears poured down his face and he ran his fingers through his hair, "WHY did she have to DIE!?! GODDAMN that stupid bookshelf that fell on her, if it wasn't for goddamned gravity she would've lived!"

Ben:

His brow creased a little, This guy cannot be for real. Surely New Geneva was too safe, too well structured to permit something like a bookshelf falling on someone? Still, it wouldn't hurt to give him some comfort, even if he did seem on the borderline of insanity.

He reached out one hand and patted Ballow on the shoulder, "Don't worry...these things happen." The words sounded ridiculous even to him, but wasn't this what people were meant to say at a time like this? "Gravity's caused people to die before, just think of it this way, but finding a way around that, you'll save countless lives."

Ballow


Ballow looked at the guy who was patting his back while looking kind of nervous.

He sniffed and wiped away some tears, "She was my favourite!"

The guy froze, "What?"

Ballow blew his nose on his shirt and his bottom lip quivered, "I loved that cat like the sister I never had!"

The guy stopped pattin Ballows back and looked at him.



(lol. ^^)

*lol, Light! *

[Seven Folestion]

"No, that wouldn't be any fun," I teased, watching Matheos jump back from the tank. "So, uh, what are you guys gonna do to it? I don't want you to hurt it or anything, and you can't just pluck a leaf off! That's like taking an arm! Do you know how--"

"Seven," Ilarios interupted quickly, my voice coming to a sudden and strangely silent stop. "We are not going to hurt it."

It sounded as if he really didn't take that seriously and he said the words with slight doubt to me. He doesn't know anything about my plants, I thought, face blanking off all emotion like it usually did when I was deep in thought.

"Be careful," I stated flatly, silently sliding off the cover of the cage, not really saying who I was telling to be careful.

Ilario

A person had to be real stupid to put their hand in there a second time I decided as I put my hand in there a second time. The plant stirred a little more, looking almost sulky. I held the swab and brushed it carefully against one velvet leaf. The Venus fly trap sprang forward and tried to eat my swab but I pulled it back hurriedly, taking my whole arm out of the tank.

"There we go," I said.

"That's it?" Seven asked dubiously.

"Yup. Told you I wouldn't hurt it."

Matheos took the swab from me and pulled a microscope closer. He slid the little cotton tip under the glass and we all took turns looking at it. There wasn't much to see.

"And what can you find out with that?" Seven asked.

"It has the plant's DNA," Matheos explained. "We can find out a lot from DNA. But I think Ilario should take some more swabs, just in case." I followed his eyes to the tank where the plant was now most defineately awake and shook my head vehemently.

"Oh no. One will do just fine," I said.

[Seven Folestion]

I stepped closer to the tank and looked a little closer inside, nose almost squished against the glass. The Venus fly trap seemed to let out a low growl and tilted its head sideways. Maybe its studying me, I thought, smiling a little.

"Wait, what's that?" I pushed one side of the tank a little back to turn it.

There, on the one of the leaves, was a small bud. Small and pink with red stripes, it, too, stirred, unfolding and then closing back up. Matheos and Ilario leaned in closer also. The plant's head turned and covered up the bud, growling again.

"Is that think alive?" I asked as the pink flower-like thing unfurled again.

Ben

He sat back with a barely audible sigh, God. I knew there was something up there. This guy has got to be certifiable. What he's doing here, I don't know.

He chewed at one nail for a little, then decided it would be best to get away before things got too much more out of hand. This Ballow guy was a little too weird for Ben's taste, and besides, he had way too much work to get done.

Ben folded his laptop shut and stood up, an apologetic look on his face, "I'm really sorry about...Amy. But I've got to go. I've got a lot of work to get done today."

Amelia-

"So until that truck arrives, what can we do?" she asked. The Bench Six team shrugged.

A freckled boy at Bench Five looked over. "Are you guys free?"

"Yuh-huh."

"Could you make us some nitric acid? We're a bit low."

"There's none in the store?" Amelia said with surprise.

"No," he replied.

"But that's weird, because I'm sure we made a whole bottle a few days ago and when I went yesterday there was at least three bottles in there," she said with a frown.

He shrugged. "Must have just been using a lot, I guess," he said.

She nodded. "Right. I'll go and check the store room and get some sulphuric acid," she said. "Can one of you grab an alembic?"

But in the store room there was only a fifth of a bottle of sulphuric acid left. Amelia leant down to look at the HCl supplies, shocked to find very little of it either.

She went out and walked down the twelve benches. Around her, other people were beginning to question it too, and there was not one bottle of acid sitting on the tables.

There was a thief in New Geneva.

Matheos-

"Maybe we should get a biologist in here," he said. "It's definitely alive, but... plants shouldn't be sentient."

Ilario and Seven frowned. "Fast evolution?" Ilario suggested.

"Super fast," Matheos replied. "Seven, how long has the plant been able to move quickly?"

She shrugged. "A while, I guess. I don't know."

Matheos shook his head. "It's impossible," he whispered.

"It's radiation," Ilario reminded him. "When you're bombarded as much as Vens was, if you're sentient you wouldn't be so surprised."

"You're saying I don't have a brain at the moment?" Matheos asked.

"Yup," Ilario said and stuck his tongue out.

"Where's the plant from?" Matheos asked.

[Seven Folestion]

"From my lab," I said, smiling softly as if it was my own child. "I made it,"

There was a silent pause and I looked up to find Ilario and Matheos staring at me with confused looks. It made me almost ask what was the matter with them, but that wouldn't make much sense since they would soon tell my anyway.

"You made it?" Matheos's voice was first to crack the silence.

I nodded, tracing the edges of the glass contaner with an index finger. Vens looked up, then back down to the pink flower.

"But why?"

"Why not?"

Ilario shook his head and said, "Are you saying you did this because you were simply bored?"

"No... Well, not exactly. It was an experiment to see," I pause, choosing the right words. "To see if I could,"

A gust of air through the vents above us sent a chill through the room and I shivered--no one else did. What could they be thinking now? That I was some mad botanist? I could feel Ilario's eyes bore into my head. I turned my attention the other way, but that would just lead to Matheos's eyes, who were doing the same.

"What?"

Ilario

"You mean to tell us that instead of working on nourishing plants that would provide appropriate cures and nutrition, you have been conducting experiments?" I asked, finding it difficult to keep the irritation from my voice. Seven shrugged, looking only a little uneasy.

"Not exactly," she said. "I'm doing it alongside my usual work." I exchanged a look with Matheos and then turned purposefully back to the plant.

"We'll take a few more samples and then you can take it back to your lab," I said. "We've got some other work to finish this morning and plants really isn't my area of expertise." I didn't mean to sound rude or to be hurtful but Seven took it badly, her eyes narrowing to a glare when I looked up.

"Yeah... I'm going to have another look at your charts actually. I think I might be getting somewhere on our task," Matheos said quickly, edging back towards the other room. I watched him go with a controlled impatience. It was hard to not fault him on his immaturity and sharp exits when the situation got awkward.

"Okay, done. I'll help you carry it back." Seven nodded, chewing her lower lip as we took a side each. We paused in the outer chamber to disinfect ourselves of any possible remnants of the diseases I worked with and we disposed of the suits, exchanging them for our normal clothes.

"I am helping re-build society," Seven said quietly.

"Yes I know," I assured her quickly. "What I said... I didn't mean anything by it. You're entitled to experimenting in your own time, I'm just... a little frustrated I guess."

"With your work?" Seven asked. I nodded.

[Seven Folestion]

"You know what?" I slid my left hand underneath the tank and my other on the top. "I think I can carry this back myself."

"No, it's okay, I--"

Once he started to explain I was already holding the entire container and had taken a few steps away. It's not worth talking, I thought, eyes narrowing once more. Ilario was still standing there, arms sagging in the air like he was still somewhat holding the tank.

"You have work to do, after all," I sighed, glancing back at him. "And so do I." I could feel my face warm up again, but I wasn't blushing--I was sure. "I'm fine, it's not that heavy."

With that, I turned and started walking, but I could only hear my own footsteps. He couldn't seriously still be standing there. The Venus fly trap turned its head back and forth uncomfortably. Turn the corner. Walk down the hall. Don't look back. The door leading to the Botany Ward was just ahead.

Amelia-

The Chemists split up and began to go through the other sections and labs.

"I don't get it," she murmured. "Why would someone steal acid?"

She turned the corner into the botany section. It was unlikely, but worth a shot.

"Hey, Seven," she said, waving at the girl who was carrying the Venus Flytrap. "This is going to sound weird, but you don't know where the Chem Lab's acids have gone, do you?"

Seven looked up and gave her a strange glare. "Why would I?"

"They've just all disappeared I don't understand, so I'm just looking..."

"Not that I know of," Seven cut her off. She was perhaps still angry about the plant.

Matheos-

"She made it?" he repeated incredulously to Ilario.

"I know," he answered.

"And you don't find that the tiniest bit odd?"

Ilario sighed. "Yeah, a tad."

Matheos snorted. "And you said it was radiation?"

"I thought it was. But if it wasn't... how did she do it?"