The laboratory was also brightly lit, consisting of a main, octagonal room in the middle with narrow corridors branching off into various smaller labs. When we saw massive glass incubators in the octagonal room, it felt like entering a sci-fi movie.
The incubators contained all sorts of strange things, ranging from plants to fungi and even embryos! There was a small screen next to every incubator which showed the status of whatever was inside as well as the controlled environment inside the tube. With a few buttons, we could change the temperature, humidity and delivery of nutrients to every incubator. However, that wasn't our task.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrr4hgeyrr2
As we explored the laboratory and watched the lifeforms in the incubators, a female scientist approached us, seemingly emerging out of nowhere. She obviously wore a white lab coat, blue gloves and a mask with safety goggles. Most strikingly, she had dyed bright blue hair tied in a ponytail.
- Don't touch that, or you'll kill it! - she saw us standing by an incubator with a peculiar embryo - I'm assuming that you're new, let me lead you to your lab.
Since there was work to do, we followed her through one of the narrow corridors. The walls were white with dark gray strips slightly above the floor. Again, everything seemed almost sterile.
The woman approached a large metal door and typed in a password. The door slowly slid open with an ominous clank, revealing... a plant.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCQUTpt77P9
Our new lab was a tiny bit larger than my dorm in the Academy of Astronauts. Most of the lab was occupied by a table with a tall glass dome. Underneath it was the plant. It was just an ordinary bush, coloured green. The scientist carefully opened the dome and slid the plant, which was placed on a tray filled with dirt, out of it. She took it to another room before returning to us.
- Your job is to create a similar plant from scratch. Good luck! - the woman suddenly left us alone in the lab, closing the metal door.
- Uhh... how do we even do that? - Claudius asked. His specialty was machinery, not biology.
I looked around the room. There were no windows at all. Above the tall dome was a lamp that was currently turned off. It was actually possible to switch the colour, but for now we left it as is. Instead, we focused on a tablet attatched to the dome. Several cables connected the two. On the tablet's screen was more Chinese text on a blue background.
- What does that say? - I turned to Harold.
- "New project" - he translated - What do they teach you in the academy? You should be fluent in Chinese to understand our enemies...
- Weren't you supposed to teach us? You're our new adult supervisor after all... - Sebastian muttered, but Harold was to focused on the screen to reply.
With his assistance, we created a blank project. He was also able to translate the text in the program. The elephant in the room was that we didn't know how to start creating.
It seemed like the genetic engineers use some strange kind of code to input the necessary data. There was also a window showing the structure of the genes, but we couldn't figure out how to use that either. If only Arika was here! She'd understand this mess, coding is her expertise...28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkbO0BwfC9
- Uhh... - Amber just stared at the screen in utter confusion. We weren't in better condition.
- I say we figure this out through trial and error - Claudius proposed. We nodded, but Harold was against this method.
- If they see us messing around, we'll be compromised! We must act as if we know how to use this thing. Remember, we have to be quiet and secretive... - he replied loudly.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIfLUu2Xa4
- Said the one who's almost yelling right now - Sebastian sighed. It seems like Harold doesn't know how to help us and more importantly, how to work with us. We've started training three months ago and saying that we weren't prepared for such action was an understatement.
My mind returned to Einstein. I knew that I wasn't the only one who preffered him as our caretaker. He was able to communicate and support us without growing as frustrated as Harold. Sure, there were some moments when he got angry, but he knew that we're still agents-in-training. Harold seemed to treat us like adult field agents.
Coming back to reality, I saw Claudius utilising some fragments of code found within the program and checking their functionality. He managed to rotate the dome, change the lights and create a very messy piece of DNA, but he was learning from this. The others observed his actions, with me joining in. Harold was trying to stop us, but he couldn't. Luckily, it took us only ten minutes of trial and error to figure out the basics of the program.
We were able to create the simplified framework of a bush, but we encountered our first problem when editing the amount of chlorophyll and other important things.
- How much do we add? - Claudius asked us.
- Just type one with a bunch of zeros, that ought to do the trick - Amber suggested. Claudius ended up typing "100000000000" and saving the settings.
We inspected the code with Harold's linguistic support (he was still frustrated) and pressed "Run Program".
As it turned out, there was a weird device beneath us, seemingly a smaller incubator. It produced seeds before opening up and beeping. We had to take the seeds and place them under the tall dome, as Harold translated. I grabbed a few for myself and carefully placed them in the dirt, which Sebastian got from a bag tossed in the corner of the room. The others placed their seeds and we closed the dome. The next step was to add something called Ultra Fertilizer to speed up the growth process.
Ultra Fertilizer was a green substance contained in a very smelly bottle. Luckily, we had our safety masks, so we just pulled them up to cover up our noses. Harold looked at the tiny Chinese text with concern.
- Oversized doses may result in overgrowth, rotting or plant explosion. Use at your own risk - he said.
- So, how much do we add? - I looked at the bottle.
- Let's pour in a fourth of that bottle's contents - Sebastian suggested and we gazed upon him with uncertainty - What? That won't make a bomb, right?
Ultimately, we agreed with him, mainly due to our lack of knowledge on the subject. Even Harold was puzzled. With concern, we slowly opened the dome and poured in the fertilizer. After that, we quickly slammed the opening shut, fearing whatever will grow.
At first, not much happened. Sebastian was about to add more fertilizer when the bush started growing faster than we expected. It didn't take long until it occupied the entire dome. I watched with fear as the glass started to crack. Promptly, the blue-haired woman ran into the room.
- Oh no - Harold hissed.
- What on Earth did you do...? - She looked at the panel, which now showed the statistics of the plant's values - Oh my goodness!
- What happened? - Amber approached her.
- The nutritional values are off the charts! This is revolutionary! We have a breakthrough! - the woman was ecstatic. Her joy slightly faded when the dome exploded - That's the price of science...
The woman grabbed the bush, which was still growing and rushed out of the lab as leaves started dangling off the tray. She made it to larger lab, with us following her. Once there, we met a tall man who inspected the plant. She woman told him something, but they were too far away for the translators to work on them. The man was clearly surprised by what we've achieved.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUIKSCeNm9
- How did this happen? - he looked at our pretty unremarkable group.
- We created a normal bush and added the fourth of a bottle of Ultra Fertilizer... - Claudius started explaining.
- Why does that stuff smell so horrible, by the way? - Sebastian added.
- We set the values of some stuff to one with a boatload of zeros... - Amber joined the conversation. We ended up shouting over each other, but the man still understood us. In the meantime, the female scientist brought a truly bizzare creature.
It looked like a spider the size of a big dog, but it was bright green and had four lanky legs. The spider's eyes were very small, but its fangs were massive in contrast. It would definitely be nightmare fuel for people with arachnophobia. The creature was brought in a bowl. It almost seemed like the woman was carrying the spider in its personal throne.
- We need to see the effects this stuff has on a living subject... - the man informed us and we watched as the spider-like creature consumed our creation.
As it did, its eyes turned blood red and it hissed before running out of the bowl, jumping off the table and smashing through the window. Well, that was unexpected...
- Oh no, come back! - the woman yelped.
- It seems like you need to capture it - the man turned to us.
As I looked through the window, it led out into the vast artificial jungle. If we wanted to find our arachnid, we had to go there.
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and then Add to home screen.