Lythum Labs

[Viper]

Dr. Davis was happy to be moving his lab for once. It was not often new lab space became open and his old lab had become rather overwhelmed with the amount of stuff he had to work on.

"Where are we?"

A small white hedgehog in almost complete black, with a white cape was the one asking the question, as they rode the large circler elevators down. Dr. Davis only smiled as another female behind him answered.

"We are located at the new Lyhtum Underwater Labs. The corporation decided after the events of the world merging that moving the labs was needed. This underwater located somewhere in the ocean."

The hedgehog looked at female fox in a business suit funny.

"Somewhere? That’s a vague answer coming from you."

The female fox did not even blink and eye at the question, as if it was completely natural.

"Per Lythum policy the specific location is not to be discussed and therefore I have be set to reframe from even mentioning whereabouts of this location."

Dr. Davis found it rather interesting how they interacted. He had built both of them and they were not perfect success but they had good abilities and they had potential to be fixed and corrected as well. He hated the idea of waste and experiments were no exception. The evaluator ride was long and he felt is ears pop as they went down and down.

The glass evaluator was pressurized to make the inside pressure higher then the outside pressure therefore preventing water pressure from cracking the glass cause the pressure inside was greater. The depths of the lab was perfect for staying hidden and better if something went wrong, easy cover up.

"An interesting lab design they came up with this time. The water pressure of this depth acts as a natural defense ageist all except the latest high depth model submarines."

"Or a very remote watery grave."

The white hedgehog spat as she did not like the idea of one mis-shot, one mistake and the whole thing implodes on you. Dr. Davis gave a chuckle as though the glass window the building became visible, they had come down far enough to see it. It was a spherical shaped building and though at this depth it was very dark the building outlines could be seen barely.

"The simplest part of the design is that this place only has two means of getting in. You use the elevators, or a deep sea explorer submarine."

"That if they want to get in, one good shot at any of this stuff, good bye pressure and hello water."

Dr. Davis chuckled once more finding an understanding about being easily crushed to death by water at the simplest mistake.

"Very correct but I believe Dr. Light was bragging about the defensive equip he designed for the building."

"Dr. Light was in charge with development of a means to defend and defeat any external attempts at the facility. His research results and acceptance by the board of directors would show that his research was rather successful."

The fox seemed very formal and was dressed as such. The hedgehog was covered in black and only her face gave away that her fur was in fact all white.

"Regardless, this will be our new home for now."

He smiled and turned around looking at the red kitsune still sitting down and who appeared to be uninterested in the new facility.

"Any difficultly?"

[Tia]

"None at all."

She was worried a bit about this move. She felt it would put him more out of harms way but the building itself might be more the danger now. She kept running simulations in her mind of escape plans in case of the worse a majority end in failure. The chances of survival during a complete and total failure of the building failure was only 11%.

"Tia stop worrying about it."

Dr. Davis rased up his hand showing his monitoring device, showing a few of the equations she had last run.

"I apologize."

She put the thinking on hold as asked. She looked out the window and noticed animal life and creatures that she never knew existed at this depth. She did a query on one but all she got was 'Server Not Responding'. She was pretty sure she was out of range of where-ever she was getting the answers from.

They were almost near the end and Tia was thankful for that. She felt very odd doing nothing for an hour. She normally was always doing something for the Doctor or performing tests but she had never really got stuck doing nothing till now.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

At the bottom of the elevator in the company lobby sat Evalaine. She seemed focussed on the task at hand, that being trimming her finger nails on the sharp edge of one of her hand scythes. Her ears twitched from time to time but her smiling muzzle didn't movein the slightest. Partly because it was only a few millimeters from the blade itself but also because Evalaine hardly showed any changing emotions.

In front of her the hard light holograms of Alia and Jasmine played with each other. They seemed to be playing some sort of drawing game, taking it in turn to draw various shapes on the floor and then guess what it was. Had it not been for the occasional shimmer across their bodies as the computer refreshed the image and the actions of Evalaine one might assume it was simply another normal family.

Presently Alia sat back and yawned. Evalaine looked up and then down at her left wrist. The large computer bracelet fixed there was flashing a few lights at her.

"Alia, you should rest if you're tired," she said calmly.

"I'll rest later mom, I'm just bored," replied the young gazelle.

Evalaine gave a small nod and returned her attention to her nail trimming.

[Viper]

The formally dressed fox suddenly winced as if she had just been told something. She seemed unnaturally still suddenly. Dr. Davis felt the rumbling of his PDA and took a look at the display. He paused a moment as he read the display.

"Oh dear, again?"

"The litte **** froze again?"

The white hedgehog stated as a clear insult. Dr. Davis walked over to the formal fox and waved his hand in front of her face but she did not even react.

"She been keeping my email inbox clean and has been making a planners lately but every time a notice from the top comes in she locks up in confusion. I really need to find why she can't accept the sudden change."

He pressed a few buttons on the PDA and suddenly the formal fox went limp and fell to the floor. He pressed a few more buttons as he restarted her main control functions. He then made sure to check his email, to see what it was she got that locked her up. He spent a minute reading something intently before giving a small smile.

"A new hire at this point in time? Must be rather impressive for the company to take on a new hire at this point. We are to provide a tour and monitor?"

The formally dressed fox stood up and after a moment of shaking her head, she began to dust off her outfit.

"I'm currently downloading known information on the new hire but its rather limited. She does have a former work record in government."

[Tia]

"Former?"

Tia raised a question as the second biggest development in technology would be the government itself. She would prefer to keep unstable elements away from Dr. Davis and any information on co-workers was important. He had been shot several times by different people who were all 'co-workers', so new hires were no exception. The formally dressed kitsune turned towards Tia.

"Information is vague and reason for termination is marked for 'Not Following Protocol'. The HR file reports she does have a warrant out for her currently."

Tia eye raised at that statement as it was nothing new that they hired those who were wanted or otherwise illegal, the company just wanted results after all but a warrant still active for her arrest?

"What does the warrant say?"

The formal fox closed her eyes for a moment as she accessed the information on the network. It was only a second later when she came back with the answer.

"Odd. The warrant only states she is to be turned in for crimes ageist the government, no formal charges are given. She is to be handed over to the SPF, Special Police Force, upon arrival. The departments involved seem to show she is involved in something."

Tia went onto the next question. Tia liked dealing with Etha, she was one to listened to instructions and provided as much information as she can to questions.

"Her resume?"

"It seems it has been discussed verbally but not recorded. A more formal copy was requested in fact to be handed over after this tour, detailing her research in more fine detail. The new Laboratory Head is to decide after the tour if her research has any investment value and promptly handle the hiring or clean up depending on judgment."

[Viper]

"So that would be me huh?"

He figured the recent promotion was more of just an on-paper sort of promotion but it seemed that they really met what they said about what he would need to do. He got a budget increase for his projects but now he has to deal with more paper work tasks. He was sort of glad that Etha was an excellent paper pusher, as he was not.

"I wonder what we can except?"

He turned towards the white hedgehog.

"Cila, you will follow us during the tour and you will not speak unless it is specific requested."

The white hedgehog twiced a bit as if something hit her in the head lightly. She held her head and glared at the Doctor.

"Understood..."

He turned to Tia who had stood up finally and was walking towards them. They were getting close to the end of the ride and the doors would open in only a minute.

"Tia, you are to be by my side the entire time. I want you to remain silent and speak via nano-machines about anything as normal."

He turned towards Etha and smiled a bit.

"I am to provide the tour and most of the information of regarding the building, correct?"

"Correct."

"Understood."

The evaluator was slowing down as the glass doors stopped in front of a long tunnel that lead into the building. The lobby was at the end where all the shafts central point was. The hallway was a divider designed to close off if a shaft was to break or be rendered usable, so to prevent flooding from reaching the building. This lobby only had three shafts, the connected lobby, and a security door that appeared to be heavily locked. It had no panel to operate it, so one must guess the interface some something other then a physical control panel.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

In the lobby things were about to get a little more interesting...well perhaps interesting wasn't the right choice of words.

Alia and Jasmine were now up and on their feet having grown tired of their game. "Tag your it!" cried Jasmine as she tapped Alia on the arm and then darted off behind a table.

"Ooooh, no fair!" cried Alia in return and ran after her holographic sister. Evalaine sat watching from her seat, an overly large and somewhat creepy smile resting on her face.

Jasmine quickly ducked round another table and then vanished round a corner. Just as Alia was about to follow a suited tiger walked round the corner carrying two coffee cups. "Hey Martha, they'd run out of your blend so I got you....GGAAAAAAAH!"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence or to stop moving as Alia ran straight into him. The coffee cps went flying, the tiger was knocked back against the wall and Alia ended up a few meters away on her rear. THe inevitable happened and after a few moment the young gazelle burst into tears.

"Oh man! Sorry I didn't see you there. Here let me help you u...." The tiger knelt down next to her but that was as far as he got.

With a very loud squealching sound a serrated curved blade slammed into the top of his head. He twitched heavily, his eyes going wide in shock. A moment later a second blade sliced clean through his chest, separating both of halves of his body. His top half was quickly turned round and came face to face with the smiling Evalaine.

The gazelle studied him for a moment and then swung her blade to the side causing his upper half to fly across the lobby and slam into the outer glass wall with a thunk. After leaving a large red mark on the glass it fell to the floor.

Meanwhile Evalaine knelt down next to Alia and brought her into a tight embrace. Jasmine was quickly standing next to them. "Are you alright Alia? Where does it hurt? I told you to be careful where you play."

"I'm sorry mommy," replied Alia as she returned her mothers hug.

At the reception desk Martha could only scream at the sight before her.

[Viper]

"Well this is quite unexpected."

He looked back and forth at the scene as if deciding what to do. He had seem from a distance what had happened but it did leave quite the mess. He really did hate having to explain cause of death on paper work. He just hoped it wasn't one of the scientist she killed, those often caused the BOD to get really pissed. The screaming receptionist was also annoying as well.

"Cila please take care of the receptionist."

The hedgehog walked over to the receptionist as she looked at the hedgehog.

"She...She.. Killed..."

The hedgehog swung around something from behind her back as she brought out a rifle and she pointed under the receptionist chin, causing her more of a fright. The white hedgehog was not impressed by the reaction.

"Shut the **** up, before I give you a really good reason to be screaming."

She was about to start screaming again but Cila poked her with the barrel of the gun as she saw her throat move.

"Shut up! I can't kill you but I have enough biological knowledge to make you wish I could! Sit down and shut up!"

The formally dressed fox walked over to the dead body and looked at him for a moment. She closed her eyes a second and then looked to Dr. Davis.

"His personal file reports he is a janitor."

Dr. Davis gave a sigh of relief, as that would not be any big deal to anyone. He turned to the new recruit.

"Well welcome to the Lythum Labs, my name is Dr. Davis Heather."

He held out his PDA and attempted to read her name off as it was very clear he did not attempt to memorize it.

"Miss. Rosalie Evalaine."

He put down the PDA and noticed the odd scene in front of him, the children specifically. He heard Tia's voice come to him via his nano-machines.

"They are not real. They emit no body heat and movement suggests they have zero mass, I can see the modulation of the projection."

He put his hand chin as he thought for a moment of how much technology and develop they have put into projection images and holographics. They have not managed to get it that small. That was already something of great interest.

[Tia]

Tia looked at the scene and her systems started ReACT. The threat values of the new comer sky rocketed, enough so that Tia was now on edge and watching carefully. She had her eyes fixed on the newcomer and noticed the images she held. She noticed she was huging to her was seemed to be an holographic image. She quickly figured out that she saw images cause her eye sight was far above the normal and likely to a normal person seemed like a person. She transmitted the information using her nano-machines.

"They are not real. They emit no body heat and movement suggests they have zero mass, I can see the modulation of the projection."

Tia made no attempt to grab for weapons or anything. She however was sticking close to Dr. Davis to protect him from him from any harm.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

"Evalaine Rosalie..."

She turned slowly and stood up, the edges of her mouth curled in an odd kind of smile. The white lab coat she was wearing looked more like a butchers apron than anything else right now, she could easily have passed for a psychotic murdered given her smile. Taking a tissue out of her pocket she dabbed a few specks of blood out of her fur as if she was applying makeup and then looked at Davis fully.

"I've been told your labs provide quite an extensive array of research oppertunities," she said smartly. Her tone was what most people would consider normal; polite with a hint of expectation and a little respect. She didn't seem to notice the state of the reception area or even register that she'd done anything wrong. Had it not been for the blood you may have suspected she was simply any new employee in any scientific lab anywhere.

"Mommy, whos that?" asked Jasmine. Her face poked out from behind her mother.

"Mommys new employer my dear. Now we'll be talking business and I think you both need a little rest," replied Evalaine as she placed a hand on her head and looked round at her.

Jasmine nodded and stepped back next to Alia. Evalaine quickly raised both her arms and tapped a few commands into the computers on her wrists at the same time. The images of Alia and Jasmine gave a small flicker, lost their depth and then vanished from view. Two large lights on the computers turned red, pulsed and then went green.

Evalaine nodded happily and slid her blades into two holders around her waist. Glancing back at Davis the odd smile never left her face.

"Well now with that taken care of, at your service."