A Study in Violet

[Fairchild]

A woman calling herself Jera had just landed on Atka Research Station and was directing her steps towards research labs. Her long, auburn hair was waving in the artificial atmosphere of the station as she strode through the corridors, as she passed by other members of the installation's personnel - scientists, mercenaries, even janitors. The closer she was to the Wisp Innovations' research labs, the less sure her steps were and the fewer people she saw.

After a while, she found herself in front of the lab 8F - her destination. There, under the keen eye of professor Nikita Nagrebetskiy, the alien organisms delivered by the O'Rhu were kept and studied. After a moment, she slid her card through the terminal and the door opened.

She was greeted with a few suspicious glances from scientists working at some of the tables. She noted that everything in the lab was perfectly organised and remembered that Nagrebetskiy was unhealthily pedantic. Every workstation had the most vital microbiology equipment readily available and may God save whoever wouldn't clean up after their work.

In the back she noticed the familiar face of the professor. She walked closer and patiently waited until he finished whatever he was doing. After a few boring minutes, the professor stood up from the microscope, typed something into the terminal beside and turned off the equipment. Only then she greeted him. "Hello, Nick."

"Ah, Jera. It's... er... good to see you here again." He walked to a sink nearby, washed his hands and wiped his hands into the labcoat he was wearing. "What can I do for you?"

"I've come to inspect the state of those bacteria you got the other day. Have you figured out anything about them yet?"

Professor's expression suddenly brightened. "Yes, yes! Let me show you... Come, come," he walked towards a small door to their left. "Might want to put something on, it's cold in there."

They walked down the steps in the cooler room, having put thicker labcoats on. Even with that, Jera still felt cold. She breathed out, observing the faint, white cloud of air and smiled slightly. Meanwhile, Nikita opened one of the containers and scooped a bit of strange, slightly fluorescent, dark teal goo into a smaller, polymer box.

"I always thought these organisms are invisible for the naked eye," Jera said with a twinge of surprise.

"And they are," Nikita replied. "What you see here is the environment those bacteria produce for themselves. They seem to, er, operate in something that strangely resembles human cerebrospinal fluid..."

"Cere-what?"

"It's a type of body fluid that... well, it's something in your brain and spinal cord. It does not look like that," the professor pointed at the box, "but the chemical, er, composition of it is surprisingly similar. I'll show you what that means. Let's, er, go back to the lab. It's a bit chilly here, hm?"

As they went back up the steps, Jera felt slight sting of pain in her right knee. That horrible fight a few days back against the GC. Something had crushed her knee. Now it was regenerating slowly, augmented with a med-stasis band and a prosthesis. It could've been a lot worse, but still was uncomfortable.

A few moments later they both were in the lab. Professor Nagrebetskiy put the goo into a different container again and connected it to some sort of apparatus. Jera was curiously observing him, looking at the monitor lighting up as Nikita turned on the measurement equipment.

"What we've, er, discovered is that those organisms naturally produce sound waves...." he scratches his head and adjusted his glasses. "Which in itself is not, er, strange. But the waves are, first, incredibly high-frequency and, second, incredibly low-intensity. Not possible to hear by the human ear..." he put in some instructions into the computer. "However, we can, er, measure them."

Jera observed the spectrum that showed up on the monitor. "What does that mean, Nick?"

"It doesn't matter." He looked back at Jera, who gave him a suspicious look. "What matters is, by passing low-intensity electric current through, er, those bacteria... The sound changes! This is genius, this is revolutionary!" he exclaimed and continued. "We might be on the brink of discovering something great!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Still not sure how that helps us." She watched the professor tapping a button, presumably to close the electric circuit.

"Combine the facts. Bacteria that could, theoretically, er, exist in human brain. It responds to electric impulses, which, as you probably know, is what our, er, nervous system uses," he pointed at the screen, on which the spectrum lines were changing as he was pressing the button repeatedly. "This requires more research, more of these organisms. But if we could figure out a way... a way to read those signals on a small enough scale, it could open numerous possibilities!"

"Nanobots?" she asked with a vibe of curiosity.

"Maybe," he responded. "But I have to look more into it. Might need more of these though, so, er, it would be good if you could secure a bigger shipment. Not gonna ask where you got them, but, er, a steady supply line would be wonderful."

"Will do. Though, board will probably want a report on this as soon as possible."

"I can't, yet. Not until we have anything, er, solid. But I will... I will write one soon." He smiled to her awkwardly.

"Very well. It was nice talking to you again, Nick," she smiled back. "I'm not going to take up any more of your time. Good bye." Jera directed her steps towards the exit.

"Ah, of course. Do svidaniya."

She walked down the corridors again, this time in the opposite direction, towards the personnel quarters. Pondering about what Nikita told her, she almost bumped into someone carrying a large tray of phials, test-tubes, beakers and other glassware. After mumbling a curt apology, she moved on.

This could, indeed, open possibilities. It was also dangerous. If Nagrebetskiy was to indeed discover something, she would be given the first taste as the prime human test subject in Wisp, i, just after animal testing. It had its advantages and disadvantages, but she was curious to what the research department can reach.

As she stood in front of her quarters door, she sighed. It was a long, exhausting day. She locked the door and fell on the bunkbed, descending into dark sleep without dreams.