The first day at a new job is always a little scary, but Cosima sat in the elevator at the DYAD institute practically shaking in her dreads. She had worked her whole life for the opportunity to work in a legitimate lab like this one, but reality was a little bigger than her dreams. She had been greeted at the doors by two armed guards, and all but dragged from there. Even without all that, her nerves had been on end recently because of her health and the danger her sisters were in.
Cosima was torn from her thoughts, the only privacy she felt she had left, when the doors slid open and she was prodded out. At this point she was ready to turn and go home, but the only place with the tools to help her and her sisters get back to being normal people was DYAD. She willed herself to step out of the elevator. Right, left, right, left.
The place reminded her of a hospital; the walls were white and the floor. A weird smell of cleaner and chemicals lingered. Those guards still followed her, shadowing her ever move, prodding her in the right direction. When they arrived at what she assumed to be her new lab, one of the big burly men pushed her shoulder.
"You were given a key card. Wave it in front of this sensor and it will open the door and every other door you are allowed to have access to." He growled. That was all the direction she was given before she was left alone, standing mouth agape with her future behind a big metal sliding door.
"Here goes." She whispered.
The sensor flashed a few colors and beeped, then the doors slid open, releasing the floodgates. The room was the same as the rest of the facility with the whiteness and the smell. The only other color added to the scheme was the chrome of the tables and machines. She felt very out of lace wearing a bright purple against it all. As soon as she was in, she dropped her bag on the floor and took a huge look around the room.
It was the most stunning sight she had ever seen. The technology alone in that room held more knowledge than she could ever dream of. The things she could discover here were infinite. Beyond the computers were the minds that she could share the most scholarly conversation. This place would be where she found the cure.
"Cosima? Right? Scott. We're supposed to be partners." A man with glasses and a tacky bowl haircut said. He was fidgety and nervous looking with a perpetual red tint to his face, but he was smart. The only way to work here was to be the best at something. They had to want you.
"Yeah, I'm Cosima. This place is...wicked." She drew out every word in awe.
"Yeah it's a little bit of a lot." He looked around, "But hey, let's get you settled in."
He took her around and narrated the tour. The microscope lab, and the super computers. All sorts of amazing things. When the technology was over with, he showed her the workstations. Mostly just big stainless steel tables with basic tools for calculations. Other scientists were at the other tables with stacks of papers and frazzled looks, making Cosima hopeful.
"So, where should I start? I can pretty much do anything, but I'm the best at running DNA samples or organism developments." She said, waving her hands exuberantly.
"You can start with whatever you want. I think you can pretty much do whatever you want, as long as it has to do with finding the cure." He said. He looked like he was sinking lower than her, like he was less important.
A few hours later Cosima had as many stacks, if not more, as everyone else, and looked just as frazzled. Never before had she had the access to the types of equipment that would allow her to do this much work. The glucose and nucleic acids were laid around her trying to explain her buildup, but not making any sense. In her frustrations she threw a stack of papers off the edge of the table, acquiring a look of fear from Scott and interest from the other workers around her.
"I'm a mess, man. What even am I?" She said with her head in her hands.
"Ma'cherie? I think you dropped this." A voice said, laced with a deep French accent. Cosima looked up at the brown-yellow eyes of an angel. She held the thrown papers out to Cosima with a crooked smile. "The first day is the hardest, you will get better, yes?"
"Uh...Yeah." She said. Her eyes couldn't leave the grasp of the French girls' as she played with one of her dread locks.
"Delphine." She said, gesturing towards herself and holding out a hand.
"Cosima." She replied, and shook it.