2010 July 4th 12.37 EDT
Sirens blazed all around as head scientist Dr Desmond raced down the tunnels of Cadmus sub-level 12, his lab coat trailed behind him like a small Cape as he hadn't done up the buttons it fluttered as he moved quickly down the halls.
Following just behind him and carrying a set of small tablet computers were two others scientists, there clothing not as immaculate as Desmond's who strode down in alab coat so white it almost glowed.
Behind the trio of humans rushing down the hall two of cadmus's trolls followed ten metres back, easily able to keep up with the smaller humans in front with a slow steady gait they moved like elephants down the halls. The shoulders of the trolls where covered by small groups of genomorph gnomes which stared straight ahead.
Dr Desmond shouted over the sirens "which alarm is this one?" as he slipped into a elevator as soon as the doors pulled open only to have to wave off the genomorphs as they tried to get in with him."Take the stairs and be quick about it!" He shouted at them.
As the doors of the elevator closed the final image he got of the genomorphs gnomes was their horns lighting up a blood red as they stared at him.
"Sir it's in the crystal research labs on floor 48 that's showing a alarm" stated the smaller male scientist following him into the elevator.
"Do we know what exactly has gone wrong?" asked Dr Desmond as he waited for them to descend downwards. His office was on the top floors and down here in the depths of the facility was where the real work was done.
"Not yet sir but we have yet to receive a sign that it's a big issue" replied the brown skinned female scientist as she gazed into a phone which displayed a number of blue screens popping up slightly quicker than she could read and close them.
As the door opened for the leaf actor onto the floor the head scientist got out and hurried down the corridor noticing as he did that the two trolls were already waiting for them, a group of g gnomes were crawling up there backs as the door opened.
'That lift is far too quick for them to get down here via the stairs' pondered the Doctor as he looked at the trolls 'or are these different ones? They all look so blasted similar it's hard to tell them apart' thought Desmond as he gave them a second glance before rushing between them.
"What's the damn problem?" demanded Dr Desmond to a figure down a hallway as he pulled into the new corridor having spotted one of the crystal personnel identified by his red lab coat hanging from his shoulders.
The man he spotted turned around quickly to stare at the source of the noise before turning back towards the door he was facing and continuing to fiddle with door lock.
"I don't really have time to talk Desmond there's a venting to stop or this floor and 4 floors either way are could lose power." muttered the large bald man who could now be seen for the head scientist of the crystal devision.
"How the hell did a unortharised venting get on the cards!" Shouted Desmond as he both relaxed for a second, he relised that whilst a power failure could be problematic it wouldn't be fatal, before quickly becoming more tense again. 'Loss of power this deep in the facility would affect project Kr' he thought as he considered what the repercussions of another failed project could be. "Shut it down now!" He shouted.
"I would if I could but one of the junior G-Dwarfs turned off the front containment probes by 200mm instead of two and now the systems locked them in place!" Replied back the balding middle aged scientist his fingers playing with his indenty card as he tried to open the door in front of him.
The red scientist threw his hands into the air as he got a red light on the door panels before entering a new code "I've had it up to here Desmond with these new G-Dwarfs you insist on foisting onto me, they have no where near the skill or experience of my last crew" started the red coated scientist as he began to rant "I need my old crew these one just keep slipping."
"There exactly the same" drawled out Desmond in the tone of voice who had repeated what he was saying so many times he was losing count "we've had this argument before; their memories were copied over to the new ones by the g-Gnomes" Desmond said as as he tried to remember the bald mans name which was currently slipping from his mind 'Dr Turner or Torne or something like that. It annoyed him that he was forgetting it but the man had mostly just stuck to his work and had basicy come with the facilty and all his complaints had been minor plus there where rumours that he had connections.'
"Get out the way, I'll do it if you can't get the door open" snapped Desmond as another red light appeared on the door panel.
"The red lights are good sir" said the scientist as he entered another code, getting a final red light before the door opened.
The inside of the room was a ten by five metre space which was bounded by a wall of glass which overlooked out onto a much larger workroom laying 10 Ms down, In the centre of the room lay a large grey sphere into which a skerries of cables where plugged in and it was held off the floor by large trolley.
"Look, Dr Torne you know the issues we've had keeping this project within the facility, far more than any other, we can't pour resources into a department where the last major discovery was two years ago" bandied back Desmond.
Dr Torne ignored this as he hurried over to a monitor that displayed flashing red warning signs before sitting down and beginning to click through options on the screen.
"Desmond you and I both know that the energy facility could never find the same uses for this that we could, if we had maintained the same approach as those physics boys we would still likey be getting less than twenty watts off it and counting ourselves lucky" Replied Torne as he drew up his hands in a warding gesture as he finally got the red lights on the computer to disappear.
"Look you can see where the probes have been removed" said Torne pointing on his screen to where a close up of the room below displayed a quarter of the grey sphere on which small gold bolts where sticking a hands length out of the holes.
"Can we get them back in before a venting?" Questioned Desmond as he watched a glimmer of heated air apear above the sphere.
"Not a chance Desmond the system was never meant to to release the probes completely and now that it has it here stuck like that" said Torne as he stared at a control panel before rapidly glancing back up.
"It can be kept down here Desmond but it's going to fry everything electronic within a hundred metres. The lower floors are going to have to be put in isolation" stated Torne looking faintly amused as he started to see his boss lose his temper.
"Damnit!" Muttered Desmond as he thumped a hand on the control desk.
Turning around he instructed one of the scientists who had followed him into the room. "Alright then, get a couple of genomorphs down there and get them to take it up to the first floor main chanmber just below the surface in the elevator whilst it blows of steam. Once it's done we'll bring it back and sort out the probes in the few hours we'll have before a second eruption"
As both of the of the lower scientists nodded the one on the right quickly backed off to talk to the trolls outside.
Turning to the remaking scientist " tell all the personnel on the top 25 floors to transfer any current work to the mainframe and to turn off their work and head to the base of the facility."
"What about the surface labs?" Asked the man politely as he nodded to the command clearly not wanting to challenge his boss on anything.
"Forget about them I don't want news of this getting out from the true Cadmus facilities" said Desmond as he waved off the man.
The second man nodded before quickly departing the room leaving only Desmond and Torne with a few genomorphs hanging around by the doors.
The two scientist one in immaculate white and one in red stood silent for a moment as they booth waited for the other too talk.
"Can you even begin to guess what type of damage this is going to cause to my legitimacy once it gets out I blew all the lights off the top quarter of this facility?" Demanded the head scientist as he stared into the containment room where the sphere was beggining to shine a weak white light out of the holes.
"Desmond I'm telling you there's no need to move the project upstairs, the walls here will handle it, just turn off the lower and upper three floors and there won't even be a power surge" stated Torne as he relaxed in his chair; the problem, for him, over for now.
"Nothing is ever anyone's fault but I know damn well that your in charge of this division and that is it at your feet the blame rests!" Shouted the Desmand finally losing his cool 'the risk of it affecting project Kr is just too great to leave it down here' he decided sticking to his plan.
"Relax about it we both know that incident is completely within your ability to cover up, the higher-ups will never even know it happened" responded Torne as he got up to leave the room looking far to relaxed compared to how Desmand felt, he was confident realised Desmand that he was too important to be truely punished for this incident.
"I want the spare containment sphere ready to go within 20 minutes for straight after the venting and I want the name and number of the Genomorph who caused this on my desk before the evening shift!" Snapped Desmand as he watched the retreating back of Torne exiting the room.
Staring back into the containment room where two troll genomorphs were carefully entering through the large hanger doors he saw them wince as they approached and touched the trolley on which the sphere stood, a truly impressive sign of the heat now coming from the sphere considering there enhanced toughness, before slowly lifting it out the room.
"Do I make myself clear about who's responsibility this is?" Demanded the head scientist to the back of Torne's head as he went down the hall.
"Cystal Desmond" shouted back Torne as he turned a corridor and disappeared from view.
'By God the nerve of that man' thought Desmond 'all because he thinks he's got a special understanding with the board.'
As Desmond checked to make sure there was no one around he quickly slumped into the chair that had just been abandoned by Torne as he took in a quick breather, there was now only one thing that Dr Desmond was certain of for that day, that he would not be bothered for the rest of it.
...
i think you can all guess exactly which gem will be in the box and of interest to a genetics laboratory. But just in case anyone would like to guess who it'll be feel free to in the reviews.
ps. I know there are a lot of mistakes but I just wanted to get this out here for the time to encourage me to write more of the story for anyone that is interested. Feel free to point them out but I might not fix them quickly