"I don't know what you two think i'm trained for, but it certainly isn't anything like..this!" Dr. Maheswaran paused, willing her hand to stop shaking as she gestured towards the incubator hooked up to a large and complicated machine hanging on the far wall. Some portions of technology were familiar to her, which made it obvious that this whole thing was constructed from scavenged machinery from pre-invasion.
"I can't even make sense of how any of this is possible.." She muttered, staring at the small figure laying within it. "Gem material growing with a human being…how long have you been sinking precious resources into something we can't even guarantee will have any results? Who would even let this be done to a child!?"
Even as she said this she was getting more and more upset, looking at the small once-human writhing in pain. Although she couldn't hear anything through the glass over the incubator she could see that it was crying out, in a state of half consciousness. Probably much too young to even comprehend what was happening. She couldn't help but think that before all this, the child couldn't have been more than a few years younger than her own daughter.
"There's no need to go into hysterics here, doctor." Perry said without bothering to keep the condescending tone out of it. "Your involvement with the subject and any future subjects we assign you will pertain strictly to their physical health and documenting anything related to it." She said this all without even looking up from her clipboard, reading off the same segment of the information for the fifth time since meeting the tense doctor. She couldn't help but feel the other women was being far too sentimental here.
"As for the actual subject, you have no need to worry about any unhappy family members." She did finally look up for this explanation, although this was mostly because her neck was starting to get sore. "As you know, with an increase of scouters needed, we've had an influx of children being given up to the state either willingly or because of a lack of adults able to care for them."
"I don't want to be hearing this!" Dr. Maheswaran shouted, cutting Perry off completely, running a hand through her hair and only continuing to keep the other from saying anything else. "This is all something..so completely beyond me i wouldn't have any idea where to start. I've been afraid of how far we would have to go as a society to keep protecting ourselves from the gems but i simply cannot condone this! This is downright inhuman!" She turned away from the women, quickly walking towards the door. "I can't even bear to look at this. What the hell were you all thinking.."
"Doctor- Doctor be reasonable! Is walking away really any way to present yourself as a figurehead of the medical community?" The scientist set her clipboard down on the short table set up near the incubator, following the doctor across the room. "While convincing you one way or another of any sort of opinion involving our methods is in NO way part of my job description, i urge you to think about what we're doing and the importance of it all!" Perry continued following her out of the door, continuing to speak as Dr. Maheswaran stopped walking after they were out of the lab room. "Learning how gem material interacts with organic material, being able to interact with hybrid gem organisms, just having the opportunity to study these creatures in close quarters safely! All of this is important if we ever hope to know how they work on a bio-molecular level!" She waited to see if the older women had anything to say at this point, hesitating before deciding she might as well say her piece while she still had a chance of convincing her to accept the position.
"What we have here...is truly the breakthrough we've all been working towards since we started this project. We need to maintain the momentum we've worked up now, and to do that we need to have every professional needed working as much as possible with what few successful subjects we've been able to create. As beach cities best medical doctor, i'm sure you can see why that would include you ma'am."
"...Is that the end of your speech then?" Dr. Maheswaran turned around, glaring at the scientist, who simply cleared her throat and looked down, avoiding the doctors eyes. She let the silence hang for a few uncomfortable moments before sighing, and adjusting her glasses higher up her face. "Ok. I'll...I'll 'join' your little project here. I do not want myself publicly aligned with this in any way, but i can see this will be done whether i agree to be involved or not." She trailed off as the other women had already walked away, presumably to get the necessary papers she would need to sign and file. "I at least want to make sure my part is done right.."
Even as she said it, she knew nothing good could come out of this terrible secret she had just willingly become a part of.
This is the first chapter of an au Iv'e been working on! Tell me what you think and be sure to follow for future chapters