When she opened her eyes again, there was a flicker of hope that she had perhaps died. Silly! One could not have died from holding her breath, right? She blinked and stared at the ceiling blankly. A suddenly movement at her bedside caught her attention.

Shadow roused himself from her desk, where he was busy scribbling something. As elegantly as ever, he shifted the chair next to her bed and sat down. "You passed out. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Kyrin said, but her voice came out weaker than she expected. She realized that she was feeling cold even though she was fully clothed and covered with a blanket. She must have shivered, because Shadow darted a glance at the air con remote controller. The display read 27 degrees Celsius. He frowned ever so slightly.

"I'm fine," she said more firmly, "and thank you for taking me home." It sounds weird, but she did not know what else to say.

"Okay. Mr. Thorndyke will be expecting me at the labs soon, I'd better leave. You might want to stay in today." With that Shadow left, but as he shut the door, his frown returned again. Something is affecting Kyrin so much that it has manifested in physical ailments. The Ark cannot be disturbed by rumors of contagious diseases, and he was sure she did not have any. He decided to focus on his impending discussion instead.

Kyrin pulled the sheets over her head and curled up in a fetal position. Under the warm covers, it was dim and she could just make out her own fingers. It was just like the evenings and nights that she had spent on the rooftops of Dr Robotnik Laboratories.

The next day, Kyrin went up to the spot where she had seen the man in black. She did not see him, and a sense of relief washed over her. Perhaps he was just an employee from the neighboring building, probably coming up to the roof for a smoke. However, something about his black clothes and his expressionless face worried her. He definitely did not seem please to have been spotted.

"Coo! Coo!" A flutter of wings startled her. A big grey pigeon landed at her feet, bobbing to and fro. She noticed a tiny roll of paper attached to its foot. She picked the bird up, unrolled the paper and read its contents.

'Who are you?' She frowned and looked around, but did not see anyone. The pigeon sat staring squarely at her. She took the blue ballpoint pen from her lab coat pocket and wrote, 'Kyrin, TEL ALTS. Who are you?'

The pigeon took her note and flew right to the roof of the next building. As Kyrin watched with bated breath, the young man appeared with the note in hand. She stiffened and wondered what to do. He did not even look at her, but wrote something in the note, roll it up and tossed the pigeon back into the sky. It came back to her with a note: 'Kim Woo, FF. You should not be here.'

'I work here. Why?'

'Danger.'

'Why?'

'You are too young to die.'

'So are you. Gtg, see you.' As she tossed the pigeon back in to the air, she picked up her empty lunchbox and rushed off without looking back. It was just as well, for the moment she reached Lab 47, Bokkun came wailing about Bokoe spilling iodine solution all over the pantry and could she please clean it up immediately because he was in the midst of a wondrous apple pie?

KNOCK KNOCK!

Kyrin rolled out of bed reluctantly and opened the door. Sonic and Chris stood there with an aluminium container between them. "Hey! I heard you were sick. Feeling better now?" Chris asked timidly. He seemed unsure of what to say.

"Uh yeah, thanks."

"Well nothing works better than some of Cream and Amy's chicken soup! Eat up, and you'll be up and runnin' in no time. Wouldn't want to be sick that often when you're up here, do you?" chirped Sonic. If there is anyone who could be cheerful about being in the Ark, it has to be him. Apparently, he had "found an awesome treadmill somewhere in the storehouse" and it has kept him pretty happy.

"Thank you. I will see you later," she forced a smile.

"Nah, don't. Shadow's words are the orders today. You're staying in until tomorrow. Good day, mam!" Sonic waved and walked back down the hallway with Chris.

'See you later' was what she had written on the note to Kim Woo. She wondered what he had meant by all those funny things. The next day, she exchanged her neighbor's kindly donation of chocolate cake with Bokkun for his hotdog bun and headed for the roof. The pigeon brought a new message. 'DE will kill everyone.'

'I still need to pay rent.'

'What do you do?'

'Wash glass jars, lab coats and the toilets.'

'This place is unsafe.'

'Warn me right before you storm it.'

'Not so soon.'

'Good. I need my pay.'

The next day, Kim Woo did not appear at the rooftop. Kyrin found an unfamiliar white box with a white envelope on it. The box was filled with 10 pieces of ribbon in 10 colors. Inside the envelope was a card with a list of colors. The first one was already done.

White –I am here
Yellow –
Orange –
Pink –
Red –
Green –
Blue –
Purple –
Grey –
Black –