Sorry for the delay in getting the next part of the plot out. I'm stuck on one part, so I need to wait until my Inspiration Fairy feels up to helping me out with that.
Shameless Self-Advertising: I have an account on DeviantArt.com under the name saiyajinkrys. There are a couple drawings I've done of Kris and Ranu up there. Go check them out and tell me what you think of them, okay? ^_^
Interlude 1: Things Best Forgotten
"Dammit man, what were you thinking?!"
Kris sleepily blinked open her eyes and sat up, looking around. There wasn't much to be looked at. The foot of her mattress, the three inch thick steel door, complete with dents all in it, and bright artificial light shining in through a four-by-four inch window, also in the door and also roughly three inches thick.
"I was thinking, sir, that perhaps it was about time to stop focusing on tests that have already been done and begin the real experiments. However, because of your strict rules regarding the treatment of #54763, I was unable to do any chemical testing-"
"Thank God for that!"
Kris woke up completely and recognized the voices filtering in and disturbing her sleep.
'Dr. Toshy!' she thought happily, shortening his actual name, Toshika, down to a more manageable amount. At least for a four year old.
She jumped off of her mattress and ran up to the door, scrambling up it, using the dents as foot and hand holds, until she was peeking out of the window. She usually waved at the doctor and he would wave back. She waved, but this time, Dr. Toshika's back was turned to her.
He was arguing with another man, another one of the scientists. Dr. Toshika was the head scientist in the compound, but this other man was, shall we say, second-in-command.
Thus, he had felt perfectly justified in performing a social experiment while Toshika was on a vacation. (A/N: Refer to Chapter 6.)
"Now now sir, no need to get angry. I said I was unable to do any chemical testing."
"Just what does that mean?" Toshika demanded.
The man sighed, sounding exasperated.
"It means, my dear colleague, that if you do not step down from your position as Head of this compound, I may have to resort to more extreme measures."
There was a shocked pause, then he continued.
"Do you not see the impact the results of those tests would have old man?! This creature could be the secret to curing the world's diseases! It could even be used as a biological weapon of sorts! Or at least a breeding-"
"You're insane!" Toshika shouted, eyes blazing.
Kris just stared, uncomprehending of what was just said. She got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach and whimpered, tail tucking itself between her legs.
"For God's sake, she's just a child! How you could even think of doing that to a living being such as her?! Monkeys and lab mice are one thing, but to-"
"So is that a refusal?" came the cold response, the man narrowing his eyes.
Kris shivered and ducked her head so that only one eye could see out the window.
"Yes, it is a refusal! The day I turn this laboratory over to you is the day I-"
Kris's eyes dilated to an inhuman size and she fell off of the door.
'No,' she thought. 'No no no nonononononoNO!'
Bits of gore slid down the outside of the pane of glass. But the pieces of scalp with hair still attached remained, becoming tangled in the blood and drying there.
What felt like hours later, it was wiped off by a hand holding a cloth. Like it was a accident to be cleaned up afterwards. There wasn't a trace of it left. The clean up was so thorough that even she couldn't smell the blood and brain cavity fluid when they led her out of her room the next day to begin her first day of injections. First, there were the steroids, then the depressants, then, after they had run out of ideas, seemingly random substances that left her sick for days afterwards.
That wasn't true. There were still traces of the murder scene left. The pieces of brain and the blood sliding down the window pane was still in her head. It was there, waiting to be replayed over and over again during the fever-like side effects of the drugs, alongside the fragmented remnants of a dead planet.
It was still there. It was always there.
Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, and the delay in the next part of the plot. But you should know how I am by now, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.
Please review!