Chapter 10
Taking the small watering can, he watered several of the small sprouts in their pots. 'Good, good! They are growing fast, hopefully they will grow strong as well.' Taking a small notebook, Gast jotted down a few notes about the height and color of the seedlings as well as the date. His pen paused as he realized they were already starting on the second month of the Project. 'Time does seem to fly, doesn't it?'
"Professor?" He took his glasses off and cleaned them on the edge of his brown t-shirt.
"Ah, Honestas, what can I do for you?" He turned to see she was holding a large padded envelope.
"This just arrived along with a letter from Icicle."
Gast smiled and took the items from his assistant. "I have been waiting for both of those, thank you." Shoving the letter into his lab coat pocket, he began to tear into the envelope before he even reached the basement stairs. "Now, this envelope holds some very interesting information concerning some translations." They reached the stairs and began their descent; Gast continued to discuss the nature of the translator and the material that was translated, or at least still in the process. Pulling out the contents, Gast glanced over the brief letter and then the large, bound report behind it.
"Professor." Gast set the bundle down and turned his attention back to Lucrecia.
"If it is well, I shall be upstairs working today. I need to prepare your reports and the additional testing." 'And so Hojo doesn't try to make another move on me like last time.'
Gast turned and only waved his hand. "Fine, Fine." His attention wholly focused on the large report that sat on his desk.
Lucrecia shook her head and left Gast to pour over his new data.
After his assistant left, Gast took a seat behind his desk and opened the lengthy report and translation of one of the largest section of Cetran script that was in possession today. The linguist he worked closely could not agree more that Jenova may be on the mythical warriors that fought the sky. Even though the artifacts did not explicitly state a formal burial or even the status of Jenova, they did find one thing that would support her warrior status.
Upon the body's initial discovery, x-rays and other diagnostic tests were run. That is when they found a stone projectile point lodged on the right side of her hip. As of that moment, the projectile point was still lodged in the bone. Once the equipment arrived from Midgar, Gast would proceed to remove it and see if it compares with other similar points that have been associated with the Cetra.
Gast was more then excited, he was elated. His initial doubts about Jenova being a Cetran were slowly being resolved. Not was she possibly a Cetra, but one of the many mythical warriors mentioned in the inscriptions. 'So what I said to Shin-ra is not entirely a lie.' Gast feared some days that he uncovered nothing other then a stranded glacier climber. It was known to happen for people to get stranded out in the icy north and die from exposure, but Gast knew with the depth in which was located was too deep for it to be anything recent. However, the only date they had was the date of the strata they found Jenova in. 'This could be trouble if dates don't match up...'
Gast stroked his mustache as it seemed when he resolved one anxiety, there was always another to replace it. Reaching into his lab coat, he retrieved the small letter that arrived with the linguistically data. The letter was from none other then the botanist. Ilfelna reported briefly on her examination of botanical materials found within the strata.
Lucrecia reached the top of the basement stairs to find Vincent waited quietly, leaning against the doorway. She walked past him and made her way to where her work was set up in her room. With bed moved to the far end, it opened it up enough to grant her the room she needed. The Turk entered and sat down in a chair near the window. Taking the paper he had tucked under his arm, he unfurled it and began to read.
Waiting for her computer to finish loading, she glanced over and saw the newspaper.
"Where on earth did you find that?" She asked. Vincent glanced past the edge briefly before he folded it in half.
"Nowhere in particular." He was just glad to have something to muse himself. Never mind the news inside was about four months old. Lucrecia glanced back at her computer screen to find the small green cursor blinking against the black background. Lucrecia sighed and sat back.
"You reading the editorial, sir?" She inquired. Fishing around in the paper, Vincent withdrew a section and held it out to her. Thanking him, she opened it and began to read and then stopped. "I thought they just finished elections in sector 5...that was, what, six months ago?"
"Four actually." Vincent offered.
Lucrecia looked up at the date in the far right and found that the paper was four months out of date. Rolling her eyes, she thumbed through the remaining of the editorials. "I suppose you can't ask for too much around here." Seeing her computer had finished loading, she folded the section up and set it down on the desk. Once passwords were entered, Lucrecia began to tedious task of report summaries. 'One thing they don't teach in the University, that science is twenty percent actual work and eighty percent paperwork.'
Vincent remained quiet as he thumbed through the paper. At least it was old enough; he didn't recall half of the information. 'It's almost new to me...well sort of. Oh hey, there's that comic that got passed around...' However his amusement was short lived when the temperature of the room began to rise. He initially moved his chair away from the window, which brought him closed to Lucrecia's makeshift desk. Picking up his paper again, he continued reading.
Lucrecia glanced over the top of her laptop screen and found Vincent had moved from sunny window. 'I was wondering how long that would last. Summer sunlight and wool suits definitely do not mix.' Lucrecia mused before returning to her work. After a moment, she glanced up again to find he had removed his suit jacket. She forced herself to refocus and picked up a test sheet only to find she had already it's information. Her eyes wondered back up again to find him loosening the dark tie from around his neck. Lucrecia swallowed finding it hard to tear her attention away. Pursing her lips, she forced eyes back down at the computer screen. The crinkling sound of the paper broke what little concentration she had and stole another glance to find he was yet again loosening his tie and began unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt.
Suddenly, Lucrecia's pulse shot up in response to what she saw. She reached up and loosened her own tie feeling overwhelming hot. For whatever reason, Lucrecia could not pulled her eyes away.
"You would think with the amount of money they put into this place, they would have thought to put air conditioning in." Vincent finally voiced. "Right, doctor?"
Lucrecia flushed red when his brown eyes looked at her 'Oh god!' Feeling embarrassed at being caught staring, she forced herself to look busy all the while still pulling at her tie and shirt collar. "Indeed, Mr. Valentine." She finally managed to say.
Vincent went back to the last of his paper, amused. 'I suppose it's fair enough. Though this is not the first time I caught her looking. Nice to know we share a mutual interest. I like her blouse and she apparently likes my tie.'
Lucrecia returned her attention back to her laptop and continued to type of the next report for the Professor. 'Must be in the mountain air...' She mused as she transferred the information to the computer. 'I have had my far share of interests, but never had that type of reaction…' She touched her cheeks and found them to still be warm. 'I'm just being silly. I am a fully component woman…no, scientist! Yes, I am. All I have to do is acknowledge that I am attracted to him and pursue no further. Deny one's emotion only gets one drunk and wake up in a strange place afterwards.' Pushing personal thoughts aside for the time, Lucrecia set her attention on the task at hand.
Vincent folded up the paper after completing its contents. He sat the paper down with the piece that Lucrecia had set aside and stood up. Leaving the room, he removed the silver cufflinks from his cuffs and carefully rolled up his sleeves to just below the elbow and then buttoned his shirt and straightened his tie. 'I suppose I should be a little more polite, that seemed to have distracted her too much.' Vincent then smirked. 'As it should…' Walking casually, he made a brief round around the mansion, particularly looking for Hojo. Finding he nowhere, Vincent began to make his way back to where Lucrecia sat working when he paused. The Turk caught a brief flashed of a white lab coat. 'Definitely not Gast, I just saw him at his desk.' Vincent came around the corner to find Hojo standing in Lucrecia's doorway, talking.
Lucrecia did not even take notice of Vincent's absence until someone else entered the room.
"Ah, Doctor Honestas, just the person I want to talk to." Hojo announced. Lucrecia's face dropped briefly before she put on a smile.
"Doctor Hojo, how may I be of assistance?"
Hojo looked at her for a moment before taking another step into the room. "I thought you might help me with a little task, mmkay? Nothing large, really. Just a small and simple task."
Lucrecia tried not to frown. 'What type of task does he have that is actually small and simple?' "And what would that be?"
Hojo inched closer, tapping his fingertips together. "Hmm? Oh, it's just I want to do something at the reactor. It's that Jenova…"
"Get who to where?" Vincent inquired from behind. Hojo's face darkened with annoyance as he turned to address the Turk.
"That would be none of your business, Mr. Valentine. I was just having a pleasant little chat with the good doctor. Mmmyes, a very nice chat." He glanced over at her with furious eyes.
Vincent crossed his arms and looked down at the scientist. " No disrespect intended, Doctor Honestas, but such large matters should be taken up with the Professor. There is no reason to burden his assistant with such matters."
Hojo crossed his arms and forced a smile at the Turk. Stealing one more glance to Lucrecia, Hojo slid past Vincent and left the room. After a moment, Lucrecia sighed and offered a smile to Vincent.
"Thank you. I know it is not good if he is coming to me and asking a favor."
Vincent nodded and leaned against the doorway, remaining silent.