Kowalski had to cut it to the guy, things did look orderly in the lab with all of the stations set up. Kowalski was also astounded at how many microscopes Blowhole owned. He had shelves of them! Enough to teach a classroom.
Blowhole had said they were doing an interval observation system and Kowalski could only imagine just how boring the intervals waiting between time slots was going to be.
Blowhole rode into the room wearing a pristine lab coat and goggles. Or, goggle? He only had one eye to protect. He saw Kowalski sitting on the table and tsked to himself.
"Ah, I should have told you to bring PPE. Hang on, let me see what I've got."
Blowhole left the room again and Kowalski was left with his thoughts in this silent room. The colonies were set up under the microscopes and so were several clipboards with pens. Except on Kowalski's stations. He had tape recorders to speak into since he still couldn't write perfectly. He had been practicing and he was getting good. At the level a 6 or 7 year old would be at.
Kowalski wasn't too sure he wanted to help the dolphin with this task, however. The thought of accidentally getting infected ran through his mind. Blowhole would have to incinerate him to get rid of it. Kowalski shuddered at that thought. But the dolphin returned before he could think anymore.
Blowhole held out a pair of small goggles and a lab coat.
"Stole these from one of the lobster rooms. Don't ask how they wear them, cause I don't think I even know."
Kowalski chuckled, but took the equipment and put it on. And with the goggles framing his eyes he was ready to get started.
Blowhole was the one to introduce the virus to the test subjects, with great intricacies while Kowalski jumped down and made himself stand back. And the timer was started for the first 10 minutes.
Kowalski hopped back up to the table and to his stations. Where Blowhole had 3 stations to man Kowalski had 2. It was a boring wait, but after Blowhole fiddled around putting the virus back where it belonged the timer soon went off and the pair started recording data. Blowhole quickly scribbled things down while Kowalski clicked the record button and started speaking into the device.
Blowhole couldn't help but chuckle, hearing Kowalski drone on into the microphone but he didn't lift his eyes from the microscope he was looking down.
The timer was set once again for the next 10 minutes and the pair made themselves comfortable again, this time with nothing to put away or do. Blowhole sat down in a chair. It looked like a fancy computer gaming chair and he certainly looked comfortable.
Blowhole giggled and rolled his eye.
"Kowalski's log," he joked. "I'm still incompetent and can't write."
Kowalski rolled his eyes and chuckled back. He got the reference to Skipper's log taking and decided to play along. But this time he took the recorder and actually started to record.
"Kowalski's log, today I'm with the pompous porpoise running his kindergarten tests. I don't know if he realizes I've laced his pockets with the children's marshmallows."
Blowhole didn't have time to react to everything that Kowalski had said. He discreetly checked his lab coat pockets and laughed when he found nothing there. As for the pompous porpoise, it was more funny than insulting.
"I have a plan to infiltrate his systems. I shall marry his sister and become his brother. Then he'll have no choice but to remove the doomsday device in my leg."
Blowhole didn't laugh this time. Just looked a mixed of perplexed and angry. Kowalski couldn't understand why, all he had said was he wanted the poison out of his leg.
"As long as I'm breathing I will not let you marry my sister."
Kowalski chuckled and rolled his eyes. That's what had the dolphin all riled up suddenly.
"You have no choice in who she wants to marry, brother," Kowalski retorted.
Blowhole shuddered at the prospect of being a brother in law to Kowalski. If getting captured by the humans and being forced to perform for them was his worst nightmare then this would be his second worst nightmare.
"And anyway, I'm not removing that device under any circumstances," Blowhole smirked.
Kowalski crossed his flippers and raised a brow.
"Why not?"
"Because it's so comedic. I love watching you bend down to talk to your leg. It makes it look like you're going cuckoo."
Kowalski smirked along with Blowhole. He had to admit it probably was funny to watch him talking to his leg when no one else was around.
Kowalski clicked the record button on the tape recorder again and leaned into the microphone.
"Kowalski's log, I fell as though I'm about to have a massive breakthrough. I'll figure out who the person in my leg is soon. I can feel it."
Blowhole roared with laughter as the timer went off again. Business started back up and more records were made.
This time, Kowalski got to experience first hand the frightening nature of the Behemothvirus. Kowalski watched down the barrel of the microscope as the cells chased and infected each other. He couldn't even tell what half of the cells were anymore, on account that they had been mutated and changed so much. It unsettled Kowalski and made him completely forget about joking any longer.
He took notes anyway, not wanting to get on Blowhole's bad side and ruin the experiment but he felt increasingly uncomfortable. This was what humanity was going to look like if he didn't find a way to stop Blowhole.
Kowalski cleared his throat after the timer was reset again and twiddled his flippers in the cuffs of his lab coat.
"What will you do with these once the experiment is over?" He asked.
Blowhole looked up and put his pencil down on the table.
"We'll incinerate them. It's the only way to get rid of it. I just need to observe the behaviour and time stamps of events so I can put it in retrospect of a larger animal."
Kowalski nodded, unsure what more to say. So Blowhole spoke for him.
"But don't worry, if you somehow caught the virus I wouldn't let you free to hurt innocent people and animals... I'd incinerate you too."
Blowhole's laughter filled the room once again and put Kowalski on edge. He saw no way of getting the dolphin to back down with his plans. He was terrified.
The rest of the morning commenced like this. Recording data every 10 minutes and then every half hour and then every hour. Kowalski had calmed his mind down and him and Blowhole were occupying time by doing more reading practice. Blowhole had written down sentences on a sheet of paper for Kowalski to read out. It was frustrating at first since Blowhole's hand writing was fancy and hard to read but Kowalski got the hang of it before long and was reading perfectly. Except this one line.
"Kowalski is an in... an in..."
"Break it down. Break it down. Into five, see," Blowhole said as he wrote the word out again, this time with spaces between each syllable.
"Kowalski is an in-jud? In-jud-ic-ious-ly? Injudiciously simple minded penguin. Kowalski is an injudiciously simple minded penguin. What in newton's knickers does that even mean?" Kowalski huffed.
Blowhole snickered and shook his head.
"It's just a long way to tell you you're an idiot."
Kowalski shook his head, a slight scowl on his face. He was getting better, but Blowhole was just joking around, teaching Kowalski words he would never need to know or use. Though, these were free lessons from an enemy so he couldn't complain too much about it.
Suddenly, Kowalski's stomach rumbled. It wasn't just a small gargle either, it was a roar that told Kowalski he shouldn't have left the HQ without eating breakfast. Blowhole laughed at the noise and cocked a brow, placing the pencil down on the table again.
"You hungry?" Blowhole chuckled.
Kowalski blushed and shrugged his shoulders.
"I did rush off this morning a little quickly."
Blowhole rose from his seat and climbed onto his segway, stretching out his body and giving a small yawn. He'd teach the penguin for coming so early that morning. It was coming to lunch time anyway, so Blowhole thought why not?
"Come on, let's take a break," he said.
Kowalski raised a brow and turned to see the dolphin riding to the door.
"Isn't that what we were doing?"
Blowhole looked back, a look of confusion plastered on his face.
"Food break. Teaching you what an idiot you are is fun but it's not a break from working."
Kowalski rolled his eyes and hopped down from the table. As long as this meant he could get some food he wouldn't argue any longer. The morning had been quite tiring and he supposed they did deserve a break. Some food would also help his brain work a little better. He felt sluggish and easily irritated by the little jokes Blowhole made where he would normally just palm them off.
Blowhole chuckled the whole way to the elevator and pressed the button to call it up. The pair waited, Blowhole smiling merrily and Kowalski leaning on his own patience. The break was well wanted but it seemed there was going to be a little bit of a fight to get it, as the elevator door opened and a displeased looking lobster stood in the way.