Stardate 2395.24
Kogata materialised in a dim section of the laboratory. Taking care not to make a sound, he made his way past suspicious-looking aquariums and typically-mad-scientist-lab-like enormous cylinders filled with a bluish glowing liquid. He shook his head. Some people simply lacked imagination, especially since this was already the 24th century.
Hearing some footsteps, he backed into a corner as two lab assistants walked by, muttering about being unpaid after three months. Genetic experimentation and cloning was indeed expensive, although in this century, the technology was advanced enough to be affordable by influential scientists. From what he knew of the head scientist of this lab, he knew that the man was anything but poor. Perhaps he was just stingy? It did not matter. Whatever he was saving for was going up in smoke very soon.
He reached the main section of the laboratory without setting off any alarms, dressed as he was in a nondescript lab coat, holding a folder and looking vaguely preoccupied. "You certainly took your time, didn't you?" came an irritated voice.
Kogata looked up in feigned surprise to see a thickset man in a black lab coat ranting at him. "I called for those results 15 minutes ago! What has your section been doing?! I'm so going to dock your pay! As well as the pay of your section leader, hell, everyone in your section!"
Several of the assistants in that section winced and gave him apologetic glances. Amused, he said nothing and continued to look at the irate scientist.
"What's so funny?! You find being poor funny? That's it! You're fired! I don't need any of your kind here!" The man continued to rant and rave as the other assistants turned and assiduously continued their work.
That was interesting. Apparently the scientist did not recognise him. Maybe it was the hair? Kogata frowned, trying to remember how he looked like the last time he was in this dimension. Oh right, a Star Fleet uniform and a haircut within regulations. He sighed. He was not about to wear that nearly skin-tight outfit just for the sake of this lunatic, but perhaps he could do something about the hair.
Putting down the file, he sauntered over to the nearest sink and started washing his hands, then combing his hair back with his fingers. The scientist has fallen silent and was staring dumbly at him, outraged at his insolence. Well, he'll soon be stuck dumb with an entirely different emotion.
He turned back to face the man, tilting his head to one side and striking a pose for effect. The thickset man's eyes finally widened in realisation. "Y-you!"
Rolling his eyes at the typical reaction, Kogata stepped towards the now pale, sweating and now obviously terrified man. "Yes, it's me. And you've been doing something that you're not supposed to be doing."
"I-I have no idea what you're talking about, Lieutenant Commander Kogata," stuttered the scientist, backing away from him.
"I really would hate to state the obvious, Dr. Viloras, but I am here to see that all your research ends today. And by the way, I'm not really a Lieutenant Commander."
All work had ceased in the lab, there was now a relative silence, broken only by the incessant hums of the machines. The assistants all watched them, wondering what would happen and if they were never going to be paid after all.
Clapping his hands, Kogata announced, "Everyone else may now leave the lab. You will find shuttles to your home planets awaiting you at the port. Please leave in an orderly manner, as soon as possible."
He watched as the assistants moved as a group, not one questioning his orders, as if relieved that they no longer had to work there. Had he just done them a favour? Certainly it was obvious that the mad scientist was not a very good boss to work under, but still...
Dr. Viloras was still too frightened to move, but his mouth open and shut like a goldfish as he saw all his workers leave. His eyebrow twitched and Kogata could see that his fear was in the midst of a transition to fury. Three... two... one...
"You can't do this to me! I've paid all these workers, for all these equipment...!"
"Apparently not as often as they would have liked," said Kogata, seating himself down on the scientist's abandoned chair. "Now, will you destroy everything yourself, or do you need me to help you with that?"
The scientist still had difficulty accepting the fact that all his lifework was about to be destroyed by this nondescript-looking young man. He clenched and unclenched his fists, then decided to bargain. "How about I show you the results of my latest work? Would that change your mind?"
Kogata raised an eyebrow. "I'm already intimately familiar with most of it, but why not. It's not like I have a curfew or anything. Keep in mind, though, if you try to alert any sort of authorities, you'll only bring trouble on yourself."
The man appeared unfazed by his comment, and gestured towards the large computer screen in the middle of the lab. A list appeared on it, running through from the numbers 0001 to 3999. "I have created a total of four thousand experiments within these ten years, and regrettably, only the last six hundred or so could be classified as living beings. And all these were from your DNA!"
If the scientist had planned to shock Kogata by that comment, he was not as clever as he seemed. The young man stood up, suppressing a yawn. "Is that all you wanted to show me? What about a tour of the lab instead? Seeing actual clones might actually be interesting."
Without waiting for the scientist to protest, he walked towards the nearest cylinder that appeared to contain a humanoid figure. The bluish glowing liquid hid some of the features, but he could see the resemblance between them. It was somewhat creepy to gaze upon one's doppelganger. Well, that was to be expected if they were all clones made from his genetic material.
His eyes fell on what appeared to be an empty cylinder. The number written below was #3407. Just barely one of the so-called 'living beings'. Unlike the others, this one was tiny, barely a third of a normal human size. Kogata glanced questioningly at the scientist, who simply shrugged. An experiment gone wrong, apparently. Upon closer inspection, he could see that the miniature was complete in every way, except for the fact that it possessed pointed ears. An elf? Or more likely Vulcan, in this dimension.
Surveying the rest of the clones, Kogata was suddenly filled with revulsion. Not only had this mad scientist messed with the space/time continuum, he had trespassed into a territory that was not meant for mortal beings to tamper with. No wonder she wanted this place destroyed. He turned back to look at the miniature again. But perhaps, a souvenir? This little clone of his seemed more like a toy than anything, but he felt something like a kinship for it. After all, he himself had been created on something close to a whim as well.
Placing his hands on the glass cylinder containing the miniature, he concentrated and caused a force-field to surround it alone. Once that was done, he turned to the scientist. "I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you or your research to continue any further."
The terrified scientist turned as if to run, but it was already too late. Mentally linking with the main computer of the laboratory, Kogata had issued the command to auto-destruct at the moment he entered the lab. One by one, the machines went into overload and klaxons started to sound all over the place. Multi-coloured alarm lights in various shades of yellow and red flashed here and there, creating an almost disco-like atmosphere.
In spite of all the chaos surrounding him, Kogata calmly walked back to the miniature's tank and extracted it, still with the force-field around it. He gave the lab a last cursory inspection before shaking his head and dematerialising.
He materialised in a familiar tiny room. "Mission accomplished," he said, almost nonchalantly. "Here's a souvenir."
He handed the bundle of cloth to the young woman seated in front of a large computer screen. Holding it with extreme care, she unwrapped the bundle and gazed at the contents, looking pleased. "Very interesting. I'm sure Youzen will be so excited to finally meet him."
"It's the other way around, if you ask me. He'll be quite a handful though. Do take care of him."
"Oh? Emotion from you? That's refreshing." She smiled up at him.
Ignoring that comment, he continued, "Have you decided on a name for him yet?"
"He's going to be called Kivanos," she said, smoothing back long, silky hair from the miniature's eyes. "Thank you, Kiyoshi. For bringing him back."
He grunted a reply before turning to leave. "The next mission's not due for a while," she said to his back. "You deserve a short holiday. Go wherever you like."
"Thanks. I have a feeling I might need it."