Laboratory Chapter 13

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
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"If you continue on Plankrun you will be completely alone. We don’t know what is out there outside of the lab and Digby."

The scientists had been giving us the run around all morning. Zugzwang and I had arrived early hoping to get hunting again soon. I had sent a runner back to the king informing him of our current goal and our past findings. And now we were getting no cooperation from the scientists. They had completely lost control. A hole in the wall outside had only proven to me that it was out of hand.
"Well, could you at least tell us what is in here?" I asked exasperated.
"Well, um…" I watched as each scientist got shifty eyed.
"You have your average mouse, Granite, Bionic, and Steel." said one scientist.
"But you also have Mutated grey, and white mice." said another.
Zugzwang and I looked at each other skeptically.
"I will assume that you have caused the "birth" of the mutated mice?" asked Zugzwang to
the group of men. Their silence answered our questions
"How many?" I asked looking away from them.
"How many what sir?"
"How many damn breeds did you tamper with? How many mice are out there because of you. WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE!"
Everyone in the room jumped in shock of my outrage.
"We, we don’t know sir. They had been contained, it was all very professional, but something we crea…um something we were studying got loose." I didn’t miss his slip up.
"Alright, that's it. Get out." I was not going to stand for this. And I knew the king wouldn’t either.
"I beg your pardon?" said one of the older men.
"I said get out. All of you, pack your crap and high tale it out of here. Check in with the Lord at Digby and stay there. Maybe you can help in the cleanup of the Town you helped destroy."
"Now see here!" said another scientist as he shook his finger at me and took a step forward.
"No YOU see here!" I ripped the paper from my pocket and pointed at the Limelight recipe. "Is this not yours, if you hadn't tampered with so many breeds we wouldn’t need this cheese to catch the dirt dwellers cause they wouldn’t EXIST!" I shoved the paper into the chest of the man who had approached me.
"Very well, but once you are done doing your investigation of the mice we will be returning." I nodded careful to keep my temper in control.
Zugzwang saw to the removal of the scientists as I explored. The halls were in complete disarray. Tables and chairs overturned, wires ripped from the walls, potions spilled over, test tubes smashed. I could tell that the scientists had started shutting down the lab one room, one hall, at a time. When we had found them they were in one of the outer buildings working on potions that I couldn’t make sense of. Most the paper work was scattered on the floor with little paw prints all over smudging some of the ink.
I returned to Zugzwang before entering the largest building. Five stories high and full of lab work; it would take both of us to search each floor. I had gazed into one of the windows and saw the same mess I had in the other smaller buildings but I also saw more complicated experiments floating in jars.
"What do you suppose is in there?" Zugzwang asked me as we stood outside the door of building one.
"I shudder to find out." I said as I gazed at the windows that were high above us.