Shattered

Chapter 3

"So," Haloequist guided her through another hallway, "this is where your office will be." They got to the end of the hallway and opened the right door. A medium size room appeared, with white lights and orange tables. The floor was made out of a sickening, nectarine colored carpet, and the tables where covered in microscopes and what she assumed were little slides for the slug slime. On the wall to the right was an a screen, which was so big it took up the entire wall. She also had a small refrigerator where she could store water or any other necessities for the slugs. In the back was a huge window rimmed in orange, and because the Yokohashi Laboratory was the third tallest building in the city, she could see everything. She was so happy that her office was on the top floor, and smiled at the wonderful sight unfolding before her just outside her window.
"You used to have a servant position, correct?" Neira turned around, remembering she was wearing green dayclothes.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she began, "I was just assigned the positi-"
"It's fine!" Haloequist replied, "The Government notified me that your new dayclothes would be sent tonight. They said all the clothes you had bought with your tins would be replaced in orange."
"That's a relief," Neira sighed. They both stood there in silence looking at the room.
"Well," the doctor exclaimed, "I better get going, lots of work do be done!"
"Of course!" Neira responded, flushed. Haloequist walked over to the open door and walked out, grabbing the knob behind him.
"Oh! And Neira," Haloequist remembered.
"Yes?"
"If you want to bring any decorations for your office, you can. But only ten are permitted, no more."
"Ok," she smiled, beginning to think what she should bring.
"Anything you will need to study Limacology on the other hand will be provided."
"Sounds wonderful," she said, grimacing at the word limacology. Haloequist shut the door behind him, and Neira stood there in silence, not knowing what to do first.

The slugs were delivered almost ten minutes after Neira had received her office. She received three slugs to start with. One was a light purple with little red spots, the second was orange with a bright, yellow stripe down the middle. The third was Neira's personal favorite, it was magenta with a black, abstract pattern along its back. She named them Spots, Streak, and Squishiton. All of them where in little, white tinted glass containers, and she had to carefully remove them to make sure they didn't cover her in slime. While she had waited for the slugs, she had made a small arboretum for them to live in. Neira had designed it herself, making her beam with pride. There was fertile grass and a little bonsai tree sitting along a bubbling stream she had set up with a few gears. Making the stream was simple, because it was just like fixing a sink back at Ovarito's. She had also found little cups in one of the drawers of her desk, which she painted white and put moss inside. After Neira had found the cups, she searched through more of her desk to find two, clear measuring sticks and a long, crystal string. Cutting the string into smaller portions, Neira tied the cups on one end and the other to the lid of the arboretum. With the stick, she cut each section off to make bridges from the ground to the hanging gardens. The arboretum looked to be about the size of her new refrigerator, and she pulled out a marker and wrote the title for her masterpiece:

The Hanging Gardens of Slugatoria

Neira was assigned her first task almost as soon as she had placed the slugs into their new home. A small ding, familiar to almost every device in Yokohashi, came from the monitor on the wall.
"Yes?" Neira asked the wall, cranking her head towards the screen.
"New Asssignment!" The strange robotic voice replied to Neira.
"Already?"
"Yes," the voice responded, almost sarcastically.
"So what is it?"
"Haloequist requires you to do a month-long assignment on slug slime and how it relates to medicine."
"Sounds easy enough!" Neira began to move back to her desk.
"Haloequist will give you all the required materials, including stimulants and toothpicks."
"Ok?" Neira was confused at what she was supposed to do with the toothpicks.
"Have fun."
"Yeah let's hope so," she groaned.