Earth's Revival

1 - A Day in the Life of Arion Ross

When Rory used the last living male Opheodrys vernalis as a practical joke, he didn't plan on it going missing. He had, however, anticipated hearing Ross's scream when he found the snake inside his desk.

For days Rory had paid especially close attention to Doctor Ross's morning habits so that he could plant the Vernalis. He had woken up hours early so that he could sneak off to the Ark to find the snake without anyone noticing. Rory knew of the doctor's aversion to reptiles, that's why it was such a good idea. Well, it had seemed like one.

After Ross had gone into his office, Rory waited for the scream, or at least for a shout of disapproval and a vague promise of punishment. But Rory's efforts to prank his mentor yielded nothing, and upon opening the doctor's desk to retrieve the snake, he found nought but a few scattered files and the bottle of lamivudine. No Vernalis.

And that's when the boy knew he was screwed.

He slammed the drawer shut, sending the entire desk rattling. A pencil rolled off the artificial wood and clattered onto the floor, disturbing the silence of the room. This was not good. The Ark, Trision's leading bio lab, housed two of almost every animal species humanity could smuggle off a broken earth. They hoped they could introduce the animals to their new home on Acrora. He was confident that they'd check the status of all the animals every day.

Rory checked the nearest clock on the desk which blinked 7:34 in glowing red. Doctor Barlow usually opened the Ark at 8:00 to let his students do the daily checkups. That left Rory 24 minutes to find the snake and get it back to the Ark before anyone -- namely Ross -- figured something was amiss.

Well, shit.

Rory then proceeded to check every one of Ross' drawers. His efforts yielded nothing.

There were footsteps outside the office. Rory sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Stupid. He was stupid. He should have been more thorough with his planning. He opened the drawer with the lamivudine again and felt along its edges, looking for any holes or cracks the snake could have escaped through. Nothing.

"Rory!"

It was Ross's voice. The rich timbre tinged with a certain huskiness and an accent that lengthened his vowels.

"Come on, kid. Coffee at 7:30! You're late. Where are you?"

Ross's footsteps continued to pace back and forth along the living pad just outside the office.

"I'm in here," Rory said, but his throat was dry, and his words came out as a rasp. He coughed and tried again. "In here, Ross."

Rory's voice, not as husky as Ross's, had that similar accent -- a byproduct of being raised by the doctor.

The pacing stopped, and the door to the office slid open with a hiss. Rory raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sudden glare of the outside light.

Ross, his face shadowed by the dim room, stood in the doorway. Some of the light caught in his salt-and-pepper hair and the edges of his pristine white of his lab coat, making it look like he was glowing.

He pressed the switch. Rory shut his eyes as the blue-white light glared from the bulbs. He slowly peeled open his lids.

"What're you doing here?" Ross demanded.

"Well, I-"

"Out!" Ross waved him along.

Rory returned to the common area, not making eye contact with Ross and hoping his face wasn't flushed.

"So dark," Ross muttered. Even though Rory couldn't see him, he knew the doctor was rubbing his eyes. "You're going to ruin your vision."

"Saving energy," Rory muttered, and Ross let out a bark of a laugh.