Better Eight Than Never

Prologue

"This one's more resilient than ever before."

"Any hypothesis?"

"None so far, however I've recorded all of it in my logs. Weight, sex, how long it took for the process to complete... A pattern has yet to emerge."

The pair of scientists strode down the hall, boots clacking on the floor and echoing down the halls.

"What were you calling this one?"

"We're calling him subject 5." She drummed her fingers together and grinned. "Quite remarkable, he actually survived between shifts, and for a moment he took a humanoid form! That's something none of the others were able to do thus far..."

"Hm." The other replied.

She stopped, tentacles tensing as she looked over at her colleague. "What? Are you going to criticize my work yet again Onella?"

"No, of course not. You are the front of your field; you had a breakthrough in technology. If you had a breakthrough in personality, maybe we could finally get along." She replied in a huff, and then gave a light cough into a handkerchief.

"Ugh." The scientist snarled. "Fine. I'll talk to you again when I have a full grasp on the situation. Get out of here before I call the soldiers you, you brat!"

"Fine. So be it." Onella turned on her heel and strode away, head held high.

She watched the retreating figure and growled. "... I should have called her something worse." She muttered, continuing on to her lab.

She leaned close to the door and waited for it to recognize her. It slid open and she stepped into the dimly lit room where she worked. Lab 32. She could see her lovely machine inside the testing chamber; prongs set to affect another victi– subject. She caught sight of her assistant, Olwen, who was straightening some tools that sometimes even made her shudder, implements to inflict research and pain. She was the only other person in the room at the moment; the others must still be having breakfast. "Olwen, it's good to see you again." She said coolly, trying to keep her normal sinister edge out of her tone.

"I was here last shift, sir." Olwen replied. "Subject 5 is still stable, however he appears restless."

The scientist sighed. Olwen would be one of the only people she wouldn't mind taking a short amount of time to small talk with. She had a very beautiful voice, tentacles slender and a healthy orange color, and beautiful brown skin. It reminded her of the rich reddish-brown color of the cliffs in the nearby valley where she liked to spend what little spare time she had; sitting and gazing at the open sky. There were many a shift where she wished Olwen would be there beside her, talking about the experiments... Or perhaps one of her interests, like bowling, she was pretty sure she bowled... But she was getting ahead of herself. Work came first. "What about subject 6?"

"He is still. I cannot tell if he is resting or simply resigned to his fate." Olwen replied. "What shall we do with subject 5?"

"Hm..." She browsed through the subjects on the list. "We take a reading of his vitals, or at least the best we can... and then we test him against subject 10."

"Understood sir." Olwen replied.

"Why do you call me sir so much, Olwen?" She asked, stepping up to the cylindrical tank clamped in the wall that held subject 5. "I'm not elite."

"With your work, you will be, Ms. Vitrel." Olwen replied. "You are a strong dependable woman, the MC would be a fool to not give you such an honor."

Ms. Vitrel paused, glancing toward her co-worker, basking in the warm feeling she got when looking at her. That smile... "Well, let's make it happen, you son of a squid." She smiled back, not looking away as she pulled the tank out of the wall. She paled as she heard Olwen scream, and looked at the tank in her hand. Liquid poured out from around the cylinder's cap, and rapidly flowed toward her hand. She yelped and dropped the cylinder, backing away quickly. She opened her communications channel, voice a little shaky. "Subject 5 has escaped! We need immediate backup to lab 32–"