The Lab (Septiplier)

Chapter 3; Claire

August 7th, 2009
  Mark was panicking. I mostly attribute that to my gun, but I needed to show my gun in order for us to get in. It will take a bit for Mark to get used to the swing of things. Once he realizes he's not in danger, the pay and the college credits will definitely keep him here. If i'm remembering his file right, he's a year younger than me at 17. Most of the people here are 16 to 20, the oldest person is our District Director Anthony. He's 32. So at the very least we will have Mark for another 3 years. The elevator slowed to a stop at floor 221B. One of the higher floors of our underground establishment. The closest to the surface is 325B or 350B, I lost track since they keep adding new floors.
  "Thanks you three." Sarcasm entered my voice as i playfully said, "Keep up the great work, I heard taking naps is the hardest job."
  "We actually got alerted by the SSM that there's one loose in Ireland. They are taking a flight to America, so we get to go on a hunt." George stated.
  "Good luck with that, I hope they end up in my sector." I walked over to the opening in the concrete, Mark followed me and I made sure we were both off the elevator platform.
  "Probably will, We'll keep you updated when you come down with flower. See you around Claire"
  "See you around George." I waved as the elevator started it's climb back up, "Come on Mark, let's go."
I turned to the hallway behind us, and the lights turned on using motion sensors as I walked by. I got about halfway down before I heard Mark scramble to catch up.
His voice was shaky when he asked, "So what am I going to be doing as an intern?"
"Well for today your going to follow me around and observe unless I tell you otherwise. Tomorrow I'm going to have you try a few different things around the sector and let you get to know our team members better. Then on Sunday I'll assign you to a team and we'll let you get to work. Of course you might have a different assignment each day."
We reached the end of the hall, I turned left, stopped and pointed to the wall. A very large cork board was hung up. There were only a few papers left, "This is our Job Board. Your assignments for the day will be on a piece of paper with your name on it. I'll try to hang them up in alphabetical order but no promises. Usually it will suit your strengths but sometimes I will put you somewhere else. It also lets me know who is here and not, so I can manage the progress on projects. Later, if you decide to work here you might move down to my second sector and get assigned a specific case. Understand so far?"
He nodded his head in response. He was still a little stunned but the formatted instructions were familiar, so he was starting to act more natural.
I turned around and started walking to the back of the space, Mark followed me a lot more readily this time, "Today I have to check up on all our current projects and I have a meeting with several of the other managers,"
We passed by several offices, the inhabitants all called out a greeting, I waved in return, "But before I do that we're going to head to my office to get you a note pad. I want you to write down any questions you have, the answers when I answer them, and anything else you want to keep note of as we go along."
We got to my office, I checked inside the window to make sure things were hidden properly, "As we go along, please don't interrupt me. You can ask questions between check-in's. I will try to be as explanatory as possible as we go along."
I unlocked my door and moved over to my desk. Mark stayed by the door eyeing the various things I have stacked on my shelves. Mostly consisting of various gems and crystals, although there was a few dream catchers and skull 'models' of mammals. [They are actual bones but I don't want to tell the readers but I want to hint at it and I don't know how] I opened up my desk drawer and started rummaging through the mess I had shoved in there.
Mark leaned against the side of the door, "How many check-ins are there?"
"Today, 30 or 35 if we have time. But there are at least 50 projects running currently, I lost count a while ago." I found a pen.
"Including your second sector?"
I reached through the mess almost able to reach the notebook, "No, My second sector is a whole different story. We won't be going down there today." Got it!
I stood up, pen and notepad in hand. Mark was standing on the other side of my desk. He almost scared me, I'll have to keep in mind he has quiet footsteps.
I hand him the notepad, "Let's get going we have a lot of people to see."
I locked my office as we left, and led the way to the first project. It was one of the simpler projects, the team was identifying diseases in mammal blood. They would then send the things they found to another team. Because of the widespread facility it was only 2-3 per team, with a lot of teams.
"How is it going Sarah?" I leaned in the doorway observing the messiness of the room that somehow stopped around Sarah's desk.
"Happy to see you here today Claire. All is going good on my end. However, George and Luke went out to get second brunch i think it was? Claiming they were going to eat the samples otherwise." She didn't so much as look up from her work as she replied.
"Should I help point out to them that there is no food in the lab?" I gestured to the piles of pizza boxes and various other trash from the products of the vending machine that was down another hall.
She finished examining the petri dish and closed it to preserve the bacteria, "Yes please, I can't tell you how many times i've reminded them. Not to mention how much oil that gets everywhere. They've dropped at least three petri dishes and a beaker consecutively."
I hummed out a noise of disapproval. Mark shuffled behind me furiously scribbling down notes and as the fates would have it, George and Luke came waltzing back down the hall, each with armfuls of food. They noticed i was standing in the doorway. They slowed their pace, undoubtedly considering turning back. They had quite the mess to clean up however, so I beckoned them over.
Once they were in earshot I pushed off the doorway to stand tall, "How much work have you done in the past week?"
George piped up first, "We, uh, we have done a lot... I'm not entirely sure how much though."
"They have only completed three technically, they lost the forth" Sarah snarked.
I turned to her shocked, "Lost?"
George and Luke shrunk down, cringing. I took a long deep breath and turned to face them, disappointment was clear in my face. The food was long forgotten even though it still lay warm in their arms.
My voice was low and icy, "Do I need to remind you of the rules."
"No ma'am" The three spoke in unison.
"Then why is there food all over this office, in your arms, and in these extremely vital specimens." I waited for a response that never came, "Clean up your mess, throw out that food, and so help me if I need to make you take a shower I will. If I come back by the end of today and i don't see this place clean, including you two, and you both helping Sarah, then you can expect to be put into a week long class that reminds you that this is not amusement park. Go."
I stormed away, Mark in tow, while the two scrambled to clean up the lab they turned into a pig sty. We continued past empty offices, I slowed my pace aware I was losing Mark. We turned the corner and I leaned up against a wall next to yet another empty office.
With a much quieter and softer tone, "I'm so sorry about that, you can ask questions now if you want."
"It's okay, that lab was out of hand." Mark shuffled through his notes, "In general what does this sector research?"
"We research diseases in all types of animals, avian, marine, mammal, etc. We also research on how to prevent these diseases, what their caused by. We're just trying to get as much information as possible to help these animals."
"That's amazing, I want a dog myself, so I imagine your research will really help." He smiled warmly, "So, what was that lab researching?"
"Thank you" I smiled back as I pushed off the wall, "They were supposed to be isolating different disease samples in the blood of mammals. I believe that batch was cat blood. Although i'm not sure."
"They should definitely get their shit together then." He chuckled.
I smiled, "Come on comedian we have a lot left to check on, hopefully the rest aren't as bad as the first."
Mark flipped his notepad to a new page and followed me along down the hall. We checked in on the rest of my groups, everything seemed to be going okay. There were a few things I mentioned for them to tweak but everything went smoothly. I had Mark take a lunch break while I went to my meeting. I met up with him later and after a few hours I called Steven to take him home. I went with him to avoid any awkwardness and I promised to try and pick him up at the same time tomorrow.