IV: MARS

dakota.

"I'll do it. I'll be a lab rat for Dr. Panoma."
Sol blinked a couple times and set her tea down on her desk.
Now intrigued, she asked, "Why the sudden change of mind?"
"Long story short- I think Venus wants me to get a hobby." He replied bluntly.
Sol gave a little 'hmph' and raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Well, I'll notify Dr. Panoma that you're willing to participate in her study. I'm sure she'll want to get started immediately, so clear up your schedule."
"This won't interfere with my working hours, right?"
Sol shrugged, sipping her tea.
"Probably not. But you never know."
Malakai groaned and rolled his head back.
"Venus was right, you do need a hobby."

***
Looking up there was only blobs of white and blue and the occasional movement of a figure. But it was far more interesting than staring at the blue lining of the pool. He had lost track of time, somewhere about 11 minutes. Now he was just waiting for the signal to resurface. Or until he drowns. He would almost prefer the latter at this point. These trials and tests were boring. Sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool, waiting to run out of air in his lungs, is so utterly boring.
He only had to endure another minute before he was signaled to come up. He gasped for air when he finally resurfaced and moved his hair out of his eyes so he could see. There were two research assistants who recorded his time, both wearing white snow suits. As he climbed out of the pool he was offered a towel. He wrapped himself in it, shivering slightly. From the observation window he could see Dr. Panoma talking to somebody else in the room. She turned around and waved at him. She then leaned down to speak into the intercom.
"Excellent work, Dakota! You didn't set a new record for time, but you did for temperature! -11 degrees Fahrenheit!"
He knew it felt colder than yesterday's. The assistants lead him back to his room so he could change. In the midst of that, he got a messsage.

[VRSCOM:
You have (1) new message:
Kalel Panoma: Report to the observation deck ASAP. I have a surprise! ]

Dakota knew enough to put two and two together. This probably had something to do with Mars. As much as he wanted to just crawl into bed where he was safe and warm, he dragged himself out the door. His hair was still damp, which probably isn't a good look for a second impression, but he can't help that it had to defrost. As long as he doesn't make eye contact and doesn't say anything he'll be fine.
"Ah! There he is! Dakota, I have some exciting news!"
Dakota acted like he was interested in her words so he didn't have to look around the room. Didn't really do much though, because he could feel his eyes on him. Sharp, daunting, eyes burning a hole through him.
"Mars- Or should I call you Malakai?"
"I'd prefer if you didn't." Came a deep voice from somewhere in the back of the room.
"Doesn't matter. Malakai is going to participate in our research project!"
Dakota was not good at faking emotions, but he attempted to at least not look dead inside.
"Now, a lot of this research has to be done in a lab. We're inspecting your blood and how they react to different things and most importantly to each other. But first, we're going to do pain tolerance, endurance, and strengths test. Remember, this is not a competition! This is simply to compare results. Are you two ready?"