IV: MARS

change.

Dakota played with the threading on his sleeves as Venus paced the room.
"I don't know if that's such a great idea." He spoke.
"It'll be fine! If anything it'll speed up this experiment." Venus assured. She looked over to Dr. Panoma for her approval. She was chewing the inside of her cheek while focusing hard on one spot of the floor. The room was uncomfortably silent before she had come to a decision.
"I suppose if they're in the same environment, that'll be one less variable to worry about."
Venus sighed in relief. She looked over at Dakota who was already looking at her eyes wide in fear.
"Don't worry! This will be good for you!" Venus assured.
"She's right," Dr. Panoma interjected.
"Your social skills are quite behind compared to Malakai's."
Dakota had the urge to say who's fault is that? but decided it would only make him look worse.
"My only concern is..." She looked at Venus.
"I worry Malakai won't have the best influence on him. I wouldn't want him to cause...deviance to this experiment."
Venus swallowed hard. She ought to choose her next words carefully.
"He won't. Malakai has a reputation to uphold and I'm sure he would understand the severity of  thoughtless actions. If it makes you feel any better, I will be checking in to see how Dakota's doing."
Dakota relaxed a bit after hearing that. He couldn't imagine what he'd do without Venus. She was the only person who he felt like he could talk to. Probably because she is the only one he's allowed to talk to. He's got a habit of talking too much about things he shouldn't. Dr. Panoma doesn't want him revealing classified information, and she also doesn't want him saying something that will get his ass beat. So she told him to refrain from asking overly personal questions and from talking about anything that makes him think too hard. But the tables turned the day he presented himself in front of the solar council. That night at the reception, while Dr. Panoma was busy drunk chatting with Sol, Venus approached him. She was a little tipsy and less shy than she was earlier. Even though she barely knew Dakota, she started going off about how beautiful he is and what an amazing gift he has. She almost shed tears describing how wonderful it must be to give the gift of life. Dakota was confused, but also didn't mind the praise. And since Dr. Panoma was too drunk to care about his "stunted social skills" he started talking to her. She was easy to talk to unlike some people. By people, he means Malakai. He couldn't talk to him even if he wanted to because of the experiment rules. But now that will have to change if they're going to be living together.