|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:14 am
The 'lab' that they'd been given shaky access to in their spare time struck Tambrey as being somewhat... small.
In fact, if the presence of various brooms, dustpans, mops and buckets were anything to go by this was, or used to be, one of the storage closets for cleaning materials.
Cloning equipment had grown less bulky and cumbersome over the years, of course, but what she and Rory had been allowed to use was nowhere near 'cutting edge' and still, very much, had some rather large parts.
This, unfortunately, meant they had the unwelcome prospect of having to move from room to room where the old equipment was stored each time they needed to perform another stage.
It also meant that the 'finished' project would not be kept in their assigned 'room', needing to take up one of the (she wondered how old they really were) outdated suspension pods in one of the labs.
Another factor was that, with the outdated equipment, plus the limited access to each room they needed, this was going to, and had already, take a lot more time than Tambrey had theorized.
It had already been almost an hour into their alloted time down here; they wouldn't be able to stay for much beyond that even though it was their 'spare time'. Understandable, if frustrating, when it came to any sort of lab access.
She was currently loading what looked like slides into the drawer of some machine- 6 of them- and, upon closing said drawer, a small screen flickered to life to show a magnified image of 6 cells.
"Hm. So. Those 're in... Uh." The dark haired grunt was looking at the buttons on the machine. She knew what she was doing, in her opinion, but she wasn't totally familiar with this older machine. Team Rocket's official projects tended to be a lot more streamlined, with much faster, modern and effective (practically sci-fi material in her mind) machines.
This machine wasn't that.
Still, it did have a higher success rate, she suspected, than anything the university would have been able to get ahold of...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:42 pm
It was a good think that neither of them were claustrophobic, Rory thought as he shoved another mop handle out of his way as he went over to look at the machine. At least he hoped Tambrey wasn't; it wouldn't be very good for either of them if she was.
He wasn't sure what he had been expecting when she had told him they had gotten the clearance for the project but he had been expecting a bit more breathing room.
He had been reading up on the technology the team used in their experiments so he could be more of a help than just donating his pokemon's DNA. The science had made sense to him and he was pretty sure he could remember what button did what. To him, it seemed like a lot of hassle for pokemon, even if they were able to create amazing creatures with their technology. To him, breeding was so much easier.
He looked between the images of the cells on the screen and the buttons that were attached to the machine. He pointed to one in the middle, "I think if you hit that one, it should give us a cell to start working with."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:23 pm
Tambrey, it seemed, was not claustrophobic.
Though, after time in a prison cell, she wasn't /too/ fond of the smallness of the room.
It very much helped that she could leave this one if and when she wanted to.
Tentatively, she reached out and pushed the button he indicated.
Almost immediately the screen changed to a 'zoom-in' on one particular cell and a light beneath a different button lit up. A tube-shaped compartment opened with 'shfft' noise.
"Uh. So far so good..." Tambrey acknowledged with a nervous smile. "I guess 's how we introduce the material from Pinkie... 'S the first of the batch... Did you want t' do this bit?" She knew they'd have to introduce it to all six of the cells of this particular batch but, as it was the first and it was Rory's pokémon, it seemed right that he should start it off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:28 pm
His eyes widened slightly when his suggestion worked. Okay so he did remember some of the manual after all. Now they needed the sample from Pinkie. He pulled one of several tubes out of his pocket and unscrewed the top.
It had taken him a bit to get the samples they would use from his pokemon. He finally found a way to sneak into the infirmary and grab the supplies he would need to draw blood. Pinkie hadn't been too happy about being jabbed with the needle until he had tried explaining to her that it was for Tambrey and what she wanted to do with it. He wasn't sure she had understood him but she wasn't as mad at him once he finished explaining it. Then again it could have also been the treats he gave her afterwards.
He tried to remember exactly what the book had said about this part of the process. "Um yeah, sure," he said nervously and slid the tube into the compartment. He hit the button and watched as it closed with another 'shfft' noise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 5:28 am
Tambrey seemed just a little taken aback by the samples.
Well then, blood; that would, probably, work better than the hairs that she'd been expecting. Or was that to do with the age of this machine? She eyed it warily.
Well, it was working /so far/.
She stood back, careful not to brush up against or get in Rory's way too much, to watch the sample go in and grinned as she heard, first, something 'drop' and then a mechanical whirring noise from the back of the bulky machine- like some giant washing machine.
Six lights, all green, lit up under six smaller buttons on the keypad; one blinked on and off.
Tambrey bounced on the balls of her feet a little, buoyed by the events so far.
"I think it's working!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2012 6:27 am
Rory caught the look she sent towards the machine as he dropped the sample in. She hadn't figured he would use that for the sample? He had thought about getting a few strands of hair off of Pinkie's coat but figured the blood would be more concentrated and, thus, lead to a better possibility at success. Plus it wouldn't be as easy to lose.
He listened and watched as the machine processed the sample from his pokemon. Was it supposed to be that loud? Maybe the newer machines didn't make such noise.
He grinned at the excitement he could hear in Tambrey's voice. "It looks like it, at least."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 3:18 am
'BEGIN SEQUENCE'
The words blinked on and off the screen, demanding the button with the blinking light be pressed.
There was no option of yes or no; the sample was locked in and 'the sequence', apparently, was the only way to get the machine to do anything further at this stage.
Tambrey might have been a little more concerned about the current lack of an 'abort' or 'quit' function if she hadn't rather excited; the fact that the thing seemed to actually be working was enough that she didn't even seem to notice the abundance of noise the machine was making.
"Well, press it, press it!" She urged, fidgeting, with her lab coat flapping slightly (it was a tiny bit too big for her anyway) and, for a moment, making her look a bit like an excited child playing 'dress up'.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:16 pm
Tambrey's excitement was contagious and Rory could feel himself start to grow more excited at the prospect of the experiment working. The only think that scared him and kept him from reaching the same level of excitement as his friend was the noise that was still coming from the machine and growing louder. He looked over the options they had to continue. 'BEGIN SEQUENCE', that was it. No option to quit or stop if either of them changed their minds. It would have to been seen out to the end, no matter the result.
He backed away slightly when her coat flapped out so he wouldn't be hit by it and grinned at her excited urge to press the button.
"Alright," he took a deep breath and steeled himself for whatever would happen next before pressing the button that was still blinking incessantly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:15 am
As soon as Rory pushed the button, there was a whirring noise, louder once again, as Pinkie's DNA was separated out. Then the view began to cycle through the different cells as the DNA was introduced to each.
The constant noise from the machine changed again, even as the whirring stopped, and became clunkier.
Tambrey looked delighted, practically leaning toward the screen, like she wanted to go into it, just further excited.
"One's good, two's good, three's good..." Her eyes darted from cell to cell on the screen, unnecessary commenting on each one's success.
Suddenly, after the last cell had been given Pinkie's material and had a moment or two to process things, an error box appeared, overlaying the split-screen.
Tambrey blinked and frowned at it.
"Huh... 'Analysis: Evolution Data Corrupted- Unspecified Sequence Fault'," Tambrey read out before looking at the options, provided this time. "So... 'Substitute' or 'Proceed'..."
Once again, she noted, there was no abort and, she wasn't too surprised to see, no option to artificially sequence the missing section.
Vaguely she wondered if whatever this was might be similar to Palu's fault, though most of her attention was taken up by the error message.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:45 am
Rory watched as Pinkie's DNA was separated and was dispersed to the first few cells. He winced when the noise from the machine changed and watched it wearily.
When the error message came on the screen, he got worried. Was there something wrong with the sample he had gotten from Pinkie? Or was there something wrong with her? He never did think to ask his father how she had ended up looking the way she did. What if something was wrong with her at a cellular level?
"Well...that's all I have and I don't think we want to try to run to the lab to try to get a different sample." If only the machine would allow them to do it manually instead. "Maybe we can try to keep going and see what happens? Unless you want to try a sample from one of your pokemon."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 2:32 pm
Tambrey chewed her lip while she thought and then pointed at the error message.
"It's saying something about the DNA that would apply to the evolution process being... uh, damaged." She noted. "So. Basically it's asking for something t' fill the gap, I think. I mean, we could try one 'f mine, but 'm not sure it'd work. I don't have any fire types, f'r one, and it /might/ be asking for some Rapidash DNA..."
The dark aired grunt tapped a booted foot, trying to work it out.
"T' be honest, this machine has a lot more limitations than, y'know, the real official sort o' projects, so maybe it needs a more complete input or... something."
She nodded and agreed with him. "We can keep trying- we've got a batch running and, t' be honest, it's amazing t' get this far on the first batch as far as I know... With this equipment anyway..." She frowned thoughtfully and reached to select 'Proceed'.
The machine now whined even louder in apparent protest.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:09 pm
The temptation to cover his ears to try to block out the noise of the machine was growing. It was only the knowledge that he needed to hear what Tambrey was saying that kept him from actually doing it.
The evolution process damaged? Was it the sample they started with? Who knows what had been done to the subject it came from. Or was it Pinkie's? Rory shook his head to clear that thought out of his mind and looked over at Tambrey.
"We don't really have much of a choice, huh?" he asked as he focused on watching the screen on the machine to see what would happen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 2:32 pm
"Uh, not really." Tambrey smiled ruefully then jumped back suddenly, wide-eyed, as the machine made a rather loud bang, causing the screen to flicker as it was zooming in on 'cell 1'.
Another error message could just be glimpsed before the screen went black; the loud bang having, perhaps, knocked something loose and now the picture had been lost.
Tam' chewed her lip.
"Uh. Uh, maybe if w-oh..." She blinked as the screen was back, but had already passed whatever the error message had been and was back to showing the split-screen of all six.
She stared at it, a little dumbstruck, for a moment as one of the cells seemed to be having trouble; the cell-walls were undergoing a lot of movement and something... /flickering/ seemed to be consuming the nucleus.
"Um. Uh. Is it...?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2012 7:40 pm
Rory flinched when he heard the machine make the loud bang and looked back in time to get a glimpse at the error message before the screen went black.
He looked at it curiously when the machine's screen came back on without the error message. The blond looked between the two halves of the screen and leaned closer to get a better look when he saw a slightly flickering in one of the cell sections.
His eyes widened. "It's on fire," he stated as he watched the flames consume the nucleus.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:46 am
"But that's not technically po-whoah! Okay!" She stepped back as the 'fire' 'spread' to the adjacent cell.
"Uh. We need to abort! And find a fire extinguisher or something!" Tambrey sounded slightly panicked as she looked around the room for one.
Thankfully, and probably not surprisingly given their location, one powder fire extinguisher was, indeed, clinging to the wall near the door.
But before they could use it on the 'fire', or whatever else they could call the cellular-level reaction, they had to get the batch out of the machine.
None of the buttons were helpfully labelled to indicate such a function.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
