Welcome to Gaia! ::

A young woman waited for him at the helipad. She was a taller lady, only a few inches shorter than Sabin himself, with frizzy brown hair held together under a grey beret that she clutched to her head to keep it from getting caught in the spin of the helicopter rotors. She smiled pleasantly and approached, holding out one hand, while the other stayed holding onto her hat.

"Professor Duvert, I assume?"

As the helicopter pulled away, her frizzy hair settled out, getting caught up in her....

...

antlers??

Indeed, sticking out of her hair, on either side of her beret, was a set of smallish, backwards sweeping antlers, similar to those of reindeer. She didn't seem to mind (or probably know how foolish she looked with her hair caught up in them).

"Welcome to the Island of Dr. Moreau. My name is Dr. Lockhart," she pointed to a name tag on her white lab coat, "and I"ll be your official, well, welcome wagon I guess! There's a lot to see here! Shall we?"

Aubrey didn't even seen to notice her antlers until Sabin started gawking at them. "Oh!" She quickly reached up and felt them over, quickly trying to tame her mane at the same time. "Quite annoying these are. But its amazing, isn't it? Moreau has been working on a animal-based serums that can administer increased functions for a short amount of time. He claims I could probably run faster now, but I think I have more impending on that, eh?" Aubrey patted her thighs teasingly and turned, motioning for Sabin to follow her. "Anyway, I can hear better, however, which is certainly an interesting experience. But to be honest if I just needed good hearing I would have chosen the dog ears again, but you know, that's why we're here, yes? To see what works and what doesn't?"

She headed down a gravel trail off the helipad, where a Jeep was waiting for them. Aubrey, still speaking, held the door open for him. Her voice of cheerful and slightly high-pitched, yet not annoyingly so. She seemed extremely friendly and eager.

"Of course there are side affects to these... since its not actual gene therapy, the affects are only temporary. A couple of days if you're lucky. Which isn't very long considering the amount of time the Doctor spends making each one. I'm surprised he's wasting some of them on me... but I don't mind. The visual affects are the ones he seems to be most interested in. You know, with gene therapy, which is permanent, you don't see results overtly for at least a couple of weeks. I grew these blasted things in a matter of minutes. That wasn't exactly comfortable, mind you. Not to mention they make washing your hair completely overcomplicated."

She got into the Jeep and turned the ignition. "Oh, and its Doctor Lockheart, but you can call me Aubrey if you prefer."

Aubrey just smiled and nodded knowingly at Sabin's barrage of questions. The Jeep lurked down the gravel trail, weaving deep into a thick jungle and heading towards, in the distance, a large build on the side of a mountain.

"I''m sorry... Dr... Lockheart.. you''ll have to pardon my enthusiasm, but you DO realize just how... how... absolutely indescribably AMAZING this all is, right?"

"Oh, of course! Doctor Moreau is the greatest scientific mind of our generation! Why, I still can't believe how luck I am to be working with him! You knew him before, right? From Harvard? Did you get to work him much on a one-by-one basis? My my, there's no words for how amazing it is to see him at work. Its almost orgasmic..." you can Aubrey said that before fully thinking that through. She showed no outward sign of being incredibly embarrassed, but her cheeks turned a deep red color, accentuating the freckles over her nose.

"SO... speaking of Harvard, I just got my doctorate from there a few months ago..."

"Yup, specialized in Stem Cell Research. Guess that’s why I'm here, eh?" Anyway, let me show you around real quick. Up ahead is the main facility. Most of the labs and observatories are in there. Its pretty easy to spot."

The Jeep was quickly approaching the large grey building. But as they turned a corner, several more buildings came into view. More labs, obviously, the same style and feel. All built into the side of the cliff. Aubrey pointed to a few geographical points to remember the roads by, and as they started up the side of the mountain, a whole city appeared in the valley below. The buildings were simple, and while a great many of them looked somewhat normal apartment complexes, there were several oddly shaped ones, including ones elevated high on platforms, and several that resembled large aquariums. Looming over them on the cliff side was the Moreau Manor.

"There is no one there yet, of course. The first subjects haven't even arrived. But the doctor sure has been busy these past three years."

Aubrey parked the vehicle in front of the main building. "The Lobby is right in here, Moreau should be waiting to give you your official introduction. Then I'll be showing you your dorm. See that building over there," Aubrey pointed off to a dormitory attached to one of the lab buildings. "You'll be living in there. Its not much to look at, but they are quite nice on the interior."

Aubrey headed up the paved path to the main entrance when she seemed to remember something, and turned out. "Oh! I'm sorry, this might seem a bit rude, but I need to see some identification."

Aubrey took the passport and looks between it and the man. Pretty distinctive, as Sabin has stark white hair, although his age was only listed as being 34. NOdding her approval, she handed the passport back and headed towards the door.

"Yes, there will be human subjects. Its pretty hard to test gene therapy otherwise. I mean, how else will we know if it works if we don't test it on human sujects?"

As she approached the door, she paused only momentarily before the doors slid open on their own. She has been genetically scanned, but to Sabin it might looks as simple as the sliding doors at the supermarket.

They Lobby at the main entrace was decked out pretty nice (mostly Aubrey's doing - it had looked to "cold" before). There were plush, expensive sofas, hardwood tables, and potted plants spread out over the marble floor.

"Dr. Moreau will know you're here. He should be down shortly. Feel free to take a seat." She motioned to the sofas, smiling politely.

"Well of course the Doctor has tested on bacteria and animals. And thats all well and good. But I mean, how are you susposed to KNOW if it will work on humans without trying it?

Of course all the serums are in their testing phase, so they are 100% safe. According to all the data, of course. But you can't be sure until you try!"

She sounded as if she was giving a pep talk of some kind.

After a decent wait Dr. Moreau bursts through the door, a man very much alive and full of energy. "Ahhhh Aubrey! I was working on the premise of a new chemical compound one that would allow us to splice... hold, what's this?"

Dr. Moreau stared at Sabin for a moment, as though he had completely no recongition, then after a moment, the smile crept back over his face. "Professor Sabin, glad to see you accepted my invitation. " Moreau moved his hand up to rub his chin a bit, as though he was absorbing the situation and thinking at the same time.

"Aubrey, why didn't you tell me that Professor Sabin was due today." Moreau said, fully well having been reminded multiple times and remembering those reminders. "Ahhh well, forgive her,"

"So," Moreau said sounding rather chipper about everything. "What do you think of my island? And," Moreau paused for a second the smile growing a bit more wicked "my research."