Seeing Sanno's pleading face, Lia giggled, then looked at Sanya.
Sanya shook her head. "Sorry, Mr. Angeldame."
"Oh, too bad, Sanno," Lia said, mocking him while laughing. "Better luck next time!"
"Aww, too bad…" Sanno reacted, scratching the back of his head.
"Wait, have you seen my luggage?" Lia asked.
"Oh, about that. Don't worry about your stuff, since you have your palmprint data on it, they will be sent directly to your assigned sleeping rooms at the East Wing. You three girls will occupy a room." Sanya gave keys to each one of the girls. "And you, Mr. Angeldame, I see that you didn't register for a sleeping room?"
"Ah, my mother works here in the city, so I can go there every day," Sanno explained. Then, he smiled at her and said, "I can introduce you to her if you like."
Sanya was surprised. Every time that Sanno said some pickup lines, she was always not ready, as it was her first time dealing with a person as playful as him. She looked away, blushing, not knowing what to say to him.
"Let's proceed to the basement," Roy, one of the assistant scientists, said. "Can you follow me, Mr. Angeldame?" He gave Sanno a serious look as if warning him to behave.
"Oh well, here goes," Sanno whispered, holding the cinnamon rolls on his right hand. "Shoot, the cinnamon rolls…"
Roy glanced at the plastic of cinnamon rolls. "You should give some to the mutant. He will be delighted."
"Oh? It's allowed?" Sanno curiously asked.
"It depends on the mutant…" Roy explained. "Your mutant is under my observation for a year already, and I have studied his diet. Don't worry."
While Roy and Sanno were walking ahead and conversing, the three other pairs followed them. They scanned their I.S. codes in the receptionists' area and went inside the elevator together.
"Ms. Sayaka and Ms. Wenn, your mutants are in B1, Mr. Angeldame's assigned mutant is in B3, while Ms. Brentvale's mutant is in B4. The 4th basement is the lowest part of the main building, and as we go deeper, the mutants will be more challenging..." Sanya explained.
"What do you mean… more challenging?" Lia asked with nervousness.
Sanya pressed the buttons B1, B3, and B4. The elevator started closing. Then, she made the laser scan her official I.D. at the side of the elevator door. The elevator started moving downwards.
"Challenging, in terms of participating in experiments," Sanya explained. She saw how nervous Lia was, "It's going to be okay, Ms. Brentvale. Your mutant was under my watch ever since I started here a year ago. He has no records of violence."
"Thank you." Lia smiled, feeling more at ease.
The elevator stopped at floor B1.
"Lia, Sanno, See you at the cafeteria later," Gem said. "Take care."
"Bye guys, let's chat after work!" Lovely said, waving goodbye.
Sanno and Lia waved to the two.
---
"See you later, Gem!" Lovely said, and they waved at each other. Gem and Jen went to the right hallway, while Lovely walked to the left hallway with Faye.
"How long have you been working here?" Lovely struck up a conversation.
Faye looked like a cool, young lady and she smiles sweetly. "Fifteen years already, ever since this research facility was established," she replied. "The mutant assigned to you is also one of those who were here for fifteen years. She was abandoned by her parents as soon as she was born."
"Aww, that's sad," Lovely said. "Mine's a shark, right?"
"Yeah, she's a really friendly shark," Faye explained. "And she's a strong girl."
They reached the 8th room. There was a large metal, double sliding door, with a contraption at the side for scanning official scientists' I.D.s. It says an embossed "B1-L8" at a metal plate at the top of the door.
Faye placed her I.D. in front of the contraption.
MEEP!
The door was unlocked. It automatically slid sideways. Both of them entered and then, the door closed by itself.
"Please change your shoes," Faye said, pointing to the wall-mounted shoe shelf.
They changed their shoes. When Lovely raised her head, she was amazed at what she saw.
The room had high and wide, white walls, and a gigantic, clear glass aquarium had almost occupied the whole room. It was 4 meters high and 10 meters wide, and inside were large aquarium filters, air pumps, temperature regulators, and other relevant equipment.
A teenage girl wearing a floral, high waisted two-piece bikini was swimming very swiftly inside the aquarium. At first glance, she looked like a normal girl, but then, Lovely noticed that she isn't swimming towards the surface to gasp for air.
Lovely's eyes widened. She loved reading fairy tales and watching fantasy-themed movies, and it was never in her plans to actually encounter a real-life mermaid.
"She's like a mermaid, but without the fishtail," Lovely said while observing the mutant girl. "She swims very elegantly as if she's doing ballet underwater,"
"That's her hobby," Faye said. "Too bad she can only survive without water for 2 hours."
The teenage shark mutant saw that there was a new caretaker assigned to her. Her previous caretaker had finished her 1-year contract and had not renewed it, since she got married and planned to settle down in another city. In her 15 years in the research facility, all her previous caretakers never had a problem with her and they mostly leave because of family reasons.
Seeing her new caretaker, the girl hurriedly swam to the surface. She jumped out of the water using the pool ladder, went down using the stairs reaching the floor, and approached Lovely.
"Hi!" The teenage girl greeted her happily. "My name is Galia, what's yours?"
Galia offered her a handshake which Lovely accepted, and with a warm smile, she said, "I'm Lovely Wenn, a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Galia."
Now that Lovely saw Galia up close, she noticed that she was, indeed, a shark mutant. On her neck were 5 slits, which were her gills.
Galia was very happy to see that her new caretaker is a kind person. She showed a bright smile and asked, "Do you know how to swim?"
Lovely answered, "Yes, I do. Why?"
"Let's race!" Galia exclaimed.
"Sorry to interrupt, but Ms. Wenn here didn't have spare clothes. Maybe you can race some other time." Faye explained. "I still have to orient her about your situation."
"Oh, okay then!" Galia said. She understands that in order for Lovely to do her job properly, she needed to know her mutant very well. "You go talk, let's race next time! I gotta return to my tank."
Faye and Lovely nodded. Seeing how busy the two were, the shark girl ran back to the aquarium.
"We have been studying Galia since she was born. Because she is always helpful in our experiments and tests, we have gathered a lot of information about her." Faye handed over a tablet that contained information about the shark mutant. "She's 15 years old, she loves eating fish and meat, she likes to swim very fast, and many more… You can take your time to read those today. I'll stay today here with you."
"Yes, Ms. Faye. I got it. Thank you," Lovely replied. "I wonder how the others are doing…"
----
After the pair of Lovely and Faye walked towards the left hallway, Gem walked behind Jen going to the right hallway. She wondered why Jen was such a slow walker like she's on the moon. Even if Gem wanted to walk ahead, she can't, as she still didn't know where to go. Luckily, the mutant's room was just the 3rd room.
Gem looked up the large, metal double sliding doors, and an embossed sign saying "B1-R3" was in a metal plate. Jen placed her I.D. in front of the contraption.
"We'll give you an official I.D. tomorrow, but for now, I will guide you the whole day," Jen said as the automatic door opened.
They entered the door and changed their shoes.
When Gem glanced inside the room, she was astonished...