Scent of defeat.

Posted on Sun Aug 7th, 2022 @ 1:16am by

Mission: The Lost Brother
Location: Science Lab 7

Paige had been neck deep in the paperwork to organize the department when the last chief had decided to leave. She imagined that she knew precisely why he left, as this department was an organizational nightmare. When she was frustrated near to the point of tears with the sheer volume of paperwork, she left the office to clean one of the labs she needed to restore to use.

This one was registered to a Lieutenant Harris who had left the ship a full 6 months ago. He had not registered the end of his experiment, and had also not requested decontamination for the cubes that he was storing bio matter in. A preliminary scan of the room showed no cause for alarm, and no dangerous byproducts of any experimentation remained in the chamber. Her fingers hovered over the open switch and she took a deep breath before pressing it, allowing her access to the Lab.

Here goes nothing

The acrid pong of death came out in a rolling cloud that enveloped Paige and made her gag as the door opened. She practically threw herself back from the door and allowed the door to close trapping that awful scent inside. She bruised her knees as she actually did end up on them swallowing back the urge to lose her breakfast all over the floor. That would not aid the scent she was trying to get rid of. She knelt there, hand pressed over her mouth until the acid burn in the back of her throat eased. The clean air of the corridor aided her transition back to normalcy swiftly enough, and with that she could push herself up off the floor.

"Computer, filter air in Laboratory space 7 through a Level 6 decontamination."

"Level 6 decontamination in progress, estimated completion time 15 standard minutes."

"Computer, display contents of lab, and correlate with Lieutenant Harris' registered experimentation"

"Contents are as follows: Water tanks for aquatic research, quantity 5. Water testing kits quantity 1. Aquaponic filter, infusible quantity 15. Dry tanks for terrariums quantity 12. Portable scanner quantity 1. Sand, white glass quantity 50 pounds.

A glass of ice water set Paige to rights, and she sipped it slowly as she read. Once her stomach had settled and the light outside the lab was now green. She could enter safely, and hopefully without losing her breakfast. Note to self, do these clean outs BEFORE you eat and not after. Might be a good way to lose some weight.

It was set up with two water tanks set into the walls with three dry tanks on either side of the water tanks. The setup was mirrored on the opposite wall, and a table spanned the wall across from the door. The table was meticulously neat and organized. A pink tongue came out to wet her lips as she continued her visual inspection of the lab. Neat as a pin in his workspace but not a single care given to his specimens. I hate people sometimes.

The desiccated skeletons of a reptilian species lay on the sand, with green sludge that passed for water filling the rest of the tanks. Granules of unidentifiable plant matter floated here and there in the murky waters. It still stank, but it wasn't the eye searing burning disaster that had assaulted her nose when she walked in.

"Disgusting." Paige muttered to herself as she crossed her arms, glaring at the tanks full of dead fish and plants.

"Computer, none of these tanks are fit for use, please beam each one to Bio-hazardous disposal, incineration recommended. If any salvage is made, it can be done after the biofilms are destroyed. Please notate everything that had to be destroyed into the official log for Lieutenant Ryan A. Harris, now of the USS Genoa."

I wonder what is better, the paperwork or the smell?