Changed - Awakening

12. From the depths

Special thanks to my proofreaders for giving this chapter a pass! Allows me to sleep at night without fear of missing bad typos!

Reaching the end of the corridor, you open and step through the door along with Puro, left unlocked by Dr. K to save the trouble of going through security again. Inside the lab, you can see Dr. K analysing the data he collected through your body scan. Dr. K hums in fascination, as his pencil scratches upon the sheets of paper.

Upon hearing the door opening, Dr. K glances over his shoulder and spots you. He gets up from his desk and makes his way to you.

"You're back, I presume the cones are in place?"

"Yep, I placed the cones while Puro is on the lookout."

"Yes! Puro was on the lookout for any latex that will bully human!"

"Excellent, then everything went without a hitch."

"...Sort of...?"

Although you can't tell, you are pretty sure Dr. K is raising his eyebrows, asking for elaboration.

"We did see the big white Behemoth but it was acting funny. It was huddling at the corner of the nest."

"Did it not see you?"

"Maybe? I honestly have no idea what it's doing."

"Curious, I should investigate while I have the chance." Dr. K acknowledges.

"Either way, I am glad that you managed to do this without any incident, I hate to put you through that kind of risk."

"Well, nothing happened, so it's no issue."

Dr. K starts gathering pages and placing them on a clipboard along with a pencil.

"You two remember the directions right?"

"Yep! Human and Puro remember the doctor's directions! It should be no problem!" Puro answers.

"Alright. Colin, I understand that you may not remember who I am but when you remember a bit more, come and see me, we still have a lot of catching up to do."

You nod in understanding, as Dr. K makes his way down the corridor to inspect the Behemoth. As he steps through the door, Dr. K speaks out one last time.

"I trust you will keep Colin out of trouble?"

"Of course! Puro will do his best to keep human safe!"

And with that, the door seals shut, leaving you and Puro alone. Following Dr. K's directions, you continue through another door with Puro by your side.
Puro walks out first, leading the way through the empty corridor as the footsteps echo. Wanting to pass the time, you decide to strike up a conversation with Puro.

"Hey, Puro?"

"Yes human?"

"Why do you always call me 'human'? You know what my name is."

Puro tilts his head slightly, his ear flickering before he responds.

"Because human is human. Some latexes don't give themselves names so Puro often refers to them by their species. It felt natural to Puro to call you by your species name."

"Huh..."

While interesting, you find the telepathy ability these latex creatures have is such a vital tool for their communication, you don't think you will ever understand how it works in detail, but that is not for you to find out. It's not that important anyway.