Petra squinted at the nearly blinding pixels of her laptop, scrutinizing the diagram of an infected human neuron. When she moved her cursor from the cell body to the nerve terminals, the caption read in small Aerial font: liquid Ae, density 1.24 gm/cm^3.
On the adjacent window were the properties of Aenigmium in its gaseous state.
On the table, resting beside her arm, was a stapled heap of sheets turned to a page in the middle, the lines marked with red highlighter: Property 32: Aenigmium can only be found in the universe in two states: liquid and gas. (*FLAW: Ae cannot exist in both its liquid and gaseous state at the same place and same time. If such a situation is created when Ae exists both as liquid and gas in the body, one state will compete for dominance until a singular, uniform state is obtained throughout the body.)
And under it, in her own curvy handwriting:
To defeat the enemy, you must use their flaws against them.
Petra pushed herself away from the table, the wheels of her swivel chair turning soundlessly as she placed her head against its backrest and sighed. The basement laboratory smelled of apple cinnamon air freshener and little of cheddar Doritos. A long alabaster table sat in the middle of the room, running from one wall to the other, stacked with test tube holders, distillation flasks, chemistry volumes and scattered pens and papers. A mini fridge sat in one corner of the room, humming erratically to let out the only noise in the quiet lab, other than the occasional tinkling beakers and ruffling papers.
Jungkook sat a few paces to the right of Petra, on the other side of the table. Round, wire-rimmed glasses perched on the edge his nose and his gloved hands hovered over the table, lips parted in concentration as he merged himself completely in his work.
"I'm going upstairs for a bit," Petra said, heaving herself up from the chair. "See what we have for dinner."
Jungkook looked up from his work, holding out a hand in her direction when she reached his side of the table. Petra took it, sidling next to his chair and observing the plethora of colourful liquids resting in test tubes on the counter. To his right, on an elevated platform on which sat a glass cubical box with a circle of glass cut out on top. Inside the cube, jumping from one corner to another, was a furry white rat.
Petra knew the lab rodent had been injected with Aenigmium to see what effect the substance had on its brain cells. Although rats possessed genetic and brain structures evolutionarily similar to humans, the presence of Aenigmium was seen to have not caused so drastic a change in the creature. The only similarity was that the substance messed with the rodent's memory, like it did to a human's, and that was all they needed to study how potential antidotes effected the rat's Aenigmium-infested genome.
"Can we cook japchae today?" Jungkook asked, capping the test tubes in their holders and looking up at her, doe-eyed and excited. "I'm craving japchae today. What say, buddy?" He flicked the side of the glass box with his nail, drawing the creature's attention. The rodent placed its tiny paw against the glass.
"Not so sure about japchae, are we?" said Petra, picking a food pellet from a nearby bowl and dropping it into to the box through the whole on top. The rat jumped and nibbled on the pellet. "As for you," she turned to the boy in the chair, pushing his spectacles up the bridge on his nose with a finger, "I'll have to see if we have the ingredients."
"Okay for me," Jungkook grinned, curling a hand around her pointed finger and pressing his lips to the tip. "I'll join you after I shower."
Upstairs, Petra checked the fridge for the necessary ingredients and removed a block of cabbage to rinse under the tap. As she observed the water trickling down her fingers, it struck her how she hadn't watered the plants on the porch outside since the past two days. Placing the cabbage in a bowl on the counter, she filled a mug-full of water and opened the front door.
YOU ARE READING
Dark Matter | JJK
Fanfiction"If you had to choose between wrong and very wrong, what would you choose?" When two young scientists decide to decode the secret behind a very millennial-looking zombie roaming the streets of their city on a moonless twilight, they are faced with...
