Jade held the key card delicately between her fingers, its surface cool and smooth to the touch. She examined it closely, her gaze lingering on its intricate design as a yawn escaped her lips.
Her eyes felt heavy, and the thought of lying down pulled at her harder than she wanted to admit.
"No time like the present, I suppose," she murmured.
Still, she made a bargain with herself.
A quick shower.
A small bite of food.
Then the lab.
If she sat too long, her body would choose sleep and win the argument for her.
The shower helped. So did the simple meal of fruit and bread.
By the time she stepped back into the hall, she felt awake enough to keep moving.
She slipped into her cozy pajama bottoms, the blue lines along the sides giving her a small comfort inside the plain room.
The soft fabric helped as she headed through the cold corridors toward the labs Victoria had assigned to her.
The clock in the corridor marked the time as 8pm, a silent reminder of the day’s progress into night. Despite the late hour, Jade’s commitment to her work spurred her on.
"Just a few checks and that should be good enough," she thought, her mind focused on the tasks that awaited her in the lab.
Upon entering the lab, Jade was immediately struck by the sight of the equipment and materials that filled the room.
Fancy bottles of chemicals and pitchers were meticulously arranged on the shelves, each item reflecting the light in a way that seemed to beckon her closer.
It was everything she had dreamed of after graduating college and working in a lab--a place where curiosity met innovation, and where her skills could truly flourish.
The excitement helped her stay awake.
That was useful, but also dangerous.
Excitement could make her skip steps, and skipping steps in a lab was how people lost eyebrows, fingers, or worse.
So Jade forced herself to slow down.
She checked the labels.
She checked the tools.
Then she looked at the cube like a sample that might explode, bite, or ruin her night.
Her attention then shifted to the cube she had pulled from her pocket. The once vibrant object now bore an exhausted appearance, its color fading to a pale hue while the edges began to turn dark brown.
Jade observed the changes with a mixture of fascination and concern. "Huh, I guess the King of Nothing wasn’t lying about you deteriorating slowly over time,"
Activating her eyes over the creature, Jade’s gaze transformed, emanating a subtle glow of white flames, unveiling a small icon indicative of a complex chemical structure--perhaps hinting at the cube’s composition or a key element in its deterioration process.
Once she recognized the chemical signature, Jade moved to the lab equipment and pulled on a lab coat. She measured the ingredients twice before combining them.
The mixture could involve a base like sodium hydroxide mixed with an acidic solution containing citric acid, creating a neutralization reaction.
This reaction could release heat and form a new salt and water, symbolizing the potential for transformation or stabilization of the cube’s condition.
After blending the substances, the solution swirled, merging into a homogenous white-colored substance.
Jade wrote the rough ratios down beside the tray.
If this worked, she would need to explain it later.
If it failed, she wanted enough notes to know which mistake had tried to freeze, poison, or melt her first.
This new creation, under Jade’s enhanced vision, sparked a visible chemical reaction--perhaps the formation of a precipitate or the emission of luminescent light, indicating the successful synthesis of a compound with unique properties, possibly offering a clue to the cube’s preservation.
Approaching the cube, now mirroring the creature’s form, Jade posed a crucial question, hinting at a precarious balance between trust and necessity. "If I stop you from dying, will you promise not to try and kill me later?"
Nervously, the cube’s eye vibrated up and down as Jade took a deep breath, her thoughts swirling with the weight of the trust placed in her care.
"They sure do trust me a lot with all this fancy stuff..." she mused, questioning the extent of that trust. Shaking off the doubt, she decided to focus on the task at hand, when a red light momentarily caught her attention from the corner of her eye.
Quickly glancing over, she noticed a small hole in the wall emitting a slight red glow, a detail she surmised was only visible thanks to her activated eyes. "So, they are watching me.
I suppose that makes sense; the director is always keen on oversight," she rationalized, accepting the watchful eyes as part of the job.
Determined to proceed, Jade poured the liquid over the cube, which immediately began to emit intense steam, quickly enveloping the room.
The temperature dropped , the cold so severe that her breath became visible, prompting her to cover her face from the biting chill.
Cold flooded the room. Frost crawled over the counters, and the air bit at Jade’s skin.
Amidst this frigid environment, the cube underwent a remarkable transformation, morphing into a spherical ice form before finally settling back onto the table as an enlarged cube.
This new form bore semblances of broken blue flesh and a mouth, a startling development that spoke volumes of the cube’s mysterious capabilities.
Observing the frosty havoc it had unwittingly unleashed, the cube stammered out an apology,
"S-Sorry. I froze the room by accident,"
its words barely cutting through the cold air. Ice encased Jade’s forearms, and she glared at the creature in stunned irritation.
"Well, can you stop? I’m not trying to become a frozen ice sculpture. I’ll blow a hole in your chest... cube, or whatever you are right now if you don’t," she retorted sharply, her patience wearing thin.
Acknowledging the severity of the situation, the cube hastily promised, "Right, I can’t undo the current freezing, but I can ensure I won’t freeze anything else." Jade, somewhat reassured yet still shivering, demanded, "Well, what the hell are you right now anyways?"
The cube sounded uncertain. "I’m not really sure. The ’King,’ as he proclaims himself, never undoes this when he turns one of us into this cube form, so your guess is as good as mine."