[PRIVATE] Science and Such, Data and Gale

[Data]

((Day 5; Roughly 2 hours before bonfire))

Restless.

Data had been moving all day, even more than usual. Even though he had barely left his underground office-- venturing up for the occasional cup of coffee-- he could hardly find a place to sit still. Something was obviously troubling the man, something he could not quite place.

Or perhaps, simply something he could not find.

Every paper, every folder, every cabinet had been opened, once, twice, five times, sorted through, reordered, sorted again. Dark eyes skimmed a pristine desk, obviously devoid of any stray papers or utensils, hoping that someone would pop up, previously unnoticed. Still, it was useless; nothing had missed his eyes before, and there was nothing left for them to miss now.

This apparently disturbed him even more. Brow wrinkled, his hands moved quickly for another stack of papers, old research that had already been stacked and alphabetized and logged. Maybe he had skipped a page. Maybe it was there...

It was no surprise that he once again did not notice that he would soon be having a visitor.

[Gale]

Pissed.

The last few days had been hectic, to say the least. Sickness had temporarily taken the Galactic scientist out of commission, and the odds of him infecting one of the subjects or the other scientists were high, forcing him into a self-contained quarantine. Thankfully he didn't use the time wastefully, Oh, the old ways were horrible. So much memorization, so much useless change. Most subjects didn't last. The way he had now was far better, though it still claimed its lives and couldn't be shared outside of the island.

Especially when the scientist in charge had been careless, or simply stupid. For his or her sake, he had better have been careless. Then again, Data was not one to be careless. Never leave a lesser man to do a genius' job. With a rather relaxed stride, at least for how the scientist felt, he walked into his 'pal's' lab, one foot in front of the other. Following him was his favorite intern, White.

"Well! Hello, hello, my good man!" the scientist said, slamming his hands on the desk rather abruptly. "So! What's gotcha this time? The dust on your desk not prim and proper and all that stuff?" Gale smiled his cocky smile, leaning on the desk with one hand while he motioned at the desk with his other hand, admiring the lovely dust collection.

[Data]

Oh, it was him.

Data's brow twitched just slightly as he heard those confident strides coming down his bunker. He turned to face the visitor, and his apparent assistant, just as the other man slammed his hands down on the desk.

"Hello, Gale," His voice was polite, calm, a quiet contrast to the energy that his counterpart gave off. "I appear to have... misplaced something of mine. Nothing major, just a small nuisance to know that something is not where it should be."

He walked past the man to return the neat pile of papers he was searching through to their original drawer. After clicking the lock on the file, he turned back around to face Gale, leaning against the cabinets.

"It's rare that I've run into you outside of the lounge. Is something wrong?" He appeared mildly concerned, apparently unable to invest himself fully into one emotion or the other around this unpredictable visitor.

[Gale]

The scientist nodded as he was addressed, spreading out his arms with a bit of a flourish and giving a slight bow. The news of the other scientists losing something didn't seem to bother Gale, though White seemed to step forward about to ask before Gale raised his hand. The intern remained silent, looking away for a moment.

"Oh, there are reasons for this, of course. I'm not just bored if that's what you're thinking. I would move experiments closer together if I were... The scientist looked up for a moment before turning around, walking away. White, the intern, saluted Data for a moment before speaking. "Sir, if I may ask, what has been misplaced?" The man was apparently Cypher, as could be told simply by his salute. There were only two people an intern in the science department would salute: Gale, or a superior ranking officer in his own team.

At that moment, however, Gale would quickly turn around, pointing a finger at Data before shouting. "My friend! My ally! My companion! Please tell me the reason for your carelessness... You are aware of the expense of finding DNA, not to mention..." He sighed, walking closer before once more putting his hands on the table, ever-so-gently this time. White stepped back, allowing his question to be answered later.

"She was to be a god..."

[Data]

Data offered a quiet chuckle at Gale's comment, and was on the verge of addressing the man again when he suddenly turned and began to walk around. A small sigh escaped him. Gale and he were at different ends of the spectrum; he would never pretend to understand the reasoning behind anything the mad doctor did.

There was little time to pursue the thought further, however, because he found himself being approached by Gale's trailing intern. He met the man's eyes as he saluted the scientist. Data gave him a permissive nod; he remembered being in the same position just a few years prior.

"It's not--" He began to respond to his inquiry, but found himself abruptly interrupted once again... and with the very topic he had anticipated and dreaded. It was a short moment of silence before he responded.

"Gale," He sighed, "Your knowledge in Fabricant genetics is unmatched. I have tried to emulate as best I could, but surely you of all people would understand the number of risks involved in creating these beings. That said... I believe the mistake was one beyond my control."

He walked as he spoke, moving over to a filing cabinet and opening it. He pulled out a handful of thick plastic material, and after a second of careful unwrapping, its contents were revealed; a large syringe, devoid of a needle.

"She flinched violently when I was doing the cardiovascular injection. The needle was disposed of as per protocol, I no longer have it. I believe, however, it was simply an unfortunate case of a mid-vein needle fracture that likely made its way through her blood stream as she slept last night." Every word was spoken slowly, chosen carefully. "It is certainly regrettable that we must waste investments and potential on infuriating flaws like this. But sometimes the dead leaves of a tree must be trimmed before the green springs can have room to grow. Surely, you expected something like this to happen eventually."

[Gale]

The moment of silence was nice, really. There was too much hustle and bustle in the world, and that single moment was one that Gale was not going to get back. Nothing infuriated him like something he wasn't going to get back. Gale was about to snap to 'awaken' Data, though the answer came to him quite soon.

Ah, it did feel nice to be flattered so, of course. He was the best in the business, so to speak. Even with this, though, all of his direction would mean nothing if some of the Fabricants would die. Not simply one, the problem wasn't just one of the Fabricants dying. He expected one to die; he had lofty goals, but he wasn't crazy. The odds of one dying this soon, however, were slim to none in his mind.

"Ah... And you even presented evidence... I still blame carelessness, however..." The scientist's smile faded for a moment, replaced by a frown as his eyes furrowed. Seeing is smile was creepy, but to see him frown must have been something else. "We're working on different trees. So I understand that mishaps may happen when you try to prune mine, but... Was there no caution? You.... You have to understand, she was going to be a god, beyond you or I... If anything, we're just servants! I... I just don't understand how the man I TRUSTED could do such a thing!"

White seemed surprised when he saw the blue-haired scientist frown. He couldn't tell which was worse, the death of a Fabricant or the simple frown of the always seemingly happy scientist.

[Data]

Data's reaction to anything the other man did could be compared to someone dealing with an incredibly drunk person; he wasn't quite sure where he could tread safely.

"Gale, Gale..." The uncharacteristic frown frightened him, though he did his best to mask the emotion. "She would have been a wonderful god, I'm sure. But there are so many others who will develop to that point. Look what we have created so far. Subject 003 is already showing major physical developments. Subject 001 has been stable-- well, as stable as he can be-- for several days. Subject 002 has shown no signs of deterioration. We have a collection of gods in potentia that haven't even seen the operation room yet."

He wrapped the used syringe again, setting it his desk.

"It was a regrettable mistake, Gale. The best we can do at this point, however, is honor her memory and tighten the restraints for the next Fabrication."