Troy felt the tour a bit boring. According to the tall man guiding them around, they needed the grand tour, to really appreciate what they saw. He just wanted to see the animals. The screens showed them, and Troy had been able to see the elevator leading to them. Yet, that was being saved for last. A good way to say that it was the most interesting thing there.

Or, one could call it the only interesting thing there. As they say, once you have seen one technologically advanced laboratory, you have seen them all. Those things must have been made on a damn conveyor belt because they all looked identical. Even the spots dust gathered were the same. Troy couldn't say anything other than calling the people making the things precise. They had the process down to a hair.

Even the people looked alike. The general descriptions would be a minimum age of fifty, a half-way bald head, and a raspy voice that would put most life-long smokers to shame. The last one may have been extremely biased, as they had only talked to one other guy. And, he had kinda told the touring group to get the hell out of his laboratory. Troy hadn't liked the man, and neither had the other two. Charlie had discreetly thrown a few magnets into one of the corners. It was a good thing Darlow hadn't seen it, or they would probably have been kicked out already.

Adam sent several messages throughout their tour. Each was as identical as the laboratories seen. The AI wanted them to get through the doors into the advanced research rooms. Troy was not sure that was the actual name for the things, but he was not going to question it.

The dedicated bearer of the earpiece had tried to help make the AI’s wishes come to fruition. He really had! Yet, there was something about security clearances being in a twist. Troy did have the clearance for it of course. That had been confirmed by Dr Hale several days ago.

Yet… the automatic security doors had no way to know that. They needed a card for that. A card that Troy was not currently in possession of. Darlow, who had readily accepted the request, did not know this. Darlow did not have a high enough clearance to willy-nilly go where he oh so pleased, so Troy had to open the door for them. With the card, he did not have.

That had been a large whirl of extrapolated excrement. It was only through the saving of Charlie that the minor detail had not been revealed. The man comically tried to pin a bug to Darlow’s clothes, slapping a lower part of the tall man's body as well. Not his ass. His knees.

After that unexpected falling to the ground, and a few other misadventures that followed, it was decided to put the tour on route to more private areas, where Darlow wouldn't be publically humiliated. There was a quick stop at the snack bar, which Troy felt utterly cheated on not having in his workplace. It was apparently work-protocol to have such a thing standing at the ready. Low blood sugar was an important issue to hinder respectively. Troy had a small idea of the snack-bar being Dr Fidelis’ secret lunch place. Dr Hale would have to be used as a source for information if he wanted to find the truth of that.

After that shortened half-hour tour, they had reached back to the only point Troy was mildly curious about. Not that he had said as such. Darlow had been doing this for his benefit only. He was the one interested in the man’s workplace. Darlow had taken time out of his work so he could do this. Troy should have felt bad for having the mere thought of feeling bored. Not that that stopped him from being slightly bored but still. His acting skill had gone up from all of it. Staying in character as a curious little fellow was easy enough. At least it was better than just having to be stoic all the time. That had to be extremely irritating.

… What was it with all that projecting as of late?

“Ready for the big finale, Troy?” Charlie asked from the sound, that stupid grin of his firmly placed on his face. Troy knew exactly why it was there. While Darlow had been getting too distracted in being publicly humiliated, the muscular man had spent the time planting bags upon bags of bugs. Tossing them was apparently a design feature, as they would land perfectly, before turning into the colour of the surroundings. Even a few simple patterns had been copied. The only indication of them even being there anymore had been from the slight bump they created.

What was Charlie using them for? To mess with Darlow of course. But then the heavy question came off, why were they being put everywhere, including the areas outside of where the tall man worked? Was this the usual perhaps? Would heavy sighs be had, before Darlow would be forced to painstakingly remove them? That would be harsh. Most importantly, would Troy get forced to do the same, seeing as he was kinda a co-conspirator? … Troy would be checking with Charlie after this. There had to be some self-implosion thing on the bugs. Otherwise, it was going to get very annoying.

“I am as ready as my mind allows,” Troy said, a more subdued smile on his face. Enough to look excited, but not enough look as if he had a cocaine addiction. From his experiences, there was a fine line between happiness and severe drug addiction. It took a skilled person to trek that line, without taking the slightest amount of pills. And Troy was not that skilled yet.

“That is good enough for me,” Darlow said, opening the door. They entered their starting point, the large room coming into view. The screens to the side were the same as them when Troy left them. A near uncountable amount of creatures were observed in their natural habitats, as they moved around as they pleased. The cameras followed them from above, diagnostics about various health numbers being shown to the side. Pulse, blood pressure, muscle-fibre activation, and various other things Troy did not care the least spit about was all there to see. A few extra were given to survey the numbers, Troy doing his best to get every number into view at least once. He knew Adam would want the data, no matter how little they mattered to them.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Darlow guided them towards the large window in front of them. Troy had not been near it before, stopping him from seeing exactly what was on the other side.

It was a long dropdown. The human mind could not comprehend such distances. Troy was not different. It was more down fifty meters and less than a thousand. Much alcohol would have to be consumed before any chance of survival from falling from here would exist. Twenty stories maybe?

In circle habitats, encased in what Troy could only call habitual-domes, various natural environments stood. The domes were mostly transparent, on some of them. In them were plains, deserts, and lakes. Other domes were not nearly as see-through. Some had obvious differences in temperatures, causing the glass to grow opaque. Others had fog inside them, obscuring everything inside. The moisture in the air also seemed to be working against them, the inside of a few greener environments being covered in glossed water.

“It's a nice view, sprout,” Charlie remarked from the side. Looking over at the man, Troy did not see anything showing that he was looking at the larger room before them. Instead, Charlie was simply looking at the screens. Maybe he was more interested in the animals? Perhaps. “Mind giving us a few background explanations? Something to really cause a deep dive into our psyches?”

Darlow looked over at Charlie, a tired look on his face.

“Is that your way of asking, what I do for a living?”

“Mostly for the benefit of Troy here, of course. I certainly remember… kinda,” Charlie said. Troy betted on the man remembering perfectly.

“Guess I can't expect that much more,” Darlow acknowledged. The tall man looked over the work of several dedicated years, before getting into teaching mode.

“I work in the department of biological pheromones, so it might just surprise you that I work with those. For the past few years, I have been working on more wide-spread uses for them, and how it would be possible to spread them efficiently. How much does it take for it to take effect? How do we control dosing, if it isn't in a controllable state of matter? What I am working with can kill anything, if it takes enough. A single breath if more than enough for the intended result. Yet, creatures don't take a single breath, now do they? They continue breathing for as long as they live.

The fix was easy enough when it comes to pure logistics. It's also a very bad one, but it is the only one that has worked successfully, so we don't get too worried about it. Pheromones don't last forever. They take effect, the chemicals are processed. They change the body, do all kinds of freaky stuff to it, and then they get expelled, maybe leaving lasting changes. Or maybe they don't. It does not matter.

Our goal is for them to work indefinitely. To continually run through the body for as long as we want. To affect the body for as long as we want. No damage done in the end would be best.

What we are currently doing is crude. It can work indefinitely with what we are currently working with, but with others, it will be useless. The micro-doses of micro-doses. Instead of having enough for the effects to work in a single breath, we have made the doses so small that they aren't registered for several hours. Even then, when the body notices that it isn't doing its job as intended, the process only expels the pheromones as quickly as it comes in. Continual upkeep makes them affected for as long as they need.

But, when it comes to such small doses, the needed numbers change. Creatures need different amounts. What can't faze a dog could kill a mouse. The pheromones disintegrate naturally, fortunately. After a while, the bugs get a hold of the stuff and make it all disappear. This allows very controlled amounts in specific areas. We could hold a bubble of the stuff right in the face of a creature and keep it there, without anybody knowing the wiser. But, we do not know what is needed for each. That is what we are doing now. Every bubble has its own little creature inside. Or creatures with some. With the pheromones being directed to that type of creature, most others are not of the capability where they can survive the stuff. Those that can have been killed by us. Wouldn't want them to kill or harm our test subject.

That leaves personnel to get them food. Or, in more direct terms, it leaves me to get them something to eat. I spend every morning cutting up little food boxes to each of them. Some get more later in the day, but most can survive peacefully with one big lunch.”

Troy looked back over to the screen, their output making so much more sense. Drugged up animals, huh? He was almost jealous of the position.

“So, do you feed them on your own as well?” Troy asked, this time genuinely curious. There were more boxes on the table than any person could carry by themself. The insides of them likely had a collective weight of Charlie, and that was saying something. How long had Darlow spent just chopping away? Had to be more than a few hours.

“Oh, yes. In the first few rounds at least. My assistant will first come in… three hours,” Darlow said, checking the time on his watch. “It really does something, feeding all of those animals. My thighs have definitely gotten better, carting all that meat around. My spine will pop out one of these days. It really is a shame how my assistant does not wake up for some more time…”

An overdone sigh was given along with the speech. Troy wanted to mirror it. Darlow was not good at manipulating people. The selling point should have been delayed a bit more, and he might have thought it genuine.

But, here he was, having to play an act that only brought him more work.

“Charlie and I could help you,” Troy said.

“Are you sure?” Darlow asked, those puppy eyes of his not being well-worked. That glint of satisfaction was not that hidden.

“Yeah, Troy. Are you sure?” Charlie said from the side, with that kind of look. The man would undoubtedly accept if asked, but there wasn't anybody asking. This was all self-damnation. “Those boxes aren't looking like they smell great.”

“Oh, yeah, they smell horrid,” Darlow agreed. “You get used to the stench after an hour, but I will not put it behind you if you puke. I did that myself a few times. A few of the creatures get small pieces of raw meat as desserts. Good for the digestive system apparently.”

The things Troy did too hold himself together.

'Are you sure? We can surely still see the animals, even if we don't assist in the task before us.`

They very likely could. But, that would be seen as backing down from an offer. A regression from the pre-established mental-profile. Small deviance to be sure, but it was still there. Those things added up in the long run. It would not do to make those in situations where they were not needed. Nothing was stopping Troy from handling very disgusting food-products, other than his personal inhibitions. Those had been ignored before. They could be ignored again.

“I already offered. You can handle it yourself. It wouldn't do for me not to follow in your footsteps. And, we do kinda owe you for the guided tour, no matter how shortened it may have been.”

The kind words won the tall man over. He even looked a bit guilty. Troy couldn't blame him for that. He was being played.

“Well, if you are sure. Grab as many boxes as you can. It is time to feed a few beasties.”

Troy hoped spiders would be out of the running.