"My pleasure," the scientist said as he walked me towards the elevator.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while. The last visitor was a little...unusual." Before I could reply, the doors closed and the elevator began rising.
I looked at the ceiling, where I could see a small screen displaying the number of floors remaining. After descending for more than a dozen floors, the elevator finally stopped. The doors slid open and revealed an enormous room filled with desks and chairs. Several people were working at their computers, and everyone looked busy. All of them wore lab coats and had long hair tied in ponytails. In fact, they all had the exact same hairstyle; it reminded me of the hairstyles worn by nurses in old movies. Most of the people in the room did not notice us until we entered the room. Then they all looked up and stared at us in silence. A few of the researchers were so surprised that they dropped their pencils or notebooks, causing them to roll across the room. "Good morning!" one of the scientists shouted once he realized what had happened. "We hope you enjoyed the ride." "Morning," I replied. "I'm sorry about that." "Don't worry," the scientist said with a smile. "Everyone gets startled the first time they visit." "Do you mind if I take some pictures?" I asked. "Of course," the scientist replied. "Feel free to take as many as you want." I walked around the room, taking pictures of all the equipment and instruments on every desk. I also noticed that the people in the room were wearing special gloves made from thick, white fabric, with silver studs embedded in them. They all seemed to have something similar on their shoes as well. I took a closer look at each of them and noticed that the gloves were designed differently on each person's hands. Some had a single silver stud on the thumb, while others had two or three. I wondered if it had anything to do with their jobs and decided not to question it. "Is there anything else I can show you?" the scientist asked. "No, thank you," I said as I backed away from his desk. "Have a nice day." The elevator doors opened again, letting me exit back into the hall. I continued walking until I found another large group of scientists standing in front of another, identical door. I approached them and waited patiently until they finished talking. "Okay, let's go," Dr. Clark said as he led me into the room. "I hope you are ready for another tour." *** After entering the room, I immediately noticed a large, dark rectangular object resting against the back wall. "What is that?" I asked, pointing at it. "That," Dr. Clark replied, "is the most important discovery in recent history. It is called the 'Pod'. And it is the reason why we built Coral City."
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