In the lab, a woman stood next to a desk, looking over her notes she'd taken over the last several months. It had been a year since she'd been given transport to this luxurious, perfect laboratory, and seven months since her research into cheaper alternatives to nano-healing technology. A very wealthy philanthropist had taken note of her thesis, and fronted the costs for multiple years of study, R&D, and human resources. She was assigned as the lead to the project, and she was beyond happy about it.

The woman in question went by Azalea Clover. Her hair was down to her back even tied into a ponytail, gray locks drapes over her white lab coat. Gray eyes looked down at the papers on her desk, with a wide grin. The smile plastered on her face was one that was confident in her research, something she had never doubted before and didn't plan to start now. She had a test sample on the desk, and reached down for the sterilized needle next to it before anxiously pricking her hand.

"Tsk..." She was very sensitive to pain. A light pat on the back often had her rubbing it for minutes after. But as she saw the blood flow slowly, she set the needle down into a disposal bin and grabbed the sample before ingesting it. It tasted absolutely horrendous, but for the sake of her life goal, she bore it.

You could have had me dull your taste, and pain, you know? The voice in her head spoke, and she chuckled once the taste left her tongue. "I could have. But now I know I need to alter the flavor. And... maybe I should get used to pain? Eventually? Maybe?" The voice in her head has practically shook itself in disappointment.

Truth be told, Azalea had a mental problem that had gone undiagnosed even to this day. She never spoke of it, didn't mention it, and no matter how many tests they took there was no problem. However, the cause of it goes back to before her birth. Her mother was expecting twins - her and a twin sibling - but in the womb, she had absorbed the other. The old "vanishing twin" phenomenon from aeons ago. However, that twin lived on in her mind. They grew up together as the best of friends, and her twin helped her all throughout their life. His name was Fane, and he was Azalea's other half.

He had kept her sane through traumatic events, kept her emotions calm, and even kept her awake during long study sessions during her University days. Not only that, he could sift through her memories and remind her of people and events, or things she had studied for. Truth be told, he was her perfect companion. Without him, she was not Azalea Clover, and without her, Fane would not exist.

Fane was capable of helping her multitask as well, one of the major upsides to him being awake with her. During work, she could be observing something, and as she took mental notes, Fane would file them away, or other times she could be talking to a coworker while Fane was busy typing up mail as he linked into her cybernetic eye. She still didn't know how he did that, and neither did he.

He was essentially able to replace an AI at this point, and both of them were grateful for it.

Knocking Azalea out of her thoughts on her research, the door to her lab opened and she turned her eyes to her coworker, friend, and partial crush: Havardin Gills. He was a human like her, but his skin was slightly tanned from being exposed to the dual suns for prolonged periods of time. Short, cropped hair that was slicked back slightly with dim blue eyes like a morning sky. She smiled and set her research aside.

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"Hey hey hey~, how's the research going today?" He asked, and Azalea leaned against the desk.

"It's pretty good insofar. Got a few updates that kept me up at night for a while before I finally fell asleep. Been thinking on it since we got here and..." She looked at the finger she'd pricked, and noticed that the wound had closed. With a wide, beaming grin she chuckled. "Well, I had the opportunity to test it on myself and it worked."

Havardin stared at her for a moment, running his hand through his hair as he took a step back. "Hah... Haha holy... holy shit..." But a moment later, Azalea wrapped her arms around him in a hug. She was ecstatic, and hardly contained it as she shook. Patting her on the back, Havardin couldn't hide his own excitement, picking her up and swinging her around.

It took almost thirty minutes before they calmed down. After that, Havardin checked the time and realized it was time for him to go and rest. So he separated himself from her and told her to take the day easy.

The entire laboratory was on a frontier planet, away from distractions, and worked in shifts. Azalea's would end in two hours. But she couldn't focus for that long, so she decided to write up the report and then relax for the rest of the time. Even if she was a workaholic, she knew rest was important.

Humming to herself in the same tune as before, she and Fane talked for a while in silence, and Azalea found the time flying by. Having sent the report, Azalea prepared to leave the lab, taking off her lab coat and her work clothes, stripping down to nothing, before putting them into a chute. The cubed room she was in whirred to life, and she was scanned from head to toe before a voice spoke.

"Good Evening, miss Clover. Please keep your eyes and mouth shut." Followed by several blasts of chemicals washed over her. When that was done she was given a brief shower from all directions, and friend off similarly. "Did you have a productive day today?"

The AI's voice was laced in expectancy, and she chuckled in response.

"Yup, work is finally coming to fruition, the first test was successful! Ahh I can't nope no. I'll start screaming in joy if I say more." She fanned her face before a drawer was opened in front of her containing her pre-work clothes which included a long skirt along with a colorful jacket and a dark grey sweater. "Thanks Jillian." Jillian's AI took care of most of the menial work around the station, including hydroponics, cleaning and air filtration. Without them the manpower required to have this outpost would be exponentially larger. Security was a lesser part of their programming, as they had humans to deal with most threats.

"Have a nice day, miss Clover. For lunch there is naturally sourced Urts beef curry, and dinner is pizza or curry from lunch." After waving to the AI's eye-camera and having changed her clothes, Azalea left the decon room and made her way to her own room first. Waving to a few coworkers, she had half an hour before her lunch, so she decided to read to pass the time. Briefly, she'd had a tingling feeling in the back of her head, with the sense that something wasn't right, but neither her nor Fane could tell what it was.

When time was up, she got up and left her room. Casually walking towards the cafeteria, she opened up her HoloCom, only to find that the connection was gone. Perhaps that's why she had a bad feeling earlier.

"Did the relay go down?" She wondered aloud, stepping in front of the door to the cafe as it opened and a shudder of fear ran through her. No matter what time of day or night it was, there were always at least fifteen people in there, talking, eating or cooking. So why was it silent?

LEFT-- Fane practically yelled at her mentally, and as she stepped to the right and looked left, she saw the butt of a rifle being used as a hammer, and it crashed against the side of her head, knocking her unconscious.