Chapter 42: Tour of My World
The next morning, the twins were in the kitchen eating cakes for breakfast. Pardi came up behind them. He kissed them both on the cheek. ‘Big day girls, you are getting the full office tour,’ Pardi said energetically.
‘I thought we were going to the laboratory for practical experience,’ replied Yassme.
‘That was the plan, but I think the office might be more useful to your development,’ said Pardi.
‘We’ll go to the office if you show us the laboratory first,’ insisted Yassmay.
‘The laboratory can be a little dangerous. I worry about your safety,’ said Pardi.
‘Silly argument. Now we want to go even more,’ said Yassme.
‘You said we could experiment on a test subject,’ said Yassmay.
‘Okay, but we can only spend about an hour there,’ said Pardi in frustration. He was concerned about the girls running into Orcille. Orcille did not know about the girls, and he had not decided how to break the news to him yet.
They arrived at the laboratory. Pardi approached a security guard. ‘Where’s Orcille?’ he asked.
‘He hasn’t arrived yet,’ said the guard.
‘Okay, message me when he does,’ Pardi told him.
He turned to the girls. ‘Let’s take a look around,’ Pardi said to them.
He first took them to his personal laboratory room. ‘This is where all the breakthrough science takes place,’ he told them. The girls looked around. They did not seem too impressed.
‘Follow me to the next room,’ he told them. There were four large glass cases covered with large white sheets. ‘Would you like to see monsters?’ he said to them.
They both clapped their hands. Pardi pulled the sheets off the first three cases. In these glass cases, there were three of the same types of creatures that Pardi had shown Orcille a few days earlier. They were smaller, as they had hatched less than two days ago.
‘Baby monster is so cute. Can we bring one of them home with us?’ asked Yassme.
‘I would love for you to bring one home, but they are very sick monsters,’ replied Pardi.
‘We can make them better,’ said Yassmay.
‘I want to show you something. Try not to get upset,’ said Pardi. Both girls frowned.
Pardi pulled the sheet off the fourth glass case. Underneath the sheet was the creature Pardi had previously shown Orcille. The creature was much larger than before. She could barely fit in the case, even though her legs had been removed to make her smaller.
‘What have you done to their mummy?’ exclaimed Yassmay angrily.
‘That’s not their mother. It’s only a few days older than them,’ said Pardi.
‘Where’re her legs? Explain now,’ demanded Yassmay.
‘It’s the sickness. We had to remove them to save its life,’ said Pardi.
‘Poor babies, we must help them,’ said Yassme.
‘We will do everything we can for them. We have two floors of this building dedicated to helping them,’ said Pardi as he hugged the girls.
Yassme felt a little comforted. Yassmay felt annoyed.
Pardi looked at his phone to see if Orcille had arrived yet. He had received a message.
‘Hey girls, it’s time for your science experiment,’ he said to them. He took them to the room that Joselin was in. ‘In here we have a volunteer,’ said Pardi. ‘You might recognise her. She travelled on the train with you.’
‘Oh cool, we haven’t seen her in a while,’ said Yassme.
‘I didn’t like her,’ said Yassmay.
‘She had the accident with the oven cleaner and knife,’ said Pardi. ‘Good news, the knife wound healed, and so did the burns from the oven cleaner.’
‘So why is she still here? What is there for us to do then?’ asked Yassmay angrily.
Yassme put her arms around Yassmay. ‘It’s alright. Don’t be angry,’ Yassme told her sister.
‘The monsters need us more than this idiot,’ Yassmay told Yassme.
‘Helping her is helping the monsters,’ said Pardi to Yassmay. ‘We are using her to test for ways to help the monsters,’ explained Pardi. ‘We couldn’t test on them because they are babies.’
Pardi took the girls over to see Joselin. She was unconscious again.
‘She’s missing a foot,’ said Yassme.
‘Yes, we are trying to grow it back,’ said Pardi. ‘When we have done that, we will use the same technique to save the monsters.’
‘How can we help?’ asked Yassme.
‘For the body to grow a leg back, it needs to regenerate. We have given her a few trial injections that we believe are causing her body to regenerate, but we need to test them,’ he told her. ‘That’s where you come in.’ He handed Yassme a beaker of acid. ‘You just learned about acids. You know what they can do,’ he said to her.
‘It’s dangerous,’ said Yassme.
‘I told you laboratories were dangerous. You insisted on coming here,’ he said to her. ‘Now, pour it on her.’
Yassme walked towards Joselin. She tilted the beaker a little, and a tiny drop landed on Joselin’s arm.
‘Pour, not drip. You love danger. Be dangerous. Come on,’ said Pardi with a slightly raised voice.
Yassmay walked over to Yassme. She gently took the beaker off her. She poured the acid over Joselin. The acid quickly started burning through her skin.
‘Well done. Maybe I have a favourite twin now,’ said Pardi.
Yassmay dripped two drops of the remaining acid onto Pardi’s shoe. ‘Opps,’ she said. She put the almost empty beaker on the side.
Pardi walked over to the technician. ‘How’s she doing?’ he asked.
‘Not good. That might have been a bit too much for her body to handle,’ replied the technician.
‘Is she going to die?’ asked Pardi. The technician hesitated. ‘Neutralise the acid. We still need her,’ he demanded.
The technician ran over to Joselin. He sprayed her with the appropriate acid neutraliser. Another technician checked her vital signs. ‘She should be fine,’ he replied.
‘Good,’ responded Pardi.
Pardi walked down the corridor. He pulled out his phone. He called the security desk. ‘Where is Orcille?’ he demanded.
‘He didn’t show up. I checked the security cameras at his building. It looks like he hasn’t left his apartment since yesterday,’ replied the guard.
Pardi called his personal assistant at the office. ‘I want you to come over and collect the twins. Get them whatever they want. Use my expense card. When they are in a good mood, bring them back to the office. Show them around the gadgets on Floor 6. Also, get me a pair of new shoes. You know my size.’
Pardi walked over to the twins. ‘I’m going to leave you for a bit. My assistant will look after you while I’m gone,’ he said to both of them. ‘Sorry about just now. It’s so easy to forget you are so young when you are so smart.’
Pardi reached out his arms to give them a hug. The twins looked at each other. Yassme nodded to Yassmay. Both twins accepted Pardi’s hug. A few minutes later, the assistant arrived. Pardi left the laboratory.