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scienceclubofficial · 3 months ago

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Chapter 3: Meet the Unos (1)

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(author's note: starting from this chapter I'm not doing the colored text anymore. I quickly ran out of colors for how many characters there are)

Two weeks had passed since Mari started going to the SCCA. She had decided to spend the weekend at her Parent's, as they had been blowing up her phone about visiting. When she got back, she was greeted by her mother as if she had been gone for a year already. The first person she decided to catch up with was her sister, Kettia. They gamed from morning till afternoon, only stopping when their mother had made a massive welcome home luncheon for Mari.

Completely full and dreading the idea of how big dinner will be, Mari and Kettia continued playing Smash Bros in Kettia's room.

"No no no no, FUCK" Kettia exclaimed as her main, Pyra & Mythra, were beaten by Mari's Villager in a glorious final smash. "How are you so good with Villager?! I play this game more than you, and Villager's terrible anyway!"

"Not hard to get your pattern when you were spamming the same move for both Pyra and Mythra"

"Whatever! Villager is still dog-water, and personally, I'm not taking this disrespect. I want a rematch!"

"Nah, I'm done for now"

"What?! Already! Fine, but we're rematching tomorrow." Kettia closes out of Smash. "So what you wanna play next? Wanna see my Stardew file? I've been doing really good this run. I also cheated on every dateable npc. Wanna see the cut scene I unlocked?"

"Nah, I think I'm done gaming for today"

"Ahh damn. Wanna watch an Anime then?"

"Why don't we just talk?"

"Kinda cringe"

"Whatever, just get up here on the bed"

Kettia got out of her hunkered sitting position on the floor, and laid at the head of the bed, while Mari stayed sat on the foot of the bed. "So what? You got any interesting stories from that stupid university Dad sent you to?"

"...Uhm, that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Kettia, I'm hoping you can keep a secret"

"You dropped out and now you're a streetwalker moonlighting at sketchy bars"

"What?"

"You know, what mom said would happen if you didn't get your degree"

"No no, I didn't drop out, I just switched Universities"

"Big if true"

"It is"

"Welp, Dad's disowning you. At least I'm the favorite kid now"

"That's what I'm talking about, you can't tell Dad"

"You think he's not gonna find out?"

"Well so far he hasn't"

"Mari, the night you didn't come back Mom and Dad were ready to drive down to the school and interrogate their asses on where you went, and even if you do somehow see them enough that they won't try to barge into your school you're not going to, they still want to see you graduate from the school you're not going to. At some point they're gonna find out."

"Well I hope that when they find out, that they'll be satisfied by how good of a school it is"

"What school is it"

"SCCA, it stands for Sylvest-"

"I know what it stands for, and you're screwed. Buy your coffin now and will me your stuff, cause you're done"

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"All they've been able to talk about at the dinner table is the motherfucking SCCA"

"When did they become interested all of a sudden? And what complaints do they have about it?"

"Well, Mom is super freaking out about what that Vanny Kirk did"

"Van Niekirk"

"You shut the hell up, anyway. Dad was complaining about them a bit before that. First he was all like "Back in my day we had to actually pay for our tuitions, now these new age socialists are trying to ruin everything for the rest of us.""

"I can tell you right now, they definitely don't sound Socialist. Mr. Rand, my economics-"

"Me when I'm Mari and I won't let my sister finish her goddamn story"

"Alright alright, I'm just saying"

"Jesus. Anyway, Dad was also pretty disgusted by Vinny Kirk, but he usually just yaps about how they're "destroying the natural order of things," and, "my father didn't come to this country and work his back off just for these people to live off of our tax dollars," and so I try telling him, 'Dad, I don't think they use our tax dollars, they're, like, a private conglomenerate or something,' and he said, 'well that's what this is all leading to! First that E-sick Deeter gives a kid a free heart transplant, next thing you know the government has us all in their state owned communist factories!"

"Ok, for one, his name is pronounced Ishaq Didar"

"I'm still looking for whoever the fuck asked"

"Fine bitch, but that's an entire ass name you're fucking up"

"I don't care!"

"What, like nobody mispronounced your name reading it for the first time?"

"Hey, I have a cool ass name, those people just don't know how to read"

"Well anyway, back to what I was saying. Ishaq is a genius but he definitely does NOT know how to do a heart transplant"

"What, like you know him?"

"Yes, I do actually. I intern at his lab"

"Pics or it didn't happen"

"...I don't have any pictures"

"Me when I'm Mari and I just lie to my sister for no good reason"

"Why would I lie about this?!"

"To seem cooler I guess"

"Bitch, I don't need to impress you"

"What, next you're gonna tell me you know that other guy, Sexio Donnell"

"...Bitch, what?!"

****

Rose Uno looked out at the setting sun by the window sill, finishing up the dishes from lunch. She had a massive Roast cooking in the oven as she got ready to set up the dinner table. With her husband at work, and Kettia always out either at baseball practice or with friends during her free time, the house normally felt lonely, but she was glad to hear Mari and Kettia having fun again. She knew her daughter had to go to college for her career, but she was hoping Mari would be able to stay. Despite her protests when Mari announced she was moving out, it was Koshiro, her husband, that ultimately convinced her that this was for the better, for Mari to spread her wings and leave the nest. He commended her for it.

Rose snapped out of her mindless gazing when she heard her phone ringing. Looking at the caller ID, it was Koshiro. "Hi Honey, how's work?.....Oh, well you'll make it just in time for dinner then, the roast is gonna take a while. Sorry that bastard of a boss is keeping you there longer.....Yeah, Mari made it over safely, she and her sister are playing games and cussing around just like old times.....No, she hasn't said anything about school yet, you'll have to ask her that at the dinner table. But maybe wait a while on that, she probably doesn’t want to think about school for now.....I know, but she came here to relax with her family, and besides, we're probably the only ones she's got. You know she was never good at making friends.....Hey, don't blame me, I never saw you telling her to go outside much either.....EXACTLY!" There was a long pause on the phone after she said that "Well whatever, just tell her how you feel when you get here.....alright, love you."

****

"You're kind of a dumbass" Kettia said, slinking back after hearing Mari's story

"How so?"

"There were like so many red flags, the first time you should've booked it was after helping her find her dog, like, the girl is clearly a weirdo"

"She's not that weird, no weirder than me"

"My point exactly. If I met someone as weird as you in public I'd run the other way. You're lucky you have the excuse of being my sister, otherwise I'd never hang out with you"

Mari rolled her eyes "Yeah, I'm so lucky"

"Anyway, the next red flag was that Sexy O-"

"If you call him Sexy O'Donald one more time, I'm gonna hit you"

"Fine, the Don guy, whatever his name is. Like, if I saw his face grow literal spikes, I'd book i, I would've been the first one out the door"

"He has...very unique looking hives..."

"Yeah, anyway, and the third red flag would've been when that guy, I-" Mari glared at Kettia "...Ishaq" Mari stopped glaring "Yeah, Ishaq. Anyway, if that guy made me touch his eyeballs, they would've been black eyes after that is all I'm saying"

"Yeah, I really did feel ready to leave after that, but I felt bad for how sad Alicia was"

"I still don't get how my sister of all people was able to make a friend in a day"

"What, like I don't know how?"

"No! You don't! Whenever I tried to introduce you to my friends, you never even made an effort"

"Well your friends were weird"

"My friends were weird?! Bitch, you were the queen of the weird kids table. You're lucky you even got to meet my friends"

"Well whatever, I still had some friends"

"Barely, your friendships never made any sense. What was that one girl you brought over back in Freshman year? You said she was your best friend, but you guys never talked once in the entire time she was here"

"...I...I have a different way of communicating with friends"

"What, telepathically?"

"Shut up"

"Well whatever, it still makes no sense that you somehow made a friend in a day"

"Well, she wasn't my friend at first, I would just call her someone who was willing to help, but I'd definitely call her a friend now, after all we've been through"

"After surviving the eye guy"

"He can be a bit annoying with all of his pranks, but we actually got a few good pranks on him too"

"The one with the bucket of lemon juice over the door sounded hilarious"

"...Ok, we might've gone too far with that one"

"Maybe not far enough"

"Well either way, he's still a cool guy"

"Yeah, your little crush"

"I told you already, I don't have a crush on him!"

"Yeah yeah, the whole eyes in a jar thing, you told me, weirdo. But I know that must've taken a lot of bravery on your part"

"Well whatever, he doesn't even have those eyes anymore"

"...What do you mean by that?"

"I mean he doesn't have those eyes anymore, he traded them out for mantis shrimp eyes a bit ago"

"Wait, how the fuck?"

"Now he just wears this blindfold everywhere, because according to him his mind couldn't handle all of the new colors on the spectrum, it was like sensory overload"

"....huh?"

"Sad too, I really liked those eyes and he stabbed one out right in front me"

"PAUSE?"

"Yeah, he pretended he had a lab accident and that he got a needle in his eye. He started screaming, then I started screaming, and Alicia screamed, and I don't know where Galleta went, probably hid somewhere. Anyway, after all that he just started laughing his ass off, and even started digging the needle in deeper just to freak us out"

"Dude, that's horrible"

"Nah, according to him it doesn't hurt. He's done it like 50 times before, and he said he did it because he was getting a new pair anyway"

"Still"

"I know, sad. I asked him if I could have the other one, but he said he wanted to keep it"

"Why? I thought he destroyed the other one because he didn't want it?"

"He said those eyes have the most beautiful view of the world he's ever seen so far, that whoever used to own them didn't know that those eyes were able to see an extra unknown color, so he put that other eye on his chest"

"...Huh?"

"I know...it makes me want it more"

"Seek professional help"

"Too much work"

Kettia just laid at the head of her bed, arms crossed, looking at the ceiling "A lot to dump on me though, I don't know how I'm gonna keep it all a secret"

"Please. Like, if you could also let me know if Mom and Dad are going to try to visit me at that University, like, just try to distract them while I figure out what to do"

"I'm all for a good conspiracy, but like I said, they're gonna figure it out eventually"

"Hopefully by the time they figure it out, I'll have been graduated, and moved a country over"

"Wow, so you're really leaving us?"

"No, not for a long time, maybe not until I get my doctorate"

"Doctorate?!"

"Yeah, I might just go for my doctorate"

"Ok, for one, I can't imagine my sister ever becoming a doctor. If I needed life-saving surgery, and you were the only surgeon in the country, I would just die"

"Hey, I've done a pretty good job shadowing Ishaq"

"You just told me how terrible he is at his job"

"Exactly, so it's a learning experience for both of us"

"...Bruh. Well whatever the fuck you're majoring in, how do you expect to keep this secret until you get your doctorate?"

"I'll figure that out when I get there"

"Bruh..." Kettia sighed "You're kind of a dumbass"

****

The sun had already set on this cold fall night, and Koshiro found himself driving a lonely road. Not many people out, he was expecting way more, but he of course didn't complain about having a clear open road to commute back. He couldn't help but think back to earlier, when he stopped by his favorite coffee shop that morning, he had noticed a father playing games with his young daughters at one of the tables, likely just wasting time until he had to drop them off at school.

That moment was an interesting coincidence, right on the day when his own daughter was coming to visit, after her sudden disappearance. Koshiro knew his daughter was going to leave the nest soon, he had even encouraged it, but he never expected it to happen over night. The day Mari left, Koshiro had said his goodbyes like he always had, not expecting that to possibly be his last for a good while. The moment was enlightening to him, a reminder that youth passes as quickly as the changing autumn leaves. Just a short time ago he had congratulated his beloved daughter on graduating High School, just a bit before that, he was sending her off to her first day in High School, and a bit before that she had just been going to school, and not that long ago to him, she had just entered his life.

Koshiro didn't want to admit to his coworkers why he was more quiet than usual, that he was stressing the coming winter, because he still hadn't fully processed the spring that came years earlier. But the passing seasons wait for no one, and especially not for those who never stopped to give them even a moment's notice.

Glancing at the moon that came in as quickly as the setting sun, Koshiro thought about his conversation earlier...

****

Goddamn it, why does the boss think he can just dump all this work on me at the last moment. Who does he think I am? I ought to give him a piece of my mind!...Who are you kidding Koshiro, you're not going to do any of that... *sigh* ...Guess I'll have to tell Rose

".....Hey honey.....Oh yeah, it's going well I guess, but hey, I won't be able to make it to dinner on time. Stupid boss, you already know. I'll probably be back by 9.....Oh really? That long, ok, I'm glad. Uhm, did Mari make it over ok?..... Has she said anything about school yet? Or why she might've left?.....Well I think she at least owes us an explanation..... Yeah, kind of your fault for coddling her so much..... Well I wasn't there to tell her, you were....." *Koshiro gave a long pause* "...Yeah, I guess I will...Love you too..."

*beep*

#Read science club #chapter 3 #Sylvester clemensen's science club #science club #original writing #original story #story

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scienceclubofficial · 3 months ago

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Chapter 2: Welcome to the club (2)

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"Serxie, I did it!" Ishaq proclaimed as he shoved Serxio's office doors open, Mari and Alicia following right behind. "I fixed your little conundrum! What, I must've recovered at least 80% of your original audience."

Serxio leaned over his desk, dabbing a warm damp cloth on his head. This would always help him calm down, though he didn't give Ishaq anything more than a glance. "Oh really," he said with a deep sigh.

Ishaq patted Serxio on his back, "Don't let that Pablo guy get to you, Serxie."

Serxio stood up, straightened his tie, and finally turned to face this well-meaning but intruding crowd. "Frankly, I don't give a damn what that kid said. He likely went to a community college, so his opinion does not matter."

Mari raised her hand slightly "Isn't this place sort of like a Community Colleg-" Alicia nudged Mari, indicating for her to stop.

Serxio finally got a good look at Mari, "Well well, glad to see we're getting new faces here. You were the young miss curious about the whereabouts of my accent, yes?"

Mari looked down at the floor "Uhm, ye"

Serxio gave a smile "Well, I'm glad we're getting such curious minds here at our fine facilities." He walked over to lead Mari and Alicia out, "Ms. Lopez, won't you be a dear and give our new student a tour of the-" Right as he got within a meter of Mari and Alicia, Galleta jumped in front of them, baring her fangs at Serxio. So I guess this dog does have a spine, Mari thought to herself. "Ms. Lopez, I thought I told you to keep your canine on a tight collar." Serxio said under his teeth, leaning away from Galleta.

"Mr. Donis, you know what I think of leashes. But yes, I'll take Galleta out." Alicia called Galleta over, and the dog reluctantly listened. "Are you ready for our tour?" Alicia asked Mari with a cheery smile.

"Ooh, I wanna go!" Ishaq proclaimed with the gleeful disposition of a child. As Ishaq stomped over, Serxio gripped Ishaq's arm. "...Woah, Serxie, have you been hitting the gym? Your grip is getting stronger..."

"You have more important matters to deal with than leading a single student around, Ms. Lopez can handle this. Stay in my office a spell, I have something to discuss."

Ishaq waved to Alicia and Mari, "Well, don't have too much fun without me!" Alicia and Mari closed the door behind them.

"...What was that 'bout?" Mari asked

"I'm not sure. I know Mr. Donis can be pretty tough with Mr.Didar, but I don't know what he could've possibly done. He saved the entire thing!...It's probably nothing, nothing we should worry about at least..." Alicia stared forward. "...Anyway, let's get on with our tour!" She said to cheer them up "March on!"

Alicia ran forward with Galleta and Mari struggling to keep up with her pace.

****

"So this is the Cafeteria! Not really anyone here now, but it's the best! We offer mainly Vegetarian and Vegan options! The lady here makes the best Ambrosia ever! Nectar of the Gods!" Alicia yelled in this large liminal room.

"I don't think I could last long here with just Vegetarian, you guys have any burgers or anything?"

"I mean, there's a McDonalds near here. Oh! But there's this really great Mexican place I should take you to after your first day here!"

"Yeah, actually, about that" Mari said, still unsure about whether or not to stay. She could only think of what her Father might say

"Oh, and after you're done eating here, there's the Gym not that far from here! Just go down the hall." Alicia lead Mari down the hallway. Peaking into the small but humble Gym room, there were a couple of treadmills aiming toward a large window looking out onto the front of the school, and it's park like scene. A wall for weights against a mirror, a single bench aimed toward the mirror, and a check-in desk. The room feels no bigger than your average office.

"Oh, uh, cool I guess"

"I take Galleta here so she can use the treadmills, watch." Alicia turned on one of the treadmills and Galleta jumped on, running her heart out at 20 mphs.

"Uhm, are you sure that's good for her?"

"Oh yeah, totally. Greyhounds are fast, this is nothing to her."

"But why not take her for a run?"

"I'm sure I couldn't keep up."

Mari thinks back to how fast Alicia was running earlier. "Uhm, sure"

"Oh, there's also a Basketball court in a separate building! We're not using it much, but I've been talking with Donis and he says we might come up with a team for ourselves!"

"A team?"

"Yeah! I was even brainstorming names with him! I was thinking 'The Secretary birds.'"

"...Secretary birds?"

"Yeah! Secretary birds are so cool! They walk so elegantly, which I think perfectly captures what we're going for with this Campus! But they're also birds of prey, so they're really fierce. I think they would make a good image for us. Refined, but not a pushover. Oh, and they have really strong kicks, so that would be very fitting as well!"

"...What do you mean?"

"Well, you know, for when the players kick the Basketball."

"....You...You don't kick a Basketba-"

Suddenly Galleta slipped off of the treadmill. "Oh my God!" Alicia rushed to Galleta, leaning down. "Galleta, are you ok?! You wore yourself out again!" Somehow, Mari suspected that Galleta couldn't keep up with that treadmill.

Galleta picked herself up, and with wobbling knees, simply walked up to Alicia, looking up as if to try to reassure her. "Don't overdo it again, alright?" Alicia lightly scolded.

"Uhm, sorry Galleta" Mari stated, not quite knowing what to say. She couldn't help but think about how Alicia said 'again'

"Well, now that you've got all of that extra energy out, let's just go for a brisk walk, ok?" Alicia said to Galleta, but also inviting Mari to follow.

As the tour continued, there wasn't much else of interest. A few extra classrooms and the basketball court wasn't even that big. As Mari took in these subpar sights, she thought to herself...Yeah, SCCA Secretaries sounds about right...

****

Alicia lead Mari to a large building. Mari was surprised, this building was bigger than the main campus. Walking into it, Alicia put on her best presenter personality "And this is where the magic happens!" Alicia put on her lab coat. "Now think of this as an exclusive peak, not that many people get to see this place." Alicia said, with a sly grin, as if to seem cooler.

"Actually, last semester 20 different people passed through here in one day." Ishaq appeared as if out of thin air.

"Ahh! Mr. Didar! I didn't think you and Donis would be done so soon!" Alicia was shook by Ishaq's little jumpscare. Galleta even more, trembling behind Alicia's legs.

"Ah, Serxie just wanted to talk about work, and vent a little bit. I'm kind of that guy's only friend, or at least the only one willing to put up with him for so long." He laughed. "So you guys finished your tour?"

"Yeah! I showed her everything this place has to offer! Including the Gym."

"Ew. Kid word of advice." Ishaq said leaning in a half whispered tone. "Don't go to that spot, there's a really good community gym just a 30 minute drive from here. $20 a month, but you still get more equipment than that shabby place."

"Ah! Come on Mr. Didar! It isn't that bad! And besides, they added it at your request!"

"Yeah, but these cheap bastards weren't willing to shell out for just a few bits of extra equipment. That place also just gives me the creeps, it's in the most secluded part of the building, and have you seen the lady at the front? She always gives me the most haunting glare whenever I pass through." Ishaq shivered.

"Well don't say this to Mari, I'm trying to convince her to live on campus!"

"Oh cool, glad to have you around kid." Ishaq took off his glove and extended his hand for a handshake.

"Oh, uhm, yeah" Mari shook Ishaq's hand, but then got a weird tickling feeling on her palm. Surprised, not knowing what it could be, Mari quickly pulled her hand away.

"Hah! Classic eyelash prank." Ishaq pointed to the eye on his right palm.

"Mr. Didar, stop!" Alicia punched Ishaq in his shoulder, but he couldn't help but keel over laughing. "Mari, I'm sorry about him!"

"Nah, it's cool. Just felt a little weird" Mari moved her hand in a gripping motion, trying to get the lingering feeling out

Ishaq wiped a tear from his eye. "Hah! Sorry about that, it's all in good fun. So you wanted to check out the lab, right?"

"Uhm, yeah, I guess that's what Alicia was gonna show me."

"Alright, well I can show you around!" Ishaq proclaimed, happy to finally be apart of the tour. Leading them through the first half, there's a bunch of beakers, and everything that you would imagine in your average school laboratory, but then Ishaq lead them to the main part. "And this is where the magic happens!"

"Hey, you stole that line from me!" Alicia huffed.

"Yeah, but I said it better." Ishaq looked back at her with grin, but then quickly got back into his presenter attitude. "Word to the wise, don't touch this machine, or that, or this, or that, or these, aaaaaaaaaand, don't breathe in this general area because this is Königsburg's half of the lab. She would kill us both if she ever saw us here...but she's not here so!" Ishaq started poking random objects in Heike's workspace.

"Huh, is Königsburg really that bitchy?" Mari asked bluntly

"Buddy, you have NO clue!" Ishaq said while almost dropping one of the objects on Heike's worktable.

"Don't listen to him Mari, I think Ms. Königsburg can be quite reasonable. You just have to not frustrate her like Mr. Didar over here." She glared at Ishaq while he scrambled to pick up some more objects he dropped on the ground.

"Hey, let's not say her name a fourth time, she might manifest like Beetlejuice. Anyway, let me take you to my part of the lab, the part I can actually explain, because..." Ishaq held a weird spiky device in his hands. "...I can't explain to you what she meant by half of these." He looked at the device, concerned.

****

Leading them over to his side of the lab, there was a bunch of half open and bookmarked books littered around it. Against the wall is a large habitat, with plants growing out of it. A large sun lamp sat over it, brightly illuminating their faces. "And this is my current magnum opus!" He waved his hand over the plant, treating it like a holy object.

"Uhm...your plant collection?" Mari was genuinely confused

"It appears so on the surface, but within the plants themselves, something deeper is going on. Take a look." He motioned Mari to get closer. Mari didn't know what was so impressive, but she walked up anyway, sticking her fingers on the leaves. "No, not the leaves. The real gold is what's under them." Mari lifts up the leaves but still sees nothing.

"Uhm, Mr. Didar, could you not have Mari touch it, she probably won't-" Alicia's warning came late, as Mari jerked her hand back.

"EW EW EW EW, What was that feeling?!" Mari yells.

"That, kid, was the stem of this revolutionary creation. Project Guarana!"

"It felt like skin!" Mari got chills thinking about the feeling

Alicia crossed her arms and sighed. "Yeah, Mr. Didar, I was about to say, maybe stop having Mari touch your weird things."

Didar paused. "Ok, that just makes me sound terrible, maybe word that better." He quickly regained his cheery disposition though. "But anyway, this grandiose greenery is going to grow into something life-changing. So to start-"

Alicia set her hand on Ishaq's shoulder. "Mr.Didar, maybe we shouldn't tell her. Like, I almost did, and-"

"Ah, you don't know how to patent anything! Right kid?" Ishaq gestured to Mari.

"Uhm, I didn't even hear it the first time"

"Well that's all the Association worries about. Unless you're a double agent, which let's be honest, you don't look like you ever could be!" Mari didn't know whether or not she should have felt insulted by that. "Then I don't think we have anything to worry about. So" Ishaq clapped his hands "Ow." Ishaq forgot about the eyes on his palms. "To start off, this all came to me in a grand premonition one day, after my fateful trip to Procyon labs! Top secret lab in the Amazon, I'm probably not even supposed to say it's name." The people here seemed really bad at keeping secrets, Mari thought. "Director Marlucia, fantastic lady, you should meet her sometime. She invited me to Procyon to work with her on something. Sadly I didn't get to take in the sights. I asked her how far of a walk to Christ the Redeemer, and she just gave me this look that she gives everyone. Kinda like-"

"Maybe get back on point Mr. Didar." Alicia groaned.

"Oh, right! So anyway, she showed me this plant called the Guarana plant. They're so cool! They even have this little drink over there made out of it. There's this whole story behind it too, they're made out of the eyes of this kid-"

Alicia tapped him with the back of her hand. "Mr. Didar, just get to the point."

Mari actually wanted to know that part of the story. That sounds metal though, she thought

Ishaq sighed. "Ugh, alright, but you're taking the fun out of explaining this for me. So anyway, the plants grow these little eyeball things. Here, I have one right-" He scrambled through the huge sea of potted plants he had on another side of his workspace. "Here!" He pulled out a bunch of the Guarana, handing it to Mari.

"Oh, these look cool" Mari stated, picking one off

Ishaq was having so much fun explaining all of this. "I know! Right? So that's when my divine inspiration came! I've dedicated my entire life to the research of sight, as you've seen, because-"

Mari cut in. "Yeah, I heard your story out there like everyone else"

"Kids these days don't enjoy a good ramble anymore. Well anyway, yes, I was cured by the late great Doctor Warren Sterner, and that is what set me on my path to today! The culmination of my craft, and all of my gained knowledge so far. I present to you!" Ishaq reached into his pocket and handed Mari something, dropping it into her palm.

Mari examined it, and it simply looked like any other Guarana fruit from before. "Mr. Didar!" Alicia yelled, as Mari finally noticed what was different with it. She realized when she squished it that this was an actual eye, blood slightly spurting out of the other end. Mari dropped it in panic, falling backward on the floor, with Ishaq falling on his stomach as he proceeded to get all the joy he could out of the situation, even as Alicia kept kicking him for his transgression.

Mari couldn't believe what she just touched, the feeling of it was like it was ready to give in fully to the pressure of her fingertips. She didn't even want to imagine what it would've felt like for it to crush in her hand.

"Mr. Didar, I really can't believe you!" Alicia said, giving him one more kick.

Ishaq was laughing so hard, he had to take off his gloves to wipe the tears coming from his palms. "Ah, fun stuff. Anyway, it's just all in good fun. I mean, she's gonna have to get used to my little pranks around here if she's gonna be working with us."

"Working with us?" Alicia asked, confused.

"Work with you?" Mari asked doubly confused

"I mean, yeah. That's why you brought her here, right? To introduce her to our internship program. I mean, otherwise you just led a stranger into our "top secret lab," and the association wouldn't like that." He teased.

"This isn't top secret, like, 20 people passed through here in one day last semester." Alicia huffed.

"See! Now you admit it! Now that you're not trying to impress your new friend." Ishaq poked more at Alicia.

"Sh-shut up." Alicia said, turning her head away from him.

"Well, jokes aside kid. We could use an extra hand here since Heike is gonna be gone for quite a while. She's taking all of her vacation days, and the Association gives out good ones."

Now was as good a time as any to finally tell them. "Uhm..I'm probably not gonna go here" Mari said, looking down.

Alicia looked over at her. "What? Why? Is it because of Mr. Didar? Did he ruin it for you?! Dammit Mr. Didar! I promise you Mari, I'll keep him in check!"

"No...It's not that...I mean, I didn't like any of that, but it isn't that....I can't come here. It's just that...Alicia was the first person to talk to me in a while, and I felt really nervous about disappointing her, and then she took me to the seminar, and by then I was in too deep so I stuck around for the tour, and now I'm here trying to get the feeling of an eyeball out of my hand" Mari said, rubbing her fingers against the floor she was sitting on.

"I...I'm sorry if I made you feel obligated...I guess that's just how I am...I didn't mean to....I guess you can go now...if you want." Alicia said turning around, Galleta sitting next to her.

"Now hold on a minute." Ishaq interjected, "Kid, what makes you think you can't come here?"

"Well, my parents would be disappointed"

"Well you're an adult now, you can make decisions for yourself."

"You don't know my parents. My Dad would get very mad at me for not going to the school of his choice"

"...You know, it's moments like this that I wish Serxie were around. He's the shrink." Ishaq sat down next to her. "My parents were the same, they sent me across the world, to different parts of the globe, just so I could be the version they wanted me to be, but....It was coming here that I realized I could be myself...When I graduated, I realized 'to hell with these people, what do they care if I'm their Golden Child.'...I think that's what you might need to do...what was your name again?"

"Mari"

"Well Mari, Let's get up on the right foot this time." Ishaq stood up, and lent a hand to help Mari stand up too. "Hello there Mari, my name's Ishaq. My special interests are eyes, which is a secret I've clearly kept well hidden. I'm hoping we can get to know each other better, and don't worry about enrollments, but stop by the lab whenever you want. I think Alicia might appreciate that, she's clearly been needing a friend whose knees don't make an audible noise when they wobble." Ishaq grinned at Alicia, but she just kept her head turned, though she was eased by Ishaq's method of keeping Mari.

Mari didn't know what to say. A lot had happened to her today, and she'd finally met people that seem interested to get to know her. Looking down at the floor, she shuffled her feet a bit. "Hi Ishaq...uhm...Wanna continue the tour?"

"Certainly, follow me further down the rabbit hole, if you dare! I'll show you the terrarium I'm making, but whatever you do, do not go into the room that says "Todesroboter."

****

Later in the day, the sun was going down, and Ishaq walked Mari and Alicia to Alicia's dorm. They were having fun laughing the day away as Ishaq recounted stories to them.

"-and then little Miriam put the band-aid on Serxies nose, and said "Thewe you go, that'ww fix you up. Twust me, I'm a Doctow. Hah! Serxie says he doesn't like kids, but I'm certain Miriam is the exception."

"Oh my God, she's the best thing ever!" Alicia said. "I can't wait for you to meet her Mari, I think you two will get along just fine!"

As they arrived at the Dorms, they appear as a small apartment complex, two floors high, with a mess of stairs they had to walk up. "Well, we're here now." Ishaq leaned himself ready to leave. "Have you made a decision yet, Mari?"

"...Yeah, I think I have"

"And what's that?" Alicia leaned in, anticipating her answer.

"I think Ishaq is right, I should probably get away from my parents...But I'm probably not gonna tell them I'm enrolling right now...maybe not ever, they're still expecting me home, and I like having a roof under my head."

"There are dorms here as you can see, just stay here." Ishaq advised.

"Oh my God, yeah! And we could be roommates!" Alicia jumped in glee.

"Well you can probably get your own room, I can't imagine you want to stay in that cramped space." Ishaq said, pointing into Alicia's abode.

Alicia glared at him, "Well the other rooms are probably going to be taken up with all of these new student."

"Nah, counting the returning students and the new ones, plus the fact that most live off campus anyway, there'll probably be plenty of rooms available for yo-" Ishaq paused as he finally notices the vicious stare Alicia had been giving him.

"Nah, I get it, I'll room with you Alicia...Actually, if I could stay the night with you right now, I don't think I could keep a secret from my parents for too long"

Alicia lit up. "Yeah! Of course!"

Ishaq got ready to wave them good bye, "Well, I see everything's working out now. Good luck with your parents, Mari."

"Yeah, and good luck with your Project Guarana. I hope it goes well"

Ishaq turned away from them, hiding the somber look on his face, "...yeah, I hope it goes well too."

Ishaq started to make his way down the winding steps, but Mari got his attention again. "Oh, Ishaq, I had something I wanted to say."

"Oh, sure, lay it on me."

"I really like your eyes, I think they look so beautiful" Alicia's eyes widen at Mari's very statement

Ishaq smiled. "Oh, thank you, but they're not mine."

"Wait, what?" Mari got pulled into Alicia's dorm room, as she closed the door

Alicia shook Mari. "Mari! What did you mean by that?!"

"I mean, his eyes are very pretty"

"I didn't know you were into older men!"

"Older?"

"He's like 36 or something, that's like, ancient! And God sakes Mari, he's gonna be your boss!"

"I mean, I'm not attracted to him"

"What kind of person says 'you have beautiful eyes' to someone like that, who they're not attracted to?"

"I dunno, I thought he was cute at first, but then he made me touch his palm eyelashes, and then he made me touch a skin plant, and an eyeball... so yeah, I kinda lost what little bit of attraction there was."

"Then...what did you mean by-"

"I dunno, I guess I only really want his eyes. Like, if I could get rid of the rest of the body, and just have the eyes, in like, a jar or something, that'd be cool"

"Whuh?"

"But then he said they're not his, so I guess I'm attracted to whoever actually owned those...I dunno, do I sound crazy?"

"...Umn, no. I mean, I guess I have some weird wants too, so I'm not one to judge, but...we really need to work on what you say, and how you say it."

"...sorry, I'll keep my mouth shut"

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Anyway! Lemme put a pad on the floor that I'll sleep on, and you can have the regular bed!"

"Oh no, I couldn't do that to you, that's your bed"

"It's fine! We'll get bunk beds or something later! You know? I always wanted to share a bunk with someone, and now I can! I call bottom bunk, only because Galleta has a fear of heights, and she sleeps with me."

"Makes sense, yeah"

"God! I'm so excited! This is the start of something great I think!"

As Mari looked at the cramp walls of Alicia's dorm, a desk, a single bed, a closet, and a small room where you can tell the bathroom goes, she couldn't help but think of how crazy today was. In one day, she finally got what she was hoping for, and more. She could've never guessed when she was walking through that park, wishing for something more, opportunity would just hit her in the face, that it would lead to the best and worst times of her life.

****

As Ishaq walked back to his car, ready to head to his next destination, Mari's words of good luck echo in his mind, reminding him of what he wanted to forget.

****

Ishaq waved goodbye to Alicia and Mari as they walk off to go on their tour. They close the door behind them, Ishaq turning to face Serxio, "So Serxie, you're doing good? That Pablo guy really didn't get to you?"

"No, this isn't about him."

Ishaq sat in a chair, his front facing toward the back of the chair, leaned on its sill. "Well if you need someone to vent to, I'm here. Like, I can see why you'd be worried. That guy didn't just embarrass you, he was ready to embarrass your employer too."

"Our employer. I find it interesting you can disassociate so easily." Serxio opened his liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass. "I will admit, his words did worry me. If what he stated was true, that he hadn't submitted his evidence yet and was just about to, I should likely warn the Directors now, but that can wait." He handed Ishaq a glass.

"You know I don't drink."

"This sort of occasion calls for something to numb the mind, and I feel that desire will hit you soon."

"Wow, I wonder what kind of news you got then?...Are you dying?"

"No, it would have to be something that would make you upset." Serxio took a sip.

"Hah! Don't worry buddy, I'll shed a tear or two from at least one eye, just for you."

"Your incessant need to belittle me doesn't keep me from feeling any less bad about this."

"...Alright, lay it on me then."

****

Ishaq slammed his fist into the wall. "Those bastards!" He leans his head near the dent he just created "....They can't do this..."

"I am just as saddened as you are my friend."

"Save your sentiment."

"My sentiment is true. I know how much this research was important to your's and Königsburg's cancer cu-"

"Heike doesn't give a damn about any cancer cure!...We just saw the correlation to Project Guarana and it's ability to replicate cells, healthy cells...this was my project not her's....and they can't just..." Ishaq sat back down, leaning forward, head down. "They can't just take it away from me..."

"They haven't fully taken it away, but very soon they will send people to take your samples you've created, along with your notes you've made so far. After that, they will hold them and within the time they have it you cannot work on anything Project Guarana related, but I assure you, once that happens, it is there's, and they will not put it back in your hands, nor will they let you look at this project again. It will likely go to a higher researcher of their choosing, maybe even one of the Directors on council."

"...I came here to do good...what's the point of going on with my career here if they're just going to bastardize what I make."

"I explained it to you."

"Well it doesn't make sense! None of this makes sense!"

"My dear Didar, you must realize the implications of being able to create parts so easily. If anybody in this country's healthcare system were to get a hold of this, they would bastardize this project more than SCCA ever could."

"I'm pretty certain I know the actual reason why. Those Black Market Organ dealer's have the SCCA in their pocket, they would never let this happen, it would destroy their business model."

"Now you're just going into conspiracy, unproven hearsay."

"...Are we really going to sit here and pretend what happened with van Niekerk didn't happen?"

"...Didar, I know you're of good moral stock, that's what I value about having you here, and that's why I'm telling you this now. So I come to you with a proposition."

"I probably know you better than anyone else, Serxie. You're getting something out of this."

"We both get something out of this." Serxio set his hand on Ishaq's shoulder. "I think your research would do well in my little... off-the-books..."

"...I know you think I'm Heike or something, but I'm not, I don't know how I could help."

"You've helped me enough as it is with what little you could tell me of her research, but I believe that by combining those notes with these notes, I can finally accomplish what I set out to achieve."

"And what do I get out of this?"

"...Be there in the facility with me, tonight, you already know where."

Ishaq smiled. "You're just trying to get me in trouble, aren't you?"

"*We* are going to get ourselves into some trouble my friend."

#Read Science Club #chapter 2 #Sylvester clemensen's science club #science club #original writing #original story #story

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scienceclubofficial · 4 months ago

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Chapter 1: Welcome to the Club (1)

Next chapter

Falls comes in like a harbinger, at least that's what Mari always thought. Though the beauty of the fall leaf couldn't be understated, it nevertheless is a sign of the winter to come. A time of cold and a time of loneliness, as the snow pelts and brings the world to a halt.

The crunching of orange and tan leaves that littered the path to Mari's campus brought a sense of calm. Though winter will come, at least the short trail forward has reprieve.

Mari couldn't help but think of how far, yet how stuck in the same place she had been. The fact High School was over, and the fact she was making her first trip to the school that will define the rest of her life hadn't quite registered to her. Nothing had changed. She hadn't grown a year wiser turning eighteen, nor did she know what to do with this new found freedom.

Mari made the choice to sit down at a bench, she didn't want to go to class yet. She took time to observe the world around her. Toward her left was a woman with a crying baby in her stroller, a man rushing his way on foot to his job, and a squirrel storing it's food for the season. To her right was an older fellow in a similar situation, sitting on a bench for a temporary reprieve. A jogger passed by, and a random bystander argued on their phone with what seemed to be work related.

...God, why couldn't I have had a bit more time? Mari thought to herself. She didn't want to be like these people just yet. She didn't want to give in to the rapid currents of mature rivers. As she stared forward from the bench, her mind raced over everything that was. 'Why do I have to go to college now?' Well she knew why, because of her family, but what does it matter to them?

Why couldn't she have appreciated the time she had? Why couldn't she have been transparent with old relationships? Now lost to forked paths, while she stayed in the crossroad therein. Why couldn't she have taken that last day to appreciate her youth? Where everything made sense for a final time. Why did this feel like the last moment before impending doom? Why did the world seem to move inward when this happened? Why did there seem to be no light, no future, within this ever enclosing domain? Why couldn't she shake the feeling that her worry over her inhibition will be its own self-fulfilling prophecy?...Why couldn't she just let herself be-

*smack*

A piece of paper had hit Mari on her face.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz, I spilled all of my flyers!" A girl, somewhere around Mari's age, yelled while running toward her. Mari took the flyer off her own face to be greeted by the sight of said klutz.

"Hi! Again, so sorry about that. Are you ok?" The spectacled girl asked with concern in her voice.

"...uhm, I guess, I mean it was just a-"

"Oh wait, could I get some help chasing these down?" The clumsy girl asked, running for one of the papers.

Why the hell not, Mari thought to herself, running down the street with this new acquaintance to acquire these quickly escaping papers.

They managed to obtain most of them. It was then the girl finally walked up to Mari to extend her hand for a formal greeting..

"Thank you so much for helping me! My name's Alicia! What's yours?"

"Uhm, Mari"

"Mari! That's a really great name! Hey, Mari, while I have your attention, I might as well give a flyer to you too."

Alicia handed Mari one of the flyers. On the paper, it spoke of enrollment at SCCA California.

Mari squinted at the paper "...SCCA?"

"Sylvester Clemensen's Creation Association! We're going to be holding a seminar ."

"...Isn't it too late to do enrollments?"

"No! SCCA starts doing its enrollments much later!"

"But I already did my Fafsa and I'm going to-"

"You don't have to worry about financial aid!"

"Wait, how is that possible?"

"Well I'm sure you already know about how wealthy the association is, right?"

"...I didn't know they were a thing until now"

"What?! How do you not know who they are? They're on the news, like, all the time! They're always doing stuff to make the world a better place!" Alicia stated while straightening her glasses.

"...I don't know, I don't really watch the news"

"Sylvester Clemensen is in school curriculums now!"

"...I didn't pay attention in history class"

Despite the dumbfounded feeling that Mari's response had given her, Alicia straightened her posture, and had a proud look on her face "Well looks like I have a lot to teach you then! You wanna walk with me?"

"I kinda have to get to my classes"

"Oh come on! It'll be really quick, you can go to class right after."

Mari considered it for a bit. She didn't want to go to class anyway that day, and Mari had never met a girl as forward as Alicia until now. Intrigued, she decided to accept Alicia's invitation. "Uhm, sure"

A smile widened across Alicia's face "Oh my God, really?" Alicia had no idea what to do, she had never gotten this far in recruitment before. "Oh my God, Galleta, we finally got somebod-'' Alicia's head whipped, frantically looking around. "Galleta? Galleta!"

"Who's Galleta?"

"She's my service dog! Oh no, I must've lost her when I was chasing after those flyers!"

Mari couldn't help but wonder what therapy dog gets separated from it's owner so easily.

"Please, could you help me find her!" Alicia asked worriedly

Eh why not, Mari thought to herself. It's not as if she was ever going to go to class.

************

Half an hour later, Mari and Alicia had been searching in the proximity of where they were, Mari calling Galleta's name around the street.

Alicia tapped Mari's shoulder, "No, she's not going to be around here, she probably hid somewhere over there." She stated, pointing toward an alleyway. As they searched through, Alicia going in further, Mari heard a slight whimpering sound. Finding that the source was coming from a dumpster, Mari saw a skinny Greyhound-mix peeking from behind it. Mari walked up to it and extended her hand. The dog cringed at first, but as Mari kept her hand extended, the hound eventually walked up, carefully. Still extended, the dog sniffed Mari's hand, and quickly warmed up to her.

Alicia turned around, her eyes widening."Oh my God! You found her! And I'm so surprised, she never gets used to people this quickly. You must have a kind soul, Galleta can see that in people."

"Trust me, I don't" Mari stated matter-of-fact, as she petted Galleta

Alicia didn't know how to respond to that. "...Well, are you at least kind enough to go for a quick walk with Galleta and me?"

"Sure, I don't have anything else going on" She said, not a hint of guilt for skipping her classes.

***********

They took a stroll through the park intersecting the downtown from the rest of the city. Alicia made sure to keep an eye on Galleta's whereabouts this time around. Mari didn't know how to start a conversation; she wanted to tell Alicia that her green and pink sweater went well with her bright hair, but she didn't have much experience being open with new people. Alicia recognized this.

"So you really don't know anything about the Association?" Alicia asked, tilting her head toward Mari

"Not really"

"Well allow me to explain then! Sylvester Clemensen is a genius of modern times, if it weren't for his research, we wouldn't have cured most diseases! Like, remember when Covid broke out?"

"What's Covid?"

"Exactly! They were on it right away, we barely had to lock down for a month or two." Mari had never thought hard of why school was out for an entire month, back then. "And they're working to cure even more! In fact, Doctor Königsburg and I are on the brink of curing cancer!"

"Who’re they?"

"Oh my God, Dr. Königsburg is such a genius. I would introduce you to her but she's using her vacation days now. But until she comes back, Dr. Didar has been doing a good job in her place. But anyway, on our cancer cure, so it involves a lot of Didar's research. He's been working on this top secret project, but I can tell you a little bit about it. So his research involves turning plant cells into a natural grower of human cells, it involves a the process of"

As Alicia's voice faded in the back of Mari's mind, she couldn't help but look at Galleta. Galleta was acting normal now, not as scared as she was before, but Mari couldn’t help but wonder how a dog as frightenable as Galleta could possibly be Alicia's service dog. Galleta also looked bonier than most Greyhounds, her abdomen seeming so twig like. The greyhound was also very jumpy. When she noticed a squirrel running down a tree, instead of keeping her eyes locked or wanting to chase it as most dogs would, Galleta jumped and leaned away from it, seeming weary of the rodent's intentions. Mari had so many more questions, was Alicia not treating her right? Or was there simply something wrong with this very uniq-

*Snaps fingers*

"Hey, you ok there?"Alicia asked Mari, hand waving in front of her face to get her attention

"Oh, uhm, yeah, just spacing out"

"I get it, sorry, my spiels can get a little boring, and besides I shouldn't have been telling you half of that anyway..."

"No no, it's not that, I just wanted to know more about Galleta"

"Aww, sure! What do you wanna know about her?"

"Well, I was wondering why she's so skinny? Is she getting enough to eat?"

"So I can't feed her most dog food, and I can't even feed her table scraps. Her stomach is very sensitive, so after a bunch of trial and error, I was able to make my own dog food for her that doesn't harm her stomach so much. But she doesn't even eat much in the first place. She'll eat a single, like, applesauce cup worth of it."

"Are you sure she's not sick?"

"Oh, I already took her to the vet. He said that she's likely still adjusting to whatever trauma she faced in the past, and will start eating more once she can move on."

"Trauma?"

"Yeah, I found her on the street, poor thing. On my route to school every morning, I would see her in the same alleyway. She wouldn't let me get near her at first, but I began leaving food for her. Once she realized that I was good, she began to follow me on my route. I know that she doesn't seem like it right now, but she actually protected me from another dog that was going to attack me."

Alicia was right, Mari couldn't imagine that happening. To her Galleta seemed the type of dog to shatter like glass if put in conflict. "Well how is she your service dog then if she's just a rescue?"

Alicia seemed a little hurt by Mari's words "Well, she's not just a rescue..."

"No! I mean, like, uhm" Mari panicked a little bit, she didn't mean to upset Alicia.

"No, I get it. Well so, after I adopted Galleta, I started to notice my own anxiety go down. Knowing that I had someone who could rely on me, and I could rely back on them, it began to calm me down. I wouldn't go anywhere outside of the house without her. It got to the point where if I didn't have her, I would be more prone to panic in public, that's why I got so worried when I lost her earlier, any longer I might've broken down."

"Why don't you just keep her on a tight leash?"

"I think leashes are cruel. They seem so restricting. I wanna empathize with Galleta, and let her walk as freely as I do"

"Well she might get lost more if you don't"

"Well she usually doesn't, I'm sure we just lost each other when I was chasing those papers. Something probably spooked her to make her go the other direction."

Mari still had a difficult time imagining how Galleta could have passed any psychiatric service dog test. "Well how were you able to get her registered? and aren't service dogs supposed to stay on a-"

"Could we maybe change the subject?" Alicia asked with a nervous smile.

Mari looked down, she felt bad for pushing the subject "Oh, uhm, sure. You wanna talk more about your friends?"

"What friends?"

"That Konigsburg and Didar person"

"Oh, well, there isn't much to talk about with Heike, she's always been very practical with how she teaches me. I don't get to be as hands-on with the experiments as her and Didar, but I'm just glad to know that my helping is making a difference. Oh! and you should see her granddaughter! She's so cute, and SO interested in science. Heike is definitely raising a future award winner!"

"What about Didar?"

"Instead of telling you about him, how about you come with me? He's gonna be speaking at the seminar."

"Seminar?"

"Yeah, the seminar on the flyer I handed you."

Mari didn't actually read it "Oh, right. Yeah, I remember. But uhm, I need to get back to campus soon"

"Come on, please! It'll only be one seminar! If you don't like it you don't have to join, but we've been struggling to even get people in seats for this upcoming semester. I know this campus isn't as popular or as prestigious as the Eastern Board or European ones, but we've been getting less and less enrollment each year. Mr. Donis is very worried."

"Uhm, sure, but I'm already enrolled and don't have the money for another tuiti-"

"You don't need tuition, it's free!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, completely free! We even have a library with all the books you'll need for free, no extra cost to you!"

"Wait, if it's free, then how come you're still having trouble finding new students?"

"...well, uhm, SCCA, the people that the campuses are associated with have been under a bit of controversy to say the least."

"What did they do?"

"A few boards outside of their jurisdiction were found making...some strange experiments to put it lightly."

"I don't care what experiments they made, you said free, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Cap"

"No, it's entirely true! Like, you'll see at the seminar, they'll explain it better than me."

"Well I don't wanna become a doctor or anything"

"You can still get your generals done there!"

Mari decided she was already in too deep. Already having skipped class, she might as well have gone on to see what else Alicia had to show her. "Sure, I guess"

"Yay!" Alicia exclaimed with glee. Her glee made Galleta jump in shock.

***********

Seeing the campus that Alicia had been building up, Mari wasn't impressed. The Campus was small and normal looking, nothing was as cool as Alicia made it out to be. Alicia assured Mari that the campus just happened to be smaller than the others because it was newer.

Stepping into a smaller building, Mari was quite impressed to find a college classroom that looked more traditional. The unimposing exterior of the building not giving away how grand the inside of the room felt. Potential students stood around, socializing. Alicia took Mari by the hand and led her to some seats just a few from the front. "It's gonna start soon." Alicia whispered excitedly.

Mari looked at the entrance to the room to find a tall pale older man ducking in to get through the door frame. Mari didn't want to say anything, but she was taken aback by his appearance. His eyes sunken into the point that they looked like two gleaming dots in the shadows. His face was so skeletal, that it seemed a skull had somehow grown a receding hairline. He dressed quite dapper, even if it was a bit much for the scale of the school.

"That's Mr. Donis." Alicia whispered to Mari. Alicia was clearly invested, but Mari could only zone in and out. Galleta sat next to Mari, giving her something to put her attention toward as she didn't care much to be there.

"Salutations to all of the aspiring minds in this room with us right now, I'm glad to see we were able to attract many a potential student in this room today. I suspect that none of you will be disappointed." Mari was shook by the deepness of his voice, which could command a room, but she couldn't quite get a handle on where his accent was from. Whatever voice he had, Galleta clearly didn't enjoy it. Mari could feel Galleta letting a subtle growl as Donis spoke.

"My name is Serxio Donis, I guess you could refer to me as the dean of this fair school, but my responsibilities reach much further than what the title refers to. While my responsibilities include being the head of the lab, and lead of the pleasant group of scientists we get to work with, I would also like to think that my responsibility is to become your guiding figure. I hope to fulfill whatever role you request. Whatever you need to breed a successful mindset. You may refer to me as whatever pleases you. Dean if you so wish, Mr. Donis if you're feeling formal, Serxio if we get to know one another, anything you want, just don't call me Shirley." Serxio chuckled at his own reference, but the room stayed silent.

"Ahem, tough crowd." Serxio mumbled. "So to start off, I'm sure our founder needs no mention, but just as a rundown. Sylvester Clemensen was always on a constant quest for knowledge. It's stated in his autobiography, and I quote-"

As Mari's mind faded out again, she looked around the room. She regretted coming here now and was hoping that she would learn something more exciting. Looking around the room, she saw that someone else felt the same. A guy had gotten up and walked out of the room, clearly unamused by all of this as well. This threw Serxio off of his game, Mari noticed that he seemed a bit more nervous, likely afraid that more students will follow. Serxio's fears were confirmed when 2 other students in the already small group got up and left. Mari couldn’t help but wish she could do the same, but she didn't want to disappoint Alicia. Mari was interested in getting to know more of this odd and outward girl, as this was the first person to talk to Mari in the extended time she had been self-isolating herself from the rest of the world. Mari didn't want to screw this up, but she had a sneaking suspicion she might have done so alrea-

*psst*

"Hey! Any questions?" Alicia whispered to Mari. Alicia could clearly tell Mari was zoned out.

"Oh uh, what?"

"Mr Donis just asked if we had any questions, now's your chance, whatever you want to know."

"Uhm" Mari raised her hand

"Yes, you there!" Serxio said, pointing toward Mari. "What would you like to ask young miss?"

"Uhm" Mari panicked on the inside. She didn't actually have any questions prepared. Her mind raced, trying to think of what she could possibly even ask. "Uhm...uh...I was wondering what kind of accent that is?" The room laughed a bit at Mari's question. Mari cringed into her seat for having asked that.

Serxio groaned, but quickly got back to his presenter persona from before "Not a strange question at all young lady. I come from the beautiful country of Spain, and I have studied many languages in my time, so naturally my accent would be the result of many factors. I try to aim for a British dialect, and I vacationed to England to do so. The camping in the countryside is just delightful I do say."

"Well you definitely need to improve that, cause you sound nothing like an englishman..." said a blunt person in the front row. "Oh, and by the way, I had my hand up first and you completely ignored me."

Serxio's brow furrowed, but he tried to hide his frustration "Oh, I'm so sorry if I missed you, my eyes aren't what they used to be, and I try to give attention to those in the back. Do tell me young man what your name is."

"My name is Pablo, and I do have a few questions. I was wondering what your thoughts are on Director Johannes van Niekerk in the Southern African Board of Directors."

Mari could've sworn, staring at Serxio's face, that his skin bumped "Well my dear Pablo, no need to be so hostile in tone. I'm sure you're referring to the recent news of him, and not to worry, he won’t be coming around here, for he is an entire separate continent from us."

Mari whispered to Alicia "What's a van Niekerk?" Alicia rubbed her own temples in stress, and kept her head down, likely feeling bad for Serxio being put on the spot.

"I'm just asking what this campus's official stance on him is." Pablo pushed.

"Well there's no need to ask, he was already put under the spotlight for his crimes, judged, and promptly relieved of his status." Serxio said with faux cordiality.

"I'm just asking for the rest of us, I'm sure nobody here knows about this, I mean, with how quickly it got swept under the rug."

"Because there is nothing to discuss. What Mister van Niekerk did was terrible, and he was reprimanded, and that's the end of it."

"Well there's proof against that. Van Niekerk is said to have been spotted in Brisbane, close to the headquarters for SCCA Australia."

"Well what is your source?"

"I have many pictures I can show you right now."

"My good sir, you can't trust everything you see on the internet. You do know that pictures can be falsified? Did you make sure to check the number of fingers in this image?"

"Not from the internet, from my source I have in Australia. They were even able to find records of his new identity. I have all the evidence right here." Pablo stated while taking a folder from his bag, holding it up to present to the room

The bumps on Serxio's visage seemed to take a sharper form. "My good sir, if you have evidence of a wanted criminal hopping countries, then you should take that to an international court, not to a simple campus seminar."

"I will actually, but I'm here because I heard you were trying to recruit more members in my area, and I just couldn't let that happen." Pablo got up and began talking to Serxio's audience. "Everyone in this room, you now not only know about some of the Creation Association's crimes against humanity, but now you know that the Association harbors wanted criminals. Van Niekerk's horrific actions can't be understated, and this could've been written off as a rogue misusing funds and resources if not for the fact that he's been given shelter by the very people funding his illegal activities. If any of you have a conscious, which I hope so for the sake of the victims of van Niekerk, you won't let yourself get an education here."

"My good man, I must reiterate that this campus has nothing to do with the laboratories of our African boards. You people here deserve a free education, do you not!?" Serxio yelled toward the audience, trying to get the room on his side.

"Hey, it's not like this campus is any different. Would you like me to tell them about why you were relegated to this nothing campus?"

Serxio's skin broke out into odd pointed hives in clear view of everyone. "Alright young man, I didn't want to have to raise my voice, but you are trouncing on what was a pleasant and informative event, and I will not have any of it. I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

"April 20th, 2011, Serxio Donis was spotted cavorting around Monaco with two women in a gross misuse of SCCA funds-"

"That's it!-"

"Woah, hold on for a bit!" a man in an SCCA lab coat stepped in between them.

"Thank God, Mr. Didar finally stepped in," Alicia said under her breath.

"That's Didar?" Mari whispered back.

Didar took Serxio aside "Hey buddy, your allergies are acting up, you want me to take over?" Serxio reluctantly nodded and made his exit. "Well everyone, Serxie isn't feeling so well right now, as you can all see, so I'll be taking over for him. My name is Doctor Ishaq Didar, head of the eye division, and hopefully your new teacher, as I'll be teaching a few classes at these fine facilities! I'll be taking any new questions you might have. Pablo was it? Do you wanna continue?"

"Nah, I think I'm done here. I trust I made my point, if anyone wants to follow." Pablo exited the room, with a good chunk of the students getting up to follow him out.

Ishaq got the attention of the exiting crowd. "I know I can't convince you all to be here after that outburst my colleague made, and I really don't have a retort for any of the sins of the outer circles of our organization, but I have a story to tell, and trust me, I won't be as long-winded as my allergenic associate."

While a few people still left, some stayed by to see what Ishaq's story was. Alicia got up to move closer to where everyone was convened, and Mari followed. As Mari got closer, she finally got a good look at Ishaq and was taken aback. She became enraptured by Ishaq's appearance and his unique eyes.

Audience convened in front of him, Ishaq began his spiel,

"The Association has done some things, things we're not proud of. We're not proud to know that some choice members of ours would have such dark minds to them. But for every sin our association commits, there's a greater good being done. I am living proof of that...In my youth, I was born without the ability to see, to perceive the colors and contours of our beautiful world. But then a miracle happened, I was gifted the ability of sight. But this miracle wasn't performed by spit in my eye, from a meddling messiah of unknown motive, but instead by science! Something we can trust, something feasible and tangible that we can all rely on. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't undo the damnable acts of Doctor van Niekerk, but instead of promising you a flowery field of the future, we promise you results. Our results are good, feasible, and awe-inspiring, and I think my very existence is a well example for this. Without the association, I wouldn't have been able to...open my eyes!" Ishaq exclaimed, having removed his gloves to reveal a set of eyes on each palm.

Amazed, everyone moved in closer to try and look at Ishaq's hand eyes, taken in by the novelty of them. On his right hand was a purple eye, and on the left was turquoise. The now captivated people leaned in and over each other to catch a glimpse. "How'd you get them to look like that?" "Can it actually see me right now?" "Can I touch it?"

Alicia breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad Mr. Didar was able to recover this...and I feel so sorry for Mr. Donis, he really did put a lot of work into his speech. He practiced it with me yesterday...I hope what just happened won't turn you away from considering coming here, right Mari?...Mari?"

Mari didn't respond, she was taken in by seeing Ishaq's eyes, the two in his head. They were a brilliant shade, absorbing and distributing light in such an alluring yet even way across his iris. Mari was very taken in by his bright amber eyes.

#Read Science Club #Chapter 1 #Sylvester clemensen's science club #science club #original work #original story #story

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