Snippet #2680730

"Now you," Rosemary said, lifting a squirming maggot by a pair of tweezers, "are one beautiful specimen." Through her glasses, she examined the creature as it wiggled, the green and purple shine on its skin shimmered in the light. "It's been years since I've seen iridescence like that." Her lips were open slightly as she peered at the creature and placed it on the petri dish. "Your mother..." she murmured, picking up one of the tiny needles, "would be proud -- had she a lifespan long enough to see her eggs hatch that is." Rosemary delicately injected the needle, collecting a sample of the creature's blood for testing. She was working on a research project about the correlation between the iridescence of the Dillinger maggot and the power of its venom.

She had just selected the second specimen, with equally astounding iridescence (her breeding programme was paying off), when the phone rang through her open office door. She jumped, dropping the maggot -- fortunately back into the glass tank. "Yes?" she asked, picking up the phone. It was her boss, Wilkins, from the Extraction Agency. They funded all her research, so she couldn't be too irritable.

"Firth? I'm assuming you got my email," Wilkins said. Rosemary pressed her hand against her forehead and closed her eyes, biting back a sigh. "As you didn't respond, I thought I would ring: target P is confirmed. We have contacted the relevant parties and put you as the reference point."

"Reference point?" Rosemary opened her eyes. "What does that mean?" She hadn't done a full mission since Dillinger's death two years before. She had just been working in the training site; sending newbies into dreams and doing her research. Dillinger had always handled this before.

"Come on, Rosemary." Wilkins' sigh cracked down the telephone wires. "This mission requires the best and, well... don't make me say it: you know we need you." Rosemary looked across at the jars of insects she kept in her office -- old experiments that she had wanted to keep, bugs she had collected and bred from all over the world. Their simple life and complicated science helped calm her. "We're also sending a trainee Architect your way. We're trying the new learn-as-you work scheme we talked about in September. He won't be involved in the final mission, but being part of the set up will be vital to his learning."

Rosemary inhaled deeply. She had hoped that in ignoring the email, she could ignore this whole thing. She loved her job and she had loved proper missions, but that was a while ago now, and she was doing so well with her iridescence project. But what was it for if not to improve the dream chemistry during Extraction? No, this would be good for her. Good for her to be working with actual people again, rather than hiding in her lab all day, doing an occasional dream experiment with a trainee. Although, she had to admit the thought of working with a new team didn't thrill her.

"Who's coming?" she asked. "When will they get here?" But Wilkins had already hung up.