Dome 8, South American Rainforest

The environment of Dome 8 was designed to mimic the rain-forests in South America. Many things had to be imported to achieve the effect, including both the plants and even the soil. Dome 8 typically was more for show, allowing students, investors, and persons of note to step in and experience the rain forest in a controlled environment without having to travel. Dr. Smith had spent most of her life observing the flora, feeling more like a glorified warden than a researcher, and consequently grew restless. As she hardly produced as many papers as her other colleagues at the institute, she had a feeling that she was being looked down on, and so took it as a challenge to alter the environment. Collaborating with Dr. Taylor, she brought in experimental fertilizers from Dome 7 to see if there would be any effect on the plants, especially considering they were engineered with corn in mind. So in the last two months she brought in the F series of fertilizers from Dr. Taylor's lab, specifically the ones that didn't cause devastation to their original dome, and mixed them into the soil wherever she could. Over time she noticed things like leaves increasing in size, branches extending further, and vines becoming thicker. However these results wouldn't give her much to write about, as the only thing they did was prove that Dr. Taylor's work affected other species of plants. She needed bigger changes, maybe larger leafs so that she could study them more deeply and see how the gigantism would affect the plants. So she brought in large amounts of the newest formula, F12, and saturated the soil with it. The addition of F12 had only began 2 days before Alison's arrival.

Alison walked through the first set of automated doors. The airlock she had walked into produced an automated voice.

"Please wait for decontamination."

Alison was then gently hosed with a soft mist, which felt pleasant. The process lasted for 20 seconds, after which the next set of the doors opened. The dome, despite being made of a metallic truss structure with see-through panels, was difficult to see inside as the vegetation was thick and growing against its' walls. As she walked in, she found a stone path, which led to a bench sat next to a lamp. It's like a park, she thought to herself. By the time she passed the bench she saw where the little stone path ended, at rectangular room made of sterile white walls with some windows. She went to the door but it was locked, requiring a key card, and looking around the windows, the lab was dark. I must be early, I guess I'll sit at the bench. Making her way back she heard some rustling in the leaves, which aroused her curiosity. There's no wind here, and I'm pretty sure there aren't any animals here. But her mind was taken over by another set of thoughts, questioning whether she was in the right place, and whether this was where she would meet her soon-to-be supervisor. Alison made herself comfortable on the bench. She checked the time, and surely she was still early a few minutes.

It was 9:20, and of course she became concerned. Did something happen? Or am I in the wrong place? Her mind jumped to conclusions and she began to get off the bench, planning to head to the central building to get everything sorted out. But then...