Jason Tauscher, Bioinformatics Grad Student

The email turned an otherwise boring day into a potentially exciting breakthrough in your university work. You clapped your hands together as you glanced over to the colleague sharing a desk with you. "They must have finally read my white paper on predicting protein modifications from mutations in-"

Daniel held his hand up to you, shaking his head. "You need to figure out a shorter title for that paper. Seriously, it's huge. ...Still, congrats, I guess. Wish they'd finally give my research a look." Daniel nudged your shoulder with a fist, and a friendly nod. You and Dan had entered grad school together, you in the growing field of bioinformatics--using technology and statistics to understand biological data--while Dan studied organic chemistry. You two worked closely together on a variety of projects, and since Hideki Labs was partnered with your university, you two were able to do most of your lab work at a company where the facilities far outshined the outdated lab equipment at school.

"I'm sure you'll get there. I'll put in a good word for you while I'm talking to the dynamic duo. Dr. Walker no doubt would be interested in your, uh, whatever it was again. The stuff with the plants." You knew exactly what Dan's research was, creating synthetic cellulose membranes that could be used for a variety of medical purposes, but it was only fair to tease him after he took a jab at your paper. You gathered up some items from your workspace, sticking your laptop in a messenger bag as you hurriedly looked around the small office space. None of the other grad students or interns were around that morning, either working in the labs or back at school, probably grading undergrad papers. It seemed like you were either doing exciting labwork, or reading the dullest papers from freshmen in the intro to biology course you assisted with. There was never any happy medium. Today felt like a chance to dive deeper into opportunities at Hideki.

Dan looked back to his laptop, clicking through the dozens of emails he'd been getting from his own teaching duties. "If you're gonna be here later than usual while you're being knighted by the Hideki Labs royalty, pick up a pizza on your way back to the apartment? Game night's still on even if you're not back on time, Ken and Julia said they're definitely making it tonight."

You nod, slinging the bag over your shoulder. "I doubt this will be an all-day thing, no worries." You headed to the elevator, tapping your badge against the sensors by the various doors. You passed the lab techs staring at samples through microscopes, shelves of various chemicals, incubation tanks holding a variety of lab-grown biological materials for Hideki's newest medical breakthroughs... it was an exciting time to be working in your field, as with so many new creations in the labs, your work promised to speed up the understanding of the data to perfect the projects much faster.

Your focus was briefly interrupted as the lights flickered a bit in the lab area. That was unusual... the labs had backup generators for their backup generators, and any power disruptions could easily affect samples or equipment negatively so the systems were carefully designed to prevent even the slightest power fluctuation. You shrugged, as you stepped into the elevator, ascending to R&D floor 5. You'd been there before, only ever briefly peeking in to Dr. Hildebrand's personal lab which doubled as a lounge area. You were immensely jealous, but hopeful that your future had something similar in store.

Another flicker of the lights, this time accompanied by a rumble, before the elevator seized up. That was more than a little concerning... a voice came over the intercom, calm and assuring to quickly quell any concerns of a crisis. "Lab equipment failure on floor 4. Please head to the emergency stairs to exit the building."

You frantically pressed the button to open the elevator door, eager to get to those emergency stairs as you cursed your luck. The doors only budged a little, and you had to pry them open further to see where you were. You had almost arrived at floor 5, but the floor was about at shoulder height. You felt another rumble, and this time the lights all flickered on and off for a much longer time, as alarms began to sound. With another curse under your breath, you knew you didn't have much time to wait around on the elevator while everyone was evacuating. You needed to get out now.

You tossed your bag out first to the elevated floor, and then started to climb out. It wasn't easy, as there weren't any good footholds on the wall, but you gave a bit of a hop to get your upper body over the edge. With some extra effort, you managed to pull your legs up next, crawling onto the fifth floor.

You looked down the hallway, toward the emergency exit, as both Dr. Walker and Dr. Hildebrand were on their way out of their labs and heading, the blonde and brunette shouting something at each other about the evacuation, but you couldn't make out the words over the alarms. You began to jog to catch up, and they turned when they heard your feet thumping along, urging you forward with frantic waves of their hands.

"Hurry, there's no time to-"

One final rumble came, before an explosion caused the floor in front of you to bubble upward and burst into a raging flame. The bursting floor and quickly approaching flame terrified you, cutting off your exit path. A second explosion with even more erupted behind you, hurling you forward and knocking you in the process.

The day was not off to a great start, but the last thing you saw was one of the doctors rushing back toward you.