The biology lab.

"So we have this entire floor to ourselves, huh?" Eva noted.

"That appears to be the case," Ming Yue nodded as she examined the equipment and monitors at each of the workbenches. "More than enough space for the two of us."

"So what's your first experiment?" Eva asked.

"Well, if I was up on the ISS I would be conducting experiments on how microgravity and space radiation affects living systems on a spacecraft, however, since we're on the ground — or more accurately, underground — the experiments will try to mimic aspects of long-term spaceflight on their metabolism, growth, stress response, physiology, and development," Ming Yue explained.

"So you're going to be a space farmer?" Eva giggled.

"Pretty much," Ming Yue shrugged.

"Well, it's better than being a space sewer engineer!" Eva laughed.

"What do you mean?"

"One of my projects is using bacteria to generate bioelectricity from our poop!"

"Oh my gosh!" Ming Yue gasped.

"Well, I'll be helping out with the farm as well," Eva smiled, "so if I'm not working with human poop it'll be chicken manure as fertilizer!"

"I'm glad I won't be getting my hands as dirty as yours!" Ming Yue smiled.

"Since we're shooting the shit," Eva smirked with a wink, "may I ask you why did you put your career on hold for two years to join the project?"

"I wouldn't say I put my career on hold since I'm still working for NASA. Instead of working in the field I'll be doing lab work," Ming Yue replied. "I thought it would be interesting to be part of an experiment while doing my own experiments."

"Where were you in the field last?"

"I was in the Cedars in Sonoma County, about two hours north of San Francisco."

"What's the Cedars? Just a bunch of trees?"

"Not exactly. The early homesteaders had thought that the cypress trees were cedar so they named the area after that," Ming Yue explained.

"So you were there for the trees?"

"No, but an one-of-a-kind geological phenomena near the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. The highly alkaline springs there harbor uniquely specialized microbes that may offer clues to how life could form on otherwise inhospitable planets. The weathered hills, which are high in magnesium, iron and chromium, are also home to five species of orchid and at least eight plant species that don't exist anywhere else."

"So you want to see how life could exist in hostile alien environments without needing to go another world?"

Ming Yue nodded. "So what about you? Why did you put your career on hold for this project?"

"Well, like you I'm not really putting my career at NASA on hold since I'll still be doing lab work, albeit in a confined space for a couple years," Eva answered. "I guess this project is a once in a lifetime opportunity for my career."

"So Jon wasn't a factor?" Ming Yue wondered with a smirk.

"No, but I think you would agree he's a perk," Eva giggled.

"He's definitely very easy on the eyes," Ming Yue agreed.

"I'm sorry you didn't get to go swimming at the hotel with us."

"Oh?" Ming Yue wondered with an arched eyebrow.

"He's ripped..." Eva grinned.

"Dammit..."

"Maybe we can go swimming later today and you can see for yourself."

"It's a good thing Jon's mom brought us to go shopping before we flew out so I could get a bikini since I didn't pack one!" Ming Yue bubbled.

"An one-piece swimsuit, I hope!" Eva wondered as her eyes wandered down to her colleague's enormous cleavage that were barely contained by her flightsuit.

"You'll have to wait to find out!" Ming Yue giggled.