The other projects

Lift doors opened on a lower level and the three women walked out into a very similar looking laboratory, except for the absence of the gaudy booth the time travellers had arrived in. Audrey paused in the doorway.

"I need to go and assist one of my colleagues downstairs, I'll leave you two to have a look around."

Audrey stepped back into the lift and The Superintendent and Amy approached a young man who was sitting at a desk and tinkering with a large circuit board. He looked up as they approached.

"Galactic Scientific Commission." The Superintendent said, quickly flashing a fake ID, "Came to see what you're up to here."

"Well, the early results are promising, if a bit the wrong way round." The man replied.

"Right, right. And by that you mean...? Please explain it in detail, using simple terms, for my friend here."

"Oi!" Amy exclaimed.

"As you know, the intention is to speed up the growth of crops." The scientist replied, he picked up a device that looked like an over-engineered handheld vaccuum cleaner, "I have the prototype which should be able to generate a localised time bubble and make the plants grow faster. Unfortunately, all it does so far is make them slower, which... isn't very useful."

"Sounds like a problem with the quantum overlay predictions." The Superintendent mused, looking at the prototype device.

"Not here to fix their science projects." Amy murmured in her friend's ear.

"Right, good luck with it." The Superintendent handed the device back, "I didn't get your name?"

"Ian Purple-Fortesque. I, er, didn't get yours?"

"Sorry, must dash." The Superintendent and Amy got into the lift, and looked at each other as it descended.

"Time bubbles, could that have caused the ship to crash?" Amy asked.

"Not on the small scale he's using them." The Superintendent shook her head. The lift doors opened on another identical lab, this one with a blonde woman standing at a row of colourful test tubes, and a large computer.

"Hello, what's this about?" The Superintendent asked.

"Oh, hello." The woman smiled at them, "Who are you?"

"Answering a question with a question, very scientific." The Superintendent replied, "Intergalactic Science Community..."

"That's not what you said last time." Amy whispered.

"And you?" The Superintendent addressed the woman.

"Jenny Frogmore. So, I'm working on pheremones, seeing if I can use smell to attract insects to one particular plant over another, manipulate which ones they pollinate. Maybe we can concentrate them on certain crops over others, increase the growth of ones we want."

"Maybe." The Superintendent nodded, "So, nothing involving vast amounts of dangerous energy, breaking the time streams, anything like that?"

"No... why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason."

"So, are you here today because of the visit?"

"Visit?"

"Yes, the president is coming to check up on our work, is that why you came here today?"

"It is now." The Superintendent said, turning back to the lift.