After a painful, but thankfully relatively short, time trying to get the numbers for the aquarium tanks, he had a fairly good estimate of the numbers in each of them. They weren’t anywhere near what he would like for a healthy ecosystem, but he supposed that was what the labs nearby were for. There was enough to be self-sustaining, so long as he didn’t change anything, but that was a big gamble with how little he knew about the system. Or genetic engineering.


    There was a chance he could do something with those labs, he had some training on what things did what, but it would be like following a recipe. He would need step-by-step instructions. Lab work had never been his strong suit, his focus on computer engineering favored the software side. Microscopes and spectrometers didn’t change much across disciplines though.


    At least not that he had seen.


    He would feel a lot better with a soldering iron and a circuit board than a micro needle and gene splicer though. Their needs didn’t really care what he favored unfortunately. If he had to learn how to genetically engineer a fish so they could eat, that’s what he would need to do. Of course that all depended on learning to read the language. Something he wasn’t really getting better at.


    Once the easy translations and letter swaps were out of the way he hadn’t really made any progress on his quest to fully translate the things he had found. To be honest, the papers he had found in the hidden lab were the only thing that had gotten him this far to begin with. With them using future english that he could read, it gave him a lot of context on the words around those parts.


    Maybe he should have returned there to begin with.


    He was running up against his ability to manage the translation on a lot of the parts in the panel. There was clearly a lot of technical data and commands he wasn’t equipped to handle with his limited understanding of the language. It gave him hope, since it would mean that the panels had access to a central database and could probably give him a lot of information.


    Unless they were super future tech and had some kind of general A.I. in every panel. That would be a waste if you asked him, but he wasn’t trying to hide a secret genetics lab in the middle of wherever they were. Either way, the panels represented the best place to get information. They also represented the most dangerous place.


    He had mostly determined that he and the girl were alone. Barring a human zoo scenario, but he wasn’t counting that. Everything he had explored had been clean and unbroken. There were things that hadn’t been put away yet and personal artifacts left in rooms, but nothing that indicated a struggle. If there had been a mutant genetics outbreak and everyone had been eaten there would be a lot more evidence of that. Even if they were smart and covering their tracks, there would always be small signs or clues that couldn’t be covered up or removed. Things that he had yet to find. Even the girl, as quiet and elusive as she was, was easy enough to track when he knew there was something there.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Needless to say, he wasn’t worried about being jumped or attacked by living creatures so long as he remained on one of the two levels he had been exploring. Robots were something to consider, but he hadn’t seen anything to indicate they existed either. That was less clear than living things though so he would keep his eyes peeled.


    It was why he was fine with bringing the girl down with him. He had explored the water plant before and knew mostly what to expect. He didn’t think there would be anything that would spook her so badly she ran off. He also didn’t think she would be able to hurt herself here before he had a chance to stop her. That left the only danger in this journey as something he made for them both. Like pressing the wrong button on the panel. Hence the panels being the most dangerous.


    With the girl basically glued to his side, he wasn’t afraid she would get stuck in something without him. The chance they both got stuck though was pretty high. Every time the panel asked a question, he would note down everything and translate it as thoroughly as possible before selecting an answer. If it had the words activate or initiate anywhere, he would say no. In fact most times he said no, even if those words weren’t present. He wanted to see all the options the panel gave him so he could translate them all at once, agreeing to things he wasn’t sure about wasn’t going to happen.


    He lost track of time for the most part, one eye on the girl and everything else on his work. When the girl pressed into his side and shivered, he figured that it was time to wrap things up. It wasn’t cold exactly, the temperature well within a safe range, but it wasn’t all that pleasant either. Especially after all the time they had spent in his own room that held the heat in nicely. He assumed the large amounts of water were acting as a thermal battery and keeping the temperature at a stable point that was good for the aquatic life, even if it was a bit low for them.


    Which would explain why the door was a thing as well. Evaporation could be a huge problem if any of the metal around here was susceptible to corrosion. The humidity in the hall was noticeably higher than his last visit. Fortunately, this trip wasn’t a waste.


    He had learned how to close the door.


    Something he was happy about until he remembered the girl was skittish.


    ‘Hmm, how do I handle that little dilemma.’


    If he held her tightly enough to prevent escape, it could scare her. He could pick her up, which she seemed to not mind the last time, but then he might not be able to put her down until they got back. In the end he chose a compromise. Getting the girls’ attention with a pat on her head, he started to give her scritches. Once she was invested, he freed up one of his hands and navigated the panel to the door controls. As he suspected, the girl did not like the noises an industrial door that big made. He very nearly had to pick her up, the scritches not enough of a distraction.


    On the positive side, she didn’t bolt. On the less positive side, he now had a semi-permanent attachment to his side. Even once the door finished closing, the girl seemed reluctant to stop. As they made their way back to the elevator, she stuck right where she had been, unwilling to let go and walk on her own.


    ‘At least she is using her own legs.’


    It was an awkward walk, considering he was doing his best to not trip or step on the girl’s foot. At least now he knew what she would do in a situation where she got spooked. It was a lot better to have her nearby if something happened, so that he didn’t have to worry about her getting lost. Though if he needed her to escape that would backfire quickly.


    ‘At least she can have some nice relaxin-jacks while I fiddle with the panel in the mess hall. A warm meal should get her mind off of things.’