To say he was surprised when the girl crawled into his lap would be an understatement.


    While he had sat on the floor because the chairs present were too small be too comfortable, he was still close enough to the desks to use them in his attempts to translate more things.


    It was only a little disconcerting that they remained at a usable height even when he was sitting.


    They were a little high for writing on, but they were perfect for keeping the important reference papers he was working with at an easy glance. He had been sitting cross legged so he could write on his knee, as he had still yet to find a decent writing surface. It also let him lean down and reach the papers in front of him without having to move from his spot. It wasn’t the most comfortable, the metal being cool, but the only other real choice was to haul something. Either the papers to his room or a mattress to the lab. The blankets were thin enough to need several if he wanted any kind of thermal protection, so more hassle than the other options.


    Laziness won out, so the floor it was.


    It seemed that it put him in the perfect position for the girl to make herself comfortable as well. He still didn’t know why she seemed uncomfortable before, but it was entirely possible she found this place frightening. He could understand that. With the growth vats and other scientific equipment alongside the rows of desks, it wasn’t the most inviting area.


    He couldn’t rule out the possibility that it wasn’t her first time here either. All evidence pointed to her being awake before him and this lab was here for a reason. For that matter it might not be his first time in the lab either. Something had changed the expected outcome of the cryo experiment. While he still didn’t really have the time to be looking into it, there was every possibility he was a subject of study for the lab. The only reason he knew he had never been in a growth vat was because he had yet to find one large enough to fit.


    That didn’t hold true for the girl.


    He might have been a full-grown adult before he went into cryo, but there was nothing saying the girl hadn’t been stuck in one of the vats before she outgrew them. Hell, she could probably fit in one now, though it would be a little cramped. This place could very well bring up unpleasant memories.


    Why she had wandered off on her own in that case he didn’t know. She might be a lot of things, but one thing she wasn’t was a coward that was for sure. He didn’t think for a moment that an unpleasant past or fear of the area would stop her from doing whatever thing she got into her head.


    Actually trying to guess what thing she got stuck there was basically randomized guessing at this point though.


    Her little jaunt through the area seemed to require comfort though. She might not let fear stop her, but that didn’t mean she was ok with it. She seemed to have goosebumps, but as soon as she sat down she relaxed and took an interest in his notebook. He wished it wasn’t just random scribbles at this point, putting translations wherever he had room to conserve paper. He might be able to teach her some words if there had been any order or organization to it. As it was, it probably just looked like random scribbles to anyone that could read, he didn’t want to know what it looked like to someone who couldn’t.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He was happy to let her try and parse what she could, though he moved her around so that she wasn’t in the way. She might need a hug, but things weren’t getting less desperate and she was comfortably enveloped. Well, enveloped at least. Comfortable was debatable. He had to keep moving her to weird angles to grab the right papers or see something on the floor.


    Not a prime therapy environment, but he doubted it ever would be.


    If she could read the papers she would be able to celebrate with him, he was having a very good session gathering information and learning things. The downside being that the things he was learning were…. Not great. It also didn’t help that he wasn’t learning to translate better.


    No, the more he learned, the more it seemed he had found the very important papers. They had things that would be critical…. If they ever managed to survive long term. They were also very heavily written in future english, little of the other language present. There was enough to frustrate his reading though. It was clear that some of these papers were not meant to be read beyond a very specific group with a very specific training. Something he didn’t possess. Said group was also likely attempting to destroy the world…


    …Or save it. It honestly could go either way.


    He had learned where they were. It made him very glad he hadn’t been opening doors on the deck level after that first mad dash. Very glad and very lucky. It seemed they were somewhere code named ‘Atlantis’. Unless the future people had lost the desire to code name things with something meaningful, that meant the two of them were very likely not leaving the facility.


    Not in anything short of a submarine at least.


    It seemed he would be learning genetics engineering then. He didn’t really see any way to have a consistent food supply in a submerged facility that didn’t involve that water plant. The sea food would likely be their only sustainable calories until someone sent a resupply mission. Or he found a grow area he had yet to find. That and seeds to actually grow in said area.


    He wasn’t entirely worried about food. The new revelation meant that there was definitely a freezer or other food storage somewhere. Water should be ok as well, the water plant more than enough for their needs if he didn’t miss his guess on the purpose. The only problems now were just finding that food storage and discovering whatever reason had left them alone on the seafloor.


    ''No big deal, right? All you have to do is discover the mystery of a submerged facility and find enough food to last until you can literally create life. Easy’


    Waking up in a genetics facility hidden on the sea floor that was working on deadly plagues sure as hell sounded like a story and it made it very difficult to be objective. He wasn’t sure that meeting the people that operated this place was in his best interest anymore.


    He certainly didn’t want to find out how badly they would want to keep the information in his head and not on his lips.


    ‘I’d rather take my chances with the radiation leak. At least that one can’t stab me in the back.’