Claire stood still for the longest moment, held herself back by her worry in the edibility of those berries and yet, as that moment seemed to extend itself, as her fingers were entwined around the stalk that kept those berries, as she felt their consistency, their softness, her dopey smile began to assume a more satisfied expression as she finally plucked three of those round, juicy, fruits. Holding them in her hand, as she still was leaning back on her chair, she slowly brought them to her lips, tantalizing herself with the idea of how good those were going to be.
If someone was to ask her later on, why she had decided to pluck them and taste them, she couldn't have given them an answer. She herself wasn't sure why she had to taste them. Yet, as her lips closed around the first one, as her teeth closed in on it, as the juice filled her mouth, she couldn't hold back a moan of pleasure. As she swallowed the juice, she let out a delighted moan.
Those berries were delicious!
She herself couldn't find a word to describe how good they were, how sinfully delicious they felt against her taste buds. So much so that she barely realized that, in a matter of moments, her hand was empty, although she was sure of having taken three of those delicious fruits. Licking her lips, taking in any faint trace of the berries juice, she tried to resume her work but, as the smell surrounding her was still growing stronger and stronger, she began to feel the need to have more of those amazing berries.
Smiling to herself, as she returned to her work, she was barely aware of her left hand moving from the table to the plant, as she grabbed more of those berries, pushing them, one by one, within her lips as she tried to return to work.
Henry, who was still taking notes, kept staring at the screen wondering what was going on. He knew Claire, he knew she wasn't one to let her work go awry, as she was one of the more focused, and work driven, women he knew. Yet, he couldn't deny that she was plucking berry after berry, focusing more on eating them, than on what she had to actually do on her machine.
Intrigued by her reaction, he wondered if it was just her own reaction or if it was the plant itsel that was forcing Claire to consume so ferociously its fruits. Yet, it still escaped him the reason for this defense system from the plant itself. In his cold, logical mind it had no sense this kind of action.
"Why would a plant grant so easy access to its fruits? Even pushing the consumer to have more, enticing it with an alluring pheromone bait..."
Claire, meanwhile, felt herself in paradise. without realizing it she was still plucking and eating the berries from the plant, pushing them one by one into her mouth, completely unaware of how her body seemed to be reacting to them. In fact, her middle was starting to look mildly bloating, as if it was filling up with the juice from the berries and yet, despite the discomfort she was starting to feel, she couldn't find in herself the will to stop having those fruits.
It was only in the late evening, as her cell phone began to ring, that Claire managed to return to herself, as she suddenly didn't feel that intoxicating odor surrounding her. As her consciousness returned to herself, she began shaking her head, wondering how fast that day had gone by.
She could barely remember what she had been doing all day, as the day itself had seemed to her to have gone by in a flash.
She remembered having received that strange plant, as she did remember having gone to lunch but, in the afternoon?
Nothing.
Suddenly, she found herself licking her lips but, apart from a faint trace of something delicious she didn't seem capable of remembering anything else. Shaking her head, she rose from the chair and suddenly seemed aware of how bloated she seemed to be looking. Her middle was pooching out the tiniest bit against her pants, giving her a slightly muffin top. Yet, she dismissed the thing, as if it was of no importance, while she prepared herself to go to her apartment to relax.
But as she was on the door that led out of her office something seemed to be stopping her. Not even she was aware of what it was but, she felt almost reluctant to leave.
Steeling herself, she tried once more, as she brought her hand on the doorknob, and yet she wasn't able to turn it, as she suddenly felt woozy and craving something that she couldn't identify... something that she thought to be extremely delicious. Wu saw it all from the video feed, seeing as she was shaking, as her hands were trembling as she tried to open the door, he began to methodically remove what it could be and what it couldn't be that was causing such a reaction on her.
In truth he already knew the answer.
"It must be the plant... somehow, she must have gotten addicted to it... Although it is strange for there was no component in it that could bring addiction. It may be a reaction with something within us humans? Still... I can't raise any alarms.
It must not be me that finds her in such a state.
If I want to have her under my control, I need to be as neutral to her as possible."
Meanwhile, on the screen, Claire still kept trembling in front of the door, unable to leave her office and yet, also unable to return to her desk. Henry, seeing that there didn't seem to be any changes, reduced the video feeds window and opened the report analysis on prototype XXX-576. As he reviewed the numbers, he still couldn't find any trace of what had generated the berries, nor the reason behind those.
Suddenly, though, doctor Wu raised his stare from the screen, as he saw Masrani coming toward him, a worried expression on his face. As the CEO approached his office, the doctor quickly closed the video feed and put back on his screen one of the analysis reports he had received throughout the day, as he prepared himself to see what Simon Masrani could be wanting from him.
As Simon entered Doctor Wu's office he quickly sat in front of his desk as he seemed worried about something.
"Henry... May I ask you something?"
"Uhm...Sure. What is it?"
"See, I consider myself a pretty laid back guy. As long as my employee gets the work done, I'm a happy man. Yet, today I've found Claire almost asleep on her chair... Plus, as I went this evening to ask her if she wasn't feeling well... I found her unconscious on the floor outside of her office.
I... I know it's not your specific duty but, couldn't you give a check to her? I don't want to open a case at the local infirmary, just for a case of exhaustion. You know, it could generate issues from the park if someone was to know that our workers fainted at the day's end, so..."
Henry, feeling herself elated, tried his best to not let it show as he replied using the most neutral tone he could.
"Hm... It's true that I'm not that kind of doctor but... I will gladly give you a hand. Although, I must warn you... we're not that kind of doctor. If she's suffering from exhaustion, you may have to move her to the infirmary anyway.
Still, I agree, there is no point in sending out a dispatch for something that could be nothing..."
Masrani, visibly more relaxed, smiled at the scientist.
"Oh, I know...she just must have had a tiring day... it's just... I feel more secure if you were to give a check to her for a couple of days... just to be safe. In the meantime, I'll ask her assistant to cover her role... until we know she's better."
"Alright then, Simon. Should I send someone to move her in here..or ?"
"No, no. Already taken care of. she will be brought here at the lab in a few moments. Ah, Henry, you really are taking off a load from my shoulder.
Oh... One last thing. Here..."
Henry found himself accepting a set of keys, as Masrani took the word again.
"These are the keys to her office and her apartment. Should she need anything from there, she can ask you. OK? Thanks again, Henry..."
"Not a problem, Simon. Glad to be of help."
As Masrani left the geneticist office, Henry couldn't suppress his elation any longer. Just as he had wished, so Claire was being brought to him for a few tests. Thanks to her blood samples he was sure to find out how the plant worked and what they could do with it.
Naturally, this meant that Claire's condition could be growing worse but, as Henry repeated to himself, there would be no greater honor but sacrifice in the name of science.
Some time later, just as Henry had finished preparing the private room within the hidden lab behind his main office to host Claire, a couple of guards moved the bed on which she was currently resting toward him.
As he took her from them, he quickly entered the hidden room and brought her hospital bed into the room he was going to be using to keep her under surveillance. Still, as he had been informed by the guards that he was currently sedated, he wondered what would be the best approach to handle her and his research.
He could keep her sedated, and perform his analyses but he was still intrigued by her reaction to the berries.
Otherwise he could wait for her to wake up and leave her with his prototype XXX-576-5 to see if she was going to react similarly to the plant in her office.
Or, he smiled at the thought, he could try and analyze the juice of those berries and inject her sleeping form with it.
Oh, there were so many choices but he also had to think about her absence... Well, hadn't Masrani said something about Claire's assistant?
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