Technomancer: Genesis - 97 Trouble in the Bio-Lab

Ezra led the party to the biology lab. There were several parts of the lab, the largest part was a containment unit for biohazards. Another was just a regular lab with Petri dishes microscopes and test tubes. There were several things that were on the shelves but mostly agar, the gelatin-like seaweed-based material was both used in the desert and for culturing bacteria.

Hestia was keen on observing her surroundings, she looked at all the equipment and marvelled at the complexity of which the was made with, but overall it was similar to the chemistry lab. Though the extensive use of glass was clearly seen.

They were greeted by a boy and a girl. Both seemed to be considerably the same age. They bowed to the princess.

“Princess, let me introduce you to Chiron and Epione. They are stewards of Hygeia my Lead Biologist. That reminds me, where is she anyway?”

“You know the master, milord. She loves looking at the microscopes, I reminded her of what day today was but she told me she would look at the bacteria ‘a bit’, she lost track of time,” replied Chiron.

“She is in the bio-arcane research room, isn’t she?” Ezra surmised.

Ezra scratched his head. He didn’t want Hestia to know the actual extent to which research in the new field was going through, but he did experience some breakthroughs and insights on what magic was through this lab. This was one of his most important labs yet.

He decided to go to the bio-arcane section anyway to introduce Hygeia since it was disrespectful that she didn’t show up and greet the princess. Ezra was still thinking that Hestia would go on a tantrum because of disrespect.

He looked at Hestia.

“I’m sorry princess, the one I assigned did not come out to greet you,” Ezra eyed her expressions. To his surprise, she answered.

“That’s alright,” and she smiled sweetly.

Ezra didn’t know if this was a trick of some sort so he still decided to bother Hygeia. He tasked Chiron to go get Hygeia.

Hygeia entered the room from another section of the lab. Hestia’s mouth was agape. There was only one word that could describe Hygeia: beautiful. She was tall and had rosy red lips, even though her hair was tied in a bun, it was obvious that her hair was well taken care of, it was golden like the sun.

Her cheeks were rosy white and flushed pink. Her piercing green eyes were set perfectly on their sockets. Her cheekbones were high and she had an air of nobility around her. Her flawless porcelain white skin almost blended into her lab gown which she wore carelessly. Except for her dishevelled look, one would mistake her for a noble lady. She looked around 17.

Hestia suddenly felt a burning sensation in her gut and she frowned involuntarily.

Before Ezra could even introduce her, Hygeia exclaimed, “Lord Ezra, it seems our conjecture is true, bacteria do have the capacity to carry magic. But the perplexing thing is, of course, the discrete quantities they can produce. And the fact that the intervals on recovery seem to be well defined. It is peculiar that nutrients do not affect the production of magic in either strain B-156 and B-255. However further study is needed to conclude that nutrition does not affect magic production. This just opens a world of more posibili-”

“IMPERTINENT!” Hestia shouted.

Ezra’s hairs stood on end. This was it, this was what he was dreaded. The tantrum that was about to happen.

But what bewildered Ezra the most was the sudden change of temperament Hestia had undergone, one minute she was sweet and now she was riotous.

Ezra immediately put his hands up to stop Hygeia, “Please greet the princess first.”

“I am sorry for my disrespect, your Highness. “her voice was filled with contempt. She despised nobles except of course the Blackfyres. She was almost sold to prostitution to a local brothel in Bren if not for her Lord Ezra who rescued her four years prior.

She was a bastard, but her misfortune was that she was a girl. Boys were preferred for knight training overall. Little bastard girls could only be sold to other nobles as toys unless of course your magic capacity or talent made up for your gender.

She was lucky that the Blackfyres sent a search order for all people with considerable magic capacity, the Blackfyres said they wanted to train them in different trades and not only fighting which was the common order in the empire.

She was so shocked when she heard that a three-year-old was actually the cause of the order, what even shocked her more was the intellect of the child, it seemed that he was not a child at all, she thought at first, he was a dark demon, who knew the secrets of life and death and that her predicament was worse than being sold as a whore.

Caution slowly diminished and she had come to understand that Ezra was very special both in the way he thought about other people and the way he acted. For her, this was more surprising than the actual knowledge. She despised her noble father who raped her mother. She despised all the nobles around her who only thought that they were livestock. The Blackfyres were the only ones that were favourable in her sight.

In time she became accustomed to the boy and she excelled in biology, she was a quick study and she loved the biological sciences as a whole, she thought herself as someone who studied life and there was something divine in it, with all the things learned from Ezra himself. From then on, she vowed to serve Ezra as her master and saviour.

“YOU DARE!” Hestia and Erela exclaimed both at the same time.

“Hygeia, I command you to apologize to the princess immediately!” Ezra shouted he slapped his forehead, he wanted to contain the situation and he didn’t want to get matters off hand. “There are some things I can’t control.”

Hygeia looked at the ground, she had a sour look. ‘That witch, I must make her pay someday. To face this shame in front of Lord Ezra! I cannot suffer in disgrace!’

“Princess, please forgive my impertinence,” She said softly, trying so hard to hide her wrath.

“Hmp, Fine,” Hestia said with her full authority.

“Rise.”

Hygeia did as she was commanded. She tried very hard to hide her scowl.

Hestia had a mischievous smile on her face.

“You are forgiven, I only require 20 lashings.”

This left everyone in the room thoroughly shocked.