Chapter 13

"Don't touch that dumbo," Ashley said as she swatted Elyas' arm away when he tried to touch an object that was on the granite lab table and he gave her a small frown. The twelve of them were currently in one of the labs on the ship which, according to the map, had five labs.

Hiro was standing next to Ashley and inspecting an electron microscope on the table. The equipment looked expensive; all the equipment in the lab looked expensive and Hiro was sure they pulled out all the stops for the other places in the spaceship too.

They weren't the only ones in the lab, there were a couple of other scientists touring the lab too and all of them were in groups. James was having a conversation with some of them right now and Hiro wondered if he was actually serious about poaching a doctor from another group because one of the people he was talking to was a doctor.

"How do you know what I'm supposed to touch and what I'm not to touch? You're not a scientist," Elyas retorted and tried to touch it but she swatted his hand away again, earning a dirty look from him. "You're mean," he muttered as his eyes bounced from her to Hiro and then back to her. "... and clingy."

Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that he meant she was clinging to Hiro and she sneered at him because she had only held Hiro's hand on their way here. That was absolutely not clingy!

"Fuck you," she mouthed, flipping him the bird for emphasis, and he gave her a dopey grin before walking over to where James was. She turned to face Hiro who was still inspecting the microscope and wondered if James was actually right about her being clingy because Hiro hadn't said anything to her on their way here.

Her mouth set in a hard line and she gave Elyas, who was now facing away from her, a dirty look for making her wonder if she was clingy and walked over to the table behind Hiro, sitting on one of the stools that were arranged around it.

"Hiro and Bethany look like geeks in their natural habitat," Thaniel announced, standing across Ashley at the granite table behind Hiro, and Hiro lifted his eyes from the equipment he was inspecting while some of the other members of their groups snorted. Hiro turned his head to face Thaniel who raised his brows at him while sporting a smile, silently asking him if what he just said was a lie and Hiro pursed his lips as he shook his head at the man.

His eyes found Bethany's who was standing next to another table with her hands on an expensive looking light microscope and they shrugged at each other before continuing what they were doing.

"Are we done here?" James asked as he walked up to them, wearing a childish grin on his face, and Thaniel and Ashley glanced at Hiro and Nikki before Hiro rose to his full height, done with inspecting the electron microscope. The equipment was the only thing that had caught his eye in the lab and he was ready to leave because he could check out the others when they started the work they were here to do.

He glanced around the lab and gave James a nod, wondering what made the man excited this time, and James' grin grew wider when he saw Erick and Ars coming back from wherever they went to. Sheldon and Aislinn were sitting on stools next to the table Bethany was standing at. They didn't seem to be interested in the lab which was pretty cool by the way, and had been sitting since all of them came here.

"We're done," Sheldon and Aislinn replied just as the door to the lab slid open and more people entered it while having a loud conversation, making the spacious area feel smaller. Hiro saw the people James had been talking with earlier, exiting the lab and he was relieved because he had thought James would ask them to join their group.

"Cool," James stated and Sheldon and Aislinn got up from the stools, assuming that they were all going to leave the lab. "I just found out that there's a game room on the spaceship," he added and Aislinn instantly furrowed her brows while Ashley's forehead creased. "I know. It's a bit ridiculous seeing as they want us to find out whatever about the planet as soon as possible but that doesn't change the fact that it's cool."

James was right, it was ridiculous. The room had to have been installed with good intentions but people might prefer to spend their time there rather than do their job and that would definitely delay the process of finding out if Planet Z was habitable or not.

Hiro let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed his backpack and tablet from the table before walking towards the sliding door. Ashley had said that they would be going to the medical bay after the lab and he had seen the room on their way here so that was where he was headed to.

The rest of them gathered their things and they all made their way out of the lab. The hallway which had been quiet before when they came to the lab was now a bit noisy with people talking loudly and calling out other people's names. There were only a couple of people in it, walking to the medical bay, but they weren't talking. The noise was coming from other hallways and Hiro hoped this isn't how it would be every day.

"I'll come meet you guys there. I have to go drop my bags in my room," Erick said as he held up the bags he was carrying.

"Oh, me too." Aislinn joined him and the both of them began to head down the hallway while the rest of them moved towards the medical bay.