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Chapter 2

On earth, Evelyn and her colleague were working on a new experiment to test the fungal samples for foreign genetic material. They had sequenced the genome of the mushrooms before, but the computer had always spit out inconclusive information. That's why Evelyn proposed an experiment to identify foreign DNA within the sample by exposing it to many different substances and looking for the different reactions. She didn't have much experience in astro-biology apart from the 4 years she had studied these samples. She had gotten this job through sheer luck, right after finishing her degree in the field. But her colleague, who was about 10 years older than her, had a lot more experience and had approved her proposal.

The two scientists were in a large room with many glass cabinets containing rock samples, petri dishes, even what looked like some sort of tentacle. One of the larger cabinets was open and empty. Evelyn was standing in front of a big plate with the fungal sample on it. It was a huge mushroom for earth conditions, almost half a meter high. It's cap was mostly green, with some purple on the edges and the stem was mostly a brownish white, covered with some tiny green dots. She was just about to drip a droplet of purple liquid on the cap of the mushroom, when a knock on the door stopped her. Her colleague walked up to the door and opened it, and outside in the corridor stood an armed guard in uniform. He had a symbol on his chest, reading "UHSE" below it.

"Hey guys, I'm just going out for a quick smoke, you're fine in here, right?" - The guard that had appeared at the door asked.

"Sure, why not. Right, Danny?" - Evelyn looked over to her colleague, not sure if she had the required authority, and still holding the pipette with the purple liquid in her hands.

"Errm. Yeah, why not" - He said.

"Cool, thanks! Be right back." - The guard said and left.

"Alright, let's get this done." - He said while walking back over to his desk, where he was taking notes about the reactions of the sample to different substances

Evelyn squeezed the pipette, and a drop of the purple liquid dropped on the side of the mushroom, which was lying on its side.

"One droplet of experimental purple serum, dropped on the green area of the sample." - Evelyn said, while Dan was scribbling on his notebook.

She put the pipette away and was now looking at the sample, expecting something to happen.

"No reaction?" - Dan asked her after a couple of minutes had passed.

"No apparent reaction" - She said, visibly disappointed. They had tried different substances the whole day, and apart from some minor color shifts, which was expected, they hadn't gotten the sample to show any reactions yet. They had even created a green and a purple serum from another sample, which had purple and green areas on the cap, too. Evelyn had hoped that if they dropped the purple serum on a green area, like they just did, it would turn in color or at least show some form of reaction.

Disappointed, she dropped into a chair behind her and stared at the sample.

"Don't give up, I'm sure we're going to find a way!" - Dan said.

"Well, it's almost break time anyway. Shall we go for lunch?" - She asked.

"Alright, sure. I'll go let the guard know. Let's meet outside" - He said as he left to lab.

They walked across the road towards a little restaurant. It had a glass dome instead of a roof, which is why Evelyn liked it so much. There was no natural light in the lab, so she liked coming here in her breaks, even if it was just for a coffee. On the other side of the road, she could see a large sign in front of their workplace reading "Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Analysis".