Balls

48

The party ended at about 2pm as the wind got stronger. All the Russian students left with Molly and Mirna while Aga, Ballqis and Iqball had to return to the Student Union office to collect their deposit. A representative went over the BBQ spot for a quick cleanliness check before signing the deposit release form.

A group message for all the student lab assistants came from Micah as their affair concluded.

Mrs Jogh needs help. Whoever could come, please make your way to the lab now.

Iqball, Ballqis and Aga who had just tucked away all the BBQ utensils they borrowed from the Student Union office pantry decided to make the trip as the faculty was only a 3 minutes walk away.

They bumped into Nastia on their way up to the lab on the second floor.

"I was about to take a shower but I came back out here. I wonder what's going on," she said to Aga as they climbed the stairs.

"It's the lab. Someone broke in earlier today," Micah replied from behind them, making the girls jumped in fright.

The lab was a mess. The fish were all safe, but the fries kept to only one side of the double tank and T6 was guarding her offspring, so much so some even went back into her mouth to seek refuge.

"I need to know if the fish are all OK. I need you all to keep an eye on their behaviour. But please don't touch anything. The police are on their way. So please walk only along this yellow tape line towards the tanks and don't stray elsewhere," the shaken professor pleaded.

A researcher was also there to observe the fries, so the students each picked a big fish.

Iqball reached T7's lair.

What happened, are you OK? He tried to investigate.

T7 was shaking its tail the way Mirna had described as fear. His apprehension was apparent as the fish kept its movement curt and short.

The other fish seemed to behaved similarly.

"There's a pattern in their movement. They are fidgety to a certain degree," Aga said from in front of Tank 10 after about 5 minutes.

"They don't do long swims around the tank. T9 kept pushing away the pellets and sinking itself down to one bottom corner of its tank," Nastia agreed.

"Is your fish eating?" Ballqis asked her peers. They had been asked by Mrs Jogh to drop some pellets to soothe the animals but it didn't seem like it is working.

All of them confirmed a 'no'.

"They are either too nervous to eat, or they simply won't eat because right now is not their usual feeding time," Iqball surmised.

The police arrived before they could discuss further. All of them was asked to vacate the lab. A researcher had given the police a copy of the lab camera surveillance footage. The students were hanging on the corridor outside the lab, so they could hear pretty much everything.

A figure in black hoodie had entered the lab at about 3pm.

"I must have spooked the guy when I came into the lab suddenly. I just wanted to pick up my coffee mug which I had left on the rack near the fries' tank. He ran pass me when he saw me coming through the door. He was skinny and about my height. When I saw the papers strewn on the floor I quickly alerted Mrs Jogh and went through the CCTV footage. From Camera 1 I could see that he did something strange just minutes before I arrived. He had switched on a device that emitted a blinding light. It didn't seem like a camera flash as it lasted for a few seconds. Our cameras cought white noise during that few seconds, but after that it could be seen that the person ransacked these work desks," the female researcher said to the police, pointing at the workstations.