Unethical Practices

New Home, New Lab

Cisco was helping Rey carry the last of his boxes down to the floor below. After some consideration, he had decided to move into a more spacious living area down on the same floor as the new lab. Since they had been able to make requests freely, he and Felicia had decided to have their own separate living spaces, but with a door that connected their apartments. Cisco had of course been given permission to come and visit whenever he wanted to as well, though had declined the offer to move down there.

"First of all," he explained. "I like my apartment. It took a lot of time to get it the way I like it. Second, there's nothing fun to do on your floor. Third, there's only the two of you on your floor. I like having people nearby. It's bad enough as is."

"You do know that 'No' is a complete sentence, right?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to make absolutely sure you understood why there's no chance in hell that I'll move."

As they placed the last box in Rey's new lab, Cisco shook his head.

"Everything you brought here fit in a suitcase. How the hell did you manage to fill several boxes with stuff?"

Rey shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's mostly research related. Oh, and that 'Dumbest smart guy'-trophy you welded together. It's in that box you've been carrying, by the way."

"That explains why it weighs a ton. I would've made it out of styrofoam if I'd known you'd make me carry it."

"I would've said that it's karma, but we both know I did it on purpose."

With a large yawn, Rey stretched his back and leaned onto the brand new couch. Cisco gave him a long stare before hopping to his side.

"Have you been forgetting to sleep again lately?"

Rey almost jumped from surprise.

"No? I've actually been sleeping more than usual this last week. Figured I needed to be well rested before starting work on a new project."

"Really? I feel like I've seen you up and about more than usual."

"I actually downloaded a sleep tracker on my pad after last time. I can show you if you want?"

"No need, I believe you. Just my imagination I suppose. Guess I'm a bit jumpy since people have been disappearing lately."

Rey furrowed his brows at the news.

"What? That's the first I've heard of it. How could anyone even disappear here, of all places, anyway? Did they wander out into the wilderness or something?"

"I honestly don't know. Usually when people quit or something happens, people know what's up. Four people have just stopped showing up in the last week, and nobody knows what happened to them. They're not in their apartments either."

"I'll keep my eyes out for trouble then. At least it's unlikely I'll be kidnapped when I'm on my own floor."

Cisco nodded.

"There's that, I suppose. That was the last of the boxes, right? I think that calls for a housewarming party."

Unlike the last time Cisco had organised a housewarming party, Rey recognized most of the faces this time. He couldn't help but reflect on the fact that even after eight months here, he still didn't know most of them beyond their first names. It wasn't really an intentional thing; he had always been more focused on his research than socialising. In hindsight, that might have been part of the reason Durst had asked Cisco to tag along during his orientation. She did seem to have a knack for placing the right person at the right task, which wasn't really a surprise considering her job.