"All right Gurk! Let's get going now!" Once the last alien on the screen was eradicated, Sheila tugged on Gurk's elbow. The crocodile stepped away from the machine as the young woman led him out of the entertainment room. Janus peeled his eyes away from the underwater imagery on the projector to watch the pair leave the room with the door shutting behind them. Once they were out of view, he returned his attention back to the Broadcast. 

"Looks like Sheila and Gurk went to work on the science project," Janus said to Itzel without taking his eyes off the programming.

"Uh-huh," Itzel mumbled in a daze. 

"Think we should tag along?"

"Nah," Itzel said. Janus poked his head out from the edge of the and saw Itzel resting her head against the cushion with her eyes shut. "Just... let him..."

"So you're saying stay behind and enjoy the show?"

"Yeah..." Itzel snuggled herself into the corner of her seat and turned her head away from Janus. 

Janus leaned back in his seat and returned his attention to the Broadcast. More underwater creatures passed along while the monotone narrator continued to describe them with scientific-sounding words that he didn't recognize.

Understanding science is a bit hard when you don't know any of the terms they're using, he thought to himself. The more he watched, the heavier his eyes became. The soft vibrations of the chair. The warm feeling coming from the cushions. The gentle rocking of the seat. It wasn't long before the sounds of the Broadcast faded into silence. I think... Itzel's got the right idea...

"Welcome to my personal lab, Gurk!" Sheila entered the new room first. After a brief pair of claps, the lights turned on and revealed the contents of the area. A long metal table stretched out across the middle of the room. It shined from the ceiling lights that bounced of its silver service. Along the walls were shelves containing a large assortment of complex and sharp instruments. Against the back opposite side stood various machines. The largest one looked like a chamber with a metal window in its door. Next to it was a large microscope-like device with a place for a pair of human eyes to peer at a specimen placed inside.  "What do you think of the place?"

Gurk sniffed the air a couple of times and then winced. "Smells weird."

"Oh, that's just the preservation chemicals." Sheila put on a pair of plastic gloves and then opened up a fridge. She carefully pulled out a small jar with both hands, holding it in front of Gurk. "The substance is used to keep organisms like this from decaying."

The crocodile leaned forward, squinting at the small entity that was suspended in the transparent brown substance. "What's that?" Gurk asked while pointing at the jar.

"It's an embryo. From a Neo-Sapia." Sheila said softly. She lowered the jar onto the table.

"Oh."

"Just like you, Gurk!" Sheila smiled as she leaned in closer. "You said you don't know anything about where you're from, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Well, this little guy will grow up to be someone just like you. That is... if we can figure out the secret to activating the genetic code that is keeping it dormant. Right now, it's the equivalent of an egg without a shell."

"Cool." The crocodile closed one eye while the other squinted at the floating embryo. Inside the thick and bubble-filled substance was a small, curled baby-like being. Its head was larger than the rest of its body. Two black dots pierced through the golden gelatin that kept it motionless.

"Are you interested in where we found this?" Sheila gaze at the crocodile with a pair of inquisitive eyes.

"Sure," he said with a shrug.

"We managed to salvage this from a deceased Neo-Essencima that we... came across... in our studies." Sheila then paused, her smile turning into a somber frown as she continued to gaze at the motionless embryo. "It's a rare specimen. Your kind is already uncommon. To find a viable embryo prime for imprinting is essentially unheard of."

"Wow."

"That is why I was so excited when I saw you on Siergi's Broadcast! You are probably the only reptilian-based Neo-Sapia alive. Perhaps we could figure out a way to make this..." Sheila showed off the jarred specimen with her hand. "Into something like you." She then pointed towards Gurk's chest.

The crocodile remained silent for a moment as he peered into the jar. "A kid?" he said softly, breaking the quiet of his contemplation.

"That is one way to look at it. It will more than likely require your DNA in order to awaken. But I know it is a massive favor to ask of you. That’s why I wanted to get your approval first." Sheila put her hands behind her back and looked down. She grinded the heel of her foot against the white tile. "If you don't want to help... I understand. A basic research essay will be more than enough for my project. I just wanted to see if you'd be willing to help me bring the assignment up to another level." Sheila then tilted her head up just enough to make eye contact with Gurk. The crocodile slowly shifted his gaze to the specimen on the table. 

"Can I... hold?"

"Absolutely!" Sheila picked the jar up with both hands, placing one over the lid and the other at the base. "Even though the container is sealed and reinforced, please don't drop it. We don't want to risk any unnecessary blunt force trauma to the little fellow if we can avoid it."

"Right." Gurk spread his palms apart and balanced the container on top of them. He then raised the embryo to his face. His breathing slowed as he stared into the black dot that was its eye. With the way it squinted, it looked to be sleeping. 

"That container is able to provide a suitable environment to preserve the embryo while the substance that keeps it suspended does the job of providing nutrients. But even with these measures in place, we can't keep it stable forever. If I had to estimate, I'd say two weeks at most."

Gurk let out a low growl. "My kid?" he inquired.

"As my father would say, you get to do all of the fun parts of parenting!" A sudden smile appeared on Sheila's face. "You could stop by anytime! Play, hangout. Have dinner."

"Hmm..."

"And we'll take care of the more demanding aspects. You know how babies can be, right?"

"Yep."

"Of course, there's no guarantee that we'll even be able to awaken the embryo. That's part of where the research will come in. I have no idea what genetic elements to inject that will properly create another reptilian Neo-Sapia. It will take some trial and error just to—"

"I'm down."

"Huh?" A perplexed Sheila stated. "Are you sure?"

The crocodile nodded. "Oh yeah."

The young woman took the specimen off Gurk's hands and slowly placed it back inside the fridge. She then shut the door and input a code on the panel. "I just wanted to make sure the specimen was safe and sound before I did this." As Sheila finished her sentence, she spun around leapt on one foot towards Gurk's chest. She embraced him in a full hug as she hung off his neck. Her feet dangled inches above the ground and she continued to hug him tight. "Thank you! Thank you!" she repeated quickly and almost incessantly. "Because of you, we might be on the cusp of one of the greatest discoveries in Neo-Sapia history!"

"Nice!"

Sheila ended her hug. She let go of the crocodile's neck and landed upright. She brushed off her skirt and looked towards the metal chamber towards the end of the room. "Now then. There's no time to waste!"