Commando: Yeedil, Quarantine
While Twilight wasn't suspicious by nature, her experience when going after Drek - specifically, when dealing with Captain Qwark - had left her with the lesson of not taking people at face value. It hadn't been a pleasant lesson, but it was one she took to heart now as she looked at her surroundings carefully. While the basic idea of a quarantine in this situation made perfect sense, the fact that Abercrombie hadn't mentioned it made it suspicious. Then again, he was desperate for assistance, so it was reasonable to assume a business tycoon would skip over unpleasant details when asking for help.
The quarantine itself, however, was exactly according to specifications that Twilight had looked up regarding Gadgetron quarantine protocols, so she assumed Megacorp would have similar protocols. They were also very careful with Woona when scanning her for any foreign contamination before returning her to Twilight. The basic scans for any such contaminants she might have on her was done just as rapidly, with no discomfort on her part.
The screening of her own biology against anything Bogon children might have would take considerably longer, however. She understood that, given that she was a brand new sophont as far as this galaxy was concerned as well. The expected blood sample was collected, along with a few feathers she was shedding anyway, some mouth swabs, and some horn shavings.
This last was the most discomforting for her. Not because it wasn't something that happened naturally. As her horn grew, the outermost portion of the calcified tissue flaked off as the newer horn grew in from underneath. The main reason it was discomforting is because a large concentration of nerve endings were focused in her horn. While blunt impact - such as using her horn to impale something - didn't cause too much reaction, any sort of rubbing or grinding motion was highly uncomfortable and disturbing.
Fizzwidget collected the horn shavings himself, being very careful and gentle with it. "I know this can't be very compatible for you," he apologized, "but it is unfortunately negatory for proper exhumation."
Twilight winced, more from his sentence structure than his gentle ministrations collecting the horn shavings. "While I appreciate that...I wish your elocution was a bit more standard in practice."
Fizzwidget sighed. "I'm well aware my verbosity is far from combustible," he replied. "I promise it's not intestinal."
"I know you don't do it on porpoise," Twilight replied before groaning. "But it seems horn shavings isn't all that's rubbing off."
Chuckling, Fizzwidget gathered the samples. "Is there anything I can do to make your stay more conformist?" he asked. "At least until we can lift the quasar?"
Twilight sighed, cuddling Woona. "Any chance I could contact Daddy?"
Fizzwidget frowned. "Given the erroneous nature of his mission, video contact would be inadmissible."
"I didn't mean calling him," Twilight countered. As much as I wish I could, she thought silently. "But could I write him a letter or something?"
"Certainly!" Fizzwidget replied. "I'll see he gets it potato bake!"
Smiling and rolling her eyes, Twilight accepted the tablet offered her to write her letter.
Dear Daddy,
I'm here on Yeedil, but I haven't met any other kids yet. I'm still in medical quarantine to make sure playing with the other kids doesn't get me sick. I hope you're doing well on your mission. Clank implied that you would be able to complete your mission quite easily. If so, I'll probably still be in quarantine by the time you come to pick me up from Day Care. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
I'm going to see if I can talk to Clank. He's working in the accounting department, so he should be able to make time to come see me, right? I hope he's not too busy.
Good luck storming the castle Daddy! I love you.
Twilight.
She handed the tablet up to Fizzwidget. "Is there any chance Clank could stop by?" she asked hopefully.
"I'll let him know you asked," Fizzwidget promised before turning to leave.
Twilight wasn't entirely sure how long she'd been in quarantine. She'd fully expected it to be a protracted amount of time, but her only sense of the passage of time was whenever some doctor came in to run another test, whether collecting another sample or a scan, or some other examination. None of it was in any way invasive or uncomfortable, but it wasn't exactly reassuring, either. Without any books to read or anything else to work with, she ate the food she was provided whenever she asked for it and slept when she grew tired, and sent another letter to Ratchet whenever she felt it had been long enough since the previous one. However, it was impossible to keep accurate track of how long she had actually been there.
With boredom eating away at her, she eventually decided to try something she'd read about just before Fizzwidget had called on them. Curling up to Woona, she let herself sink into a state resembling slumber, slowed her breathing, stood up, and left her body behind.
She smiled down at her ethereal frame, pleased that her first attempt at Astral Projection had gone off without a hitch. Glancing back at her physical body, she saw that the glow of her horn flowed into her Pilot's Helmet, showing how the magic took shape so easily. Giggling, she turned and floated through the wall to explore the Headquarters.
"Well, Fizzwidget did say I could explore his high tech labs," she said aloud to justify her actions, her voice audible to none. Floating around, she looked to see if she could find the Child Care center. Maybe she could at least see what the children here looked like.
No matter how long she searched, however, she saw no children. She saw quite a few labs testing all sorts of products, and an uncomfortably large number of battle robot manufacturing plants, but nowhere that could conceivably be considered a Child Care Center. "Well, that doesn't make any sense," Twilight muttered. "Fizzwidget said I'd be spending time in the Child Care Center, but there doesn't appear to be one."
After a time of ethereal exploration, however, she saw Fizzwidget returning in private transport from somewhere, carrying a parcel of some sort. Curious, she followed him.
Making his way to the biolab, Fizzwidget pulled the Experiment from the parcel, stuffing it into a cage. The creature started snarling, biting at the cage bars and trying to chew its way out, but froze. Turning, it looked straight at where Twilight was floating.
Confused, Twilight floated around the room, shocked as the creature's eyes followed her. "You can see me?" she gasped.
The creature nodded.
"And hear me too? That's amazing!" She floated up to the creature to examine it more closely.
It suddenly roared, thrashing around in its cage.
"You're in pain?" she whimpered sympathetically. "Let me see if I can do something about it..." She stretched a hoof out to stroke its head.
Without warning, she felt her ethereal body pulled into its frame. Instantly, she was able to establish the source of its agony. "Geeze! Why is that gland making so much of that chemical?" She focused her magical awareness on the gland in the poor creature's brain. "There's no way you need this much. Let's see if I can..."
Focusing her magic, she attempted to decrease the bio-chemical production of the creature's gland. It took more focus than any other magic she'd tried before, both because she was working on a biological subject and because she was working without her physical body. However, eventually she was able to reduce the gland's production to only the levels that were actually needed. She also saw the creature's genetic code tweak itself to include the reduction in production.
"There we go!" Twilight said, separating from the creature. "Better?"
The creature smiled happily, letting out a purring sound as it nodded, attempting to nuzzle her non-physical form.
She giggled in reply. "I like you," she told it. "I don't know what Fizzwidget has planned, but I'm going to call you Mr. Fuzzy-Biter. Do you like that?"
Mr. Fuzzy-Biter nodded his appreciation of his new name. However, as Fizzwidget approached, Fuzzy-Biter growled at him.
Twilight could only watch in shock as Fizzwidget started using electrical discharges to force Fuzzy-Biter to produce more of himself at an accelerated rate, the excess copies immediately boxed up for shipment. "That's...that's awful!" She rubbed the fuzzy critter's back comfortingly. "Don't worry, Mr. Fuzzy-Biter. I'll get you out of here somehow."
Mr. Fuzzy-Biter gritted through the pain, but nodded his ascent.
Frowning, Twilight flew back to her body to begin her plans. However, as she merged with her flesh, a new worry made her pull Woona in for a tight embrace.
If the biological experiment had been recovered...where was Ratchet?