Audrey glanced around the busy lab room that she had just entered. She had just gotten to the facility and gotten past security, who had directed her here. The laboratory looked like a beehive almost, with researchers dashing back and forth carrying fancy-looking equipment. Voices sounded all around. Apparently something big had just happened, though Audrey had not been able to discern much about what that something was. She stepped out into the room, not sure exactly where or who she was looking for.

"Um excuse me," Audrey said, managing to catch the attention of a passing researcher. "I'm looking for Dr. Fumio Fukui, is he here?" The scientist pointed to a room off to the side then ran off without saying anything else. [i]Whatever just happened must have been bad,[/i] she thought, noting how serious everyone was. She hurried over to the other room and saw a man looking through a bunch of papers on a table. "Dr. Fukui?" She asked the man. "I'm Audrey Moure, your new research assistant."