[b][i]Paramount[/i] Central Research and Development Bay[/b]

The Central Research and Development Bay, located towards the upper front of the ship, was a flurry of activity. Scientists dressed in flowing pearly-white lab coats dashed around, some holding pieces of equipment, some with research drones following closely behind, and some clutching glowing datapads. But one was more prominent than the rest. The scientist in question was currently sprinting past rows of tables with holographic interfaces, and carrying a full stack of paper. Occasionally, several slips fluttered out, slowing falling to the floor, forgotten by their holder, for he was too excited to care. "This is so exciting!" The man practically scouted as he narrowly dodged a random engineer working on a malfunctioning maintenance drone. "An alien species- no, a [i]collection[/i] of alien species that hasn't tried to attack us yet!" He was Doctor Travesty, the head researcher of the [i]Paramount[/i] science team, and, as his name would suggest, had a brilliant mind despite his legendary clumsiness. He ran with a skip in his step.

Then he tripped. Papers flew everywhere as the man fell flat on the polished, marble-white floor. He lay sprawled out there for a while, before he slowly rolled over and rubbed his forehead. "Not again." He groaned and looked over to the spilled papers. Just then, he noticed a metallic hand enter his field of vision. Looking up, he was greeted by the faceplate of the bay's one and only Lab Assistant Research System, or LARS. These kinds of androids were used in hundreds of research facilities all over the Colonies, and several in ships. They were a step up from basic artificial intelligences, programs that would be akin to a regular laptop, though they were still less advanced than advanced constructs like Nikolai. Nonetheless, they were still able to process trillions of complex calculations every second. "Need some help, Doctor?" The machine spoke in a metallic but rather civilised British accent as it stared at the fallen scientist with two pairs of glowing green photoreceptors.

The Doctor stared at the machine's bleached, protective material-plated body before accepting its hand with a sigh, feeling the surprisingly warm metal. "Yeah, I do. I just tripped, that's all."

"Over nothing, sir?" LARS spoke through a pair of speakers on either side of his otherwise featureless face, minus his photoreceptors. Travesty gave the android an annoyed scowl as he brushed a speck of imaginary dust off his coat. "Of course. Even the most perfect floors can have bumps and depressions."

"Ah. Forgive me, sir. Perhaps my best efforts of trying to fix the [i]perfectly smooth[/i] floor were all in vain." Even for a machine that was programmed to be serious all the time, LARS had a surprisingly dry sense of humour. Not that Travesty exactly appreciated it, of course. 

Travesty grunted as he began to pick up the scattered pieces, but stopped when they suddenly seemed to float up in the air, swirl around for a second, and rearrange themselves into a neatly stacked pile. LARS stood behind the moderately stunned Doctor. "My apologies. I just used my new implemented telekinesis module. It is rather helpful in situations like this." Travesty said nothing, and instead simply nodded in appreciation, picking up the stack and walking away in the opposite direction. He then promptly bumped into a technician, spilling papers and metal parts all over the place.

LARS sighed as his palm met his face. "Oh, why of all science teams was I assigned to this one?"