Lab Journal Entry #10

[matril]

"Roadblock"

Int., Tori’s lab. TORI is at her laptop, looking at the screen in frustration. Sleep deprivation has made her haggard.

TORI
(Runs hands through hair) I’m so close. The tissue samples are fully viable. They’ve integrated well into functional systems. And it’s progressed far more rapidly than I could have hoped. I know I should focus on my successes...

But I’ve hit a roadblock, and I can’t think about anything else.

(Cut) I mean, it’s exciting to assemble the building blocks of life, there’s no denying that. It’s just that right now, that’s all they are. The potential of life, but not the reality. And as long as that’s the case...they might as well be dead tissue. Decomposing.

(Cut) The mechanism is so simple. I’m sure there’s a way to implement it. There has to be.

(Cut. TORI is staring at her laptop again. The audio from Entry #6 can be heard. TORI’s past anguish is plain on her face.)

(Cut. Now the audio is from Entry #3. TORI laughs quietly at something Eli says.)

(Cut. Now Entry #4: “Electricity was terrifying. Deadly. A power outside of human control.” TORI reacts, straightening. Then she pauses the video. Sits with her hand poised to shut the laptop.)

TORI
(Very quietly) I know what I need to do.

(Cut.) I need some new equipment.

(Cut. She’s scurrying from one place to another, rearranging her desk, jotting some notes, typing something in the laptop. Glances at camera, eyes alight and feverish. Moves around table to switch it off)