“I don’t believe I’ve met that boy before. I suppose introductions are in order first,” Dr. Selkie said as she glared suspiciously at me. Not that it was a big deal or anything, but it felt strange hearing the rather youthful Dr. Selkie refer to me as “boy.” Perhaps she was older than she looked. She waved her finger at me, shaking her head. She wasn’t as bad off as I feared.
For the record, we’d already carried Dr. Selkie to a wall and helped her lean against it, as per her orders. Iris and I hunkered down beside Dr. Selkie as we listened. It didn’t feel right to loom over her.
“Introductions can wait. Please tell us what happened,” Iris said. She fretfully dabbed away the splatter of blood around Dr. Selkie’s mouth with her handkerchief. In reality, Dr. Selkie was losing a great deal of blood. Her lab coat and cute outfit were so heavily dyed in gut-wrenching red that I could barely stand to look.
“What in the world happened, Dr. Selkie?”
“Of course… I’m sorry, you’re right. I should prioritize that first. Sorry, but my head is a little foggy from all this blood loss…or…no, perhaps I was always this way… Selfish, childish, and emotional,” Dr. Selkie rambled incoherently. Her consciousness was probably hazy at best. After all, it was obvious as the nose on my face that she was severely wounded. Her life was in danger if she didn’t receive medical treatment from a doctor and get some rest in peace and quiet. Yet Dr. Selkie adamantly refused to let us call for one.
“That was why, from the very beginning to the very end, I didn’t get along with that man. He was constantly fair, ever mature, and always intellectual—Dr. Goldman.” Dr. Selkie murmured, looking not quite right—as if she were possessed—as she glared at The Clockworks.
Dr. Goldman? I wondered who that was. I didn’t recognize the name.
“Dr. Selkie and Dr. Goldman are highly renowned researchers in this facility. They both possess quite high clearances and primarily conduct research on SCP objects classified Euclid or Keter,” Iris explained smoothly, on behalf of the barely conscious researcher. After seeing Dr. Selkie cough up blood so many times, Iris probably didn’t want her to talk more than necessary.
“Although they appear to have polar opposite personalities, they get along extremely well. They’ve produced great results by teaming together on their research projects,” Iris said, making a self-depreciating sneer flash across Dr. Selkie’s face. However, she kept her silence, taking deep breaths instead.
It was obvious she was in pain. Iris looked at her apprehensively as she continued, “Always calm and collected, but not without his own unique sense of humor, Dr. Goldman takes a serious approach to research. Although she is sometimes compared to a runaway train, Dr. Selkie’s wild ideas and reckless actions lead to astonishing experiments… Everyone talks about how they’re this facility’s greatest duo.”
“Really? That’s our reputation?” Dr. Selkie asked with a weak smile. “I could have sworn word had it we fought like cats and dogs.”
“Well, there are eye-witness accounts that you two start fighting the moment you set eyes on each other. But I’ve always been jealous of your relationship. It’s like you don’t have to stand on ceremony—like you’re close friends or family. It’s wonderful to have someone like that here in this research facility. Perhaps you’ve noticed that the warmth of others is in short supply,” Iris said without an ounce of sarcasm, probably expressing how she truly felt. She wasn’t a terribly tactful girl. But her straightforward opinion hurt Dr. Selkie more than anything, making her twist her lips in silence.
Looking at her in concern, Iris summarized, “At any rate, these two researchers were scheduled to fill in for Dr. Bright, since he has business elsewhere, to oversee today’s experiment—or rather, the tests to prepare for it. As such, there is nothing surprising about Dr. Selkie being here.”
As if patting a child on the head to comfort her after falling down, Iris wiped off the blood splattered across Dr. Selkie’s body with her handkerchief as she asked, “But what happened before we arrived? I don’t understand that, but I’d like to know. It is surely the most important thing at hand. Could you tell us, Doctor?”
“Yes, I suppose I must.” For a moment, Dr. Selkie caught her breath, as if overwhelmed by Iris’s momentum, but then she dropped her head in resignation. Although she still seemed to be in pain, she sounded surprisingly lucid. Probably the brief rest had helped psychologically stabilize her. “In that case, will you hear me out? This was going to be the happiest day ever for me and that horribly wonderful Dr. Goldman. At least, that was what I was hoping.”