Gemotions

The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the cluttered lab. Amelia, hunched over her microscope, jumped when a voice startled her. “That’s… that’s exactly what I've been working on.” A young man, face flushed, pointed at her slide. He held a tablet displaying an eerily similar digital rendering of the same rare bacteria strain.

Her breath hitched. She saw the tremor in his hands as he displayed his work. She instinctively reached for a chair, gesturing for him to sit. The air in the lab was thick with the scent of ethanol and the unspoken tension.

“Let me see,” she offered, her voice soft. She leaned closer, examining his screen. She noticed a slight difference in their approach, his including a detail she had overlooked. A genuine smile, almost involuntary, tugged at her lips. “Tell me about it.”