Merlot's Lab

You do not want to be here. If you are not Merlot himself or his assistant this likely means you are their next experimental test subject, good luck.

## Sinister Synopsis

Twenty years prior to the current events taking place on Obear, Professor Merlot Valentine aboard the Nostradamus was tasked with creating an energy source that would be able to recycle nuclear power back into their generators creating infinite energy for the ship. With these tasks in mind he experimented with tardigrade DNA, cockroach DNA and human DNA to create a body capable of sustaining massive amounts of nuclear radiation then expunging it from their systems. Three previous test subjects had failed and were transferred to his Experimental Laboratory which he now keeps in fresh stasis until the time is right for more experimentation. Finally, Merlot came across a breakthrough in his fourth experiment with a feminine body that absorbed the radiation as food for itself and then used it to nurture and grow the fetus it was housed in. Curious to the nature of this organic wonder Merlot allowed it to live and feed off of the reactors for months before the fetus had grown into a young woman within its tube. Merlot later invented a suction system to drain the young woman of the radiation to prevent further growth and keep his experiment alive, barely.

Congratulatory as ever, the boisterous Captain Shiverstein gave Merlot a promotion and an assistant in Professor Ienzo Cimex. Together the two kept a careful eye on this experiment which grew very slowly day by day as well as its sentience. Ienzo claimed that the experiment would twitch or attempt to speak while it had enough absorbed energy but Merlot would starve the body just enough to keep it sustained and in a form of stasis. Many years later Ienzo was informed on Merlot's true plan for the four women's bodies that were both his failed experiments and the successful one they kept an eye on. Mortified he wished to be removed from the job of watching the growing experiment and was placed on duty in the Experimental Laboratory watching over Merlot's insects. After this move the two rarely talked about Merlot's experiments involving the reactor or this woman. This turn of events, however, would be exactly what Merlot had planned from the very beginning...

Five years prior to the current events of Obear, Merlot and Ienzo were experimenting with several species of insect from their home planet when Ienzo was called away for business in the Aft Section of the ship for repairs. Merlot continued to watch over his experiment understanding that any day now it would achieve sentience having been secretly feeding it the excess heat from the reactor rods located on the launched tubes next to her tube. Instead of immediately sending the rods to the ship's reactor, Merlot would wait for his experiment to absorb their heat and part of their energy before sending them which has seen the ship run at less than maximum efficiency for the sake of science. It was on this day he also happened to be testing his Armored Grasshopper experiment which killed a guard mercilessly before devouring the contents which lie within their skull for sustenance. Placing the insect away he discovered that his experiment had finally awoken and greeted it with open arms. Explaining her purpose, Merlot made it clear that she was expendable and that her body would be used for something else once her usefulness had come to an end. After this he was called away by one of the guards to speak with Captain Shiverstein.

Upon speaking with the captain, Merlot found out that Captain Shiverstein planned on abducting the inhabitants of the nearby planet which was named 'Planet 0-B34R' by the ground team due to the contents and riches of minerals located just beneath the planet's crust. Merlot was given first access to the planet should they ever send down another expedition team to explore and discover flora or fauna. Shortly after their discussion an alarm was triggered by an unknown source later to be revealed as his own experiment who had miraculously escaped her containment. Running the halls bare, frightened, and unable to full control her powers, the experiment eventually made her way to the holding cells and damaged all of the containment units freeing several species of alien. One of which was a lone human male who loathed their own life. Having a deal with the scientist Merlot, this male then pursued the woman and freed the rest of the inhabitants contained in the cells to try and prevent the escape of the young woman. Unfortunately, the experiment was successful in landing in an escape pod leaving the ship while losing their memories involving the ship as well leaving deep mental scars of past events.

The man who was pursuing the woman was stopped as the Nostradamus lost power due to the lack of energy within the reactor's back-up generators and left the experiment to escape. The guards attempted to gun the man down but failed resulting in one of their deaths as Professor Merlot arrived on the scene. Professor Merlot then made a deal with the male, known as Aleister Dragmire, explaining the details of the experiment to him and why it was important to retrieve the woman. Not only could she cause harm to befall whoever she came into contact with but the gemstone within her was priceless and the reason she could absorb the radiation from the ship's reactor. If she was brought back alive to the Nostradamus, than Aleister would be set free to roam whatever star he so wished. Should she not be brought back at all however, Merlot would have no choice but to make Aleister his next experiment. With the conditions made Aleister was then prepared to be sent planetside with Professor Merlot within the next month to locate his experiment which gave itself the name: 'Mitsuko Himura'.