Moon Base - Babel City - Theta – Flora Conservatory – Day
Sunlight filtered through the dome's prismatic panels, illuminating rows of impossible blooms. Sakarah's former ally—and now reluctant informant—Dr. Eleana Dovely stood before a towering Chromaflora titanosauris, its iridescent fronds swaying in the faint artificial breeze.
Plukett folded her arms, eyebrow raised.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," she began, voice sharp. "Isn't a museum supposed to be a shrine for, I don't know, dinosaurs? Something extinct we don't give a swine about?"
Eleana turned, gaze steady on Plukett.
"These are our 'dinosaurs.' Extinct lineages we've resurrected. That one over there"—she gestured to a cluster of phosphorescent blooms—"is Silvestros rexornis, lost to science for over 250 years. The moon's controlled bioclimate makes revival possible—plus a little nudge from our xenobiology labs."
She guided Plukett to a carved stone bench beneath an obsidian arch. Plukett sat, folding her legs.
Despite the serene beauty—petals glowing like lanterns, soft pollen drifting in the air—Plukett felt memories stir: childhood labs on Earth, cold corridors, the taste of sterilant on her tongue. But the garden's calm offered a rare reprieve.
"I see you approve?" Eleana's voice was gentle.
Plukett shook it off. "You agreed to talk on anonymity, Doctor. So let's talk"
Eleana's smile wavered. By contract—and Bineth mandate—she was forbidden to leak corporate secrets. Yet Steven Baflin had been more than a colleague. He had been her friend.
"It started six months ago, when Baflin arrived here," Eleana said, voice hushed. "He'd left Syllikon and been recruited by Bineth for a top-secret project. I was on his team. He threw himself into it. You have to understand—his daughter was gravely ill. That project was her only hope."
"Project name?" Plukett pressed.
"'Project Fortune.' You're familiar with Binethic flushing?"
Plukett nodded. "Overuse of Bineth destabilizes organic hosts. Flushing purges spent nanites and replenishes them. Without it, you die or go insane."
Eleana's eyes grew distant. "There's more—Binethic grafts trigger immune responses. One in ten Retributors rejects the nanites outright. That's why there are so few of you and there are three generations of Bineth tech. But in Baflin's case, his daughter's grafts turned on her. He raced to override her antibodies. Four months in, with no success... Bineth pulled the plug. Disbanded our team. Baflin was devastated."
Plukett leaned forward. "Why was he sacked?"
"He refused to stop," Eleana said softly. "He continued in secret with two others. He reached out to me—" A quick shake of the head. "I refused. I had a family. I couldn't risk everything."
Regret flickered across her face. "When they found out he didn't stop, Bineth froze his accounts. Ordered his arrest, but he vanished. Then—news of his death and the others ."
Plukett knew this part.
"Bineth discovered Baflin's clandestine trials—clinical tests evidence. He'd progressed further than ever before, there are rumors he had succeeded."
"His daughter?" Plukett asked, voice soft.
Eleana shook her head. "She remained in Bineth's cryostasis. I would have guessed if he did succeed, he would have tried to get to her sooner or later but that didn't happen."
Her comm piped. The break was over.
Plukett sat up. "You were the one who reported him?"
A corner of Eleana's mouth trembled. "I did. I was terrified. He grew erratic—obsessive, unstable. I feared he'd kill himself... or worse, unleash something irreversible, you must understand Bineths are not merely some technological advancement, they are a lot more and we barely have scratched the surface."
Plukett nodded, then stood. Eleana produced a small holo-pad. "I sent you his last known residence. Bineth cleared it—found nothing concrete. But I guess you'll want to search it."
Plukett tucked the pad away. "Anything else?"
Eleana hesitated, then whispered: "Baflin renamed the project once Bineth pulled away from it, 'Purple Flower' He called it."
"Purple flower, seemed like he had a thing for flowers, he came here that much? " Plukett said.
"The flora Conservatory was built as early as the first structures on the moon base were, it has over the time only had 62 visitors, out of that number, I have made over 45, It is a dinosaur of dinosaurs I hope you understand what that means,"
Plukett agreed silently, it felt so.
"There is another thing, I think the doctor had a partner, someone else was involved, He never made mention of it but I don't believe Steven baflin could have carried on with the research without the aid of someone who had access to the resources and means,"
Plukett's eyes narrowed—this was getting interesting.