Chapter 40
My phone rings bright and early the next morning, pulling me from my much needed slumber. As usual, Lala is doing her very best octopus imitation, sleeping on, near and beside me all at the same time, but at least this time it isn’t hindering my arms and I escaped smoothly.
"It’s Jurgen, time for breakfast and then we’ve got a mission."
That’s it, he gave the message and hung up. Maybe he’s calling everyone? He sure sounds excited about the mission though, I wonder if it’s something fun, or if Athena found out where he sleeps and he’s just in a hurry to escape?
It turned out that he’d managed to hide his room number from the obsessive woman, she was waiting for us in the dining hall. "I heard your team all used this floor’s dining room, it seems my source was right" Not that it was hard intel to get, everyone on base knows, and they avoid our floor like the plague.
"Hey Athena, fancy meeting you here. Early morning family reunion? I’ll call for something sweet and plenty of coffee." Take that Jurgen, you deserve this for waking me up so early.
Just before the maids arrived with breakfast, so did everyone else, one after another.
"I see you weren’t early enough to escape Jurgen." Karl tilted his head to indicate Athena "But since everyone’s up, we can leave early to do something fun today. Lala, you get to come too."
This is new, Karl wouldn’t take Lala anywhere unsafe, so this must be a unique portal.
"Today’s mission is an alien botanical garden. And who better than our resident extradimensional apothecary herself to join as our expert? I’m hoping Lala can recognize some medicinal herbs, and help us avoid anything nasty. Scans show no fauna of any sort in the portal, plant life only, but some of it seems to be carnivorous, so keep your wits about you."