Fish Heads

7.3.5 SW
11:00/21 SW-CP-Local Time
Crowning Point > Milk River Hatchery

The fish hatchery was fairly large, water pumps churned gallons of water. Tons of waste was passed through the filtration pumps which let out a constant electronic whine that bugged the aquaculture scientist Nila. She was sat at her terminal with her index finger resting on the Enter key. Her eyes moved from left to right as she studied the biological data readings, everything seemed normal, no major abnormalities. "Run infection check in pool seven," she muttered as she typed the same words on the keyboard. Pool seven was located about five metres away from her current position, Nila watched as a long monitoring device descended from the roof of the hatchery. As it descended into the water the results started to appear on the screen: No known infections found. Organism health is good. "Good!" Nila nodded her head. Then the hatchery's doors slid open and in came a trio of Nila's co-workers.

"You're early again," Osman, Nila's de facto boss shouted across the room. He took off his coat and threw it over the back of his chair.

"Am I early or are you all late?" Nila laughed.

He looked down at his watch as he approached Nila. "11:01am, you're right. We are late." Osman chuckled.

"As usual." Nila continued to go through slides of data.

"Everything okay?"

"Seem so. I ran a weekly infection check up, nothing found. All the other data is good, no evidence of any irregularities. Our little friends seem to be taking to Sutter's World pretty nicely. This kind of environment seems good for them."

"Glad to hear it. No foreign organisms found in the pools?" Osman pulled a thick pair of glasses out of his pocket and perched them on the bridge of his nose.

"Nothing of the sort." Palmer pointed at some readings on the screen proving this. "It's all good!" Nila grinned.

"You're one of the good ones Nila. What time did you get in anyway?"

"Half ten."

"Man, are you after my job or what?" Osman laughed. "I'll make it fair how about this morning I make you a coffee instead."

"Sounds more than fair," Nila giggled. "But before you do that I'd like to make a formal request." Osman pulled a nearby chair and sat down next to her.

"What's that?"

"I would like to take some time with your permission of course to try catch some native organisms. I'd like to study them - not just for scientific purposes but also to see their commercial viability. See how edible they are?"

"Nila, we have spoken about this."

"I know it's not our job to study native fauna. You've told me thousands of times but it could be extremely beneficial. It only takes one freak accident and we have lost all our supply! Do you want to be the one on the other side of that?"

"Not really no," Osman sighed.

"Plus I know you would like to spice up that little aquarium of yours. Wouldn't you?" Palmer winked sarcastically.

"Alright you have my authorization," Osman said reluctantly. "But make sure you do this appropriately."

"Osman, come on man, it's me you're talking about." Nila smiled at him once more. Osman got up and went on his way, he had always been a little curious about what secrets the waters of Sutter's World held.