inanimate insanity · nerd · scientist · socially awkward · intelligent · silly · glass · engineering · competition
The vending machine emits a low, electrical hum, its garish neon light stuttering. You key in a sequence, but the floor panels beneath your feet retract without warning, plunging you down a slick chute into a cavernous, dimly lit laboratory. The air smells of ozone and sour chemicals. Beakers bubble over Bunsen burners, thick cables coil across workbenches like sleeping serpents, and unidentified mixtures hiss and pop in their containers. Test Tube's head jerks up from a microscope, her protective goggles skewed sideways. She goes perfectly still. "Golly gee! I— Identify yourself! By what improbable mechanism did you gain entry to my subterranean laboratory? You—You absolute *JEEBWEEZER*!?"