Three sets of eyes all turned their attention to her once Jason finished speaking, and Sheree felt her throat go inexplicably dry.
It was not the first time she had to present a case study before an expectant audience, nor was it new to her to be faced with such open scrutiny as the
three had promptly engaged on her just now. She had stood before tribunals and boards of inquiry much more imposing than her present company and was well
aquainted with what an uncomfortable experience that truly was like. Lancaster knew it was something more gutteral than being in the spotlight. She took a moment to cough discreetly into her rolled fist, giving her some little time to rid her voice of any irritation it may expose.
The Empire was why she and everybody else were here at Varuni station. Lancaster knew that when she signed on with the Russards, but Jasons little prep-rally speech made her want to slap him. The whole thing was nauseating and Sheree felt it prudent to pause before speaking so be be sure she had no trace of animosity in her words. It would not do to reveal her true feelings for the Imperial cause, especially not now when she was in such a good position with which to continue, and even expand, her subversive activities.
She drew the container forward to the center of the bench to afford her companions a better view, lifted the glass dome off and then began.
"You may recognize this plant as something similar to what we know as Skullcap - an herb so nicknamed because of the flowers at the end of its stems which look like little caps." She pointed to them with her index finger and Jason, Emelie and Xavier each inclined their heads a little closer to see. "Skullcap is a herb often used for calming hysteria, inducing sleep and even relieving tension or stress. It is also sometimes used to treat depression that is caused by exaustion."
Lancaster then ran her finger downwards and pointed out a violet stripe that ran the length of the plants stalk, "This coloration is an indicator of a property found in other plants that are often used in the production of narcosynthetic agents, or hypnotic therapies. We combine them with certain barbituates to produce Amobarbitol or Sodium Pentathol. You would more likely know them as truth serums - very effective interrogation tools. Now," she said looking each of her company in turn, "as this is a new species, or atleast one that is not catalogued in any of the Commpendiums of Biology that I have exaustively searched, we can be optimistic that its potential has not yet been investigated. We will be the first" she said, a ghost of a smile revealing her excitement at such an opportunity.
"We have a number of these plants which we collected from the second moon of Terrn in the Delta sector, and are keeping them in the clean room on level nineteen. The only personell accessing them are a select few that have a round the clock roster of assignments, drawn up by myself. Preliminary examination of the plants biological breakdown reveals that our optimism will not be unfounded and that the properties I have already mentioned, once developed, could open up much broader and more effective tools for us to use."
Bookmarks