Taemin sat acros from her at the desk in his room, watching her form where she was perched on his sofa. "So Rebecca's in the infirmary now?"

"Presumably. I didn't actually follow the researchers that took her away."

He sat back at his desk, running his hands through his hair. "I assume you want her reassigned?'

"Please."

"Where?"

"Anywhere thaat's not Ward Epsilon."

"I don't necessarily have power that far."

"Then make her a secretary or something. She can't go back into that room."

"Do you not think she learned a lesson from that?"

"I'm not so concerned about her knowning what she did wrong, more that I need it a message to my other researchers that I can and will dismiss them."

"Right." He leaned back in his chair, watching her. "You care a lot about them, don't you?"

"To an extent." She hesitated. She had never really been able to lie to Taemin. "Someone can't spend weeks, day in and out, with the same people and not care about them."'

"The others don't."

"The others aren't with them the full shift like I am."

He sighed, looking off to the side. "Do you ever consider not throwing yourself so fully at them? Taking some time for yourself every once in a while?"

" . . . Not really." She eyed him. "Should I?"

"I think it would be beneficial."

Her eyes narrowed. "Where is this coming from, Taemin?"

"The Directors are worried about you getting close to the subjects and forming attachments." He spoke plinly, which she appreicated. It was so tiresome to try and understand what someone was dancing around. "If your results weren't so good, they would have taken you off the project a couple of years ago."

She nodded slowly. "So, you're advising me to create a visible distance between myself and the subjects?"

"Exactly."

"What exactly is the goal of Project Exhume?"

"I can't tell you that."

Kyungsoo raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Soo."

"So, the Directors are worried that I'll do something to protect them because I care about them and the Project is self-evidently volatile."

Taemin didn't say anything.

"I see." She stood. "Well, I have quite a bit to consider. Thank you for your time, Taemin."

"Don't get mad at me, Soo."

"I'm not mad at anyone. I wasnt kidding about having to consider this very thoroughly. It is important that I make the right moves from here on, isn't it?" She raised an eyebrow. "It's likely that you weren't even supposed to tell me they consider me a threat to the project. I appreicate your honesty and I'll try my best to assist you without raising tensions any more."

He choked out a laugh. "Why are you always so cooperative?"

"Should I not be?"

He shook his head, a smile sneaking onto his lips. "Do what you've got to do, Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo had barely slept when she arrived, crisp and on time, for the alpha shift. Amber was still there, waiting on her as the other researchers filed through.

"I know we're not . . . close, or anything, but I'd like to talk to you a little bit?"

Kyungsoo blinked. "Sure. That's what I'm here for."

Breath rushed out of the younger researcher and she rolled her shoulders, preparing herself. "Okay, so I want to start staying through the night with the subjects, like you do.I was just . . . I don't know how to do that."

"Waht do you mean?"

"Like, I do all kinds of reports and research compilations for the scientist teams since my shift's supposed to be more of a dead one, right? I don't know how I'm supposed to balance the two."

Kyungsoo poked the tablet and the room shifted shape to a circle once more. "If you're doing it on a laptop or tablet, then it's easy to just bring it down here with you on shift. Sit here at the control desk, if you'd like. Otherwise, you can log in at the desktop computer and work from there."

"I'd also- I mean-" She sighed, running her hands through her hair. "I want to work with them like you do, but I don't know how to."

"Do you have two hours to spare to stay on this shift with me?"

Amber blinked. "Huh?"

"You can shadow me for a little while and leave when you're ready to go eat and sleep."

Amber broke out into a smile. "Sure. That would be great."

"Come, then. Grab the skin regen gel and the bandages."

She listened obediently. "Why, though?"

"Rebecca hurt five of the subjects when she was playing with the punishment apparatus."

"Oh." Amber's eyes grew wide. "OH!"

"Yeah. So we have to clean them up some."

"Right, right." She shook her head. "Sorry. It's been a long night."

"I don't doubt that." Kyungsoo walked them into the central room and the subejcts pressed themselves to the glass, all smiles to see Kyungsoo again.

"My saviour!" Baekhyun cooed. "So lovely to see you so fresh-faced this very morning."

"I will smack your burns if you make fun of me for not sleeping again." Kyungsoo threatened and Baekhyun laughed.

"I don't doubt it."

"First things first - ladies and gentlemen, this is Amber Liu. She's the manager of beta shift. She's going to be staying with you during the evenings and Iw ould like you to give her a chance." She eyed all of them, making sure they recieved her message. "She reports diretcly to me and she's good at her job. Play nice with her."

"Okay, unnie." Sehun spoke up. 

Jongin nodded too. "Whatever you need, noona."

"Wow." Amber walked up to their cages. "You guys really respect her, don't you?"

"She takes care of us." Zitao replied. "She's really good to us. It's only natural that we're as good as we can be for her too."

"That's really sweet." Amber cooed.

"What brought this on?" Luhan barked from down the room. "You never had any interest in us before this and now all of a sudden you have a change of heart?"

Amber walked over to his cage, meeting his gaze steadily. "It's not an excuse, but it's the truth; it's really easy to treat someone you're told to study as if they're an animal. When we were trained, you were always 'the subjects' or 'the experiment'. It gets really easy to dissociate the fact that you are people and not just the means to meet a goal."

"That's your explanation?" Luhan nearly snarled. 

Amber shrugged. "I'm not making excuses. We were trained to examine you from a cold, clinical perspective and that's what we did. That's what I did - followed my training and the rules and did as I was told. Should I have? No. I mean, they hired us all because we have the ability to think critically, but I never thought to think critically on how I was doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I wouldn't ever blame you for being uncooperative, but I'm also not too prideful to avoid fault. Kyungsoo's way is the best way and you are people It took me too long and a fried staff member to realize that, but hey - better late than never." Amber offered a smile. "After all, it might be nice to actually get to talk to someone while I'm up all these stupid hours."

Over Amber's shoulder, Kyungsoo was giving him the look, so he sighed and gave in, backing away from the glass and going to sit on his cot. Kyungsoo's expression was back to neutral when Amber turned back to her. 

"It's a good start." Kyungsoo said.

Amber nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Well, let's get started, shall we?"