He didn’t know if that made it better or worse, knowing what he still had to do.
Probably worse.
“This is amazing,” Lorenzo gushed. “Like, really? You can’t feel anything from him?”
“Like trying to hear a rock,” Frankie confirmed with a sad smile.
“Okay, I know you’re disappointed,” Lorenzo said gently, tucking his hair back behind his ears, “but
this is an incredible breakthrough! We know it will work! I mean, sure, right now it would blow you
up, but hey! Progress!”
“I know,” Frankie sighed. “I just... I wanted it. I feel like we’re so close.”
“Super duper close,” Lorenzo reassured him, “Oh! But one quick thing for your, ahem, courting? No
drinky drink for at least four hours. I mean, not that you’re going to, since you just, like, broke it. But
the nano bots will still be kicking around, and it wouldn’t be safe for you.”
“That’s fine,” Frankie said, nodding. He was trying to stay upbeat, but he was clearly bothered by the
results of the tests thus far.
Or was it something else, Snod wondered.
“We still have a few hours to kill,” Lorenzo chirped, upbeat as always. “How about we try some
variations of the antibiotic load, and then we go out to celebrate?”
“Celebrate?” Snod made a face. He knew that probably meant returning to a club. At least there
would be alcohol. He liked alcohol.
“Yes!” Lorenzo cheered, playfully nudging Frankie. “Come on. Pleeease?”
“Well,” Frankie said slowly, trying to resist a smile. “I did miss karaoke this week...”
“Yes!” Lorenzo pumped his fist triumphantly. “That’s a yes!”
“Fine, yes!” Frankie laughed despite his best efforts, a bright smile lighting up his face. “We’ll all go
out tonight, I promise.”
Snod smiled, taking a seat again while Frankie and Lorenzo got back to work. Karaoke wouldn’t be
so bad, he decided. At least it was somewhere familiar. He watched them with mild interest as the
hours went by, dozing off once or twice only to be woken up when something exploded or crackled.
They managed to spend almost the entire day in the lab before they were afraid to push their luck any
further. They had made it from DD 1.4 to 2.2 with little to no improvement. Every dose they tried was
still quite volatile.
Snod couldn’t help but think what an effective weapon the serum would be against vampires, and he
