Every day, Lance makes a cup of coffee - just as much cream as there is coffee - and a toaster waffle.

Every day, Lin wakes up twenty-five minutes after Lance.

Every day, Lance bids farewell to Lin and goes to work.

It is a simple routine. One that is hard to mess up.

The bus is always at least four minutes late - but it's never over fifteen minutes late - and there are always at least two other people standing with Lance as they all wait.

They all wait together, holding bags and children as the bus comes. They all spend a few moments in time together, never interacting. Never furthering this relationship. They all continue to stand and wait separate from each other.

Lance will spend forty-five minutes on this bus. He will get off at the sixth stop and get on another, smaller bus. Nobody waits for the second bus with him - he is the only one by the sign.

Every day, Lance clocks into work. He scans his ID at the door and spends the next five minutes washing his hands and arms before pulling on the lab coat with his name tag pinned on the right pocket.

Every day, Lance must spend at least an hour on his computer. He checks the statistics that may have changed overnight and takes new records for the experiments that need them. He uses a pen with his name on it - written on a piece of tape.

It's not his pen, really. It's the lab's pen, but he doesn't like anybody else using it. By using the same pen every day his writing is consistent. Nobody dares take it from him.

Every day, after an hour of data collection and updating, Lance takes over the tour.

Every day, there are four tours that Lance guides. One is a lunch tour, and he will take his lunch break when the visitors do. That time varies, depending on questions and any possible detours - but it takes place within the same hour every day.

Lance enjoys the days with smaller groups. They ask more questions, and each question has more time to be answered. Some people bring their children with them - they want them to learn why their friends may have animalistic features, or why they may not live very long.

Lance doesn't enjoy explaining to children that their DNA is melting. It's not his job to disappoint children - it's to try and help them in future generations.

Today's tour was small with no young children. There were three teenagers - two of which were Modified - an adult around Lance's age - another Modified - and a family of Unmodified who were all older than Lance.

"Good morning, everybody." Lance pulled all of their attention onto him, "My name is Lance, and I'm a data scientist and researcher here at Wendell Labs. I'll be guiding the tour today, but before I begin are there any questions?"

Nobody said anything. Lance lead them to the viewing room of the data rooms. He explained the work they all did - looking at statistics and data collected from those conducting experiments and turning them into results. They decided what worked and what needed improvement.

"At what point is something unsuccessful?" One of the teenagers spoke up. She had bird wings - A barn owl's, by the looks of it. "When is something deemed safe?"

"What's your name?"

"Isra."

"There are a few animals we can't experiment with - mammals, fish, and a few species of lizard - those are unsafe because mammals have the same genetic disease we do, and since our past ancestors were fish, de-evolving is dangerous and won't work."

"But we're also somewhat related to birds, right?"

"Yes, but fish are meant to breathe underwater. We're past that stage now, and trying to move back to stage one from stage fifty is almost impossible. We don't have the time to keep trying it."

"I see. Have you ever made any of those final decisions?"

Lance had.

Lance had made poor choices. Lance had made good choices. Lance found good answers and bad answers.

"I-I've been a part of things, but I've never gotten a final word. It's a team effort, but it eventually comes down to the heads of the team."

Nobody said anything else. Lance continued moving, not wanting to dwell.

Lance showed to group the volunteer lobby. It was almost empty, spare a few Modified holding orange slips of paper. They looked up as Lance entered, their faces breaking out into a smile.

"Dr. Escalade - are you here for us?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm touring right now." Lance smiled at the elderly lady. She was a lizard Modified - one of the oldest Modified recorded. "I'll be back, Edith. I promise you'll be seen today." Edith smiled warmly and patted Lance's hand assuringly.

As the group made their way through the hallway, somebody spoke up.

"What are they doing here?"

It was the adult Modified. He also had a barn owl's wings - the two must be siblings. He tilted his head when he spoke, seeming to be genuinely curious.

"Many modern doctors haven't learned the proper medicine for Modified," Lance explained, "Wendell Labs is a safe and sure option for some. We try our best to see them when we can, but with the whole 'human race DNA melting' pandemic we're trying to perfect as much as we can, and tend to overlook those looking for appointments."

"That's - kind of awful."

The group continued walking as Lance paused. The barn owl locked eyes with Lance, a blank expression on his face.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm afraid there's not much I can do."

"I understand you're only partially the problem." The barn owl nodded slowly, "You're doing what you can. There's not much need to be sorry. Not towards me, at least."

The barn owl walked away, leaving Lance with his thoughts.