A Luminescent Legacy

The room was silent, the occasional drip of water from the ceiling and the faint hum of an air duct the only sounds. The Doctor continued to type away at his terminal.

“Any news yet?” asked a small voice from behind the Doctor.

The Doctor swivelled around in his chair and looked up at his diminutive assistant. “No. Not yet. But I’m sure they will be back soon with more Luminite samples for me to test,” he said in that jovial tone he always used with her. His assistant smiled back, revealing a mouth full of yellowing teeth.

She wasn’t really his assistant. In fact, she had nothing to do with the laboratory or science at all. She was tall and gaunt, with ragged clothes and long hair, and she smelled bad. The Doctor didn’t mind that though; she was cheerful enough, and he hadn’t seen anyone else since they arrived at the facility over a week ago. He liked talking to her, though he had no idea what her real name was or even where she came from. All he knew was that she liked to read books now and then, which made her useful in keeping him entertained while he worked on his research, so he took care of her as best as he could between experiments.

This all started several days ago when their plane landed late at night in Mokobodynia International Airport after a long flight from London Heathrow. They were met by a driver who transported them to their hotel in Mokobodynia City, the capital of Mokobodynia State. The next morning, the driver picked them up again and drove them to this old warehouse deep inside one of Mokobodynia State’s natural parks.

The Doctor had never heard of Mokobodynia before and had no idea where it was located on a map. From what little he could tell during their short drive along winding roads through thick forests, it seemed like a peaceful place – tranquil even – despite its large population and booming economy. He only knew one thing about this country: they wanted him here because they knew of his work on Luminite back in London - something quite extraordinary given how little is known about this mineral in general - and they wanted him to continue his research right here under their supervision with whatever resources he needed available to him. And if this meant leaving home behind forever to work alone in some dirty warehouse while living with some crazy old woman... well it wouldn't be the first time anyway.

After entering the warehouse through an unmarked door in one of its walls, they found themselves surrounded by piles of garbage everywhere except for one big section near the middle of the building where stacks upon stacks of boxes were neatly arranged against another wall covered by black plastic sheeting. The Doctor quickly set up shop there using a few crates for tables and chairs for himself and his assistant until something better could be arranged for them later when more workers from London would arrive to help him out with this project.

He had barely anything worth taking with him from London: just two briefcases full of notes on Luminite samples collected around the world over the past four years (which he left in storage somewhere) along with a few books that were important enough to him that he couldn’t bear to part with them (which are now neatly stacked on one corner not far away) but everything else... well that was left behind – including his family - and now belonged to someone else who likely didn’t appreciate any of it as much as he did anyway. He would just have to make do here as best as possible until he figured out what his new employers really wanted from all this Luminite business... but for now, he just sat there quietly waiting for their return while occasionally typing something into his terminal or looking up at his assistant who stood watching over him quietly besides one side of the room while chewing on an apple core she must have picked up somewhere while they were travelling here together days ago.