"You're right, Madeline." Jennifer nodded her head. Rushing anything would put whatever humanity Jennifer had left in jeopardy, but trying to delay the review might raise the dean's suspicions and test his patience -- that would have risked an early meeting whether Jennifer wanted it or not. They would get as much research done as they could in the coming week and then see where they stood -- maybe Jennifer could pretend to be sick to buy another day or two if they were close.
But that worry was for then. Right now, the clock continued to tick and Jennifer had to bunker down in the lab for the coming day lest some student wander in and freak out at Jennifer's current state. The good news was that the lab had no windows to the outside for people to look through, and the door had skirts that sealed the gap between it and the floor so sound could be muffled almost entirely. The bad news was that the lack of windows was a double-edged sword since she also couldn't look out into the hallway to see who might be out there. Also, there's no bathroom in her lab. That plus the alarmingly high amount of honey she was producing meant that there was a chance she would run out of space to hold it all. What if she needed to leave the lab for something?
Alright, one problem at a time. "Madeleine, what is your schedule like for today?"
"I have one..." Madeleine's answer was interrupted by a yawn. Jennifer felt a little guilty now for imposing an all-nighter on her out of the blue. "Sorry. I have one lecture to attend in the evening. Do you want me to-"
"No, no, please...you've already done so much for me. I..." Madeline right now was Jennifer's only means of getting supplies. And the heat in her four bosoms was already starting to return. "The mattress can wait -- could...could you instead buy some...pure sugar from the supermarket? And some...bottled water. Then...get some sleep before your lecture." If she had the sugar on hand, Jennifer was confident she could hold out until the evening for Madeline to return. At least for one day, there should be enough containers lying around her lab for, uh...any waste products.
"Alright Doctor." Madeline paused for a moment before realizing something as she glanced at the lab door, then back to Jennifer. "I'll knock Shave And A Haircut so that you know it's me." She demonstrated on the counter with her knuckles: dah, da da-da dah.
Jennifer's eyes -- well, the two big ones -- seemed to light up at yet another Madeline solution that she hadn't even considered. Cell phone reception was always spotty at best this deep inside the building, and in any case the smartphone Jennifer had wasn't usable anymore for her insectlike limbs now. "Then...I'll knock exactly twice so that you know...it's me and....not..."
"We'll figure this out, Dr. Xiao. I'm sure this will just be the scariest part of the discovery of the century."
Jennifer nodded. "Right. In the meantime...I will be here. Maybe working, maybe sleeping." Oddly enough, Jennifer didn't feel all that tired -- whether that was part of the hybridization or she was just running on the mother of all sugar highs wasn't known yet.