The party was a throng of boys, girls, lecturers and exhibitors involved in the annual Biohack exhibition and forum. The hosting university of the science event also had food spread on a few long tables. The stage was lighted, a 5-piece band was playing some pop songs.

Ballqis felt so out of place. The crowd was friendly, a few students from other universities approached her to her for a chat, so she managed to secure a few new friends. There was even a Malaysian girl in the mix, and they had fun talking about hometown for a short bit. However within 30 minutes, her lack of experience in mingling finally pushed her to a corner. Armed with a dippy dog and a bottle of mineral water, she was the epitome of a wallflower.

Micah saw a blonde whose bright red spectacles was constantly sliding down the bridge of her nose, and fell in love. He sent a smile her way even before touching any of the food.

Iqball and Mr Evans were enthralled with the band. With a kosher kangaroo jerky on each hand, they sat at a high table facing the stage.

Mrs Jogh waved at Ballqis from the long table.

"Help me with these, please," she said upon Ballqis' approached.

One had a mountain of tempura vegetables while the other had cream puffs. Mrs Jogh who was juggling stacks of barbecued meat and pizza signalled for Ballqis to follow. She made a beeline towards the high table where Mr Evans and Iqball were sitting.

After dumping the loot on their table, Mrs Jogh went away to find Micah. Ballqis had no choice but to park herself and the two plates she was carrying at the same table.

"I'm going to make sure we all eat well tonight. Tomorrow, I doubt we'd even get to squeeze a break. Be ready for meals that are primarily Tim Tams," she warned.

Mr Evans waved her off with a laugh. 

"How are you doing, Ballqis? Exchanged numbers with anyone yet?" Mr Evans queried.

Ballqis nodded, smiled and pretended to be distracted by a sudden drum attack coming from the stage. 

Earlier while they were still settling the fish at the expo booth Mrs Jogh had joked about checking how many new friends each of them would make.

"No harm in making new friends among the academia. If you maintain a genuine interest in them, who knows they'd turn out to become great contacts in the future," she said while they unpacked the fish onto the racks allocated for their project.

Iqball saw Ballqis shrinking into her introvert self and sighed.

Even Mr Evans get the 'don't talk to me' treatment, huh. Maybe I'm not that special after all, he resorted.

***

Expo day was unbelievably hectic. What excited the crowd was the size of the tilapias, given their age. The fact that they ate so little also made visitors ask questions. Mrs Jogh's presentation was brilliant.

Ballqis learnt that the tilapias were the produce of a previous experiment. Before Mrs Jogh another scientist thought by combining strains of DNA from animals with certain traits, they would be able to proof that any DNA could be further separated.

"Some of the animals chosen for the DNA separation experiment were the tilapia and catfish due to them being staple fish species. Their genetic were enhanced with DNA strains of dolphin, which was selected for its intelligence and sharks, for its ability to survive for months without food. That experiment, while it did not achieve its original intent, ended up with these tilapias, a new sub-species that can grow quickly and eat a lot less. We believe this can be a food source and with controlled farming, address food security," Mrs Jogh told the floor.

Ballqis, who was tuning in to Mrs Jogh's presentation via the screen feed nearby their expo booth was engrossed in this interesting bit of information. Even Iqball, who was handling Mrs Jogh's slides raised his brow in surprise. Micah did tell him that the tilapias had strains of other animals in their DNA, but knowing the experiment had stemmed from a bigger ambition gave him a new insight.

Somewhere in the middle, Mrs Jogh invited Mr Evans to demonstrate the tilapias' growth rate.

"Please visit our booth to see the fourth generation of the tilapia of this new, readdressed experiment. While a regular tilapia needs about eight months to harvest, we believe even the three-month old sample is already suitable for you to pop into your air-fryer," said Mrs Jogh as she ended her presentation with a quip and a red laser point towards Tilapia 7.

The audience clapped in awe while the fish remained stoic in its clear plastic tank. Iqball quickly rounded up Mrs Jogh's laptop and buntings while Micah got off stage with two fish tanks in each hand.

"Well done, Jogh," said Mr Evans, who only chimed in with his numbers for two minutes.

Mrs Jogh was in such a good mood, she  promised to take them around town the next day.

"Sharks too, huh," Iqball whispered at T7.

The fish remained fish-like.

Iqball sighed and began to check on the other tanks.

Ballqis who was at the far corner of the expo booth could not help but smile. 

Iqball seemed to be taking this whole Stephen King-fish business quite well. Maybe I should be more like him. So what if the fish is a telepath? I doubt Mrs Jogh meant it when she mentioned air-fryer, she thought to herself as she handed out some brochures.

Oh yeah? Then where did you think all the fish before me disappeared to?

Iqball heard that.

So did Ballqis.

They both sprinted towards the tank marked Tilapia 7, 3-months old, fourth generation.

Their eyes locked.

Micah who was handling Tilapia 3's tank seemed indifferent. The same could be said about Mr Evans and Mrs Jogh. They were handling visitors queries. None of them looked like they registered anything unusual.

"You heard it?" Iqball got to the question first.

"Yes. So where did they go?" Ballqis whispered back.

Iqball did not have an answer but promised, "I'll ask Micah. He's been with the project for five semesters."

T7 stared right at them, its body almost still. The creature, though unable to do more than just open and close its mouth, seemed a tad... peeved.

"Maybe I should find him some corn pellets," Iqball said quickly.

The fish resumed its swim.

"I think we should," Ballqis agreed.