[b][color=khaki]EDITH[/color] & [color=aqua]CHRIS[/color][/b]

Great, he was checking the name against a database. Edith should have known they would though. As of yet she hadn't seen a way out of here. Not that she had much of a chance, even if she got away from the man with the glasses or the robot. Who even wore glasses nowadays? Corrective surgery for such a thing had been around for almost a couple hundred years. Some people must really like the look, she guessed. As her mind wandered, the man kept trying the name before asking the tin can which cell she came from.

Crap, what was wrong with her? How could she be thinking about nonsense when her identity was on the brink of being discovered. Seeing the nurse leave, her attention was redirected to Chris. Dismissing the woman he said something quite curious. Her expression visibly conveyed her curiosity. It was slightly muted though when the odd smile appeared. What was he doing? [color=khaki]"If you're not a real doctor then what are you?"[/color]

The labcoat just stared at the girl for a few moments, expecting something. Then he sighed, pushed up his glasses, and looked at the UI again. [color=aqua]"It sounded funnier in my head."[/color] he said to no one in particular. He looked at her, followed her gaze towards the machines, looked at her again. [color=aqua]"Oh. They haven't told you what we're doing here? Which means you haven't consented... well, if we keep it non-intrusive I suppose that's fine."

"I am Chris Abu-Machlouf, Physicist extraordinaire."[/color] He made a wide gesture with his arm. [color=aqua]"This is the USF's new abnormal testing and categorization biolab. I realize it looks a bit worrisome,"[/color] His eyes stopped for a long moment over something that looked like a surgery table with many different knives hanging over it on robotic arms, [color=aqua]"But I assure you the tests are harmless. Unless, of course, your 'abnormality' is being harmed by weak electromagnetic emissions..."[/color] He scratched his chin in thought. [color=aqua]"Yes, we'd better take it slow."[/color]

Realizing that Chris was trying to be funny Edith wondered if she had missed something. Humor wasn't one of her strong suits, at least it hadn't been since a little before joining AAIM. Either way she apologized for missing the humor. [color=khaki]"Sorry."[/color] That was actually something of a curiosity. If she was truly younger then maybe the damage to her brain was repaired. Perhaps it could just be maturity though.

[color=aqua]"Anyway, I'm afraid there's an identification problem, miss Fiona."[/color] he looked at the screen again. [color=aqua]"A temporary technical difficulty with network integration, no doubt. I have only arrived yesterday, after all. I wanted to make it more pleasant, but, if you please,"[/color] he gestured at a fingerprints and retina biometric scanner welded to the table. And took a step back, just in case.

Then four eyes began to explain the situation a bit. This was some testing to be done on people with abilities. And it was driven by the USF no less. Well great either way it looked like she was found out. Plus the scanner would identify her anyway. Sighing she placed her hand on the scanner and let the retina scanner do its work. If she were on the outside and needed to get through security she would have had something in place to get past something like this. Here she had nothing though. [color=khaki]"My name is Edith Rendel. You might have heard about me in school or something."[/color] The device confirmed her words. Judging by the man's age he wouldn't have even been born when she was committing crimes. No her place would have been prison by then. 

Chris tilted his head slightly at the girl. Was this an escape attempt? Has someone behind the stage failed to implant a profile in the database that would say in large red letters that a horrible mistake has happened and 'Fiona' must be released immediately? Or maybe she was just schizophrenic? He slowly forced some air out of his lungs in a thoughtful manner. To be honest, this was going far better than he had expected. 

Having pretty much dropped any guise she had, however flimsy, she at least seemed to be more open. In this place someone to talk to seemed scarce. [color=khaki]"So are we going to be doing a standard physical or will it be much less pleasant?"[/color] Really if they were doing research of people with abilities there was no telling what they would do. Plus she wasn't exactly a model citizen and there were probably people out that that would love nothing more than to put her to death.

He looked at the screen in his hand, depicting a profile of a woman. It had a picture and some basic details. Only the name seemed to match the girl in front of him, and even that was doubtful.

[color=aqua]"Hm. Give me a moment."[/color] The physicist played around with the settings until he reached a detailed result of the last biometric scan in this room. Apparently it had been configured to work in a noisy environment and had allowed a mismatch of up to 1% from the database for recognition. In this case there was a 0.2% error, meaning 99.8% match. 0.2% error! Literally millions of people could've introduced themselves as Edith Rendel, and the sensor would believe them. 

He tried to see if he can recognise a pattern in the error data, but gave up after a few moments and returned to the main screen. A picture of an elderly woman with hard eyes stared at him. Digging his memory for the name, he found nothing, but he was never good with newspapers or history lessons, and it didn't matter much now anyway. Lifting the screen to his eyes, he tried to compare the girl to the picture - and soon found out her white hair blotted out the other differences, convincing him once again that hair had a much larger impact on appearance than one may think. He ruffled his own hair with thought, then realized he forgot the protective goggles on his head and put them on the desk.

[color=aqua]"Well, 'Edith',"[/color] the accent in his voice was barely audible, [color=aqua]"This isn't really a physical."[/color] he finally said. [color=aqua]"What I am looking for is parameter changes outside the scope of human health. Though you must understand, this is a new research subject so we won't be doing every possible test, hopefully. I'd like you to focus me - Is there anything that you can do or feel that is strange or unnatural?"[/color] He suddenly cursed himself in his mind for that 'feel' comment. He isn't supposed to be a professional in this yet!

Edith figured Chris didn't seem convinced he should believe her or the instruments. To be fair she did look a lot different than anything they likely had on record. Taking a moment to think about what to do she wasn't quite coming up with her usual brand of chaos. Slightly frustrated with herself she ran her hands through her hair. [color=khaki]"They don't teach history like they used to. Probably because they don't want to expose kids to a fanatic."[/color] Shifting slightly she looked at him as if he were rather dense. He was probably doing his best but it was still rather sad.

Waving her hands down her body to draw attention to the obvious she rolled her eyes. [color=khaki]"Does losing 70 years of age count as strange? Because this is how I woke up here."[/color] Crossing her arms she glared at the bot standing at the door, she still spoke to Chris. [color=khaki]"Whoever did this to me I don't know whether to thank them or curse them."[/color] By now she didn't really care. Her three weeks in the place has been trying and she wanted answers more than hiding. Assuming the scientist believed her at all.

[color=aqua]"Oh."[/color] Chris said, impassively. He said everything impassively for some reason. [color=aqua]"And this just happened one day?"[/color] He was already with his back to her, scanning the room. [color=aqua]"Was it gradual or sudden? Do you feel going younger still? Do you feel anything odd at all, with your senses I mean?"[/color] He asked urgently, shooting ideas at Edith as they came. At the moment he could not disprove the possibility of her dying from degeneration or some similar process in the next few days.

Well, he could, but...

[color=khaki]"Honestly I'm not sure how quickly it happened. Kind of hard to tell when you're unconscious. Couldn't have been more than a couple days though."[/color] The barrage of questions made her stop for a moment to think about how she felt. As far as she knew she hadn't gotten any younger. Or at least not at the same rate. [color=khaki]"Nothing else has changed in the last three weeks so I think I'm fine. At least I hope so."[/color]

He pulled out a mobile pulse and ECG meter from a closet and set it on the table. [color=aqua]"Here, put this on -"[/color] He put a wired plastic clip on her finger and spread a blood pressure sleeve for her to put her other arm through. Well, at least it appeared that this guy hadn't been the one experimenting on her. Wrapping the sleeve around her arm she finally answered the last question. [color=khaki]"I feel 17 again, that's odd in my book."[/color]

[color=aqua]"I'm glad to hear that."[/color] the labcoat said, focused on unwinding the ECG probes. He raised his eyes at her. [color=aqua]"That it's stable, I mean. I should be recording this... excuse me a moment."[/color] he pushed his glasses up his nose, grabbed the UI with the same hand and pushed at an area on the screen with his nose.

[color=aqua]"So. Subject appears to be different than her profile,"[/color] he returned to the probes, [color=aqua]"By 70 years. Woke up younger about three weeks ago, no recollection of process, appearance stable. Physiological data to be added here."[/color] He pushed the screen again. [color=aqua]"Roll up your sleeves please."[/color]

As she rolled up her sleeve Edith watched the labcoat. Despite his marked lack of tone in his words or much expression he seemed rather all over the place with his thoughts. Of course he did say that he wasn't really a doctor. Perhaps he was just nervous. [color=khaki]"So are you new to this or something? I know I'm your usual patient but could you relax at least a little? Being scatterbrained isn't the best vote of confidence for the person you're trying to study."[/color] Since earlier he'd mentioned looking into abilities she could only assume they were trying to ascertain what made her different. The whole powers thing from the TV sounded far fetched to be some natural thing. She herself had been locked up so long that she was sure someone had to be responsible for the changes.

It did make her wonder if Chris knew something she wasn't being told. But for now she would settle for less aggressive conversation. [color=khaki]"What do you think about the reports of people gaining powers? I only just heard about them but I can't help but notice the coincidence that something this strange happening to me around the same time."[/color] While she spoke she let him set up the equipment, not getting in the way as best she could. [color=khaki]"I've been in jail since before you were born so I'm just trying to figure out how something like this would happen."[/color] Somehow she doubted she would get much from the stoic but she kept an eye out just in case.

[color=aqua]"I'm trying to find out if your life is in danger as fast as I can, confidence has nothing to do with it."[/color] Chris replied while carefully sticking the probes on Edith's arms. There were at least two distinctively different ways to accentiate this, giving it opposite meanings. The labcoat did neither, of course, leaving the meaning to the girl's imagination. There was something liberating in not having a tone of voice, he suddenly realized. It's almost like he was living his life behind a computer screen. In fact, he had been hoping to someday be as cool as he was right now, especially with a girl who...

He realized he was staring at Edith's midsection. Without missing a beat he lifted the last probe to her eyes.

[color=aqua]"Please put this under your shirt, five fingers over the navel."[/color]

"[color=khaki]That isn't exactly comforting either.[/color]" As he placed the sensors it occurred to her that she hadn't been this thuroughly tested since getting shot several decades back. Though the doctor she had to go to was far more questionable in his practice. Being an outlaw meant cutting corners sometimes. Lost in thought she shifted back when he held the last one up to her. Really? What was the big deal about where the thing went?

Without much afterthought she took the sensor and lifted her shirt long enough to put in in place. The action didn't mean much to her. "[color=khaki]You didn't answer my question.[/color]" Really she was trying to keep herself distracted. Doctor visits were never her thing despite having been through them many times. How odd that she could commit attrocities but something as simple as a checkup made her nervous.

The labcoat blinked at the girl a couple of times.

[color=aqua]"Your question... Oh. Yes, well, we had had a debate about this back at home base."[/color] He said while calibrating the various instrumentation connected to Edith's limbs. [color=aqua]"Many versions cropped up, including sudden evolution from long exposure to some undetected agent in the soil or the artificial atmosphere, though that one died quite fast - there is no statistical behavior that can explain such a simultaneous outbreak of abnormalities. Some of the guys suggested it's bioweapon testing actually - what if the subjects were introduced by the USF, both for exposure testing and to lay down martial law undisturbed..."[/color] The question mark that was somewhere in the sentence was lost, both because Chris didn't seem to be able to pronounce them, and because he was now looking at the VI guard at the entrance. The guard was staring ahead, completely still, but when it noticed the eye contact it turned its head.

[color=aqua]"Many versions, yes."[/color] Chris abruptly turned his head towards the UI, which was collecting data from the pulse, blood pressure and electrocardial activity sensors. It was all too... mathematical. It almost disgusted him at this point. So much of the truth was lost in translation... 

His hands started to itch. He looked at Edith's arm, connected to his instruments via a white patch with a wire coming out of it. There was a short mental struggle. He lost.

[color=aqua]"Hmm, let me fix that - "[/color] He reached out for the patch, his other hand closing around her arm as if to steady it...

[i]Initializing skin-level biotelemetry. Confirmed. Blood flow detected. Pressure within nominal parameter range. Pulse within nominal parameter range. Increasing probing depth. Connection to central nervous system confirmed. Brain activity detected. Compensating for information increase... this is hard, dammit... confirmed. Scanned biotelemetry limited to global life signs. No alerts detected. Internal organs within nominal parameters. Scanning brainwave signal physical layer... Envelope detection failed. Oh, right, a woman... That's it. Disengaging.[/i]

Edith felt a slight tingling on her skin where Chris's hand closed over her arm, for the ten seconds it took him to fix the probe. There was some sweat on his forehead. He looked at the UI, nodded to himself, then looked at her.

[color=aqua]"Congratulations."[/color] He said unceremoniously. [color=aqua]"As far as these simple devices can tell, you are not in danger. Now, [i]now[/i] we can begin."[/color]

Well the question went nowhere. But it served its short lived purpose as a distraction. The theories were silly to her. The second one could make some sense, but fell apart when it came to her. Why would someone give her of all people a power? When he needed to adjust one of the sensors she held her arm up. The tingling sensation from his touch was weird but she chalked it up to nerves. 

He was noticeably sweating though and she was a little concerned. What the hell is wrong with this guy? He did gave her a clean bill of health, but the somewhat relieved expression wilted. "[color=khaki]Begin what?[/color]"

[color=aqua]"Experimentation, of course."[/color] Chris quickly removed the devices connected to Edith, but left the ECG connected. He opened a panel at its side and pushed some obviously non-user-operated parts. The graphical display on the UI turned to text, then back to graphs, but weird ones.

[color=aqua]"There is a theory that says all carbon-based life is operated by electricity."[/color] His monotone was similar to a dry narrative on a Discovery channel equivalent. [color=aqua]"All electricity that is not constant is transmitted. This is how brainwaves can be read without cracking the patient's head open."[/color] With tragic irony, he pressed a button on the operating table that had the suspended knives. The tools and their robotic arm came off the table, suspended on their height by a wheeled column that fit underneath the table. He rolled it closer to the examination bed that Edith was sitting on.

[color=aqua]"This will be very inceptive. It takes time to study the output and I will be searching for a pattern at first."[/color] He plugged the column into a nearby power and data outlet, and brought up a new window on the UI. [color=aqua]"Now that we're recording, please try to... become younger. Or older."[/color]

The knives were pointed in a menacing circle towards Edith's face, like a skeleton of a very large worm.

"[color=khaki]You know, when they tried to figure out what was wrong with me they did something similar to this.[/color]" She wasn't going to go into detail of that particular encounter. Sitting back she tried to relax. The UI showed the typical signs of nervousness and stress. Focusing on what he requested she didn't think would yeild results. So far she'd gotten nowhere with it. And other than a light increase of activity nothing looked abnormal on that front.