Nora couldn't help but wince at the vitriol in the girl's words contained in her first response.  She didn't like to [i]think[/i] that she was a bit of a prude, but the truth was, she really was.  But the truth also was that Nora was sensitive to anger and other negative emotions, and she had a hard time trying not to take this personally.

But Nora wasn't blind, and when she saw the girl's tears build up in her green eyes, her heart melted.  She couldn't bring herself to be sharp against someone who was just as vulnerable as she herself felt behind her facade of scientific neutrality and pleasantness.  So, she just listened until the girl was finished, and now she finally had a name to work with.  And, while this Jane Smith now seemed to remember their encounter in the forest clearing, at least she wasn't threatening Nora like she had back then; that seemed to be an improvement that heartened the scientist.

"Okay, Jane," Nora said, adjusting her glasses briefly with a touch of one hand.  "I disagree about how special you are, after seeing for myself that laptop setup you had rigged to connect to that ship you came down in, but...I think I know what you really mean.  I can tell you that, as far as I'm aware, only the people downstairs are aware that you are here, and none of us have called anyone else.  I don't have any obligation to report you to my superiors, either, since you're not one of the people on the list to be here, and they didn't tell me I [i]couldn't[/i] accept other residents if I saw fit..."

Nora then stood up, leaning forward with her hands on her thighs.  "As for why I'm helping you...well, you didn't ask to be here, and you don't seem like a bad person to me.  And that's good enough for me.  Maybe that sounds silly, but..."

The blonde scientist stood the rest of the way up.  "Anyway, Justin and I salvaged what we could of your laptop and other belongings from the wreck, and they're downstairs wrapped up in a blanket.  There was some kind of metallic goo that leaked from the ship onto your laptop, so I'm not sure what kind of damage that did to it, but we did what we could to clean it up."  She pointed to the rooms along the line.  "My room is on the end, closest to the big bathroom; if you need anything, just let me know, and I'll try to do my best to help you feel at home.  The next two rooms have been claimed already, but all the other rooms are open for now.  If you want, you can pick whichever open room is available, and you can start arranging your bedding from the closet while I bring your things upstairs.  That would give you a little time to...adjust to the situation."

Nora sighed, then laughed at herself for doing so.  "And, if worse comes to worse, if somebody bangs on the door demanding that we hand you over, you can always jump out the bedroom window and make a break for it.  I'll hold them off as long as I can."

She stepped to one side so she wasn't blocking Jane's exit, then waited to see if she would agree to this plan of action for the moment, or if she'd rather do something else.  Nora was trying to give Jane a chance to compose herself before any of the others saw her, but she wasn't entirely sure if Jane would feel like she needed that or not.