Starring:
Summary: Elena visits Gene to test the brainwave device he had built for her on a living subject….and who better to test out his own device but the young inventor himself? What results is a potentially alarming discovery.
Date It Happened: June 7th, 2007
Two Nerds And A Helmet
Gene's Super Secret Development Laboratory, Somewhere in New York City
"Miss Gomez is here to see you, Gene I take it you wish for her to come down?"
"Of course," the familiar voice offers in response, a faint smile forming on his face as the security guard mentions the latino woman's name.
Closing down some designs for an unmanned plane of some sort, Gene pulls back from his desk just enough to pull out a drawer, moving aside some items to pull out a mirror. Gene pauses as he looks at the mirror, using it to seemingly clean himself up a little and ensure he looks semi-presentable. Why is he checking himself out? Gene makes a face to himself before putting the mirror away. Using his monitor to see when Elena makes her way in, Gene just remotely gets the door for her. "Hey, Elena," he begins as he rises from his chair, wearing an odd little shirt with a hippie holding a long white square over his head. Underneath it reads, 'Can't we all just get a Pong?'. "What brings you here tonight? Hopefully the senator hasn't found himself in trouble again so soon."
—
When the young Gomez girl comes in, Elena looks like her usual self - a fitted shirt, a black jacket, and jeans. Sneakers squeak into the clean floor as she arrives, carrying the laptop bag and the backpack that held the helmet thing for the brain scanner. "Hi Gene, you're not too busy today are you?" she asks, setting the two items to the side and approaching the young inventor, her hands sliding into her pockets as she goes. Her hair is free today, though knowing her that'll change soon if she decides that her hair needs pulling back. "I was tempted on testing the brain scanner a few days ago, but…..I sort of came down with some sort of summer thing, I managed to get out of bed just yesterday. Anyways, I think I'd be more comfortable if you were around in case I accidentally blow up the thing or something."
She's teasing, of course - she's not that big of an ignoramus when it comes to technology. "And I wanted to see how you were doing. You feeling better?" she asks. "You look it." He certainly -looked- better. He wasn't as pale as he was when she last saw him. Though when her eyes drop down to his shirt, she can't help but grin. "Awesome shirt."
—
Gene DOES look better. While he is still a few shades paler than before, it looks somewhat natural. Only those that knew Gene right when he came to New York would notice a real difference. "I had to pull a few overnighters in order to get some projects done on time… I was going to work on some more, but I found out that I've gotten ahead on patents again and need to wait a bit. To avoid a lot of issues, the stuff I make has to have a natural flow of release time. Otherwise it could cause a lot of bad things to happen." After all, while pushing technology's bounds on a weekly basis is a good thing, like the MiB, Gene and others understand that advancing the world's tech haphazardly could have a lot of nasty and unplanned effects. "I've been training a couple of the MIT interns for the most part so I've been able to take it easy. As for the shirt? Glad you like it. It's one of those shirts my grandfather got for me."
As usual, the little personal fact is swiftly followed by a change of topic. "While I could give you a couple of compliments about what you're wearing, I'm sure that you'd rather make sure that the equipment is working okay… Right?" Gene offers moving toward the bag, keeping his attention toward the device to purposefully avoid seeing Elena's reaction to his comment. Presuming Elena gives it to the technological teen wonder, the young man unzips the stuff and begins to hook everything up. "You understood the manual, right?"
—
"I have to wonder if the USPTO has to scramble to keep up with Lancaster Electronics with you practically running its R&D Department," Elena observes, referencing the US Patents and Trademarks Office. But she's familiar, at least, about the process it takes for patents to even go through the office to protect the work. She was going into science, after all, and patents were the bread and butter of the scientific community. When he mentions MIT, she grins. "My dream school," she says. "At least, back when I was in high school. I got in, but….they were only offering me a partial scholarship." While that would've certainly been enough to send the average student running so he could sit with some of the best scientific minds of the world, Elena was poor, and she can't afford going to a school like MIT even on a partial. She blinks, however, when Gene mentions his grandfather.
He was orphaned, or at least practically. At least, she doesn't count one parent a parent if he had been tossed in prison for trying to kill his own son. Someone must've taken care of him - a grandfather would be the logical choice. "From your mother's side?" she asks inquisitively.
When he gestures to her clothes, she looks down, and she laughs. "I dress this way all the time, really nothing special," she says, shucking off her jacket and moving to place it in the most out-of-the-way place she can find. "And yeah, I do, but I'd rather have an experienced hand make sure I'm doing it all right. I like manuals, I like reading, but I learn better hands-on." She offers both items to him.
—
The young inventor doesn't really mention much on the Patent office, just giving a simple nod with a "Yeah". At the MIT talk, he smiles, but the smile soon goes at the mention of his mother. Gene's face goes into a guarded neutral, pausing a couple of seconds before giving a second "Yeah". Odd how the same word can say two different things. Glancing at where the jacket goes, the young man nods. His smile slowly returning, he places the helmet and the laptop on the desk.
While Gene is tempted to state something like 'you could make a janitor's uniform look good' or something like that, he figures Elena gets tired lines like that all the time by being an attractive young woman. No sense adding to the number. Stick to your strengths, Gene. Pulling out some cables, the geek offers, "Now, these are the data feeds. They go here and here Make sure they are always LOOSELY coiled when put into storage like I have it here. These things are pretty dang expensive and bending them too much will damage the fiber optics." That said, Gene hooks the device up, showing Elena what does what. Once he's hooked the machine up, he turns on the laptop. While waiting for the machine to turn on, he glances back, bringing up a past topic while waiting for the machine to load up. "So, you thought about doing computers and stuff like that?"
—
With the vanishing smile, Elena's expression softens. She reaches out to touch Gene's shoulder lightly, a warm squeeze there, before letting go, like what she's doing with the topic about his mother's father. Watching him set up the device, she focuses, her face inquisitive and determined as she peers at what Gene is doing. "Fiberoptics depend on light, don't they? They're actually glass fibers as opposed to actual wires?" she asks. Technology was Gene's forte, her own was mostly stuck in the biological sciences.
As for compliments, she tends to take them in good grace so long as they're honest and not meant to drag her into arenas she isn't prepared to tread. One from Gene would probably be well-received considering the young inventor didn't seem to have much patience for bullshit. But when he asks her, she laughs. "Yeah….but….I honestly didn't have the aptitude for the more complicated stuff. As sad as it sounds, my younger brothers are better with technology than I am. I guess I'm too much of an old school academic. But what I do know, I learned from Papa. He works for RTS….it's a subsidiary of Lancaster Electronics, mostly Internet security, but he knows a lot about encryption. He encrypted my data disc out of the wazoo when he found out I was putting together research on people we knew who had abilities."
—
The hand is placed upon Gene's shoulder, causing him to tense up at first. He looks toward it, giving it the faintest sniff for whatever reason. Reddening faintly, the young man merely looks back toward his work. If her hand rests on his shoulder enough, she'll likely note that his shoulder muscles are seemingly tense, even if his tone is calm. Maybe it's stress or proof that he does have muscle and works on occassion. Whatever the reason or Elena's reaction, he continues with his techobabble. "Fiber optics operate under something like that… They use light to transmit data because it's faster than electricity. Using a reflective coating, you can have a beam of light bounce around a thin wire to transmit data. Of course, if the wire is bent too much, there is a bump in the coating which results in corrupted information." Normally, he wouldn't go into this much detail, but she asked and she's smart enough to understand it. The window pops up, Gene entering his administrative password and login name. There is no windows logo or anything like it, the OS likely his own or created as freeware. "Now, the manual has your login and password. If you want to keep finding secret, merely keep the login and password hidden. If you get the password and login wrong five times, all scan information will be deleted… So ask me if you lose your password rather than trying to guess it."
Another snippet of the tutorial made, Gene connects his machine to the laptop, likely to get various read-outs. This gives him another chance for something closer to regular conversation. "As for your father, I've heard his name in the company here and there, but haven't seen him too much. You know, different branches and different locations. Would be nice to have a talk with him though, he seems like an interesting guy considering your family. He the overprotective type, I take?" he offers, almost giving a chuckle as he figures he already knows. After all, if she's an attractive woman and Ramon is a loving father, he'd likely need to be.
—
She nods, Elena crossing her arms over her chest with her 'I'm working' face on, studiously absorbing what he tells her about fiber optics. "I guess it's more sensitive than copper wiring," she says. One could bend copper wire this way and that and it would still conduct electricity. It makes sense. Light wouldn't be able to bounce or travel faster with obstacles. "And yeah, I already took that page out of the manual just in case." The one with her login and password. She had a good memory, she knows what it is. But knowing that Gene's got a backdoor set up in the laptop was something she definitely needed to know. She flashes him a thumbs up and a smile.
"Yeah," she says with a laugh. "He could be a bear, but he has the most loving heart I know. …….just don't tell him I said that," she says with a sheepish grin. "He's a pretty intimidating guy if you don't know him very well. He has no patience for bull, and if he has an opinion, he says it bluntly. But….he's a man with very little words. He'd rather act on his mind than say it. But he's interesting in his own right. He used to swim in college." When the laptop is set up, she picks up the helmet. "Okay….so. Walk me through this part."
—
Gene just nods when he gets the description of Elena's old man. Fighting self-pity as he is reminded of his own parents, Gene takes a seat at his desk to show where he is clicking and the programming that is opening up. "There, this is the program that you'll open up. From here, you'll put in the name or codename of the person you are scanning to open up a personal profile. This will store multiple scans if needed. It should be able to store about twenty scans in total. Not much, but you can take off the findings or run the scan without saving the information when you wish." He doesn't even mention the helmet yet. "When you want to do a scan, merely say you wish to preform a standard scan. Click okay once you've put it on, wait until the machine tells you the read is done and BOOM, that's all there is to it really."
—
Elena tucks the helmet under her arm, and she moves towards the computer, listening quietly as Gene walks her through the program. "I suppose I can just put in my data disc and upload the profiles I already have," she muses. "And I can always back-up the scans should it run out of slots. And….really? Seems pretty user friendly. So that's all the computer side." She lifts up the helmet with both hands, cradling the object gently between her fingers. "What about this? Do I have to do anything special with this?" she asks. "I mean, I'm sure I probably need to hit some sort of on switch, but anything other than that?"
—
"Well, you can likely have the scans turned into image files and put onto the disks. This machine is rather specific in its goal. It's how I could afford to make it as compact as I did. Use a USB to transfer the files off, don't try and use the machine as a place to store your files. The back-up of files is recommended, but that's usually the case." Gene nods toward the helmet. "One of the connecting cords supplies power… The helmet draws power directly from the laptop and the laptop turns it on. As long as the laptop has a good charge, should be able to run the helmet just fine. This means all you do is put it on and let it go. I designed it to be a system where drunken cheerleader could run it as long as she was literate. It'll run down the instructions of what to do. If there is a trouble or an irregular scan, it'll bring up a number or state the problem with the scan. Just text me with the number and I'll let you know what's up. If it can still run safely, it will give an option, if not, don't try and force a scan unless I tell you too specifically. The irregular scans will mention of what's up and where, so you should be aware of the area of dangerously high, low, or empty areas of activity." As usual, Gene seems to make it seem simple. "Any more questions, or that it?" he inquires with a smug smile, clearly proud of his work.
—
"Okay." It all looks pretty straightforward, which was good. Gene had it designed so even a drunken but literate cheerleader could use this thing. She grins, and she looks over at Gene. "Alright….. what about brainwaves. Same software, or some other option? Say I want to chart brain activity as opposed to just getting a picture of the entire cortex?" She did give him the plans for a brainwave monitor, thanks to Eric - but while they were discussing the gadget, they mostly focused on the imaging aspects of the device. Now she delves into the tools that could be used for analysis. She also follows along when he describes the helmet, noting the cable and the slot where it goes in the laptop….unless it was wireless. In which case, Gene gets mad props.
—
Gene already discussed the hookup of cables in the begining, having discussed them before turning on the machine. Seems like the cables must be put in before the machine should be turned on. There is a long pause though as Elena mentions something about brainwaves. Brainwaves? Haha, Gene has handled that… Mostly. "The MRI needs the helmet… The Electroencephalography aspect requires those… those… little sticky things you put on people." Yeah, he got the big word, but not the rest. Hey, this stuff wasn't Gene's forte until he read about it a few weeks ago. While he knows how it works, the names of the devices and parts aren't exactly familiar to him. "Those need to be connected to the proper parts of the head, but they are color coded on where they go. The computer will let you know what goes where." Gene withdrawals the stickies and the connecting attachments. They have a similar hook up into the dataport like the helmet, merely going to a different attachment rather than the helm.
"If you want to get an EEG, just press this button here and it'll open up the EEG tutorial." Gene presses a button where the Windows button would be. Instead, the right is labeled MRI and the left is labeled EEG. "If you could get me some information on Positron Emission Tomography… I could likely get you some nice imaging on real time brain activity. Between the three, could tell you what was firing where, and how much along with other medical stuff like oxygen flow and all that. The MRI merely takes a shot of the brain, the EEG will show the activity, but when I get the PET technology, I should be able to get the rest. Problem with PET scans is that you'd need to have access to radiotracers to inject into the body to get a proper read." Elena can work with two of the three, Gene realizing belatedly he should have likely tried to get PET information on his own. Aw well, no one is perfect.
—
She grins at Gene when he mentions the sticky things, but in deference to the fact that he didn't have to do this for her and DID, Elena doesn't correct him. "Wow…you really thought of everything," she says, sounding really impressed. She checks the color codes, and pulls it up the window to double-check and see what goes where. See? She learns quickly - and faster when she's actually seeing how things work. She feels confident enough now, it looks like, to lean in and pull the programs up herself. At least she looks to be an able typist, considering how fast her fingers move over the keys. Wired generation, unite!
"….you can do that? Are you serious?" she says, staring at Gene. And then she laughs. "Ugh, I feel so bad….it would be -great- to have, but I know you're so busy…..whenever you can, I think, but this is more, more, more than enough for now. And when he tells her about the radiotracers, she pauses. That sounds a lot like….
She glances over at the helmet. "No rush, Gene - but I can work with what you can spare me. Like I said, you already do so much….and I'd hate to add to your workload." She grins at him. "No matter how much you enjoy it. I….don't mean to sound nosy, but does it ever get taxing?" As in, does he ever get tired? He -has- been a little ill lately.
—
A small smile plays upon Gene's features at the grateful attitude of the dancer. "It isn't really that big a deal. You're just asking me to do what I go already. It's like asking a graphic artist to design a birthday card or someone like Eric to do your tech support. It's just a little… different," the young man offers, pausing toward the end as he realizes that it isn't as fitting an analogy as he'd like.
Sighing as he signs off his Brain-Scanner and begins to put it away, Gene continues to speak toward Elena. As often the case, he avoids eye contact, finding it easier to focus on his work when talking about himself. "I didn't used to get headaches, but since coming to New York, I find that being down here and working on projects tends to get to me if I do it a long time. Didn't used to. I figure it's the pollution or something like that, I think it's worse here than in D.C.. Been doing some running to help with the mild asthma I've got as well as general stuff to up my buff, but it exposes me to all the crap that's in the city." Gene wishes he could be Mr. Tough Guy, but that is sadly not in the cards for him. After sliding the helmet into the back, he glances up toward Elena. "Why you ask?"
—
"I know but….." Elena smiles. "You're my friend. You're not a tool. And honestly, you shouldn't be a workaholic at 18…19? Years old." She wasn't really sure what Gene's age was, all she knows was that he was young, much like her age if not a year younger or older. "Besides….I'm trying to keep the full extent of your brilliance under wraps too, you know? Even if you're not….one of us, though I -highly- doubt that's the case, the sort of stuff you do can get you in trouble will all sorts of wrong people."
She glances over at him, listening to what he says. "Well…" She pauses, and she smiles. "No time like the present, right? If you're suffering from headaches, maybe we can use the brain scanner, see if you have a concussion or a lesion you don't know about. I mean, it happens - if you're physically active, and hit your head or anything like that in the past few weeks or months, maybe any sort of trauma or bruising will show up."
—
"I know it can… This is why I was expecting you to avoid telling people about my gifts unless you are absolutely sure it's important and they can be trusted. Glad to see that my faith in your intelligence wasn't wrong," Gene offers with a weak smile. After all, Eric was pretty open in telling Elena and the rest about his gift, he wasn't sure if it wasn't going to snowball until most of New York knew that he made classified stuff all over the place. It's clear now that Eric trusted Elena, Jaden, and Lachlan (or just didn't think the last would have any use for a techie guy like Gene), and for now, things have worked out. Gene intends to keep it that way, which is why he's already planning a few visits here and there with certain people that have been /careless/. The weak smile fades at the mention of working too much.
"…18. And I'm not working for this stuff, it's kinda my hobby. I really don't expect you to understand, but…" A soft sigh is inserted here. "This is who I am. What I am." The young genius looks to the corner of his workshop where parts for soon to be improved Hummer lie. "I can't dance or sing… Don't have a musical bone in my body. I don't fit in any parties that don't have Shatner as a guest speaker and I've never been good at sports unless you can play them with a PS2 controller." Gene swallows as he finds he stirred up feelings he wasn't quite ready for. Where the hell is this coming from, Gene thinks. Not like him at all. Elena might be ready to say something, but the young man holds a hand, having more to say on the matter. Despite the slight watering of his eyes, he doesn't cry. If he can't be strong in body, he can always be strong in mind. "It's not something I need pity for or want pity for. Yeah, the grass appears to be greener on the other side, but what I do matters. My skills are unique and one of a kind. This is just what I do; this is how I'm me. Work? Hardly."
Gene is silent for ten seconds before he finally lowers his hand and stands. Turning on the machine, Gene glances up with a faint smile, just like the one he gave when Elena first came in. Speech about the inner workings of his very being? He sure doesn't act like he just did that. "Let me boot up the machine Should be able to tell what's what."
—
She ought to kick Eric for that. After her run-ins with Company agents, getting mind-wiped once, and being recruited by a crazy time traveler who's already did this ONCE to help save the world (again, in his case), Elena knew that the power of discretion was necessary indeed. And she nods. "It's not just because I'm smart enough to, Gene," she says seriously, meeting his eyes. "I do it because I know. Because I've…" She pauses, and she exhales. "Because I've -been- there. I've seen too many guns or worse leveled at my face for my liking because I'm involved in the things I am. One day….I know one day I might not be so lucky. So I try to be careful, and I'm careful with the people closest with me too. So…"
When he swallows, and gets a little choked up as he essentially tells her that he clings to the one thing that makes him so special, because it was important, and because through it he could feel important and appreciated in some way, she shakes her head. "You're not listening to me," she chides gently, looking him in the eye even as he tries to look away. And then, her arms circle around his shoulders loosely from his chair from behind, draping gently and giving a squeeze - a hug. "All I'm saying is I don't want to be a burden." This was, admittedly, her complex - but it was already difficult enough for an independent personality such as herself to ask for help, to know that there are lots of people out there better equipped to solve -her- problems. "And all I'm adding onto that is the fact that I'd like to see you have fun outside of this room too, you know? I don't pity you, Gene. I -admire- you."
She drops her arms away from him, and she beams cheerfully towards the slightly younger teen, and then she looks over at the machine. "Alright. Let's get to work." She cracks her knuckles lightly, and while he boots up the machine, she plugs in the helmet before it's turned on.
—
While Gene would normally view hugs as pity, he doesn't really fight it when a cute girl gives him a hug. Forget his argument about his purpose for being and how he lives his life, he's getting a hug from a cute girl! (The fact he thinks this way is proof he isn't as completely mature as he would make people thing.) Fighting the red from embaressment, Gene makes the critical mistake of speaking before thinking. "When beautiful, kind, intelligent women EVER become a burden, I'll be sure to let you know." Gene realizes what he says a moment later, so he reddens back to his usual color. "MACHINE IS ON!" he exclaims, as if hoping that acting really energetic will make Elena forget his comment.
As soon as the computer is done powering on, Gene just puts the helmet on his head. He makes sure to put on the large and goofy chin-strap, which is part of the scanner as well as insurance the helm stays on. "As for having fun outside of this room? Well, I'll try. I can't make any promises though," Gene offers with a smirk. As the scanning begins, Gene just stands rather still and doesn't even talk, likely to ensure that there is a clean MRI scan.
—
"Deal," Elena tells Gene with a grin, ruffling his hair a bit and stepping back when he declares that the machine is on. "Alright. Let's do this," she says, shaking out her fingers. She's back to work mode, her eyes narrowing slightly as she gauges the screen in front of her. She starts tapping the keyboard commands for the programs she wants to come up. She takes over the chair when Gene stands up and straps the helmet on his head, looking over her shoulder at him and grinning, flashing him a thumbs up. "Ready to rock, chief," she tells him simply, once the programs are up and running.
"Well so long as you try," she replies agreeably, a laugh escaping her lips as she tries the brainwave scanner program first. Watching the readings carefully, she tracks its progress - and finds it all relatively normal. Probably because he isn't actually building or inventing anything. "It's all normal….nothing unusual going on with your alpha, beta, theta, and delta waves…." she says, clicking on a few more buttons. "Maybe because you're not really looking at any specs or building anything….that's interesting. If your ability -is- rooted on your genius, I guess it can lay dormant when you're actually -not- doing anything required for your job…"
She looks over her shoulder again. "Let's go try the brain imaging system," she says, switching out of the first program and into the second. "I don't suppose you have a transparency printer when this is all over?" she asks.
—
Merely leaning back in his chair once the test begins, Gene watches the brain waves amidst the dangling cords from his head. He doesn't seem too impressed, but he believes he's still normal, so that's hardly a surprise. "Possible. I suppose we could try using it when I'm actually at work on something, but we need to get the baseline before we try and push things." While Gene hasn't had much formal schooling, at least they discuss the scientific method in high school. Gene begins to take off the pads when Elena states her desire for the MRI. "Alright. As for the findings, we can get those printed out easily enough; we tend to have nice printers here. Will have to search in office supplies for transparency sheets though, we don't use them much these days." Placing the helmet over his head, Gene adjusts the strap. "Not like people really do much with transparency in the business world these days."
"Exactly," Elena murmurs - it's absent, but she's still paying attention, watching the screen as she carefully starts the program. And in clicking the right button, she can hear the helmet component of the device thrum, lights flickering and going around Gene's head. She turns so she could look at him, observe how the machine works in action, and she can't help the curious and fascinated look in her eyes. Her expression, however, is as giddy as a school girl's….which she was, in a sense. But that's besides the point. "I asked for transparencies because it's the closes thing I could think of to an x-ray film….if we printed it out in regular printers, I might miss a detail. I need something where light can go through so I can see everything," she explains. And slowly, the image starts to generate into the computer screen.
—
A faint smirk appears on Gene's features, clearly enjoying watching the new light within Elena's excited eyes. He is rather calm though, as the thrill is already gone for Gene. The impossible is now possible, the rush of the discovery having left him once he gave Elena her device. "I see," he offers, having the mind of an inventor, not of a doctor. "If you are worried about detail, we can just run the findings through my machine. It should be able to mimic the effects of an X-ray machine just fine. All about the resolution," Gene offers with a wink. "So, the machine working as well as I said? I'd had to be one of those guys that's all talk." Gene seems a little calmer and laid back now, either due to knowing Elena a bit more than most or due to being in his element. His lab, his machine, his rules.
"We can do that too," Elena says. "But I'd like to have something in my hand to study…..we'll figure out the printouts later." She nods decisively, flashing another quick smile over at Gene. When the finished image stops rendering to its fullest clarity on the screen, she glances at it. "God, Gene…this thing's amazing," she murmurs. He was right - it was very clear on the screen, the blues, reds, and blacks meshing together just like what an MRI scan would look like. And then she pauses….she frowns. "Hang on…I need my glasses."
She wears glasses?
She walks over to her backpack, pulling out a case and perching the cats eye frames on her nose. Moving over, she drops back down on the chair in front of the computer, and zooms in onto a portion of the brainscan. What she sees with better eyes causes her to frown even further. "….what the hell is this?" Unwilling to touch the screen with bare fingertips, she draws the 'pen' function of the program in, and circles the area she thinks its strange, and the program zooms in further. She would've been ecstatic when it does that, but the potentially alarming discovery is quelling her excitement.
"….I've dissected my share of brains," she says slowly. "I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to be in any normal brain…" She taps the screen gently with the end of a pen. "There looks like some sort of….node around your basilar artery. It's the main artery that supplies blood, and therefore oxygen, in the brain. But….I'm just….I'm going into my sophomore year, Gene. I don't want to make any conclusions yet, I need to talk to someone more educated in the medical sciences than I am for this. I'm not sure what I'm looking at."
—
Gene says, "Whatever works for you," the young man states with a calm wave of the hand. As the readings come in, Gene frowns faintly. He would be willing to day that his brain is special and that is the reason for the anomaly. After all, they have dissected brains of math major and english majors and found noticeable differences. It would be only natural that someone that devoted their life and talents to machines and engineering would have truly unique brain. But the basilar node… He doesn't remember that being linked with the right hemosphere or anything involving spacial relations and construction, human understanding of physics, or anything else that would be involved with his work." The young man just takes the helmet off, clearly concerned. As usual, he's calm and collected though. "…I see. Well, take the machine, make whatever print-outs you want. You have full run of the offices at EvoSoft if not here, should be able to make what you need and then some, right?"
—
"Yeah…." Elena continues softly, but she's still frowning at the screen. She falls silent for a very long moment, this is normal for her, though Gene is experiencing this firsthand now. She was usually a very chatty person, but not when there's something complex and potentially worrisome to consider. Still, she needs to speak with someone more knowledgeable about medical stuff than she is. So she saves the image. "Might be better to take advantage of the incredible resolution on this thing. I can just take it to Cass." So Gene knows that she's only showing these findings to someone they both trust. She moves to shut down the laptop, and lean over to switch off the device, and help Gene remove the thing from his head. "As for leaving the lab on occasion….there's a campaign event for Nate — Nathan Petrelli tomorrow night. I'm thinking of going. Do you wanna come with?"
—
Gene is silent as well, though he shifts around in his chair a bit, clearly put on edge by possibility of a medical complication in his life. The last thing he needed. "Well, hopefully she will know what's up," Gene offers. He would prefer that the information go with someone that GRADUATED medical school, but beggars can't be choosers, can they? Well, they can, but you don't hear about them since picky beggars tend to die of starvation.
Getting up slowly, Gene glances over toward Elena. "I suppose I can go to that. I'm not sure I'm voting for the man though… Does that mean I'm not allowed to go or something?" the young man inquires with uncertainity.
—
"Well…..campaign events are typically for rubberneckers anyway," Elena jokes. "But in a way it's for the politicians to state their case for the people. If anything, the more people who go and -at least- hear what he has to say, the better. I'm not sure if I'm voting for him either. Though I might have to blindfold myself whenever the televised debates come in. With that damned smile of his, I'm pretty sure he's got the college girl demographic pegged." And while she would like an -expert- opinion as well, the only person she could go to was Mohinder, and he was actually working for the Company. Going to Mount Sinai was -completely- out of the question. And while she could go to one of her professors….part of her wanted to keep this within a rather closed circle.
After packing up the laptop and the helmet, she stands up and retrieves her jacket, slinging it on her.
—
"He has a winning smile or something? Well, I guess I know I'm not attracted to guys or something… Didn't notice," Gene offers as he rubs behind his neck. "I suppose I could go to it, if nothing else to make sure nothing bizarre happens." Considering this is coming from the man that goes around with R2-D2, take that as you will. He doesn't seem to be quite as chipper as he was a few moments ago, but considering the news and he tends to plan of the worst, it's hardly a surprise. Watching Elena start to put away the stuff, he looks away for a moment before he opens his mouth. He closes it again before he looks back. "So, anything else you need or we all good?"
—
She laughs. "Well considering how many scantily clad girls were throwing themselves on you during Jaden's party, I kind of figure you were batting at the more conventional side of the fence," Elena teases, giving Gene a wink as she pulls her hair out from under her collar, and slips her backpack strap over one shoulder. "And you will? Awesome….I don't know how many people my age are going to be there, and hey, if it's boring, we can just go leave it early and do something fun. Maybe play -real- lazer tag, I know a place. And we're all good. Is there anything -you- need?" she asks, sliding her hands in her pockets and looking over at him. "Like….you know. Food that you don't need to slip in a patent-protected heating packet that you stick in the microwave."
—
The young inventor gives a faint smirk toward the mention of the scanty-clad women, though he is still red in the cheeks. "It was only ONE Besides, I might have danced with you. Suppose we may never know now." He glances toward his computer, merely beginning to power it down. "As for doing something if the rally gets dumb, I suppose that's entirely possible. As for me, I'm fine. If I want something that doesn't come from the microwave, that's what take-out is for." As usual, Gene's got an answer for everything. Or so he thinks. "I'll see you around. Let me know how Cass is doing… Maybe I'll drop by her bedside if she's still there sometime."
—
"I was gonna ask you to save you from anything you might've found uncomfortable," Elena confesses. "But….the police did that for me it looks like." She winks, and she turns to head out the door. "I'll let her know if I see her before you. Thanks a lot, Gene. I'll see you tomorrow!" And off she goes.