Tails (Transformations: Book 1)

10

Eric spent the day working on the report with Dr. Grey and never even thought to take a break and go see Aria. By the time they were done lining up all the facts and statistics (making it readable was Eric's job) Aria's shift had ended and she had left with Freya. However, he barely even thought about her as he worked. He leaned back and sighed as they finished, feeling tired, but accomplished. "This should sway them."

"Hopefully." The doctor looked over their work, skeptically. "Were color-coded graphs really necessary?"

"Believe me, they were." The intern smiled. "They help regular people figure out what we are saying and it keeps their attention better."

"Fascinating." Dr. Grey looked at them with renewed interest. He didn't really have much experience presenting information to laymen, since most of his papers were written for fellow scientists. He may not have been as good at presentations as some, but he was very skilled when it came to research. "Have you done many papers like this?"

Eric shrugged. "I have to do them for classes sometimes. Teachers give better grades if your work is able to keep their attention. If they fall asleep, it doesn't generally end well." He smiled.

"Your teachers fall asleep?" The doctor looked at him. "That seems highly unprofessional."Eric chuckled and shook his head. "That was actually a joke."

"Oh." Dr. Grey looked down at the papers. "I'm not always good at jokes. I've never really had much of a sense of humor, I suppose."

"Well, that's alright." Eric assured him. "You're brilliant enough not to need a sense of humor."

The doctor looked at him, uncertainly. "Is that another joke."

Eric shook his head. "I really think you are brilliant."

"Well, of course I'm brilliant." He didn't say it as a matter of pride. It sounded like a simple statement. He may as well have said, "of course, the sky is blue". Being smart was never all that interesting to him. He knew himself to be intelligent, but never saw it as something to be proud of, since he didn't work for it. "I was asking if you really thought being smart negated the need for a sense of humor. Most people seem to disagree."

Eric shrugged. "Most people are not geniuses. They wish to be proud of what they have and looked down on others who lack in areas where they are strong. It makes people feel better about themselves in the same way an athlete picking on an honor student may feel superior. It is foolish, but that is how the world seems to work these days."

The doctor seemed to think that over and he looked at his intern. "Were you picked on by many athletes?"

Eric laughed. "A few, but that's not really the point I was making..."

Adam came into the lab, having been out most of the day, trying to figure out who they needed to talk to in order to get the windfarm moved. "Alright, so I have an appointment, on week from tomorrow, with some of the company bigwigs that are overseeing construction and I have a call in to city council, as a back-up plan." He smiled at them. "I hope you two aren't bonding without me."

Dr. Grey looked at him, not sure what he meant by that. "We were simply discussing the importance of a sense of humor in relation to one's intelligence."

"Ah..." Adam raised his eyebrows at Eric, who shrugged. "Well, I suppose that could make for an interesting study. Did you finish you report?"

"Yes." Dr. Grey held it up. "We even included color-coded chart for the less intelligent people." He sounded almost childlike, but he really did his best to avoid dealing with people, which didn't help his already-blunted social skills to improve.