White Noise (The Inadequate Experiments 1)

3. The Scientist

Sera

"Well, everything seems to be in order, according to the information the nurses sent me." Dr Wills told me, her eyes pouring over the clipboard she balanced on her lap. The Scientist sat in the chair beside my bed, her presence almost overbearing in the small room.

"But you still wanted to come and check on me." I commented.

The Scientist looked up. "Of course, my dear." She said. "You're a very important specimen."

I scoffed. "Please don't refer to me as if I'm some kind of science experiment."

"That wasn't my intention." Dr Wills said carefully. "But your mother's... situation... as well as your DNA could help us greatly, especially when concerning the evolution of the human race as a whole. That's why we like to keep an eye on you like this."

"My mother's situation?" I asked incredulously. "You know as well as I do that my conception was essentially a freak accident."

"If you had been born with health or growth difficulties, I would agree with you. But, Sera, you were conceived spontaneously from a single gamete and developed fine. You can't blame us for being overly intrigued." The Scientist pointed out.

"Then shouldn't you be looking after my dying mother instead of me?" I narrowed my eyes. "Because, you know, she's dying of the same disease that helped conceive me. Maybe the answers you're looking for lie with her instead."

"We have been monitoring your mother, Sera." Dr Wills muttered. "The main thing causing her pain at the current moment is the fact that you're in hospital, so the sooner you go home, the better."

I sighed.

"But tell me," the Scientist began, "what happened at the Jackson Theatre? How much do you remember?"

"All of it."

"Tell me."

I looked down. "The show finished without a hiccup. No technical issues, no forgotten lines, no slipping out of character. Your typical, high-end, so-obviously-Jackson-Theatre-Productions show. But something was happening as we all rose to leave. Some people made it out into the foyer, but something was stopping the rest of us. My friends and I couldn't see what. Then the power shut off, and there was screaming. I heard a strange noise. A high-pitched buzzing in my ears. I asked my friend if she heard it, but she thought I meant an announcement they had been making over a loudspeaker at the same time."

The Scientist's eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe your ears were just ringing?"

I shook my head. "That was what I thought at first, but then the sound got louder, and louder. And then—"

"And then the explosion went off?" She offered.

"And then the explosion went off." I confirmed. "My friends and I tried to crawl between the chairs to make out way towards an emergency exit. I was crossing an aisle between two seating sections when the second blast went off. I was thrown down the stairs between the seats and I must have hit my head, because that was when I blacked out."

"Did you hear the same sound for the second blast?" Dr Wills asked.

I nodded.

She rubbed her chin. "It sounds almost as if you can hear things on a higher frequency than other people. We'd have to do some tests to find out, but... do you remember anything else?"

I shook my head. "There's something I'd like to ask you, though, Ma'am."

"Ask away, dear, I'm open to all questions." She insisted.