(no subject)

[evowhisperer]

The main lab was supposed to be empty and dark at this hour of night. For security purposes, it was supposed to have been locked and shut down. Caesar was supposed to be in bed, and asleep.

He rubbed his face with both hands, then hunched over the desk again, squinting in the dim light. Numbers on the printout below him didn't change, not even after re-reading them for the fifteenth time: Rex's nanites weren't doing what they were supposed to.

Oh, technically they were. His brother's vitals were stable, and the bleeding had stopped. As far as anyone could tell the kid wasn't in any pain, though it was hard to be sure when he couldn't keep lucidity for more than a minute at a time. The problem was in the inconsistencies: his brother hadn't been hurt on his head, so why was he unconscious so much? Why were his blood results coming out like this? Why had both electric and magical vital sign monitors started shorting out without warning? Why, why, why...

Comments

indeed it does :D

[abysusmal]

"Have you?" He didn't try to hide his disbelief, a humorless smile crossing his face as he circled around to Caesar's side, hand still on that shoulder.

"I'm here for much the same reasons as you, I presume." His voice remained gentle and soft as he leaned over to further inspect Caesar's work. "I've been turning this over in my head for hours and hours, but no solution presents itself. I thought perhaps I might fare better with the research in front of me."

Van Kleiss gave a tired sigh, closing his eyes. He wouldn't push any suggestions just yet. First he had to remind Caesar what was at stake. "Rex is so young, so bright. Much like you at that age. Seeing him struck down so quickly has been... heartbreaking." He smoothed his hand down Caesar's shoulder, resting it upon his forearm and giving an affectionate, comforting squeeze. "I can only imagine what you must be going through."

Re: indeed it does :D

[evowhisperer]

Caesar turns with him, looking down at the table. There are pages upon pages of notes around the printout, but they're clearly not the result of someone making progress. A few of them have suggestions for the problem's cause, with points of similarity that dwindle or break off partway through. Other pages have the data copied over again, with points circled or joined by arrows. On one page it looks like he simply wrote all the numbers in a single line, deriving a meaningless equation that would produce the sequence on its own. Useless, the lot of it: none of it brought him any closer to helping his brother than he was before.

"I see..." He doesnt' try to discourage him. However unlikely it is, even the slightest chance of progress is like a promise of food to a starving man.

Then Van Kleiss sighs, and he talks.

Grief and dread become something tangible, filling his stomach and veins with an icy, sluggish lead. Caesar shudders and closes his eyes, gripping the table's edge. Rex... Caesar had grown so used to seeing him come home soaked in mud when he was younger that for a moment then he hadn't understood what he was seeing. The growing puddle of warm red hadn't been blood: it had been brown earth, harmless and bewildering. How had all that dirt gotten inside?

Brown had brightened to a blazng red, and realization was like a card tower toppling. The image was still so vivid that simply remembering it seemed to replace everything else in his vision, even in the darkness of the backs of his eyelids.

Caesar swallows thickly. It takes a long moment before he tightens his mouth into a tight, forced smile, and even then it takes a heroic effort.

"It's hard... But Rex is going to be alright." His voice is rough, and the words sound like a mantra, or a prayer. Rex has to be alright. He will be alright. Caesar is holding onto those thoughts with all he has.