Transcript

1: The pair eat. Xijo is pulling papers from a binder he has on the floor beside him.

Vidali: You said you had something about the radiation?

Xijo: Ah, I affirm… I talk on these thoughts with Sedjet Ahmes already.

Interesting findings have been published by your radiation laboratory in Sudan.

It is found the Shankar Radiations on Earth differ to Mars, there is more of the radiation here.

2: Vidali lifts one of the papers to study.

Vidali: A lot more… what…

Xijo (off-panel): Such amounts would never be found on Mars. Such patterns are unique, it is why I failed to focus the machines.

3: Xijo speaks, though he’s seeming flustered and frustrated as he struggles with converting the ideas from the Martian language.

Vidali (off-panel): So, what are you thinking?

Xijo: The, ah, specimen, react strangely to the radiations. It appears to confuse the cell and drive the mutation within.

Where this species originates, there may not be such radiation levels. But… ah… the word is… how…

4: Vidali still has her eyes down to the paper, even as she lifts more pizza to her mouth.

Vidali: No, no, I get you.

With no nervous system, I was theorizing that it might rely on this radiation to communicate and move…

Xijo: I affirm this theory! You understand.

5: The two continue to talk.

Vidali (off-panel): We’ll try that, yeah. That’s definitely something we could measure. Way more than I’m getting at least…

Xijo (off-panel): The genetic testings have not brought any conclusions?

Vidali (off-panel): No… yes, I guess they have. I have leads, but it doesn’t feel like it’s getting me anywhere. It plays by such different rules than our biology does…