Transcript

1: A bagel, smothered in white cream cheese, sits half eaten on a table.
Xijo: I, ah… not aware you were on this project. You had left.
Vidali: I tried to. After all that, I really wanted to just… get far away from all this.

2: Xijo and Vidali sit facing each other on a small tablet. Safe in his room, Xijo is free to breathe and eat without trouble. Vidali has a bagel of her own, but must take her time and use her breather.
Vidali: But they talked me out of it… or back into it, I guess. With Sedjet still under investigation, we’re a little short on experts.
Xijo: There is… progress? For Sedjet Ahmes?
Vidali: He’s recovering, but very slowly. I’d expect some sort of forced retirement.

3: Xijo looks concerned as he speaks.
Xijo: Vidali Dara, I worry of the… methods here.
They make it. They grow more of it for study.
Is that not its… biological imperative? Is that not what it wants?

4: Vidali mirrors his concern, eyebrows furrowed.
Vidali: It worries me too. I have to trust that they know what they’re doing, but you’re right: it’s worrisome. We all know what that thing can do.
But, Doctor, if we continue our experiments, and our studies, it’s all in order to stop it.

5: Xijo leans back and eats more of his bagel.
Xijo: hrmf…
I will… owe you some Martian food, some day. Somehow.
Vidali: I’ll hold you to it!