Trekkies United: Going Boldly

"just ten percent? I guess our regular studies have been keeping us pretty busy. I'm surprised you're not skipping sleep to keep up on things." she wasn't about to admit that was sometimes what she was doing...

Matrix nodded, looking a bit regretful that he hadn't gotten more done so far. "Well, of course, I work much faster than any human could, which gives me more time to work on my senior project, but I will admit, I have spent more than a few nights staying up late to work on it..." He blushed a little, embarrassed. Then again, there really was no reason to be, as he didn't require sleep.

"oh, good, not just me, then--I, I mean, shame, you should be resting and keeping your routines in optimal running conditions!" she blushed a bit and straightened up. "speaking of, I actually wanted to find a good time for you to start skipping sleep entirely so we could be sure with testing that it doesn't affect your cognitive processing negatively. you say it doesn't, but self-reporting for any other species is far from reliable."

Matrix raised his eyebrows as she admitted she'd been doing the same, then quickly backpedaled and scolded him instead. His eyes lit with amusement. "You are the one who actually needs to sleep, not me - so I should be chastising you, not the other way around," he told her, laughter in his voice. "That does sound interesting, though. I would certainly be willing to participate, though I must say that my father didn't sleep for many years, and he was not negatively impacted by it." He highly doubted they would find anything interesting, but it couldn't hurt to experiment.

"still, the information and data would be invaluable, no pun intended," she joked, making sure he was looking in her general direction before lightly tossing one of the reflex balls she used for testing at him to see if he'd catch it, dodge it, or bat it away. it was always interesting to see what he'd choose to do, since his reflexes were plenty fast enough to do any of the options.

"Indeed," Matrix agreed, eyes glimmering with humor at the joke. He was plenty prepared as she tossed the ball, of course, and had grown used to her throwing it at him at random times over the past few weeks. This time, he chose to catch it, grinning at her in a rather sly way and tossing it back to her.

she fumbled a little to catch it on the return, not quite having expected him to return it as quickly as he did. "I really want to test your hearing as it relates to projectile speed and motion, but I don't want to hit you with the reflex balls if you're not able to catch or avoid them," she confessed, bouncing it in her palm. "they are kind of hard and a little heavy..."

Matrix's head tilted a little in curiosity at her confession. "That sounds like it would be quite fascinating," he commented with interest. "I think we should try. I should be able to catch or dodge them without too much problem, and if I don't, it won't damage me - it would just sting a little. I'm willing to take the risk." He paused. "I presume you would blindfold me?"

"well, I suppose I should...I was just going to have you close your eyes. I can tell well enough if you're peeking." she tapped the side of her head in teasing emphasis. "the way most effective blindfolds are tied, they could interfere with your hearing and that might skew the results unfairly." she bounced the ball between her palms a bit more, fidgety. "I also want to test your hearing aptitude outside of your peripheral vision range."

Matrix shrugged a little, grinning as she tapped her head. "Yes, I suppose you're right," he agreed, adding amusedly, "I promise I won't peek." At her last sentence, he nodded, though he looked a little uncertain. "I expected as much, though that might prove to be more difficult, considering I could easily hear if you were to move around me."

"I know, and I've been wondering how to get around that," she admitted with a nod and a slight thoughtful frown. "I was thinking of building some sort of apparatus that can toss the ball from any angle around you, so that you can't rely on me moving around."

"Hmm..." Matrix hummed thoughtfully, frowning a little. "Perhaps we could get permission to use the holodeck? I'm sure we could easily construct something to help us there."

she smacked her forehead as her cheeks turned pink. "of course! the holodeck! why didn't I think of that? programming what we need would be an absolute breeze, I could even set the parameters verbally if I wanted to!" she hopped forward and grabbed him by the nearest wrist, dropping the ball on the floor and tugging eagerly at him. "come on, we can do it now, I know it's free."

Matrix was faintly surprised as she hopped forward and grabbed him by the wrist, tugging at him persistently. After a moment, he stepped forward, following her out of the room and down the corridor. He didn't ask how she knew it was free, assuming she could sense it.

"it's actually about time for my meditation slot anyway, so we won't have to sign up for an open slot later, although we probably should anyway. couldn't hurt, right?" she spoke more at than to him as she hurried along, her gentle grip on his wrist moving down to take his hand in a politer grip. "one of my prescribed treatments for learning to control my empathy is to meditate in a large empty space and the holodeck is perfect for it. I love the temperate rainforest in early summer setting."

"Yes, that would probably be a good idea - I don't want to take up all of your meditation time," Matrix agreed, happily taking her hand instead, as it was far more comfortable. "That sounds nice. I used to enjoy spending time in woodland settings when I was on the Enterprise, though I haven't had occasion to do it much since I entered the Academy."

"well, let's run a quick test and then you can do some other exercises with me in the woods, then. there are plenty of partner drills I'm allowed to do with you instead of the counselor, as long as you're free. I haven't bothered you with it since you've been just as busy as me and our free time didn't usually line up." she went to the holodeck and spoke her credentials, then requested a new program, starting to explain the specifications needed for her test with matrix.

"That sounds good," Matrix agreed, nodding, a little surprised at the notion of partner drills, since she'd never mentioned them. "Don't worry about 'bothering' me with such things, though - it's never an imposition." He stood patiently beside her as she requested the program, waiting for her to finish explaining the specs before entering.

she got the mechanism all settled to her satisfaction, then invited him in and directed him to jump into the middle of the ring and then stand by the edge so she could blindfold him. "all right, the reflex balls could come from any side of you, 360 degrees, you understand? you can catch, dodge, or deflect them, your choice. there will be a total of twenty from any angle. are you ready?"

Matrix did as directed, and hopped over the ring to stand inside, waiting for her to blindfold him before picking his way carefully to the center of the ring, more from memory than anything. He nodded at her instructions. "Ready," he affirmed, standing still and listening closely.

"3...2...1...beginning testing sequence." she had not informed him it would be a random amount of time between each ball toss, never to exceed 30 seconds. it was precisely 21 seconds later when the first ball came from his left side and slightly behind him, outside where his peripheral vision would have ended if he could see.

Matrix readied himself for the first ball, but was puzzled when nothing seemed to happen for an extended period of time. His brow furrowed under the blindfold, and he'd just opened his mouth when a subtle whiz to his left and slightly behind him caught his attention. His eyes widened, and he just managed to dodge out of the way before the ball smacked him in the shoulder.

she watched as, three and 5 seconds later, another two balls went whizzing towards him, the first directly at his nose, and the second directly at the back of his head.

Now on high alert, Matrix easily batted the first ball away, then ducked the second, tensing in preparation to have to move quickly once again.

there was a ten-second lull, then only two and then six, each from opposing directions. brianna watched closely, intently, not taking notes until she could watch the replay for fear of risking distracting him. he was doing amazingly! she couldn't even hear the balls being tossed...