Faith is both the prison and the open hand [open]

[medicalmind]

Scarlet didn't leave the contagion lab often. She didn't have much of a reason to, beyond for sleep and meals (unlike Luis, she was still responsible enough about her health to go to sleep in her bunk) and she was content enough in that. Tonight was no real exception, and anyone who might actually be looking for her would find her tucked away in

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[just_like_daddy]

Russel wasn't really sure if this was going to work. But there was only one way to find out. So, in the name of science, alchemy, and physics, he set out to break ground in both of the fields. And in order to break ground, usually other things must be broken as well. Hopefully, not one's face, hands, or anything else vital. However, occasionally one's eyebrows must be sacrificed for the sake of science.

This was one of those times.

It had been perfectly quiet in the lab right up until the small explosion. Some equipment crashed to the floor, and Russel with it. There was the scent of melted plastic, sulfur, and the faintest bit off burned hair in the air. By the time anyone would have been able to reach him, he was halfway to his feet, going to inspect the damage. He was fine, old wounds notwithstanding. Getting up from his back with one arm took him a moment.

[just_like_nii]

Fletcher was sitting nearby, but not close enough to interfere with Russel's work. He had a different project; he was currently examining the chemical makeup of the ichor secreted by his plantsuit when he'd cut open one of the veins.

When he heard the explosion, he flinched and turned in Russel's direction. He immediately jumped to his feet and hurried toward his brother. "Wh-what happened?"

[medicalmind]

Explosions were infrequent enough in the lab that for a brief moment she was thrown off, reaching for the gun always on her desk, before she realized where she was and what had happened. After a second she stood and hurried over to where the noise had come from, surveying the scene as she arrived. So much for that equipment.

"What happened here?"

[just_like_daddy]

"An aggressive reaction," Russel answered the both of them at once. He inspected the damages. The transmutation circle was now marred by a dark black char, and there was a lot of broken glass lying around. "Don't touch anything," he said to both of them, but it was mostly directed to Fletcher.

He picked up a pen that was undamaged, and poked through the glass with it, as though he were uncovering something he expected to remain under it. He set it down, and reached into the small crater he'd made. From it, he lifted a small, clear, shimmering, rough crystal, barely discernible from the glass around it. He grinned. "Agressive, but successful."

[just_like_nii]

Fletcher stayed put right where he was standing, wringing his hands nervously as he watched Russel fishing around in the broken glass. Why did he always have to be so wreckless...?

Fletcher glanced over at Major Levy. He'd noticed her down here a few times, but they'd never spoken. This was probably a bad first impression.

[medicalmind]

"Great," Scarlet looked at the kids, a little annoyed, but it stayed off her face as she turned to one of the wall panels and punched a couple buttons to call in the disposal unit. She then turned back to the kids, resting both hands on her hips.

"All right, so tell me. What were you doing?" She didn't have a full roster of whoever was working in the lab at whatever times, and Luis waved people in all the time without getting names down. So long as they weren't poking into their more sensitive research...

[just_like_daddy]

Russel's smirk persisted. The disapproval of this woman didn't really mean anything to him. "Applying the amplified forces of gravity to carbon to induce similar processes to the natural forces that create diamonds. It's far from flawless, but it's on the right track." The rough crystal glittered lightly between his fingers. It was as foggy as soapy water, and had one or two obvious cracks inside of it, and more would be visible under a microscope, but chemically and practically speaking, it was a diamond.

[just_like_nii]

Fletcher winced. So Russel really was trying to apply what they'd learned about physics to his alchemy. But to do something so risky on his first try... it was lucky he hadn't created a black hole and destroyed the entire ship.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

[medicalmind]

She wasn't particularly phased by the smirk on the older boy's face, and she only shifted a little as the droid came out of its hiding place to get to work on the mess he'd created.

"Did you clear this project with Dr. Sera?" If Luis was cool with it she didn't really have any reason to launch into a lecture, although she would probably go find him and lecture him about letting kids do stupidly dangerous things.

[just_like_daddy]

"Yeah, he said we could work in here." Not that Russel tried too terribly hard to pull the Spaniard from his own work, and he was in too much of a rush to get started to be particularly interested in being told no.

He picked up a magnifying glass and took a closer look at the crystal he'd made. He seemed rather proud of himself.

[just_like_nii]

Once the glass had been cleaned up, Fletcher moved closer to take a look at his brother's little shiny object.

"Um, Brother, can I see the transmutation circle you used?"

[medicalmind]

Okay, Luis had green lit them working here. She'd still have a chat with him because she had a feeling he didn't know just what these kids were up to. She relaxed a little, watching the taller boy go to work on examining the crystal.

"All right, let's just try to keep the damages to a minimum?" It wasn't like they could just run to the store if they ran out of unbroken equipment.

[just_like_daddy]

He nodded at Fletcher. "It's a burnt spot now, but it's in my notes over there." He pointed to an unaffected stack of papers to the left of the area. "But I used an octagon instead of a pentagon for more power." Then, he turned his attention back to Scarlet. "I don't make a habit of almost blowing myself up. But the only way to find out what the limits of an experiment are, is to actually push them," he justified.

[just_like_nii]

Fletcher frowned at Russel's explanation, but headed over to his papers to sift through them and take a look. It all became clear once he saw what he'd been writing and drawing, though. From what Fletcher understood already, the hypothesis and method looked sound, so why the explosion?

Clearly they didn't understand enough.

He looked up, worried look etched onto his face as Russel spoke with the woman there.

[medicalmind]

"And a good scientist knows to take appropriate measures if they're expecting an explosive reaction," Scarlet replied, not unkindly, but she was seeing this as something that really hadn't been thought through.

"Judging by your eyebrows, you weren't really as careful as you should have been."

[just_like_daddy]

Russel's hand went to them when she brought it up. He frowned when he found them missing. "Honestly, I didn't expect an explosion. Nothing I was working with was, and I made sure my samples were clean. There must have been a problem in the equation." The most likely cause he could think of was that there was an excess of energy somewhere, and his circle needed to be changed to accommodate for it in some way.