Security Tapes

"And how did you get in here?" she asked him, trying but failing to hide the excitement in her voice. Dr Suzanne Mariet Wesley, or Woozy Suzy as she was known, was sitting backwards in an office chair and bouncing her leg on the ground, which was causing the chair to roll ever so slightly.

"I don't know. I just showed up here!" The receiver of the interogation was none other than The Traveler; or Travis Lore, as he revealed after Suzy pushed him enough.

Trying to mask her enthusiasm as bewilderment and a hint of anger, she replied loudly, "you can't do that! This place isn't a drive-thru, you can't just show up here!"

He only shrugged in response. There was near-silence for a moment as Suzy turned to the computer on the desk next to her, looking through the security cameras. She wasn't supposed to be in the security room, but there wasn't time for her to wait for a guard to come by and let her in (which wouldn't have happened, anyway. She was in the unique situation of not being allowed in this room for any reason after a few too many incidents) so she could figure out how he got in here. The hum of the overhead lights did nothing but drag the situation on as she flipped through screens.

Finally landing on one and letting it play for a few seconds, she jabbed a finger towards Travis and then at the screen, saying "There. How did you do that? It's like you just walked in! But you can't just walk in! Where did you walk in from anyway?" He started to answer but she shushed him in favour of watching his entrance to the hospital on the screen again. "You can't just do that!"

"It's just kind of what I do!" he protested. "I travel!"

She kicked the ground and propelled the chair towards him, almost hitting him. He flinched and shielded his head on instinct, before lowering his arms.

"How did you do that?" She had given up on hiding her smile by now. Whereas she could have faked indifference or anger before (had she not been talking) with her eyes covered by her goggles, any of her co-workers who walked in would instantly recognize the smile she wore. They'd fondly dubbed it her "mad scientist smile"; she told them it was how she normally smiles. She was right. They were right as well.

"It's just something that I can do. I don't remember how I got the ability to do it, I just can do it."

"Can you teach me?"

"Probably not."

Her shoulders instantly slumped and she spun around in her chair, rolling it back in front of the desk. Digging around in her coat, she produced an empty test tube; she immediately spun around and held the test tube up to his chin.

"Teach me or I'll... I'll tell people you were here! This is a hospital, patients, staff, and visitors only!"

He put his hands up in mock resignation, but took a step back anyway.

"I really can't teach you, I don't know how I do it!"

Uncharacteristically of her, she lowered the test tube; this was immediately explained as she grabbed his wrist and dove under a table. Before he could ask why, she had a hand over his mouth to muffle him.

The room's door opened to a burly-looking security guard stepping inside. He adjusted his cap, grabbed a mug of lukewarm coffee off of the desk, and stepped back outside. For a few seconds, neither Suzy nor Travis spoke.

"Sorry," she said, then quieter, "I'm not supposed to be in here."

"That's my threat then," he whispered back, "don't tell anyone I was here or I'll tell them you were in here."

She pulled herself out from under the table, tucked a few hairs into her bun, and extended her hand to help him up from the ground.

"Yeah. Fine, that's a fair threat. I'd really be in trouble."

He accepted her help and dusted himself off. Neither of them said anything.

"Hey, so", she began, "how many places have you been to? Do you know much about microbiology? See, there's this microbe that I can't really understand, and you could help me take a look at it."

Without waiting for an answer, she left the room, leaving Travis Lore alone in the security office.

He sighed and let himself out.