Okay like I said this is a songfic, but it's also more than that. You'll see how music correlates to the story … I hope.
Disclaimer: If I owned Buffy the Vampire Slayer why would I have to say I don't own it? I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Meru led the eager students down the bare halls of the complex, continuing his traditional greetings to the occasional passersby. Though the students were too busy chatting about the observations they would make and the events they would see, to notice what the doctor was doing. That is until they stopped in front of a pair of sliding doors.
The murmurs stopped and all eyes turned to the happy department head who was standing to the right of the closed door. The graduates held their plastic clipboards and pens in their hands, ready to take down anything Meru had to say to them. The white lab coats given to them at the entrance were adorned with the clip on visitor tags which glimmered in the light.
"Behind this door is the first of the several test subjects you will observe today," Meru said pointing towards the sign that spelled out 'TEST ROOM 3'. "This subject will provide a model of how complex an ordinary person's essence appears, well not very ordinary, but ordinary in comparison to that of the Slayer's or her associates."
The eyebrows of the observers furrowed in confusion, and one dark haired girl in the back began to raise her hand. Meru raised his eyebrows, nodded slightly and pointed for her to ask her question.
"I'm sorry Sir, but I thought you said we would be observing the audio and imagery testing of the slayer?" she asked confusedly. A few small nods of agreement passed around the group as they turned their attention to the doctor before them, awaiting a response.
"Ah, yes I did say that. And you will see the last of the slayers, but you see this operation isn't dedicated to the soul purpose of analyzing the complexity of historic figures' minds. Here at S&W we are dedicated to differentiating the levels of complexity of individuals of different situations and origins. That is not to say that one person's life is less important, as it means that some people have a greater mind spread when it comes to life," Meru wisely stated with a knowing smile.
Continuing past the studious writing he heard from the graduates, he said, "Now the subject behind this door is neither the least complex nor most of those you will see today. It will become apparent which is which as the day goes on. But they are an accurate model for the average citizen of Sunnydale during the time of the last slayer."
Their heads looked up from their notes when they heard the slide of the doors open to reveal the room and witnessed Meru enter. They followed looking around the fairly large room.
The walls were lined with white cupboards and drawers, filled with hidden supplies, exempt the different colored bottles seen through the clouded glass doors of the cupboards.
In the center of the room a woman with light, brown hair lay on top of a soft mattress like table. She wore loose white clothing: a shirt, pants and slipper like coverings over her feet. Surrounding her closed eyes, along the crest of her forehead, three metal electrodes were spread out; red blinking dots in the center left a glow on her face. Next to the table a less than half of an inch thick monitor screen was light blue, appearing to be shut down at the moment.
A metal object gripped around her mouth and nose, not attached to anything, sending a breath of air into her lungs. The new breather technology was accompanied by a metal band on her left wrist which beeped out every now and then, giving the doctors a pulse and brain wave reading every minute.
Meru drew everyone's attention to a young man, also in a lab coat and holding a computer tablet, as he spoke to him. He wore an ID tag indicating that he was a staff member of Dr. Elee's department.
"So Dr. Jone, how is she?" Meru asked placing a hand on other doctor's shoulder.
Dr. Jone looked up from his tablet. He glanced from Meru to the visitors to Meru once more and finally landing on his tablet, his eyes widening and checks flushing in embarrassment as he spoke.
"She appears to be stable, vitals read normal," Jone said straight-faced showing Meru the chart on the tablet's screen, the information coming from the wristband. "The right audio clip was found and she is all ready for the test."
"Very well, check on the others, please," Meru commanded and Jone smiled slightly and swiftly walked out of the room, glad to be anywhere but there. Meru chuckled to himself then turned his attention back to the watchful, fifteen pairs of eyes taking up space in the barely crowded room.
"Now I realize that you all most likely know the procedures of an audio test, but I whish to clarify in detail the steps, as to abolish any confusion later on," Meru explained. They nodded for him to continue.
"The subject's system was injected with a sedative that can last up to two weeks which was introduced through the temporal device when her molecular structure was broken down and reassembled here. This way she will have no recollection of the events of the tests.
"When the unconscious subject is transported from his/her temporal period, they end up in Decontamination, where they are stripped of harmful contaminates in their system and given hospital wear since their clothing would be left behind in transfer.
"From there they are sent to the different departments for testing to be done," Meru explained as the students took notes.
"The group from Sunnydale has been here for almost four days now, and has gone under tests from two other departments. After today they will be sent to be tested on by others, and once that has been completed they will be sent back to their exact, respected time zones. They will remember nothing and anyone around them during the time of disappearance will not notice," Meru said. "It will be as if nothing ever happened."
With that he took a step towards the unconscious woman. Their eyes followed his index finger as he pointed to the metal, blinking electrodes.
"You see, the electronic transmitters are connected to the subject's cortex through these electrodes which capture the brain waves through a series of small electronic pulses which act like a net, capturing and holding the imagery of memories and such," he explained drawing a line with his finger from the back of her skull to the pieces of metal.
He took step towards the blank monitor screen.
"The imagery is then transmitted wirelessly from the electric net onto the screen here. This shows us images and memories that appear in a person's mind when they hear auditory signals, such as music," Meru said with a gesture towards the blue screen.
"How does the audio work exactly, Dr. Elee?" one of the male visitors asked, raising his hand and lowering it as soon as he finished his question.
"Ah, yes. Well you see the subject is equipped with an ear piece," Meru pointed to the woman's ear where a strip of metal lined the inner layer. "Different audio files, in this case music, are played over a series of time. Then we monitor the subject's response through brain waves and other vital systems, as Dr. Jone had been when we came in. When we find a song that provides the most stimuli from the subject, we will then replay the song and transmit the imagery to the monitor, where we can then analyze the images and the subject."
"But how exactly do you decide on a song, Sir?" the blonde girl in the front asked.
"Well we have a database of songs, of all different genres and time periods, which will play for twenty four hours exactly. Which ever song accumulates the most stimuli is one we will use. Sometimes we will use more than one, but for today's purposes added with the limited amount of time we have with the subjects, we will only be using the most stimulating song," Meru explained with a nod.
"Now," he said clasping his hands together in front of him. All of the students' eyes were wide and pens ready as he walked towards a control panel on the right side of the monitor. "Let's begin."