They're coming to take me away, ha-ha...

[Bjorn]

A long pause develops, right to the point of being uncomfortable, and then Bjorn nods, once.  "All right."  Sinking to sit cross-legged right in place, he asks, courteously, "Shall we begin?"

[Brian]

The doctor blinks, and frowns vaguely.  "I don't have my cards with me," he drawls.  "Nor a dozen other things.  If you accompany me back to the lab, upstairs, we'll be all set."

[Bjorn]

"Ah," Bjorn says sagely.  "Well, then...."  Getting to his feet, he extends a polite hand to the doorway.  "After you."

[Brian]

Nodding, Dr. Peterson steps outside, both of the guards still watching you expectantly.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn steps through the door, and immediately side-steps, so as to make the way clear for the guards to come through -- and, of course, entirely incidentally, putting his back to the wall.

[Brian]

Dr. Peterson's back is to you, but the guards take note, keeping their distance and watching you warily.  One of them motions you to go ahead, apparently willing to give you clear access to the good doctor rather than trusting you behind him.

[Bjorn]

Grinning, Bjorn winks at the guards, and then moves after the doctor, moving rapidly and smoothly, but barely moving his arms from his side.

Internally, he chides himself.  Playing mind games is stupid, especially since they've probably seen 'em all before.  On the other hand... not likely going to hurt me until they know at least part of what they want to know, and they're already a bit afraid of me.  So, why not push 'em a little?  Maybe something useful'll come up...

Huh.  A mutahuman?

[Brian]

You're led across the playroom, only a few of the other residents even glancing at your direction.  The only ones that stick out are the two remaining handsigners, and the brute (who is afraid of the dark).

The door opens before Dr. Peterson reaches it, revealing a long corridor, line with a plexi-glass lined guard booth build into the wall on either side.  Each contains two guards.  The guards here are one each in S.W.A.T. gear, and two in lighter, more practical armor.  Your guards stop, and enter the booths, while the more lightly armored duo exits.  The door clicks shut behind you, security bolts automatically slamming home (with the obligatory grating security buzz).

Dr. Peterson continues down the corridor, which is unbroken for some distance.  The lighting here is visibly dimmed from the playroom, simple, everyday florescent bulbs.  The wall and floor arethe same tile as the cafeteria, and the ceiling is concrete.  At regular intervals (about every five meters) there is a round port in the wall surrounded by yellow-and-black striped tape.  They appear to be valves, though the purposes is uncertain at this point.

After about fifty meters, the corridor ends in front of an elevator.  A few other doctors (judging by their labcoats) are discussing things in a lab that's half medical research equipment (you recognize a piece or two) and half computer banks (you recognize quite a bit more of these).

The new guards motion you to halt, as Dr. Peterson ducks inside the lab.  You can see him chatting with another of the doctors through the plexiglass lab front.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn sizes up the new guards (what sort of weapons they're carrying, their demeanour, if they're hot), before going back to watching the doctors inside the lab -- and trying to puzzle out more of that medical equipment.

[Brian]

Each guard is standing a handful of meters away from you; far enough to arm themselves with the batons they're carrying before you get in reach.  No helmets, here, unlike the previous guards, but they are wearing thinner (though still obvious) protective vests.  Additionally, you heard clinking chains when they walked, even though you haven't seen handcuffs.  Most likely they're on the backs of their belts.  Both of them are relatively nondescript, average-looking individuals.  Short hair (left's dark, righty's brown), brown eyes, average height, moderately muscular build.

You could probably take one of them in a fight.

Maybe.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn meets the eyes of each guard, one after the other, holding their gaze for just a few seconds, before turning to study the lab and the doctors again.

[Brian]

The guards return your stare impassively.  The lab machinery you recognize is standard stuff, admitedly.  The small compartment used to sterilize equipment, the thingamajigger that does that ... well, you don't know THAT one.  But you recognize the equipment used for standard blood tests, as well as what you expect would be more advanced versions of the same.

The computers, on the other hand, look like standard x-windows terminals, though the interface looks a bit dated.  More appropriate for the late ninetys than the modern day.

You don't have time to do much more before Dr. Peterson emerges through the open doorway, and nods at you.  "Sorry about the delay," he says, before turning away and marching down a branching corridor to the right.

Right or left -- either way features tiled floors, paneled walls, and cork-board panel-ceilings, dotted regularly with ventilation ducts, lighting panels, loudspeaker grills, smoke detectors, and emergency fire extinguishers.  But there are more glass-and-wire-mesh windows lining the outer perimeter of the corridor, assuming that your current path circles the playroom, which seems likely.  You can't really see into any of them from where you are, but the guards nod at you to follow the doctor.

[Bjorn]

And follow the doctor Bjorn does, though this time, for variety, he's moving rather leisurely, just moving fast enough not to lose sight of the doctor, and more than slow enough to annoy anyone who was, hypothetically speaking, walking behind him.

[Brian]

After a few steps of this, the guards draw their batons and hold them ready, though make no actual move to strike.  It would appear your behavior has them on edge....

Eventually, you catch up to Dr. Peterson, passing by a few more glass-n-wire windows as you do so.  With your pace, you get to see: A room full of switches and network cables.  No visible servers, however.  The door is closed, and most likely locked.  The sign says, "Datapod Subswitch A-N".  There's an awful lot of blinky lights in there.

A totally black window (with a crack running across the pane) with an ancient label in poster-board taped to one corner reading, "Ezmereth", and in very slightly newer plastic bulletin, "No known T-3 or higher admittance".  Even that's got a layer of dust on it, though.  The door is shut, though judging by the warping of the frame and the steel door (under the paint, you weren't sure what it was before) it's actually melted shut.  Whatever placard was on the door itself has been torn off.  A glance back reveals that this room, whatever it was, makes the guards nervous.

The next window is a nursery, with room for 12 infants, though only two are present.  A nurse watches over them closely, only glancing at you for a moment.  This door is not only closed, but has a slot for a security card to be swiped, which is displaying a lit red LED, and an unlit green one.

The window after reveals a large room, with the accoustic mottling on the walls you've come to associate with sound-booths.  The floor is littered with loose padding and foam, and a variety of objects ranging from paper-clips and feathers, to large iron weights and what looks like an honest-to-goodness anvil.  This door is open, but you can see from the doorway that only a plexiglass booth is accessable -- the rest of the room is sealed away.

The next window is not a window, but a pair of empty (and probably locked) security booths, and beyond them is a sealed bulkhead reading '04 - NE - C'.  Glancing to your right, you see a hallway leading back towards where you believe the playroom is, though it only goes in about two meters before ending in a rather solid looking sealed bulk-head reading '04 - NE - B'.

Past that is a throne room to some primitive god of wires.  Cabling and extension cords lie everwhere, in someplaces half a meter deep, most of them leading to a massive stainless steel arm-chair with what you can tell from here is too-thin padding, and a large, nearly comically sci-fi crown-like aparatus.  Dr. Peterson stops before this room long enough for you to catch up, sifting through pages on his clipboard.  "Testing for M class," he mutters.  "Well, we'll work on D-class tests, first."  Mumbling something incomprehensible about someone named 'Victor', he trudges along the hallway even further.

The next window is a darkened room, but appears to contain animal cages of some type.  This door is also closed.

Following this is another pair of bulkheads (04 - E - B and 04 - E - C, respectively) and empty security booths.  You're not positive, but you believe that the vine-topped archway of the playroom meets up with this sealed corridor.  Your room, in the rainbow-marked corridor, would be opposite the 04 NE series bulkheads.  The curvature is more obvious, here, making what you suspect is a giant oval around the playroom.

The next room is the one that Dr. Peterson enters.  It's brightly lit, and a lone heavily armored guard (just donning his helmet when you round the corner enough to see him), and two technicians are here.  One half of the room contains a smaller, sealed off section behind what looks like a meter-thick series of glass blocks, mortared with cement.  It's difficult to see inside, as the interior is wavery and not smooth at all, but it appears empty.  Some sort of machinery is inside, and a huge door of some unknown material (possibly ceramic) lies open, looking rather like a bank vault.

The other side of the room contains various pieces of monitoring equipment, and a pair of assistant technicians.  The doctor motions you into the vault, and consults with one of the machines.  All three of the guards look at you expectantly.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn takes a step closer to the vault, but only one.  Holding his hands behind his back, he leans forward, curiously, as to examine the interior of the room as best he can, and then, straightening, he asks the doctor, "Do you mind if I ask what sort of test this is supposed to be?  It seems rather more than needed for cards."