fandomhigh | Unblinded Science, Period Six [5/17]

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unblinded science

Unblinded Science, Period Six [5/17]

Walter looks like a kid about to play one of his favorite games today. He's smiling and sipping something cold from a paper cup that has a long-handled plastic spoon sticking out of it.

There are kits set out for the students' use today. Each kit contains a strip of surgical tape, a microchip in a plastic vial, two cell phone-sized boxes that bear strange resemblances to compasses, a pair of walkie talkies, and a handout on how to triangulate.

"Since I am discouraged from actively inserting anything subdermally in students, the surgical tape will have to do," Walter announces, apropos of nothing once the students have settled themselves. He sounds a tad disgruntled, but a sip from his cup seems to help his mood.

"Today we'll be working with hands on applications of geometry, but I have been reminded that this is summer camp, so I am endeavoring to make it more jocular." Clearly Walter thinks that most things can be made jocular with the right mindset, but not everyone has his imagination.

"Today we will be playing a version of hide and seek. Break down into groups of three. Since we have 14 students, I will be in one of the groups." He nearly clapped his hands together at the prospect.

"One student will be the hider. That lucky person will tape one of the chips to the back of his or her neck and hide anywhere on the island. We'll give you..." he paused and thought about it. "A ten minute head start. You can agree among your groups whether the hider should choose a place and stay in it or whether he or she can lead you on a merry chase.

"Next week I will have a prize for all students who found their hider within three hours. Now get going!"*

[ooc: So sorry! No excuses but confusing life. ~~Two minutes for OCD please.~~ *He'll forget the prizes. Sorry.]

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Decide who's hiding, who's seeking, and whether it's okay to keep moving or not.

[I'm going to assume that if you end up needing to leave the classroom and head out onto the island, it's fine to have other posts. I'd love if you'd link out to them here so I can see what my crrrrrazy students are doing.]

Edited 2010-05-17 21:09 (UTC)

This sounded like a pretty fun project. Tim looked around for people to join up with.

"Hey," Lindsay greeted, approaching Tim randomly "Mind if I join your group?"

Bruce made his way over to Tim a little less randomly. Tim seemed like he had a reasonable head on his shoulders when they talked previously. He might be a reasonable lab partner. "If he does, his group is probably going to be a little small. Need a third, Tim?"

"Sure," Tim smiled. This could be interesting. "You guys mind if I'm the 'hider'? I'm thinking the mobile option."

"As long as I don't have to be," Lindsay grinned.

"That's fine. Make it interesting. It's not as much fun if we find you too quickly," Bruce said.

Tim grinned. "I'll do my best."

He took off at a light jog towards the preserve, but as soon as he was out of the line of sight, he broke into a hard run. Once inside the trees, he looked around for ideas. A curious blue deer lifted her nose and examined him.

"Hi," he said softly. He held out his hands to show they were clear of weapons. "I'm not going to hurt you." The deer responded to his voice with a step forward, so he kept talking until she was close enough to touch. He quietly peeled the tape off his arm and gently stuck the tracker to the back of the deer's neck. Then he clapped his hands together. The deer, startled, ran.

Tim swung up to a branch of the nearest tree and perched there, waiting and watching.

Lindsay glanced out toward the preserve. "Well, it can't be too hard to find him, right?"

"Maybe," Bruce said. "It depends on how fast he is, how clever he is, and maybe even how strange the Preserve is today. Have you ever triangulated a signal before?"

"No, but this looks like pretty simple geometry," Lindsay replied, followed by a more in depth explanation of the geometry involved.

Bruce was willing to let her explain even though this wasn't the first time he had to do something like this. When a smart girl wanted to explain mathematics, you let them. He grabbed a walkie talkie and one of the boxes that he assumed gave readings. "Simple. I'll take my reading toward the east end of the Preserve. Give a call on the walkie when you're at your position."

"Okay, I'll let you know when I get there," Lindsay said, taking her walkie talkie and tracker.

She headed toward the west end of the Preserve. Once there, she spoke into the walkie. "I'm here. Hopefully I got this thing working properly."

Though this particular technology didn't seem all that different.

"You'll do fine. It's pretty simple," Bruce said, getting his first bearing.

Bruce and Lindsay took several readings and methodically closed in on the tracker's current position. When the readings suggested they were practically right on top of Tim, all Bruce saw was a teal deer. "Hmm."

Lindsay stared. "Huh. Think he might be one of those magical types I've heard about? Maybe he turned himself into...that."

She still wasn't used to saying things like this. It just was not logical. The deer being teal was not logical either.

If he were really hiding, Tim would have moved away from his trackers. But suppose he'd needed information from them? He leapt from his branch to a nearby tree, grabbed and swung from that branch to another one nearby. He discovered along the way that tree branches were not as smooth as the uneven bars he'd practiced on. Ow.

It took a bit of scrambling, but he got through a section of the trees without touching the ground and leaving tracks. As soon as he spotted Bruce and Lindsay, though, he held his spot. They weren't nearby yet, but if the wind was just right, he might be able to overhear them.

"If he were going to turn himself into something, it probably wouldn't be as conspicuous as a teal deer. I'm guessing he just slipped the microchip onto the deer," Bruce theorized. "I wonder if we would get full credit for bringing the deer back."

"Maybe?" Lindsay pointed out the chip on the deer. "Because this proves we at least did the triangulation right."

Bruce approached the deer and pulled the tape and microchip off of the animal. He glanced around at the forest, looking for signs that Tim might be watching from behind a tree or in a hole in the ground or something. "And we have that proof right here. The only real question is if Bishop will wonder what happened to our classmate."

He couldn't hear what they were saying and didn't have any of his listening equipment. He shifted on the branch, hoping to move closer, but his foot slipped and a twig snapped under his foot. He froze.

"I'm wondering the same thing," Lindsay admitted, freezing for a moment. "Did you hear that?"

"I did," Bruce said simply. The sound came from higher up than Bruce had been looking for at the moment. He looked up in the direction the sound came from and, sure enough, there was a dark-haired boy in a tree. He gave a wave. "Found you, Tim!"

Lindsay glanced over to where Bruce was waving. "That's a neat trick you did there."

Though there was a bit of sarcasm there, she was somewhat impressed.

Edited 2010-05-18 04:18 (UTC)

Re: Group up

boywonder03.livejournal.com - 2010-05-18 04:21 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Group up

willbethenight.livejournal.com - 2010-05-18 04:25 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Group up

mathletenomore.livejournal.com - 2010-05-18 04:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Group up

boywonder03.livejournal.com - 2010-05-18 04:33 (UTC) - Expand

Claudia couldn't quite decide if she hoped to be hiding, or chasing.

Either way, it was an interesting idea for a class, and she was looking forward to it.

That would be Scully facepalming, because she thought she got away from chips in her neck a year ago. Thank God this wasn't subdermal.

"I'm not hiding. I'm fine with being on anyone's team, but I'm not hiding."

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