"... I always love this place." announced Eliza from the courtyard, staring at the main building that comprised SciLab HQ. She took a good, long whiff of the air, as if science had a particular smell to it. Actually, it did. It smelled like science.

"Well, I know that... You're here with the Science Society almost weekly." sighed Kina, fidgeting awkwardly from within her PET. "But did we really have to go here to battle-test the Time Ring? What if they, like... repossess me? We're bringing the unknown experiment to them!"

"Scientific experiments must be conducted in a scientific environment!" affirmed Eliza as a fact of life, raising the PET to her face and pointing at Kina decisively. "Besides, it's like that saying; they won't be able to see the forest for the trees. Except they're not just trees, they're science trees. And the Time Ring's just another one of those science trees. Just, like... a science redwood, instead of a science oak."

"Redwoods don't time travel!" moaned Kina, pained by the nonsensical logic of her Operator. Well... neither did she, really. All the tests up to this point on the crazy little ring on her finger yielded that it brought the time shifts to her, rather than her to them. Granted, that in no way excluded the possibility of a proper time jump... "So complicated..." whined Kina under her breath, not at all entertained by this vast mystery.

"And that is why we are here!" nodded Eliza, entirely entertained by this vast mystery. "Plus... the viruses around the SS's network are too strong for some girls with a meager 3 Battlechips they got from a friend." she admitted sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head, having actually retreated to SciLab to save her Navi from getting totally wrecked.

"I guess..." agreed Kina slowly, having experienced a few too many scares from those crazy things when she was still just a research Navi. "I'll just be careful, then."

"There you go. We can beat these viruses out of this century if we just put our minds to it!" said Eliza with a cheer as she jacked her PET into the nearest terminal.

(Jack In, SciLab Net)