<div class="floatleft">(http://media.weirdworm.com/img/life/6-types-of-halloween-costumes-analyzed/sexy.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Maria von Trapp</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>Château's main entrance</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td>Alone, waiting for Nikita/Tisha</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td>Ready to welcome Tisha</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/>Maria von Trapp had spent most of the previous night working in the lab on her problem. At last, exhausted, she had gone to bed only to wake up a few hours later with new potential solutions buzzing in her head, rendering her unable to find sleep again. It was always the same when she was bumping against an obstacle. Until she found out how to fix it she was restless.<br/><br/>Still, the lack of sleep was causing a migraine to grow inside her head. Such headaches had become more or less permanent since she had tested on herself the first prototype of self-growing cranial implant. She considered indulging herself with a light dose of pain-killing influx from her implant. This would send a series of focused activation waves to the pain centers of her brains and release some endorphins. Unfortunately, although it was very effective against headache, she had also found that it tended to obscure her thinking processes and she need it at its full potential to solve her current problem.<br/><br/>Mentally pushing the temptation aside, she concentrated again on the list of measures she had been working on. They were coming from G125's cranial implant, the gorilla that was strapped to the table in the middle of the lab. Two days ago she had uploaded a new version of the growing algorithm into it but the tendrils were not spreading as they should have.<br/><br/>As she compared the numbers to the expected values she felt the Château's system knocking at her door. She chose to ignore it but it insisted again and again until she grumpily finally opened the cyber door. She was overwhelmed under a pile of past notifications: plane taking off from Oslo, landing at Strasbourg airport, credit card used to rent a car, … Her father had opened a credit for Tisha Magnessen's expenses. This was part of the deal to attract her to his Company, but it also allowed to follow her actions more easily.<br/><br/>The most urgent notification was from the Château's main gate. Tisha was here! Already! She frowned at the image taken by the security cameras at the gate. A pink sport car! She was always surprised how a sudden flow of money would bring out the strangest tastes from poor peoples... It was Tisha, she recognised her. She had better clothes and hair style but that was her, as far as she could remember.<strong>"Let her in"</strong>she said to Security and then, directly to Tisha,<strong>"Welcome to the Château. Please follow Security indications, I'll meet you at the main entrance."</strong><br/><br/>Maria leaped from her chair and ran out of the laboratory. She gave a quick glance at her reflection in a window, gave a quick touch up to her long blond mane tied up in a high bun, before running up the stairs that led to the ground level, her short heels clicking on the marble. As she walked to the door, she read through some more notifications from Security. The police channels were constantly analysed and it seemed that a patrol car had disappeared from the screens in the vicinity. Nothing to be alarmed off, but maybe she should ensure the guards were alert and ready.<br/><br/>As she hurried to the door, Maria recollected her memories from Tisha. She had met the young scientist at a conference and had been quite impressed by her works and the way she thought. She exchanged a few messages with her, enough to convince her that she would be a valuable addition to her team. She had convinced her father to hire her and here she was.<br/><br/>The main door opened and she stepped out, blinking in the sun. She rarely went out of the lab and was used to a controlled environment in term of light, temperature and sound. Here on the doorstep, nature was overflowing her senses with bright sun rays, flower perfumes and bird songs. She collected herself and realised she was still wearing her lab coat over her blue jeans and white T-shirt. Too late to remove it and well, that might make her look more impressive... She heard the roaring of the car engine and soon spotted the pink vehicle approaching. She put a smile on her face and waited, feeling a bit out of place in the plain sun.