Parker had taken a seat on the floor as well. She glanced at the others, Maria and Lewis staring hard at her. Parker let out a deep breath, shaking her head ruefully.<br/><br/>"The mineral was found by mistake by a scientific team. When we learned what it could do, we couldn't get down here fast enough," she started. Dr. Parker ran a hand through her blonde hair. Rachel could see that her hand was trembling.<br/><br/>"It's unlike anything, anywhere. Whatever it comes into contact with it can duplicate its properties. Touch it to steel, it becomes like steel. Touch it to glass, now it's glass. And we thought, touch it to flesh ..." she trailed off, her eyes distant for a moment. "Well, we thought it would become like flesh. Only, it picked up more than that."<br/><br/>There was a moment of silence. It was broken when Lewis snorted a short laugh, shaking her head. "It copied more than just the properties of the flesh, didn't it?"<br/><br/>Parker nodded. "It copied intelligence, too. We thought it was just a mineral, a special kind of rock. We didn't know ... that it could do that."