Because of some confusion that took place on PI, I would like to take this time to give an explanation about Maria`s disease, NIDS.

I`ve done the research on NIDS (granted not overly in-depth but enough so I have an idea of what I was dealing with) coupled with what Sega showed in the games (as they are the ones that determined what disease Maria had) and I put the two together. NIDS can cause autistic symptoms while eating away the muscle tissue (those who have played the Sonic games and seen SonicX may notice how Maria had issues standing at times and unable to get up when she fell, etc) and it also attacks the immune system. The immune system is what fights off illnesses, viruses, etc. If the immune system is not functioning, it cannot fight off these problems. If they can`t be fought off, then the illness can kill the person.

So, the illnesses that Maria picks up while under such a complication of NIDS are what would kill her and why she must remain on the sterile Space Colony Arc. Earth is full of these bacteria, viruses and other things that make people sick. Maria`s weak system would be overloaded beyond belief and she wouldn`t make it. So technically it isn`t NIDS that would cause her death but rather the other illnesses she would get (or secondary infection, as one person put it).

As for the autism aspect, I personally don`t think Maria has it at a high degree (autism can occur at different degrees in an individual, it`s not like other problems where you have it or you don`t; one person can have it far more harshly than another). But here is a site you can read about autism: http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/autism-symptoms I think maybe one or two of the symptoms discussed there do fit Maria so she -might- have a tiny case of autism from the NIDS from what I can tell from the games and show. That`s just my take on it.
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There are many rooms in the lower level of the Arc. To find out which one her grandfather is in, Maria asks a couple of scientists along the way who give her direction as to where he is. Maria finds her grandfather, as well as Shadow a several scientists, in a room that resembles an auditorium. Rows upon rows of chairs are lined up from the center of the room to the back. A stage is set in the room, most likely for the scientists to brief the other scientists about their findings, discoveries or inventions. Usually equipment such as a projection screen and a graph chart is present on the stage. But instead of the usual items today, there is a large screen. Currently it is blank. The floor between the stage and the chairs is pretty wide though Maria can`t guess at it`s measurement. Just like all the other floors on the Arc, this one is completely smooth and metallic.

Maria has never been in this room as there hasn`t been a reason for her to be here. She looks among all the scientists in the room until she spots her grandfather, who seems to be explaining something to Shadow. Most likely he is giving Shadow directions. She happily approaches the two of them. As she arrives, Shadow gives a nonverbal confirmation to Gerald that he understands the directions he is given.

The scientists begin to clear the area and take their places among the chairs. Each have their pens and clipboards ready to take notes. However, one scientist is laying out red tape on the floor between the chairs and the stage. He does the best he can to make the strip laid out straight. Once the tape is out, he walks away from the scene, most likely to set the tape roll down somewhere.

Gerald tells Shadow to take his place so that the experiment can begin then he walks off to go to the chairs. He chooses a seat that is fairly high up on the rows of seats. He wants to be sure he can see the whole floor and get a good view of the screen on the stage.

Maria remains down on the floor with Shadow. She cups her hands together behind her back and watches Shadow move over to standing behind the tape. Maria catches on quickly what is going on. They are having Shadow run to see how fast he can go. A speed test. When Gerald calls for Maria, she begins to walk over to the stairs. She passes by Shadow and as she does so, she turns her head to look at him. This isn`t a race, it`s just a test. Saying "good luck" wouldn`t make much sense in this case. What could she say? Coming up with nothing to say to him, Maria just turns her head to Shadow and gives him a sweet smile as she passes him by.

Shadow watches Maria walk by him and up the rows of chairs to sit next to her grandfather, eyes locked dead on to her. He then finds himself thinking about how he loves that smile she gives him, running the image of it over and over in his head.

One of the scientists is holding a stop watch in his hand. He is standing right in front of the chairs and his voice brings Shadow back to reality,"On the count of three, Project Shadow."

He counts to three out loud. When he says "three", he presses the start button on the stop watch and Shadow takes off in a burst of speed. In a second or two, Shadow is out of the room and begins to race around on the Arc. Everyone must turn to the large screen on the stage in order to watch Shadow on his run.

Something they find interesting about Shadow`s run is how he is running. It`s not a regular run like how everyone else does it. The way he moves makes it look like he is skating. Gerald finds this interesting and Maria is intrigued by it as well. Perhaps it is because of his hover shoes. Air is pushing out of the vents very quickly and in great strength to project him forward.

The scientists who aren`t with Gerald are roaming around in the Arc doing their work. To them, Shadow is just a black blur whizzing past them. Their clothes get blown around from Shadow`s high speed passing by them and they almost get blown over themselves. For the moment, none of them have any idea of what has just ran past them.

Shadow is following the markers that have been placed along the walls of the Arc. These markers show Shadow the path that Gerald wants him to take which would allow for him and the other scientists to judge Shadow`s speed. To Shadow, the markers look nothing more than just little dots on the wall whipping by him. He is following them well, though, taking all the tight turns they lead him through. He easily darts down hallways and cuts through various rooms on this floor level of the Arc. Once the markers have taken Shadow to the opposite end of the Arc, they bring him back to the auditorium room.

The excitement of everyone in the auditorium grows rapidly as they see Shadow making the turn to head back. It won`t be long now before he will cross the finish line and end the speed test. Gerald is particularly happy about this. It is a show of that one of the things he was aiming for Shadow is successful. Hopefully other things about his creation will be successful as well.

Shadow quickly skates past more scientists. As word of the black blur running around on the Arc spreads, the scientists begin to wonder if this is Professor Gerald`s creation, Project Shadow. They have seen him wandering the Arc with Maria but had very little information on him.

During this entire run, Shadow can`t take his mind off of Maria and that smile she gave him right before the test started. He likes that smile. It rolls over in his head several more times. Did she give him that smile because she likes him? No, it can`t possibly be the reason. Can it? It may just be that she was being nice; she is very kind to everyone on the Arc. But it is a beautiful smile and it looks extra lovely on her face.

He skates back into the auditorium and the finish line tape quickly comes into view. Once he crosses it, this test will be done. Hopefully he can spend the rest of the day with his angel instead of all these little jobs with the scientists. Spending time with Maria is what he looks forward to most.

As he skates on, he turns his head to the side to look at Maria who is sitting beside her grandfather up on a mid level of the chairs. Maria`s hands are both resting her lap as she watches Shadow. At this moment, it seems like all time has stopped and everything pauses for a moment. He can see that smile on her face. Soft, gentle, happy...Does it make her happy to watch him run? Oh but what a lovely smile she has. He can`t be sure of the reason for her smile but it is him she is smiling at. Knowing this makes Shadow feel happy. A tiny smile forms it`s way on his face.

During that second Shadow takes his eyes off the floor ahead of him to look at Maria, disaster strikes.

Shadow suddenly trips over something unseen on the floor. His expression quickly changes to a shocked one as he begins to fall down. His high speed sends his body flying down the length of the floor towards the red tape. Gerald quickly jumps to his feet and his hands tightly grip the back of the seat in front of him. Both of Maria`s hands immediately clasp over her mouth in shock, holding her breath as she sees Shadow tripping. The other scientists all gather together in a collective a frenzy over Shadow`s unforeseen accident.

The Ultimate Life Form`s body hits the floor and he begins to roll uncontrollably along the floor. His body is flipped and turned erratically. His head and joints make impact on the floor multiple times. Shadow looks like a helpless, lifeless doll being thrown about in such a way. This segment of Shadow`s accident seems to last forever. Tumbling. Tossing. Turning. On and on it goes tortuously.

The longer it goes, the more concerned everyone becomes. Surely he can`t survive such a fall like this. No one could. The speed he was moving makes the fall deadly. Bits of blood are appearing on the floor in the path of Shadow`s tumble. First the side of his head would hit the floor, then his shoulder. The head would strike the floor in it`s backside followed by the side of his hip. The angle of Shadow`s body would change each and every time that he is flipped and rolled, allowing for various parts of his body to make impact on the floor.

Finally, Shadow`s body ironically skids through the finish line tape and comes to a halt in the middle of it. He lays face-down on the floor. His eyes are closed and he isn`t moving. Blood is smeared on the floor from where his body stops to where he had began to skid. Some blood is also present on his clothes which have some rips and tears where they were shredded from the accident.

Maria releases the breath she had been holding this entire time and jumps to her feet. She races down the rows of seats. Gerald, being the age that he is, can`t run as quickly as Maria. Not that she is all that bodily able thanks to her disease. But he, too, is coming down to the floor as quickly as his aging body will permit him to. He begins barking orders to the other scientists who are scrambling to retrieve medical equipment. Once Maria reaches the floor before the rows of seats, she nearly screams Shadow`s name as she continues to race down towards him.

Shadow`s red eyes instantly open up upon hearing Maria`s sweet, angelic voice cry out his name. His eyes shift around a bit and his shoulders begin to shift. Then Shadow begins to lift his body off the floor slowly using his arms to do so. Maria reaches Shadow and drops to her knees on the floor quickly beside him. She throws her arms around Shadow tightly around his neck. Her body is shaking a little from being riled up with worry that he may have killed himself with that fall. She doesn`t want to loose her friend that she cares so much about. Shadow places a hand on Maria`s arm to nonverbally reassure her that he is fine.

Gerald and several other scientists arrive on the scene. Gerald kneels down and is surprised to see that Shadow can still move. He remarks on how incredible it is for someone to survive such a horrible accident with the high speed that Shadow was traveling at. The most damage that can be seen on the outside of Shadow is a few small rashes here and there. The blood and tears on his clothes seem to make it look worse than what it actually is. He might have internal damage though. The scientists rush Shadow to a medical room to have x-rays done and to be sure that he has not sustained any other damage.

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