She's willing to argue. He can imagine her defending her thesis - do they bother with that for a BS here? - with the same aplomb, staring down her professors as she lays out her vision for time travel. And he can't deny his interest in the subject. Reading it had been an interesting way to spend an hour, late on the night he'd first been made aware of her.

(Admittedly, he hadn't been sure she was a her, at first. He'd been given her CV without any preamble in a terse memo informing him of his new subordinate. Dana Scully could have been a male medical doctor.)

"Of course I read it," and his voice is nimble, something lightening it. Admiration of her work, if not her presence. "I found it compelling."