Jump to content

The Conquering Mind (IC)


Recommended Posts

Two days earlier

The satellite's cloaking field was designed to endure even a direct nuclear strike or a close-range miss from a Grue battleship's main batteries; it held even as it tore across the Freedom City skyline with no more than a clap of thunder, held even as it rushed towards the darkest part of Wharton State Forest with a tremendous roar, and held even when it slammed into Lake Muir with a tremendous crash and fountain of water. Curious locals investigated the crash, of course, brave souls rowing out to investigate what had landed, some even bringing back what they found. The men from Lonely Point arrived not long after that and evacuated the locals back to the city, while extracting the biological material from the heart of the satellite to head off to de Haviland Laboratories.

But that didn't solve the problem of what to do about the satellite itself...

March 5

The Lab

Commander Dani Harrison looked smart and proper in her dress blues, and she'd spoken with politeness when she'd made her appointment with a Lab crew that (thanks to one conference, one superhero mission to Nova Scotia, and one case of the flu) turned out to be Dragonfly, Miss Americana, Sharl, and Protectron, for all that only the first two actually counted as Lab personnel as such. Miss Americana was on hand to welcome her in the front entrance, the naval officer shaking the civilian's hand briskly. "Ma'am," she said professionally, "it's a pleasure. Is the rest of your team available? I know when I spoke to your agent by telephone, she said your numbers were somewhat truncated." Sharl was hanging around too, but the teenager's slightly diffident manner and odd clothing (at least by normal human standards) meant that the officer paid attention only to the gorgeous patriotic heroine.

Link to comment
  • Replies 155
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

"Not all of us are available in person, that's correct," Miss A told the officer with a confident smile, "but even a skeleton crew here gets you finer minds than you'll find in most any think tank. And thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the rest of our number are available for consultation if that should become necessary." She presented Harrison with her visitor's badge and led the way to the elevator, nodding at Sharl to follow. "I understand that this is a matter of both urgency and some delicacy, so I've arranged for a secured briefing room on the tenth floor. It should have all the resources we'll need to get started on the problem."

Link to comment

Sharl had hung around with Miss Americana often enough to know when to play the quiet, invisible assistant. Truthfully, he was more comfortable playing roles like that in Lab business: his knowledge of hyperadvanced computers didn't help him much when he knew so little about how they worked. At least Gina and Miss Americana were both making excellent progress in getting his program portable enough to send back to Tronik, giving a chance to see the family he hadn't seen in too many months. Distracting himself from his parents and sister's face, he studied the commander from the back as the lady herself studied Miss Americana.

"I understand that your team may be somewhat irregular. That's a necessary hazard of dealing with civilian contractors," said the officer crisply. She broke her icy demeanor with a faint smile to add, "If your collective reputations are justified, that should be well worth the risk." The elevator doors hissed open, and together the ladies and their computerized escort headed for the conference room.

Link to comment

Dragonfly, despite her other assorted social failings, was very rarely late; this time, in fact, she'd shown up early, and was sitting back in one of the conference room chairs. It was less due to respect for who was coming in, however, and more because she'd needed to escort Protectron, who she had no doubt would be useful...but who she still had some minor reservations about allowing loose in the upper floors of the Lab. Partly because his origins were still unknown...and partly because she knew that if she took her eyes off him, even once, she was afraid her office would be flooded with baskets of food and ready-to-eat rations. or something - still don't know how he does that - mysterious - can't review all the footage - tedious - mmh - write a program to review for me? - image recognition annoying - AI training takes too long - faster by hand - less interesting - mmh....

Link to comment

Protectron stood by Dragonfly's side, its processors humming away happily at both being allowed to the upper floors of The Lab and at the prospect of meeting someone new. On the table before them was the tray of snacks it had brought up, a simple gathering of assorted fruit and small bottles of chilled water. When Miss Americana, Sharl, and their guest arrived, it regarded each of them with its cold, unblinking eyes, but lingered a bit longer on the newcomer.

Analysis: Harrison, Dani. Commander, US Navy. Attaching scanned images to files downloaded from public records earlier... personal files updated.

"Greetings, Commander Harrison," it said flatly. "Would you care for a refreshment?"

Link to comment

"Ah, wonderful, everyone's already here," Miss A observed as they walked in, giving a smile to the occupants. "Commander Harrison, this is my associate Dragonfly, and Protectron, a consultant to our group. And this is my assistant Sharl," she added, with another nod to the teenager. "Please have a seat and make yourself comfortable. The security protocols are already in place, and everyone here knows how to keep confidences, so you should feel safe to speak as freely as necessary." She took a seat herself at the round table, ignoring for the moment the plate of refreshments.

Link to comment

The commander did the same, taking a seat and studying the crew intently. She paid special attention to Protectron, of course, seeing as how he was some sort of wonderful mechanical man, but she gave the teenage Dragonfly, funny-looking Sharl, and the lovely Miss Americana all serious looks of her own before she went on. With so much strangeness around her, she evidently decided to go straight to business. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm sure our arrangements will be profitable for everyone involved." She used the conference room's computer to display first the image of an exotic-looking satellite that bore the American flag, then an orbital trajectory that even the non-scientists there could follow: a collision and then a fall, straight out of LaGrange Point 1 and into the (very) near-vicinity of Freedom City. For his part, Sharl watched in fascination, trying to pretend he belonged there. Look at that! It's a spaceship! He felt his usual stab of envy when he contemplated the advanced space program these relatively primitive people maintained. Of course, we don't actually have space travel at all...because we don't really have space. It was an ugly thought, and not one he wanted to dwell on heavily. Better worry about making sure I look human. I don't know if she'll believe I'm just an advanced telepresence display...

"As some of you may know, in the wake of the recent Grue Invasion the US government moved elements of our anti-extraterrestrial program, Project Skyhook, into Earth orbit. What you're looking at is Skyhook-3, which up until a few days ago was an integrated, fully-remote-manipulated biological laboratory in Earth orbit, studying ways to prevent further incursions by the Grue, or, ah, any more local alien telepaths." She hmmed, studying the others for a response to that, before she went on. "We're not sure exactly what happened, but there seems to have been a core breach in the satellite, possibly caused by a micrometeor collision." She flipped forward, showing a decidedly-battered version of Skyhook-3 at rest under dirty brown water. "Right now, Skyhook-3 is at the bottom of a lake in Wharton State Forest. Divers have extracted the biological cargo and our team has evacuated the locals to Freedom city proper, but we need someone to go in there and remove a five hundred million dollar satellite and one of a kind remote-handling hardware before the fish get to it. It's too big for our people, and too delicate for our machinery, to get at. Hell, the area's so isolated we have to use landline telephones for communication in a 1-mile radius around the crash site. We need a team of people with experience in handling hi-tech machinery and with some knowledge of the kinds of metacrises that tend to accompany accidents like this. If your people think you can manage it, I'm authorized to ensure a payment of up to five hundred thousand to your organization upon delivery to Lonely Point."

Link to comment

Dragonfly tilted her head during the explanation; she did frown at the mention of telepaths but otherwise she was fairly still and focused, splitting her attention between the situation and reverse-engineering bits of the satellite from the provided pictures. And how she'd improve it, of course, but her brain did that pretty much on its own (as much as it could, with so little information to work with). shielding - propulsion - communications array - power - no - power there - atmosphere? - mmh - too hard to tell from a photograph

She pulled her head back upright and settled back into her chair, frowning. "Probably won't get an answer. Have to ask anyway: biolab, biological cargo, heavily isolated workspace, grue - what were the recent experiments?"

Link to comment

"The experiments were biological in nature," the commander assured the civilians, "designed to build a defense system against the Grue or any similar organisms. Other than that, there's not much I can tell you. The experimental pods were all self-contained and have already been removed from the crash site. While there was a small amount of environmental contamination, necessitating the evacuations I mentioned, my people assure me that it's been completely contained. Right now our priority is to recover Skyhook itself." She paused a moment, then gave them all a trim smile. "Hmm. If you want reassurances that I and my team have not been compromised by Grue infiltrators, I'd be happy to submit to whatever genetic testing methods you prefer. There were no secret Grue stowaways on Skyhook. No biological specimens more coherent than bacteria were aboard."

Link to comment

As Commander Harrison explained the situation, Protectron stared straight ahead at the presentation, not moving a millimeter as she presented the case.

Query: Why do the Grue and other extraterrestrial species invade Earth so frequently? Recent attacks may be retaliation for prior defeats, but why did they target this world at all? Is there some unique element found only on Earth that is desired by extraterrestrial civilizations? Or do they seek to use the planet as a beachhead in other conflicts, due to its specific location in the universe?

The only sign the robot gave that it had not locked up was when the Commander mentioned bacteria. At that, it turned its head to quickly look at each person in the room.

Observation: One of the many weaknesses of organic beings is their susceptibility to bacterial infections. My robot body is immune to such concerns, so it is logical that I lead any rescue efforts.

Analysis: Sharl's digital nature makes him equally well-suited for the task. However, Friend-Dragonfly and Friend-Miss Americana would be at risk.

At current state, my body can press a maximum of 1,088.6 kg overhead, and can drag 2,721.6 kg. This should be sufficient for moving most components.

Primary Goal: Retrieve Skyhook-3.

Secondary Goal: Preserve lives of Lab-Friends.

Tertiary Goal: Preserve as much organic life as possible.

"Might I suggest," the robot said flatly, "that I lead the initial investigation into the crashed station?"

Link to comment

"That makes sense," said Sharl, giving a tentative look Miss A's way to make sure she wasn't offended by him speaking out. "If something's leaking from the core, Protectron would be the most protected, or if there is still biological contamination." For his own part, he was very glad this had happened on this world; a crashing space object would have been simply murder in his home city, given the huge, closely packed buildings that were so different from land hereabouts. When no one objected to him speaking out, he added nervously, "I have wanted to see more of the forest. Er, I mean, I think I could do the work well also. If Miss Americana wants me there." He tended to assume Miss Americana was the leader, whether or not that was actually true. She was hard to argue with.

Link to comment

"Commander, if you were anything besides who you say you are, you wouldn't be in this secured conference room now," Miss Americana said with a smooth professional smile. "I'm sure your technicians are very thorough, but for our own safety and the safety of the public we've sworn to protect, we'll need to take precautions in the recovery of the skyhook. Some of my associates are uniquely suited to help," she nodded fractionally to Protectron and Sharl, "but we'll also need to put equipment and support staff on the ground, and rig up a mobile field station to ensure the best possible results. Off the top of my head, I would say we're looking at closer to a two million dollar operation." She folded her hands and gave the commander a bland look.

Link to comment

Dragonfly pulled a face as the conversation turned back around to money, but knew better than to comment - because Miss Americana was probably smarter about such things, and because, grudgingly, she knew that she did not have nearly the social tricks and experience to not get talked into a knot and put back in her place.

Instead she nodded at the idea of Protectron taking point when biological contamination was a concern, eyeing the satellite and doing rough calculations on its probable mass. She was pretty sure she could - mostly sure she could - fold it away for easy transport, safely, but it'd mean getting close enough to touch it. with the client being predictably vague - unknown dangers - mmh - play it by ear - investigate when I have the chance? - probably not appreciated - still - very curious

Link to comment

"Viktor Archeville's people would do it for us for under a million," said Harrison with a raise of one well-plucked eyebrow. "And with fewer...unpredictable elements in the equation. However, if your team _can_ provide the results you promise, and if you deliver Skyhook-3 intact to Lonely Point within the next seventy-two hours, I might be able to guarantee payment of a million dollars to your facility." She hmmed at that, looking around for questions. "Additionally, if your team's work is reliable and discreet, I may be able to make sure that further government jobs come your way. Super-contractors who have proven their worth can always find work through Uncle Sam."

Link to comment

Miss Americana steepled her fingers, turning just a sliver of the full force of her personality on the commander with a smile. "Assuming that "might" turns into a "will," and that our team is given leeway to take all necessary readings and make all necessary investigations of the skyhook during our retrieval process, I think we'll be able to come to terms on that," she agreed. "Speaking as one of Viktor Archeville's people myself, you aren't likely to find a better deal in the time you have available."

Link to comment

It didn't take long to get a deal made after that, one undersigned by all the members of the team who were legally persons, taking advantage of Freedom City's generous local laws about masks signing contracts using their secret ID. The team would have full leeway to deploy whatever methods necessary, and take whatever scans required, to move Skyhook, with the usual caveats about keeping secrets of national security under their belts. Assuming successful delivery of Skyhook to the Navy facility within seventy-two hours, they'd have their million dollars, and the promise of future contracts to go with them. Sharl hung back a little, knowing that he didn't have the identity to sign the contract, and let the others sign as necessary. For her part, the commander shook everyone's hand, her grip firm and solid, even when she shook hands with Sharl and Protectron. "It's been a pleasure. I'm sure you won't disappoint me, or the United States Navy."

Link to comment

Protectron's status, legal and otherwise, precluded it from signing the deal, but it read over all the paperwork nonetheless, scanning the pages and filing them away in its frighteningly advanced computer mind.

Observation: All appears to be in order an 'on the up and up,' based on my limited knowledge of contract and military law.

When Commander Harrison shook the robot's hand, she found the metal predictably cold, yet the grip itself was surprisingly gentle. "I thank you for this opportunity to help, Commander," it said flatly, "and shall endeavor to function at optimal efficiency throughout the task."

Link to comment

Dragonfly signed the papers and shook the offered hand, somewhat unenthusiastically, but waited until the commander had left the room and the door was shut again before sighing and slumping down in her chair, muttering something to herself about government contracts. red tape and secrets - could build a whole new satellite out of them - probably will by the end of the year "So," she offered, reaching under her visor to rub the bridge of her nose. "Crashed government satellite performing unknown experiments on Grue samples. Failed for unknown reasons, thankfully away from dense population, with...mmh. 'Small amount of environmental contamination.' Forgetting anything?"

Link to comment

"Isn't it exciting?" exclaimed Sharl. He took a seat around the table himself, the seat bobbing beneath his magnetized holographic body. "I mean, we're going to see a satellite that's been in real space! And had real alien stuff inside it! I mean...OK, maybe that's all old to you guys. But I think it's so cool! And in the middle of the forest with a big lake, and real trees...wow! This is going to be the best weekend ever. What do we need to do?" he asked Miss A. "Just tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it."

Link to comment

"Don't get too excited, Sharl," Miss A told him, tempering the quelling tone with a tolerant smile. "The first part is all the prepwork we need to do before we even go out to the site. I suggest we spend the rest of the day assembling the equipment we're going to need and getting support staff lined up. Sharl, you can help me by sending out emails to the staff I want to contact. It'll be a stretch, but if we make a long evening of it, we should be ready to go onsite first thing in the morning. The forecast is good, so I think we'll be all set."

Link to comment

There was a great deal to do, and not a tremendous amount of time in which to do it! Soon the Lab was busy at work as the various science heroes went about summoning the civilian support staff who'd work well as their assistants in the field, building the tools and equipment they'd need for this mission, and generally getting ready for what promised to be a very profitable, if very mysterious assignment. For his part, Sharl spent the afternoon hanging around Miss A's lab, occasionally fetching things that he could get to faster than a computer. He'd been experimenting with his ability to 'clip' these days, and could actually hover off the ground while remaining solid enough to grab things off distant shelves. He still couldn't carry things through solid objects, as Miss A occasionally had to remind him with some little heat.

The next morning, bright and early, everyone packed into the small Lab convoy (mostly for extra equipment) for the trip out to the State Forest, while the heroes with the ability to get there faster took a shortcut off into the hill. They found themselves deep in the heart of the New Jersey wild, the pine trees rising on either side with the sort of stillness that made it hard to believe they were just a dozen miles or so from Freedom City proper. But this far from the interstate, maybe that wasn't so surprising; Wharton famously was an island in the suburban sprawl of New Jersey, a long green finger of the Pine Barrens to the south. The trees hereabouts were oak and pine both, a landscape with relatively few fires and thus significantly denser trees than elsewhere.

The lake that held the fallen satellite was near an empty tourist lodge, the old-fashioned motor resort the sort of thing that Gina's grandparents might have stayed in on a cross-country trip; there'd been a family reunion there on the night of the falling star, and the people there had been among those (as Commander Harrison explained) who'd been evacuated out to Freedom City after the crash. The lake, a natural body of water, was of respectable size, some twice as large as the big ornamental pond in Freedom City's largest park. The water was still brown and silty from the impact, but as the heroes studied the water, they could see the occasional fish swimming in the lake, and the steely grey husk of the fallen star itself nearby. They were indeed in a dead zone of cell communication, leaving their little team cut off from the rest of civlization. The lodge was deserted, the woods were deserted, and for a second before everyone went to work, all they could hear was the sound of wind and lapping water.

Link to comment

Miss A, who had put in a long night without a lot of sleep to show for it, was ready to get the show on the road without worrying too much about the niceties of wind and nature sounds. "All right, let's get started. Protectron, Sharl, I'd like you to take the skiff to the middle of the lake, where we've triangulated the skyhook's location, and drop down next to it. You'll make a visual inspection and report back as much as you can about it's location, orientation, and condition. Dragonfly and I will monitor you from up top. Everybody understood?"

Link to comment

Dragonfly had actually gotten sleep, for once, and had the poetic mind to look around and appreciate the peace of their surroundings before things had really started. nice place - vacation? - no time - still - good to get out of the city Once people had started work she snapped out of it, though, rather mercilessly watching and correcting some of the civilian staff (who, to their credit, had apparently worked with her before and took it in good humor; it helped that she was pitching in as much as they were) as they got equipment set up and ready.

"Everybody understood?"

"Yes," the engineer replied, a waving hand peeking out from somewhere behind a large snarl of wires. "Please be careful. Don't want to damage anything."

Link to comment

"Okay," said Sharl, tearing himself away from the scenery by sheer force of will. He didn't want to disappoint Miss Americana, after all. He couldn't stop himself, though, from bending down and probing the soft, spongy earth beneath their feet, his eyes wide behind his mirrorshades. "Real, natural earth. Amazing. And look at this! Grass and little pebbles, and insects!" Thoroughly pleased with himself, he joined Protectron in pulling the collapsible skiff out of the truck and unpacking it. Taking the boat out made sense, Miss A having explained that getting too close if there was a leak might damage either himself or the synthezoid. "Can you believe how beautiful everything is? Just look at all the algae and silt in that lake!"

Link to comment

The strange robot did not show it, but it was almost as fascinated with the surroundings as Sharl was.

Monomorium pharaonis, aka Pharaoh Ant, aka Sugar Ant.

Hogna frondicola, aka Wolf spider.

Microstegium vimineum, aka Japanese Stiltgrass, aka Nepalese browntop.

It was in fact Sharl's words that disrupted it from its reverie of cataloging. "There is a panoply of organic life here. I should like to return here when this mission is over to catalog more of its lifeforms," it said flatly.

The skiff carried the two out to the lake with little problem. Protectron's dense body weighed about twice as much as a human of comparable height and build, so the skiff was in no danger of sinking, especially since Sharl's mass was negligible. Once at the appropriate location, the robot took up the small communicator it was to use -- its repair systems had still not repaired its internal comms -- then rolled out of the skiff and sank to the lake bed floor.

Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...