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Checking Out the Territory (IC)


KnightDisciple

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The Lab

Feb 8th, 2011

The morning was very brisk, but also very clear, as a large limousine pulled up to the front entrance of The Lab. It rolled to a silent stop, the only sound being emitted that of heating fans and the friction of the tires and brakes. Almost as soon as it stopped, a man climbed out of the passenger seat at the very front and marched to the rear. There, he swiftly opened the door.

Out stepped a young man in a finely-tailored dark gray suit. His blond hair was immaculate, and he carried a modest leather-bound notebook in one hand. He gave the man holding the car door a smile and nod.

"Thank you. If you can't keep the car parked here, feel free to drive around a bit. Maybe you'll see something interesting to visit later on."

The other man just gave a smile and a nod as he closed the door behind the well-dressed young man. The chauffeur walked back to his seat at the front, and the car stayed where it was for a moment.

Baron Magnus Vilhelm Katastrof sighed and fiddled a bit with his tie, starting towards the door proper. He'd called ahead yesterday to see if this would be alright, but it was still the sort of thing that made one a bit nervous. After all, he was forging completely new ground here. Hopefully, he could at least make some informal connections today, if not some business deals...

It was with that thought that he strode through the front doors, slowing his pace a bit as he tried to take in the whole of the grand entrance.

"Impressive."

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Supercape wondered what to wear. On the one hand, whilst in the Lab, he normally wore his "Super Lab" costume, a brilliant white lab coat instead of his cape, with the normal blue and white motif of mask and body coverings. He could always go in full Supercape costume.

The visitor today looked more business like. He briefly experimented with a white suit, his costume shimmering and altering form in a blink of an eye.

He eventually settled back on the Superlab costume. Well, he was representing the Lab, after all.

Taking the Lift, after deciding that teleporting would be disorientating for all involved (including himself) he briefly studied up on his visitor. Intelligent, fluent in several languages (Supercape couldn't speak Swedish, although he had visited there for the Nobel prize) and aristocracy none the less.

He stepped out to the ground level, the massive expo hall. A few other visitors were there, who pointed excitedly at him. He nodded politely, and made his way to greet the newest visitor the to Lab.

"Baron Magnus Vilhelm Katastrof! welcome to the Lab!" he said with a broad grin, offering his hand.

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The Baron gave Supercape a smile back, giving a firm handshake in return.

"Please, no need for the full name from now on. Baron Katastrof will be fine."

He glanced around at the entrance foyer again.

"This place is quite impressive. Am I to understand you had no one company funding and supporting it? It's actually something of a joint effort?"

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"Yes indeed" replied Supercape. He wasn't quite sure how to address the visitor. Personally, he was a fairly staunch anti-royalist, despite being English. It didn't sit too well with his socialist and humanitarian philosophical principles.

On the other hand, his visitor was Swedish... the home of socialism that worked.

"The Lab receives funding from pretty much everywhere. Governments, companies, institutions, charities. Its remit is pretty simple - protect and serve. We protect the world from bad science, or from problems needing a scientific solution, and we serve the world in trying to further science, applying science to try and improve the conditions, security, and livelihood of the planet".

"This is just the Expo hall. The first few floors are public. Mainly PR, but with meeting and business rooms for all our public work, some low key science and engineering equipment mainly for demonstration. The real work is done in the upper levels and lower levels and is restricted. Here, you will need a pass..." he gave the visitor an electronic key card to wear round his neck.

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Magnus nodded as Supercape explained things. Accepting the pass smoothly, he was silent for a few moments.

"That fits the information I managed to discover. You seem to have a large variety of specialists here, perhaps more than anywhere but some universities, and perhaps a couple of companies like ArcheTech. Sadly, Katastrof & Sorenson Technologies is a bit more...focused. That said, there are a few areas our concentrations cross paths with some of your top minds. That's one of the reasons I'm here today. For instance, at some point, I hope to speak with one...Miss Americana, I believe it was. I want to discuss her prosthetic limb development program, and see if she likes what we have to offer.

I've taken to understand you like to dabble in quantum mechanics, and I have a few things I'd like to speak with you about.

The one called "Dragonfly" seems to have some technology I have a personal interest in.

Beyond that, I essentially would like to explore possible ways to partner with some of your staff on various projects. I think we have a lot to offer in such an arrangement. While we are not a non-profit organization, I strive to make sure we hold up our reputation as honorable businessmen who help improve the world around them. It's a delicate balance, don't you think? One that too few people see, no matter the country of origin."

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"Well, non-profit organisations sound good. We do accept funding from business, as a form of insurance - basically we get to haul their ass out of trouble when their latest experiment backfires" he chuckled.

"But non-profit organisations are our preferred partners. We are non-profit ourselves".

He invited his guest into the elevator and took him down to the lower levels, stopping at Sublevel 4. "Ah here we are. My fabourite level. Particle smasher. Does lots of wizard s tuff with subatomic particles. If you can call them particles any more at the energies and speeds we deal with. As you rightly said, I am a theoretical physicist. The other members of the Lab are more practical than me, I confess. But I am the man for all the quantum, nuclear, and timey-wimey wibbly wobbly dimensional stuff!" he laughed good naturedly.

"What's the remit of your company, may I ask?"

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Baron Katastrof nods as Supercape expounds on matters a bit.

"That's perfectly reasonable, considering what this Lab seems to stand for. I'm less looking to contract out the whole Lab, and more talk to individuals, offer them specific opportunities. I feel I owe it to my companies and fellow shareholders to investigate such things. Though perhaps I'll look into your "insurance" options. Even though I have full confidence in the work I and my employees do."

When they entered the Particle Smasher lab, his eyes lit up a bit. Clearly, he was interested in both the machinery, and what it accomplished.

"Fascinating. Truly fascinating work here, Supercape. My company has been...exploring...dimensional-related sciences. Though our focus is on the potential of concepts like dark matter, dark energy, and even vacuum energy. We've had some promising leads recently."

At Supercape's question, he pursed his lips in thought.

"As our name suggests, we are a company that produces cutting-edge technology. We try to diversify within that, with areas focusing on things like materials sciences, alternative energy, bio-mechanics, nanotechnology, as well as a few military projects. The goal with the military projects is on alternative equipment that allows them a wider range of options. Imagine if they could wield devices like Star Trek phasers, where they could harmlessly knock out a rioting crowd? I know some people dislike such talk, but the fact of the matter is, it's a dangerous world out there. I believe in equipping people to better handle that world, on every level.

But outside military contracts, we have a few spotlight programs. One is non-gasoline cars that work better than any of the current electric designs; I have a few "testbed" vehicles in my ownership, but cost is still an issue. Then of course-"

He stops, and chuckles.

"Well. I think that's enough specifics. Suffice to say, we do quite a few things with science and technology. But always responsibly, efficiently, and effectively. My father taught me those ideals..."

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"All sounds noble enterprise" nodded Supercape, who was astute enough to catch the pause in his Guests speech. "I have my personal concerns about the social impact of weapon manufacture. That of escalation. But then, I would say that, I'm British. Its not a popular view here in the States, but you probably empathise given your heritage. We Europeans don't allow our citizens to buy automatic weapons at cornershops!" he quipped.

He made a show of some of the features of the particle smasher, showing off some of his latest research. This was his baby really.

"It's powered by our own nuclear fusion reactor. We have all chipped into that one - I provided some of the theory behind it, whilst the others helped with the more practical building of the thing. As I said, I'm not the engineer round here. Of course, it so happens my own powers are attuned to my knowledge - bending atomic forces this way and that. I'm pretty much a living Star Trek sensor".

He lead the Baron back to the lift. "Plenty more to see - anything in particular you wished to examine?"

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"All sounds noble enterprise" nodded Supercape, who was astute enough to catch the pause in his Guests speech. "I have my personal concerns about the social impact of weapon manufacture. That of escalation. But then, I would say that, I'm British. Its not a popular view here in the States, but you probably empathise given your heritage. We Europeans don't allow are citizens to buy automatic weapons at cornershops!" he quipped.
Magnus gives Supercape a flat look.

"Hn. Well, the Swiss hand them out for free to everyone, so maybe that balances out for the rest of us being "gun shy"."

The fact that he doesn't say anything more on the subject suggests he doesn't wish to debate the issue at this time.

'The sheer irony of a man who shoots radiation at muggers being holier-than-thou about Americans having guns.' he thinks to himself.

He made a show of some of the features of the particle smasher, showing off some of his latest research. This was his baby really.

"It's powered by our own nuclear fusion reactor. We have all chipped into that one - I provided some of the theory behind it, whilst the others helped with the more practical building of the thing. As I said, I'm not the engineer round here. Of course, it so happens my own powers are attuned to my knowledge - bending atomic forces this way and that. I'm pretty much a living star trek sensor".

He lead the Baron back to the lift. "Plenty more to see - anything in particular you wished to examine?"

Baron Katastrof diligently followed along with the tour, nodding at times, and even asking a few very knowledgeable questions. It seemed his skills extended beyond "being a noble" and "helping run a huge company".

"I would imagine such a reactor would be rather costly.

As for being a living "Star Trek sensor"...fascinating. Though I've heard you have more abilities than just perceiving radiations, yes? "

After entering the lift, he takes a few moments to think.

"Well, I really had hoped to, at some point, speak with the scientist known as "Dragonfly". Some of her work interests me a great deal. Miss Americana also piqued my interest; specifically, her work on prosthetic limbs. Do you have anyone working in materials science? Or alternative energy production? All of those interest me."

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"Certainly... probably all of the Lab, including myself" replied Supercape, as the elevator ascended to the library, where the got off.

This level of the Lab was something of an oddity. Whilst it was a fully equipped electronic library it also doubled as a library of books and paper, and a reading room, with battered leather sofa's and tables. A place of quiet study and relaxation. Supercape often unwound here for less serious study and academic pursuits.

"Miss Americana works on a bit of everything I think, although computer science seems to be a particular skills of hers. Cybernetics too, so no doubt you would want to speak to her. Dragonfly is more hands on engineering from what I can see, and very capable at it, alternative energy sources would be something you could discuss with her. Ironclad too, perhaps. Gossamer is our chemist, perhaps biochemical or fuel interests may entice her to a discussion. As I said, I am not a designer of technology, but I do plenty of work on the theoretical side, nuclear energy, matter to energy conversion, solar and cosmic radiation collection, that kind of thing. There is even possibilities to harness inter-dimensional friction using m-theory, if one hyper-paralabalets the plank constant through an artificial virtual vaccuum that collapses in a fractal loop..."

He went on to describe some highly complex mathematics rather excitedly...

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Almost astonishingly, Magnus seems entirely able to keep pace with his description!

"What if you inverted the spin of the loop here, and then injected a bit of gamma-wavelength energy here?"

That folder had pen an paper, likely just for such an occasion. Suddenly, the Baron stopped speaking for a moment, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Sorry about that. Um. Perhaps I could speak with this Miss Americana first? Her work stands highest in my mind as having potential we could invest in, in a lot of different ways."

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"Well, I see you know your physics" smiled Supercape "and sorry about that, I get a bit carried away sometimes. Anyone would think I was giving a lecture.. hehe..." he laughed weakly.

Secret Identity... Secret Identiy... Must maintain...

"..Ahem. Anyway. I am sure Miss Americana will be delighted to speak to you. I dare say she would be quite the expert on cybernetic prosthesis!"

She virtually is one, for starters...

He went to a nearby console and dialed up Miss Americana on the console.

"I say, old Girl, got a spiffy chap here, Baron Magnus fellow. Seems a bright fellow and hearts in the right place. Wants to talk to the Lab about joint ventures. Particularly interested in cybernetic prosthesis. More up your street than mine I think, although I did bore him with the particle smasher down below!" he winked at Magnus.

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"What, he's here now?" Miss Americana's dulcet voice came through the speakers, sounding a bit put out. "All right, all right, not like we're doing science here or anything. Should I come to one of the conference rooms, or does he actually want to see the lab?"

Upstairs, Miss A rolled her shoulders, a gesture that did nothing for the nagging soreness that had nothing to do with the body she currently wore. The unexpected call had brought her out of the project she'd been immersed in all day and made her aware of the time. She was overdue for lunch and a bathroom break, both of which looked like they'd be hard to come by anytime soon.

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"Hmmm, well I rather think its because of our scientific enterprises that he has come. And that being the case, lets bring him to the lab, eh? Conference room is a bit to stuffy for my liking. We should have got more comfortable seats, you know."

He smiled at Magnus "charming lady, bright as a button! shall we?" and lead him back to the elevator, bringing him floor 23, where Miss Americana was currently at work.

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Magnus raises an eyebrow at Supercape.

"I hope we're not interrupting her too much. I know this sort of visit is a bit disruptive, but I really do think we all have a lot to offer each other."

When they were in the elevator, he turned and looked at his tour guide, a smirk on his face.

"Glad you think my heart's in the right place. Means I don't have to speak to my cardiologist."

When they walked into the lab, he made sure he was presenting the friendliest face possible.

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Miss Americana had chosen an open floor plan for her lab area, a single large room two stories tall and covering nearly the length and width of the building. It looked like a cross between a laboratory, a department store warehouse, and a house of horrors. Mannequins lined the walls, in various stages of disassembly and repair, and there seemed to be body parts everywhere. Not real ones, but ones that looked real until one looked inside to see the circuitry and wires. A few lab technicians were at work on various projects, but the pair of visitors had to keep walking to find the mastermind herself in the center of her hive.

Even buried in work, with her lab coat spattered in coolant and her hair tousled, Miss Americana made a stunning figure as she perched on a stool at the center of her busy little world. She was peering into a microscope and using a set of waldoes to make tiny, tiny adjustments to a prosthetic human eye, held in place by a dummy head on her worktable. The sight was macabre, but she was still glorious to look at.

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Magnus spent several long moments looking at the lab. He nodded to the various lab techs, and he even made a small circuit around the room. He touched nothing, but observed everything. Finally, he ended up near the queen of this lab space, Miss Americana herself. He stood back a respectful distance, watching her work with obvious interest, and absolutely no disgust.

"How did you overcome the problem of secondary optic nerve overload?"

He's genuinely curious in tone, and patiently waits for Miss Americana to step back from the workbench a moment.

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"More limbs than a nest of spiders" commented Supercape, poking a half constructed leg and peering at it with more than eyes. "Interesting configuration here, you seem to be modelling the electrical distribution on human biometrics. Well, nature is the best designer so they say..."

He was mumbling to himself, he realised.

"Ah yes, well here we are Baron. Seems like you have hit jackpot, eh? I would imagine you will find no finer expert on prosthesis than our good lady here!"

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Miss A finally looked up from her work at the question, blinking her own eyes a few times to clear them. "Secondary nerve overload isn't a problem as long as you've properly insulated the pathways with high-density nanofiber. The subject's own mind is able to parse and dismiss the negligible amount of false data caused by the echoing effect. Are you the one I'm supposed to be showing around?" she asked suddenly. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again with a practiced smile. "Let me start over again with my manners in place. I'm Miss Americana, and it's a pleasure to meet you." She tugged off a static-free lab glove and offered him a perfectly manicured hand.

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Magnus grinned at her answer.

"Nanofibers? Brilliant. Just brilliant. I can tell I'm in the right place here."

He offered her his own hand to give a polite, firm handshake.

"My name is Baron Magnus Vilhelm Katastroff. May I just say it's a pleasure to meet, you, ma'am. Truly, it inspires me to see such minds as yours here in a place like this, working for the whole of mankind."

He looked around again at the limbs laying about, his gaze thoughtful.

"What method do you use to simulate human muscular tissue?"

His question seemed to be a hook, something intended to go further...but where?

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"That depends on what you want the muscle to do." Miss A replied, getting off the bench and setting aside her lab coat. Underneath she wore a one-piece deep blue bodysuit that looked like it had come from the costume room of a sci-fi medical drama. It should've looked ridiculous, but the perfect body underneath and the perfect confidence with which she wore it made it work. "If you're at all familiar with the field, you probably already know about Dr. Yoshida's bioresponsive mesh. I use that for some everyday applications, but I've found that though it has the advantage of cheap availability, it doesn't have the strength, versatility, or endurance I'm looking for. This becomes especially evident in the fine-motor skills. I've had to improvise my own techniques."

She led him over to a machine where a pair of prosthetic arms was mounted to a testing rig. The hands were currently occupied in peeling the skin off green grapes, the fingers careful and sensitive enough not to crush a single one as they worked. Miss input a series of commands on a control console, so quickly it was almost impossible to follow. The prosthetic hands set aside their fruit-related task and picked up a solid steel rod instead. With the same careful thoroughness, they pinched the solid metal rod into a flat metal plate, with no sign of effort. "You can see the difference from the mesh," she said dryly. "My technique is, of course, confidential and proprietary, I'm afraid." She laid a finger alongside her nose with a slight smile. "But if you're in the market for something, we may be able to come to an arrangement."

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Magnus listened attentively as Miss Americana spoke, nodding as she explained her particular designs. At her demonstration, both of his eyebrows nearly joined his hairline for a moment.

"Well. That is quite impressive. Though, isn't it a bit of a concern, giving such powerful limbs out to the average person? I mean, don't get me wrong, Yoshida's mesh definitely isn't the best option. But...Hm. Let me redirect this a bit."

He opened the folder he'd been carrying for a while now, and pulled out a simplistic design schematic out from it, handing it over to Miss Americana.

"That's the very rough, very vague outline of an idea I've been working on. Magnus & Sorenson Technologies has recently developed some Electroactive Polymer Muscle designs that I think blow most other designs out of the water. Light, strong, low-maintenance. The only problem is, they're too strong. We're having trouble with, among other things, dialing down the output power. Right now, we'd like to see about having you aid us in getting the design perfected. My company's good, and we've got smart people, but a fresh perspective might be just what we need. I think you're that fresh perspective. Now, I understand this is a bit sudden. Here's a card with my information on it. Take some time to think the offer over."

He went back to watching the demonstration limbs for a moment.

"What power source do you use?"

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Miss A took the card and glanced at it, then set it on the lab table next to her. "Yes, I've heard of your company, and the work they've been doing. Reasonably impressive, but like you say, sorely lacking in the control department." Miss Americana smiled laconically. "And, of course, you're also my direct competition. I'm sure you can appreciate why that limits the amount of research I can share with you at this point. I'm not particularly interested in a commercial collaboration at this point, Mr. Katastrof. This is a bit of a pet project of mine, and though I'm sure I'll eventually lease the patents, my work here is not designed to make anyone rich. It's going to make paraplegics walk and run, and quite possibly fly, before I'm done." She headed back in the direction of her interrupted work.

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At first, Magnus was merely passively attentive as she spoke. Then, Miss Americana began to not only refuse his offer, but not-at-all-subtly insult him and his company. He had to spend several moments regaining his temper; another unfortunate inheritance from his father. Still, he controlled it, mastered it, and channeled it.

"Perhaps you haven't heard enough about my company, if you think our only goal is making money. Though if you want to tell the tens of thousands of men and women I employ that they have to work for free, by all means. If you want to end up making more prosthetics for more people with less infrastructure, by all means. I'd hoped to work out a joint venture for the betterment of all parties involved. Perhaps others will be more interested. Good day."

With that, and without waiting for Supercape, the Baron marches out of the room, a white-knuckle grip holding his portfolio folder. He didn't stop marching until he'd reached the elevator, where he performed yet more mental exercises to calm his temper.

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Supercape gave Miss Americana a supportive look and coughed politely. "Fiery temper, eh?" he commented "Can't say I'm all too fond of that. The man needs to drink more tea, if you ask me. But then again, I'm not really a businessman. Or engineer. More of a philosopher, and I don't really wrap my head around the practicalities of industry. I leave that for greater - or lesser - minds than me" he gave her a wink.

"What should we do with him now... send him to Ironclad?"

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