anemoi | TIME FOR A CLUSTERFUCK OF SCIENCE AND SHIT!

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TIME FOR A CLUSTERFUCK OF SCIENCE AND SHIT!

[Deep inside the mysterious and cavernous depths of the labs...

Scientists frantically scribble on clipboards and walk around, trying not to bump into each other. Others hunch over pieces of machinery, tinkering with them intently. There is a frenzied air about as the smell of burnt coffee and all-nighters (which does, in fact, have a stench) permeates through the building.

What now?]

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You mean this isn't the first time?

Wow.

[He focuses and gestures to all of the science in front of him. Just. All of it.]

So what's going on here, exactly?

Nngh, Booster's going to kill us... Since you let us know that these are nanites that we're dealing with, we've sought to isolate, culture and devise an effective cure. One that doesn't destroy the tissue it inhabits, only what it builds.

It's been difficult, to say the least.

So? Any progress?

Somewhat.

Mordin's got a stopgap spike that he's developed, though I'm not happy with the fact that it has to be manually inserted. Not everyone has the ability to do that... but by the time we effectively weaponize it, the city'll already be trampled. We don't have a choice but to distribute as-is.

Yeah, so I heard. All it does is stun them for a little while, right?

Unfortunately. We're still dependent on your abilities to cure them.

[They enter the containment labs, where the twisted versions of local wildlife stew in their forcefield boxes.]

Speaking of which... how're you holding up with that?

About as well as curing can go. I've been curing left and right all day--or at least trying to. Some of them are incurable--can't do anything for those. Hopefully none of those are anyone we know.

Even I've got my limits when it comes to curing, though. I don't think I'm anywhere near them yet, but if your guys have anything that can help take a load off me for curing, we can probably cure them safer and faster.

[He's not sure if the hoping is in vain or not. On the one hand, as far as he remembers, a whole five years after the nanite event, no one's yet found an alternate cure. On the other hand, he remembers very little...and with all these different scientists from different worlds, one of them's bound to figure something out, right?]

[He nods.] I know you've got your limits, everyone does. Has anyone but me even asked you about that yet? After all, you're the only one in the whole city that can cure these EVOs right now. We need you in the best shape possible.

...And hopefully taking these readings will give us a chance to create a comparable cure so you don't have to be everywhere at once.

Yeah. Yeah, I know. [And he doesn't want to say it, but this is really kind of scaring him. He wouldn't wish nanite infection on anyone, and he was quite frankly glad to have gotten out of a world filled with them. That they were here now meant that it would start all over again, and Sirocco might be on the fast track to becoming another Bug Jar. And with the memories of his overload fresh in his mind...]

...Is there anything I can actually do to help you guys make that new cure?

[He sweeps a hand over towards the specimens he's meant to cure.]

Right here, kiddo. Ritters! Laidlaw! [He calls, herding a few scientists in.] Get over there, let's get some readings while Rex does his thing!

[large complicated-looking devices are powered up. Several voices pipe up talking about variances and divergence vectors in this field or that.]

Alright, Rex, 'sall you.

Edited 2012-06-28 05:31 (UTC)

[He nods and moves to the first creature, placing both hands on it and curing it. It gradually becomes more and more normal until there is nothing EVO-like left about it. He removes his hands.]

There. You guys want me to do another one?

"I'm detecting a transfer of electromagnetic fields, akin to a current of a few microamperes. Amazing... I think he may be absorbing the nanites, not just shutting them off!"

Go ahead, Rex. The fewer of these things around, the better.

You got it, then.

[And so he goes down the line, curing all the EVOs one after the other that he can find in the lab.]

"Amazing! How does he manage to communicate to them in order to draw the nanites out?" "I'm seeing a spike in the long-wave radio end of the spectrum... Maybe that's their communications range." "Good! Get some recordings! We'll need someone to reverse-engineer it and we need as many samples as possible!"

If we can crack that code and somehow broadcast that signal... we can end this all in one fell swoop! It's long-range, so it wouldn't take that much power.

[He's mid-cure when he hears that, so he finishes up the one EVO before speaking.]

That's--someone else suggested that a few minutes ago, too! Someone nearly managed to do that back home already!

[He draws himself up a little higher, validation fueling interest.]

--then we're onto something! Was it Mordin who suggested it? I get the feeling he would. Or was it someone else?

Uh--no, actually. It was this really pale girl with green-blue-ish hair. Pretty rude, actually, but she did come up with the idea.

[His brows furrow.] ...The one talking about minions getting transformed?

[That was the first time he'd actually seen Misery, but it didn't take long to figure out she was the mystery witch Joachim and Dave had mentioned. The disposable minions and immediate fixation on destroying the cause of a problem, not find a solution, made her someone he wasn't sure he wanted to agree with. He glances back at the other scientists, who it seems have already made the connection by the looks they're giving him, and clears his throat.]

Well. Looks like this mess is making allies out of all of us. At least now we'll finally know what to send IN that signal.

Yeah, that one!

At least there's that, though.

...What are we sending in that signal?

A broad-working deactivation command, if we can cobble one together. These things are machines; they run on binary just like everything else. We just need to figure out how to say "stop" in their language.

So tell them to deactivate. Right.

What do you need to figure out how to talk in their 'language'?

Hopefully the data you just gave us will give us a cypher to keep the guesswork to a minimum. I had some experience with programming back in college, but those were usually with programs tailor-made for equipment... I think your nanites qualify as something that would have specialized firmware.

A few extra heads for code would be good, but I think all we need now is time.

Well, good luck with that. Can't really help you there--I can build stuff, but I'm no programmer.

Hey, you're playing the single most important role in this town right now. You're curing these EVOs so that they don't cause any more harm.

Yeah, I should get back to doing that.

But if we can work out a signal to cure everyone at once, that's gonna be way more useful.

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