View source for 967/A Technological Exchange

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/11/13
|Location=RIFTS Earth, Lazlo Outskirts
|Synopsis=Staren wants Zwei's Raiser technology. But what knowledge could he possibly trade for it...?
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=42, 596
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;EARTH! The year is 2402 as the ancients counted it, but only scholars care about that now. It is the year 116 PA (The Post Apocalyptic era).<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The FIRST thing anyone would notice upon stepping through the warpgate is that it's freezing. It's winter in what used to be Canada, what do you expect? The SECOND thing is the distant electric-blue glow of the leylines. In places of power like this the glow can tower hundreds of feet high! Like groundbound aurorae!<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The warpgate is in the vicinity of where Bowmanville once stood at the turn of the last millenium, about 15 miles east of Lazlo. A dirt road runs roughly parallel to the coast of Lake Ontario, which passes by a handful of small towns and a lot of farms on its way to Lazlo.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But Staren is waiting here, at the gate, in his armor, watching it expectantly. Behind him, the shining light of Lazlo's nexus is clear on the horizon, even from here.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not expecting any kind of pressing need for heavy firepower, Zwei leaves Asche stationed outside of Brockton bay for the time being, along with his stable of recoinnaissance drones monitoring the movements of the city. Weiss is spared from her street level investigations for the time being, allowing Zwei to keep track of both situations at once with true multitasking. The warpgate shines as the smaller Armiger steps through it, still wearing casual, indoor clothes from hanging around in a bank for the past half hour, though predictably, she doesn't seem remotely bothered by the cold. She certainly knows how cold it is, able to gague it with the simplest of sensors, but she has no real reason to be averse to it, since her systems don't really require a certain temperature to function at.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Obviously, the first thing that draws her attention is the sight of the nearest leyline, which immediately gathers almost the full extent of her considerable scanning ability, though she still makes the effort to turn to Staren and ask anyways. "Nice to see you again Staren! Tell me, what exactly is that over there? It's emitting an awful lot of electromagnetic radiation on the visible light spectrum, but I can't tell from where."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren can't help but smirk behind his visor as Zwei is immediately distracted by the leyline. "It's a leyline. This world is a natural source of incredible magical energy." he looks at it, then back to her. "Nice to see you, too."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He turns towards the distant leyline again. "The leyline is actually wider than that. But right at the center, some of the excess energy is radiated as that bluish light." He takes a deep breath. "Every magic user can feel its presence and draw on it. Some humans have even evolved to eat magical energy instead of food."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Oh? So that's how your world has mages, but didn't before? These leylines must be something new if your planet previously advanced to a significant level of technology without the use of magic at all. I can't imagine you'd invent lasers and railguns if you could break the laws of physics to begin with." She mentally files away the coordinates to follow up on later, though it is unlikely that further leylines would be difficult to find given how much this one stands out. "As far as I can tell, it seems to be a mirror of tectonic activity. It's running underneath the earth, and then being ejected to the surface at various points, where it is later being used by people. I presume everyone wants to build their cities on top of leylines so that their mages have more readily available magical energy."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The sight of Weiss rubbing her chin is purely ornamental; there to let Staren know that she's thinking rather than simply staring silently into space while she starts data crunching. "But it's my understanding that you're more interested in things based off of scientific principals you can use and understand. Common understanding of magic must not be that advanced if people are still relying on ballistic slugs to kill each other. The first thing humans do with new technology is blow each other up with it after all!" The smile that follows is as tongue-in-cheek as it gets, there to say 'I know how cynical that is, but just try and prove me wrong!'.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Which brings us to our main topic. How soon do you think you can have a proto-abstractum ready. I don't mind giving you my side of the payment in advance, but I'll be upset if I have to wait months for your end of the bargain."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren nods. "The apocalypse was at the end of the 21st century. This world focused its later tech development on weapons development and human augmentation before everything, well..." he shrugs. "Magic came back rather violently, but we've learned to use it now." To her next comment, he replies: "You'd think that, but some people are convinced magic is evil. Also, remember that it would apply to any mages /attacking/ your city, too." He turns and looks behind him. "Lazlo is built around a leyline nexus, though, and converts the magic to electricity to power the city." He turns back to Weiss, and shrugs. "It's a mix -- we have both technology and magic. I mostly studied technology first -- being easier and cheaper to replicate made it sound more attractive, and its what my parents were more familiar with. A mage is a terrible foe on a leyline, but elsewhere they only have so much power before they run out and take /days/ to fully recharge. A giant robot can be rearmed within hours. There are advantages to both. You could build a magitech robot, of course, but the parts would be expensive and you'd need a ton of magical energy to power the weapons and other features."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At last, the question: "Well, that depends, but I can probably get you one in a few minutes. Maybe a week if you ask for something weird, maybe longer if you ask for something I have no clue how to get. But right this second, I'll let you scan this:"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren grabs the beam saber hilt off his belt, then turns it on -- the 'blade' of glowing purple energy humming softly.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Here's the interesting bit: See if you can tell me how the /hell/ it's powered."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Well now that's just a challenge. Weiss stops staring at the leyline for a moment and turns her attention to the beam saber instead, hitting it with infrared, microwave, alpha beta and gamma radiation, sonar sampling, MRI, soft photon imaging, mossbauer radiography, and pretty much everything in her arsenal. "That's . . . something. It's similar in concept to some sort of magnetic plasma torch. I can pick up the results I'd expect to find if it was, but I can't actually conclusively prove that it is. Is that using magic? Does it work away from a leyline?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"This is a protoabstractum." Staren looks between Weiss and the blade, the bright purple glow reflecting off his visor. "How, on a physics level, it's actually producing this effect, I have /no/ idea, and that is the mystery I hope to solve by studying these. It's like... suppose I was a scientist who'd never heard of electricity, and I got a computer to study. I've studied the hardware and figured out how circuits work, but how it all comes together into a computer I just don't know yet, it's very complex. I've /used/ the computer, of course, observed it in operation -- I've even messed around with a compiler, and found that I can copy blocks of code and get the same result sometimes... but the individual lines of code are gibberish I've yet to learn how to decode."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Beat.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"...As for power, it will only work in the vicinity of a sufficiently powerful elite, like all protoabstractum."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The energy sword continues to hum softly.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's sort of weird to discern expressions from a being that doesn't subconsciously make them, since that means everything that crosses Weiss' face is something she deliberately wants someone else to see. In the interest of making for natural human interaction however, currently her expression is that of intense, wide-eyed interest. "That sounds a lot more interesting than you let on! This kind of thing is what the Collective was originally starting to study when I was last activated. They'd gotten just about everything they could out of normal physical laws, so they aimed to step above them. The closer one gets to the foundations of reality, the less certain and more symbolic things become, starting at the atom downwards. I feel like whoever did this might have reached some ineffable core of what it is to exist. Especially if it has something to do with 'aura'."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She suddenly stands up straight, fixing eyes on Staren instead. "By the way, I'm done rating your combat exoskeleton. It'd say it definitely wasn't built in the 21st century. A dark age considered, it's surprisingly more advanced than I would have expected. It's still only a suit of armour, so it won't handle as much kinetic and thermal recoil as my body does, but I think I have an idea of what it can tolerate. What are you in the market for? Longarms? Personal sidearms? Concealed weapons?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren just stares at Weiss when she states that things become 'more symbolic' under the atom. "You... your people found that out too??" He turns off the sword and paces back and forth. "I don't know if that's troubling, or a huge breakthrough." After a moment he stops and takes a deep breath. "Well, if that's how reality works, that's how it works -- we just gotta figure out the details!" He smiles and turns to give her a thumbs-up.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He slips the hilt back into its holster and rubs his chin with his other hand. "Technology's had /some/ time to start advancing again, and I've implemented stuff from other worlds too. ...I really want one of those swords, but besides that... are there any weapons that could safely be used even out of armor? ...If I could understand the principles enough to build things, of course, maybe I could adjust sizes and yields as appropriate for different situations."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Yes, it's really interesting! The telltale signs are where electrons are concerned, and the fact that locating one changes its position, so you have to represent them as fields where they /probably/ are. Then you get into the level of quarks, where they stop acting like newtonian particles, and require an entirely different set of physics before someone figures out a unified theory. They simultaneously are and are not in every position they can occupy until they are observed. Then you get into the pieces that make /those/ up, and you wind up with matter and energy, wave and particle, and existence and nonexistence being the same thing, as well as real, negative, and imaginary values for things that should only be positive integers. It's only natural of course, that the underlying system would be more complex than the reality it describes. The underpinning code of an object oriented language is far more nebulous than the classes it defines, to keep using your analogy!"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Weiss pauses to contemplate. "The materials required might not be possible for your level of technology to achieve. I'm sure you could manufactore a substitute, but until you have the capability to piece matter together atom by atom, it won't be of the same quality, and thus won't perform at the same level. Likewise, storing power as electromagnetic energy will result in a hard maximum of charge the weapon can hold, but on the other hand, you should concievably be able to recharge them with a powerful enough electric current, though you'd want a nuclear engine to do so quickly. I'll try to work out digital controls your suit should be able to interface with, but I'll add manual ones as well, just in case your emitters break or are jammed. Let's see . . ."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Weiss kneels to a nearby snowbank and begins to scoop it into a pile, as if she intents to form the base of a snowman.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren considers Weiss's analogy. "I knew all that, but I never looked at it that way..."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren nods. "Of course." He seems impressed that she'd remember to have backup controls.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He's also planning to immediately have Eureka copy its function, but he doesn't say that just yet.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren quirks an eyebrow as she starts playing with the snow. What's that about? Hydrogen and oxygen can't be enough to start making these things, right?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seeming to sense Staren's doubt, Weiss begins talking while she works. "Snow is primarily made of water, which is mostly made of hydrogen and oxygen, differing in ionic states and additional minerals depending on what the water has picked up. Oxygen is made up of eight protons, eight neutrons, and eight electrons. Those are the only things we're concerned with, because you can make any other element in existence with just those three things. In this case, I'm going to be using those atomic components to build a lot of carbon, and some beryllium, silicon, molybdenum and niobium."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just like that, the snow begins to disintegrate; melting without turning into water. As if it were simply buried underneath the pile all along, the silhouette of a handgun emerges as the surrounding material disappears. It looks almost like something coming out of a 3d printer. The weapon itself is fairly unremarkable, being of a fairly standard size for human hands, and finished in flat, carbon black. The casing is extremely simplistic, leaving no space for a slide, bolt, ejection port, hammer, or just about any other moving part of a ballistic firearm, taking on a sleek, minimalistic look like a piece of modern art meant to represent a pistol rather than a real one.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Weiss appears to have added a trigger and guard, along with a safety switch, and traditional ironsights, though there is also the telltale sign of a smart camera integrated just under the barrel, with laser rangefinding and gamma and infrared imaging. If Staren interfaces with it wirelessly, he'll find it links directly to his HUD, displaying a computed lead indicator, energy bar, and highlights for potential targets. It's pretty sophisticated software, but it should run even with just his basic cortical implants. "I know it's not very snazzy, so you can paint it up any way you like. There's no real need for a finish since the casing is already 50% harder than synthetic diamond, so it won't scratch. It should also stand up to 60 gigapascals of compressive force, so your arm will break before it does!" She picks it up and hits the magazine release, dropping out an angled block of black material shot through with faintly iridescent gold lines in the pattern of a circuitboard, capped with a pair of connectors for positive and negative electric current. "The magazine is a supercapacitor, but don't charge it with a current over 1000 volts or it'll break down. The maximum capacity is roughly 53 megajoules, so if you fire with the same juice as a regular handgun bullet, you'll have enough for 60,000 rounds before recharging. Conversely, if you dump the entire battery into one shot, it'll kick so hard that you shouldn't even try to brace against it, but it'll penetrate through up 750mm of solid steel and then go off with the energy of a kilo and a half of TNT, though that's a release of pure thermal energy, so it'll be far more destructive than a real explosion would be since it'll turn the interior of the target to plasma. /This/ one should be safe to fire with your bare hands."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren just stares. The level of technology that can do this...<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He notes the wireless link, connects, and finds it already rigged to interface with his implants specifically. That scanner is kind of SCARY.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren starts nodding as she describes what it can do, then his eyes widen when she explains what it does at max power and he whistles appreciatively, walking over and gingerly picking it up to look it over.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then he looks up at Weiss. "And what would you like in return?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Ah ah ah, I'm not done yet!" Weiss chides, clearly picking up on his excitement, and wanting to milk it for all it's worth. Scooping a larger amount of snow together, she repeats the process, this time revealing the shape of a heavy rifle in the same, sleek black contours as the handgun, lacking the traditional rail mounts for ubiquitous military accessories, instead using embedded electromagnets to fasten anything with a magnetic base, and on closer inspection, lacking an obvious magazine.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"This is the one for using /with/ the suit. No interchangeable magazines on this one. The entire stock is the battery. It's rated at roughly 200 megajoules of power, so 117,000 shots equivalent to an M16, 40 rounds equivalent to the handgun's max charge, or a single shot that will literally shatter your shoulderbones if you don't have that armour on. The full charge explodes with roughly ten times the power of a 120mm HEAT shell. Keep in mind, it's a laser emission. There is no shockwave for the atmosphere to absorb, meaning that if you remote detonate the round outside of a target, the resulting thermal energy will keep expanding in a perfect sphere until it burns something. Do not use a full power airburst within 50 meters of an unarmoured ally. Inside of a target, it'll pretty much instantly vapourize everything within a meter radius and then the flash expansion will rip everything else to pieces. Even if it doesn't, the resultant plasma will just steadily melt it from the inside out. Neither projectile moves at light speed, so keep in mind the velocity is only mach 9. On the other hand, it won't bounce off a reflective surface, and it won't prematurely detonate if it hits a surface it somehow can't penetrate."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren's eyebrows raise a bit in surprise. Oh, he gets /more/? He nods as she describes the capabilities of the weapon. "What's it actually using for a projectile? How does it work? And um... could you use my lasers or missiles as a measuring unit instead of old bullets?" Okay, he can do the conversions on his head computer, but still, it's easier to work with.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Hmmmm, I think it'd be best if I just demonstrated." Weiss picks up the rifle, casually slinging it like a pistol rather than properly bracing it against her shoulder. A pull of the trigger, and the muzzle flashes once, and a barely visible bolt of white light, tinged violet around its edges as it blueshifts, streaks from the heavy, rectangular barrel, disappears from sight, and detonates in the snow a considerable distance away with a deafening bang, and an utterly blinding flash of golden fire; throwing up an enormous cloud of steam and vapourized dirt that towers into a miniature mushroom, like a tiny nuke had gone off. The resulting crater glows cherry red, the soil that wasn't turned to vapour having been fused into molten glass.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Comparing the output is difficult since it doesn't function in the same way as either a laser or a chemical explosive. The photons are bonded together into a mock-molecule that simulates mass by exterting electromagnetic force on surrounding molecules, though it isn't affected by gravity or momentum. When it encounters resistance, the projectile simply loses energy rather than slowing down. Its total energy is in a completely nebulous state, expended as kinetic energy when it hits other molecules, and then released as thermal radiation when it changes states, like hitting its surroundings with an omnidirectional laser beam over every square millimeter. It penetrates like a hypervelocity bullet that doesn't deform, so it simply keeps going until it runs out of energy or is detonated. That means it won't bounce, skip, or deflect either. It'll either destroy the other material, stop dead, or explode. Since there isn't an explosive shockwave, the explosive radius diminishes by a square rather than a cube, since there isn't a greater volume of air pressure absorbing the concussive wave. Suffice to say, the resultant energy is enough to achieve short lived nuclear fusion. Dumping the whole battery at once should be at least a hundred times more powerful than your laser rifle, but you won't be able to reload it without a generator, and even that will take some considerable time. The amount of energy released is comparable to one of your missiles, but 100% of the energy is absorbed by the target rather than a small percentage based on angle of deflection. Basically, be careful with it!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren blinks, but by the time he realizes she's going to fire HERE it's too late. He can only stare... "...Wow." After she explains, he sighs. "People live around here, you know. They're gonna wonder what that was..." He's already sent a message to the LDF about it being a requested demonstration of power by a friendly alien that didn't think about everyone in the area seeing that explosion.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Impressive. If only its effectiveness against elites weren't so badly reduced, but perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised even in /that/ area." He sets the pistol into his bag and takes the rifle. "Photon molecules are a fearsome technology indeed..."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Yeah, that's kind of a problem I'm running into. Normally Asche should be able to walk through an entire Earth's nuclear arsenal, but for some reason his personal defense systems don't work against some people. It might just be because they're using magic, but I'm still researching how they're doing it. It's not like they're hitting it and just somehow causing it to fail either. There's some sort of trick to it that I haven't figured out yet . . ." Weiss trails off. "Oh, sorry about that! I didn't realize this was a demilitarized zone or anything! If you can do me a favour though, don't go showing off raiser technology to everyone on this planet. I have strict directives not to start advancing entire civilizations with freebie technology. If I find out you're doing it, I'm going to be very very upset!" She sounds cheery saying it, but there is an implicated threat there that is being made with utmost confidence.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"In return, I'd like you to get me an Abstractum in whatever way is most convenient for you! I won't ask to see your notes or anything, since I'm not giving you mine. Call me when you can guarantee a delivery."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren sighs as Zwei talks about a trick she can't figure out. "You said it yourself: The underlying physics are conceptual, and your /and/ their concepts are powerful."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren rubs the side of his head. "There are towns and farms around here. And I can't reproduce your tech, so that won't be a problem. I'm still in the middle of getting other tech widely accepted, anyway."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren blinks. "You... want a full Abstractum already? Just to check again, you agree to help fight Them? The other condition... Can't really be measured by me, anyway." Staren taps his chin. "Actually, the other condition doesn't matter. Forget I mentioned it, it's just a sort of sanity check in the software that won't apply to this situation."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I'm sure they probably are, but it's not useful to me if I can't identify who I can and can't safely ignore in a combat situation. Neither Weiss nor Asche are actually all that heavily armoured for my level of technology. It's pretty much all in the shielding. I don't want to be dodging shots that I can walk through, and walking into shots I should have dodged." Weiss turns back to Staren with a nod that is much more serious than her previous tone. "If both the superfactions are doing it, I might as well. The metaphysics that make this place work are important to me, and I need to do more fighting anyways to establish sufficient combat data to gague multiversal threats. I can't just assume I'm an untouchable god anymore."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren nods. "Alright, I'm sure something can be arranged. Lately the Abstractum have been asleep a lot though, so it might be awhile. In the meantime, is there a protoabstractum you'd like to study?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Hmmm, if you're willing to do both. Anything you don't need is fine, but that energy sword would be useful, since I already know the basic principals of how one should work, and it's easy enough to test its capabilitys just by cutting things."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Weiss pauses for a moment before going back to her totally nonchalant, mildly amused tone. "Oh, don't lend specifications out, but you can totally show those pieces off to anyone you like as long as you tell them where you got them from~ If I can get a big client base, I can start trading weapons for intel!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren hmms. "...The beam sword I can't make right now, but I can get one soon. But if you have a bit longer, there is something I'll show you: We can /make/ a protoabstractum. You must provide one or more base form objects, and one or more base function objects -- all base objects will be consumed in the process and used to create the protoabstractum. Have anything in mind?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Form and function?" Zwei contemplates for a whole microsecond. "Let's see." Holding out both hands, Weiss concentrates as the air begins to swirl around them, drawn in by the vacuum created by atmospheric molecules being rearranged into a denser form. In her left hand, what is unmistakably a classic magnifying glass takes shape, made of cheap, chintzy plastic. In her right hand, is a device that looks somewhat like a telescope, but prolonged examination will instead indicate that it is in fact, a tiny electron microscope. "This should be interesting~"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren blinks at the two objects. "...What are you trying to do here? ...Oh, I see. A superpowered magnifying glass? Hmm. I haven't tried anything like that, but it should work. That trick /won't/ work at making armor or explosives more compact, though, I already tried. ...Come on then." He leads her back through the warpgate...<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren steps out of the warpgate, and stops to take off his helmet and wait for Weiss. "...You know, I have to wonder how you're controlling two bodies across the multiverse with no lag at all. Or is this the only one active right now?"<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Regardless of reply, Staren leads the way to the red door, giving the Legacies and the mysterious progress bar only a brief glance. "This is the homeworld, our base of operations for Abstractum work. We also have a virtual base for accessing archived information."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"...And this is the red wing. Most of the machines in the colored wings are for upgrading your Abstractum, but this wing also contains a combat simulator and a machine for making proto-abstractum." He holds out his hand towards each in turn, casually. "Function in this chamber, form in this chamber, close the shutters, press the button."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is a hell of a lot to process. There don't seem to be any real spatial coordinates Zwei can ascribe to what Staren nebulously refers to as 'the homeworld', and nothing about any of the 'people' Weiss can see comes off as normal. The huge variety of warp gates all in one place is also a strange tip-off, and the number of convoluted machines that perform no function it can discern make it even worse. Or better? It's a little overwhelming at first, but the sense of being lost swiftly gives way to one of anticipation. Zwei had expected to find some sort of dusty old factory churning these shady things out, not some kind of inhabitable complex still in use by actual people. It reminds it of a corporate lobby or something.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Oh uh, that's quantum mechanics again. Neither Weiss nor Asche send signals to each other. I simultaneously occupy both their 'brains' since I myself am sort of a Shcrodinger entity interpreted and expressed by their AIs." Weiss responds, clearly distracted. "Can I come back here later? We'll be here for hours if I started asking every question that came to mind." Deeming the instructions simple enough, Weiss places the dollar store magnifying glass into the form chamber, and the electron microscope into the function chamber, closing both shutters, and pushing the button as if unwrapping a Christmas present.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Really? I... gnnh, you are /frustratingly/ far ahead of any science I know." Staren shows a slight hint of irritation, but then it becomes a smirk. "Anyone else would probably say the strangest world I could bring someone to is Equestria or one of the ones that runs on videogame logic... but you, this is all as beyond you as your tech is to me, isn't it? Maybe more. Well, at least I'll soon be able to enjoy more than three people understanding all this."<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He watches her press the button...<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When the big red button (of course it's a big red button) is pushed, both chambers briefly and quickly scan their interiors, presumably for any sapient entities that it should not process. When this is done, both chambers abruptly slam shut with large blast doors, and the FORM chamber emits a lengthy hissing noise. Nothing more seems to happen for several seconds, during which the screen displays a rotating idle icon.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Suddenly the process completes, and both chambers open, ejecting a high volume of a strange mist. In the FORM chamber, the magnifying glass has been altered, a small HEMISPHERICAL CRYSTAL embedded on one side of the top of the handle just below the glass. Any symbols on the electron microscope's body may also have been copied to the magnifying glass.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It's now a magnifying glass that, somehow, shows a scanning electron microscope view when you look through it! Be reasonable about it, or ask Abstractum.net for more details. Also, as long as the new crystal is undamaged, the rest of the object will slowly regenerate from any damage.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The FUNCTION chamber is, as expected, empty.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;...Staren leans over to peek at the new protoabstractum, curiously. "Does it work?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"...I'll radio the warpgate address for the Homeworld to you, by the way. You've promised to fight Them, so whether you become an Abstractum User or not..." he shrugs. "No reason not to. You might decide to create a node, too. Eureka or your own Abstractum might be a bit better at explaining things, too."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Weiss gives Staren a good natured, if rather coy smile. "I think it would be impossible for anyone to understand the workings of every world in the multiverse. It amuses me a little that mine is so far on the highest end of scientific advancement, but so many other places have magic, so I consider it even~ But you're right! This is pretty far beyond me! Which is why it's interesting!" Fully well /expecting/ it to work, Weiss picks up the new magnifying glass, and a section of skin on the back of her hand fizzles away, leaving a circle of glossy, featureless black metal. Looking through the lense, she can actually see the hexagonal pattern of the piezoelectric graphene just under the surface, uttering a pleased sound. "It does! I have no idea how, but it does!" Her hand goes back to normal as she turns to Staren again. "Thank you! This made me really happy!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren smiles wide. "I'm glad I could help! You gave me advice on the whole utopia thing, and I hope I can learn a lot more about your technology... and honestly, it's nice to have someone who /cares/ about all this science stuff around, I mean... you're not the only one, but such people are pretty hard to come by! And you're, y'know, generally helpful and not evil, too." He gives a little shrug.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"...Anything more you want to say before I turn in for the night?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:596|Zwei (596)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Weiss shakes her head, still pretty much beaming as she pockets the magnifying glass. "No, I won't take any more of your time. You've been beyond helpful today!" She starts walking towards the main hall, aiming to go back to that welcome booth she saw before. "I'm going to stay here for a while and look around since I don't need to sleep. I'll talk to you later!'<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:42|Staren (42)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Staren nods. "See you later then!" He waves and heads back through the warpgate.<br> <br>


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