Auditions (IC)

[Dr Archeville]

Interesting! I wonder if she could inhabit a colony of nanites?

"314, when last I checked" he replied as he pushed the button for the seventh floor. "Though barley a quarter of those are researchers or scientists. You see, the primary function of this ArcheTech facility is to serve as a communications hub and routing center for all the other ArcheTech facilities worldwide. Those are where the majority of our research and other work are done."

The ride was smooth, and when the doors opened, there were greeted by the sounds of research -- people moving to and fro, keyboards clacking, the occasional shouting match -- coming from behind the numerous doors and frosted glass panels that made up the hallways around them.

"Our Chicago facility, for example, focuses on improving and streamlining industrial manufacturing techniques," he continued as he lead her down one hall, "while the New York branch focuses on cybernetics. A branch in Wichita focuses on creating and refining computer-aided design technologies, and one in Research Triangle Park focuses on agricultural biotechnology. This branch is mainly administrative and general research, and facilitates communications and exchange of materials amongst all the other branches."

"There is one area of research this facility focuses on," he went on as they turned a corner. Soon Miss Americana heard muffled energy discharges and the whines of electric or hydraulic motors. "Metahuman research, a field for which this facility's location makes it ideally suited. That research we do freely share with the Albright Institute, and they share with us, so we help each other quite a bit."

[Electra]

"That's certainly a field I'm interested in, as a scientific observer," Miss A told the doctor with a nod. "I did extensive studies on metahuman flight and superstrength, of course, since they are of particular interest to me. The sheer range of superhuman abilities is phenomenal, and just begging to be categorized and studied in more depth. I wouldn't call it my forte, but I have been thinking and doing some research on what it would take to build superhuman prostheses, both for the disabled and for industrial or security functions. Being able to replace a lost limb with a perfect replacement would be good, but making it better than what was lost would be optimal. I assume it wouldn't be a problem to interface with your medical research team from here?"

[Dr Archeville]

Flight, eh? Oh, I bet that is what those anti- and contragravity generators in her frame are for, and not just to offset weigh sensors to aid the appearance of being a human!

"I -- and my head of cybersecurity -- would prefer that you were entered into our systems as a registered user before you go accessing our databases," he replied with a slight chuckle. "But, yes, once you are officially on the staff, and we determine what your projects and 'duties' are, you will be free to access any of the databases you require for your work."

"As for superhuman prostheses," he continued as he opened one of the doors, "that is not something we have focused much on. Most of our research into prostheses has been for reconstructive purposes, to provide better replacements of limbs lost to disease or accident, not bionics someone would... want to give up an arm or leg to gain," he chuckled again. "If you desired to do research in that field while working with us, though, we would certainly not stop you."

The room beyond was a very well-equipped laboratory, with equal parts dedicated to robotics and biology. It was, in fact, a medical prostheses laboratory. The room held one occupant, a redheaded woman in her late 40s or early 50s. She was in typical lab tech attire -- labcoat, hair up in a bun -- and hard at work designing something on her computer. "Miss Americana, meet Doctor Madeline Silvers." She looked up form her computer and waved, "Maddie, Miss Americana. Dr. Silvers is working on compact energy cells for artificial limbs."

[Electra]

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Silver." Miss Americana gave the scientist a megawatt smile, but most of her attention was focused on what the woman had been building on her screen. It only took an instant to look over and synthesize the salient details of the project, just by looking at the schematics and the formula the woman had been inputting. It was certainly an interesting idea, an energy cell that looked to be borrowed from some sort of focused-energy beam, but the danger of overheating seemed much too great to her.

She refrained from mentioning that, for the moment, and instead looked around the lab. "This is an amazing facility you have here, Doctors," she told both of them. "I confess I've built a lot of my own equipment from the ground up, it will be an interesting new exercise to get a chance to use the state of the art."

[Dr Archeville]

She likes it, she likes it!

"I am quite pleased to hear that," Archeville replied, smiling, "as a laboratory much like this is where you would be working. When not, ah, working from home, that is."

"Now, would you like to continue the tour?" He had seen Miss Americana's assessment of the energy cell, and hoped Dr. Silver was not offended by the 'intrusion'. But, if she wanted to start work now, that was fine by him. "There is still much to show, and we do still need to get you entered into the system."

[Electra]

"Yes, of course, Doctor," Miss A agreed immediately. "I'm eager to see everything. I hope to speak with you again soon, Dr. Silver." She fell into step with Archeville as they left the lab, tucking aside her analysis for later. It was one thing to evaluate someone's work as a colleague when it was your job to do so, but she suspected she'd be better off not making waves yet unless asked to do so. It wasn't even her first day yet, after all! "I know I've mentioned it before, but this is a very impressive facility as a whole, Doctor Archeville."

[Dr Archeville]

"Nice to meet you," Dr. Silver said coolly before Miss Americana left.

Hrm... jealous of her looks? No, that is ridiculous; we are scientists! They are sure to be fast friends!

"I try," Archeville replied, blushing slightly. "As I said, I try and hire the best, and give them the best to work with. Ah, and here is a prime example!"

The Doktor had lead her to another laboratory, though this one was half taken up by a firing range enclosed in a thick layer of (presumably bulletproof) glass. In the middle of the range was a mannequin wearing a glossy black suit of riot gear. Four lab techs were preparing an assortment of firearms at one end, while at the other, a broad shouldered man (probably in his early 30s), with dark hair and a goatee, worked on a computer terminal connected by cabled to a section of the armor. "Ah, Doctor Reynolds! Prpearing for another round of tests?"

"Indeed so, Herr Doktor, we were just about to-" He paused when he looked up at who had entered. "Why, hello there," he said in a voice now dripping with oiliness.

[Electra]

Miss A gave Archeville a single amused look before turning on the charm and stepping forward. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Doctor Reynolds. You published a paper last year in the Journal of Fluid Dynamics on the future of ballistic media, didn't you? That was fascinating reading. What is it that you're working on now?" Hopefully a quick redirect would get the engineer talking about his work instead of thinking about his play. Men! Yet she couldn't help feeling slyly flattered at the same time by his obvious interest.

[Dr Archeville]

"Oh, that little article was nothing," Reynolds said, quickly inserting himself between Archeville and Americana, "just some incidental findings from my true project! You see, I'm more a high energy physics man, and this," he gestured to the riot armor, "is gonna be huge!"

Uh, I thought I was freed from personalities like that. But, he does do good, work, and his bark is a lot bigger than his bite.

"Doctor Reynolds has been doing some rather promising work with force fields," Archeville interjected, though he hung back to see how Miss Americana was going to react to Reynolds' attention. "I believe he has the generation of the field itself set, and is now focusing on miniaturizing the mechanisms themselves, making a set of wearable generators which are not too encumbering, or get unbearably hot. I am sure you can imagine the value such devices would have for law enforcement agents."

[Electra]

"A personal force field small enough to wear?" Miss A stepped forward to take a look at the prototype while the weapons weren't hot. "That would be a huge innovation in protective wear, not only for police officers, but firefighters, medical personnel in dangerous areas, rescue workers, really anyone whose job involves going into danger." She took one calculated step away from Reynolds when he came in a bit too close, then looked over to Archeville. "Is this what you had in mind when you asked for brainstorming ideas at the Brunch?"

[Dr Archeville]

Reynolds eyed her again. "You were at the Brainiac Brunch? My, my, my..."

Ugh, time to get going before his drool makes this place a slipping hazard.

"Yes and no," Archeville replied, gently guiding Miss Americana towards the door, "Doctor Reynolds has actually been working on that since before I came back to Freedom; when I first reviewed it, almost two years ago, the fields were still dangerously unstable, emitting a blinding flash and then collapsing if struck by energy blasts of a certain wavelength."

If the two had looked back to Dr. Reynolds as they left, they would see him giving a "dude, why ya gotta block me?" look to Archeville. A beeping from his laptop soon brought his attention back to his work.

"Ah, one of the side-effects of working with such extreme intellects," the Doktor said once clear of the lab, "some are painfully shy, and some are... well, not."

[Electra]

"Oh, I understand," Miss A assured him with a smile. "I can work with all sorts of people, Doctor Reynolds doesn't worry me too much. It's remarkably reassuring to know that if a man won't take no for an answer, as a last resort you can pick him up and throw him into the next county." She chuckled to show that she was only joking. "His project looks very interesting, though. I would love to see the specs on it... once I'm properly registered and in the system, of course. Do you keep your hand in on any of these projects? she asked him curiously.

[Dr Archeville]

"Well, I try not too meddle too much," Archeville said, chuckling, "but sometimes I will hit upon an idea applicable to something someone else is working on, and share it. They usually accept my help, though some are reluctant and prefer doing things wholly on their own."

I like to help!

"Speaking of getting you registered," he continued as he lead her into another elevator, "I can brief you on some of the benefits. We offer a very nice medical plan, with eye and dental; we also offer a top notch worker's compensation for any injuries incurred while working here. Also," he pushed a button to take them back tot he 12th floor, "I can have our Metahuman Studies Compensation paperwork included. Basically, we offer any Metahumans who allow us to study them a percentage of the profits made from any materials or devices we patent based on a study of their abilities."

"Oh!" He slapped his forehead, "there is one possible problem with getting you registered. Part of the process involves taking a DNA sample, as some of the security is based on genetic scans, and to help us in restoring you should you suffer any mutagenic accidents. But in your case..." He stroked his chin while looking the gynoid up and down, "well... that is not really applicable."

[Electra]

"I have a sample of my own DNA already banked in case of accident or misadventure," Miss A assured the doctor breezily. "A second one is hardly necessary. As for the security... we'll simply have to work around it. Depending on the way you scan, I can implant a sample of genetic material of your choosing in order to allow her to pass the scans, or you could simply allow me to write myself into the security programs as an exception. Either way, I don't foresee it being too much of a problem." Her eyes were level on his, making sure that he didn't think it was much of a problem either.

[Dr Archeville]

"Ah, that is quite prudent of you. Many scientists do not think to keep backups of their most important date -- themselves! As for security... ah!" Archeville clapped his hands sharply, "you can generate radio signals, yes? Like an RFID tag? Much of our security works with those, so you can use that to access any secure sections you would need!"

Compromise!

The elevator doors slid open, and they were greeted by a far more office-like scene. Sounds of keyboards clacking and water cooler talk, and interns were seen running up and down the halls. He lead her to the personnel office, where a bubbly young Thai woman. "Hello, Jenny! This is Miss Americana, she is going to be working with us. She will need to be entered into the system, of course, but there are a few... atypical aspects to her" he said with a wink, "so after you get her basic info in, I will handle the rest myself. While you do that," he turned to Miss Americana, "I can see to all the things over here that require my signature which I have been putting off for far too long." After a quick laugh, he as out the door.

Getting put into the system was easy enough, and Jenny made it as un-tedious as possible, mainly by peppering her spiels with Doctor Who quotes. Something Archeville had not mentioned was the psychiatric evaluation and care part of the health care coverage: the super-intelligent tended to have super-mental problems, and ArcheTech wanted to make sure its employees did not become raving supervillains.

When Miss Americana was done and exited the Personnel office, Archeville was walking towards it, hands full with folders and stacks of paper. "There, that was not too hard, was it?"

[Electra]

"Not at all, your assistant was very efficient," Miss A assured the doctor. "And has a very thorough knowledge of important pop culture as well." She chuckled. "I wasn't expecting a psychiatric evaluation, but I suppose the insurance company does need its pound of flesh in the hiring process as well. I assume the next step involves some more confidential questions, since you're handling that? Which I appreciate, by the way," she added. "I know how busy you must be."

[Dr Archeville]

"You do not know the half of it!," he said with a grin and a wave of the stacks of paper in his hand. "There are some problems even my intellect cannot form easy solutions to. Well, not without having ArcheTech monopolize dozens of different industries!" He flashed another smile at her, and a quick wink, "Of course, doing that would carry all sorts of problems, too!"

Competition is good for all involved!

"As for the psych evaluation," he continued as he lead her down twisting hallways, "it is a key part of what I call the 'No Metahuman Left Behind' policy. In addition to evaluating and offering counseling to our staff, it is corporate mandate to offer information and needed medical assistance to new metahumans manifesting their powers, within reasonable limits pertaining to the safety of their personnel. Many -- though not all, of course -- metahumans become criminals through ignorance, circumstances, or special needs, and if new metahumans can be guided to the right side of the fence from the beginning, well, the benefits are clear." It was clear this was a topic he was very enthused about, and with good reason -- Archeville had a very personal interest in psychology and mental illness.

I'm so happy! Oh, so happy!

Soon they were at the double doors of Archeville's private office, which opened silently as they approached.

[Electra]

"I've actually read a great deal of the metahuman research that comes out of ArcheTech," Miss A told him as they walked in and the doors closed. "It was one of my most valuable resources while I was designing and building my current project, in fact. Nobody else is doing anything on the same level in terms of hard scientific research into metaphysical development. I was getting pretty tired of researchers passing it off as "superpowers" or "magic," that's for certain. Of course there are powers that are difficult to quantify and almost impossible to find the origin of, but just giving up and saying it's magic seems like such a cop-out." She laughed. "And it was also frustrating for someone trying to reproduce metahuman powers mechanically."

[Dr Archeville]

Oooh... she gets it!

As Archeville sat at his desk, Gina noted he had a very Cheshire cat grin on. "Those are precisely the sorts of questions ArcheTech strives to answer, questions I myself have tried to answer for years! And while I do think it is quite flattering of you to say we do the most research, I would point out that one of our friendly rivals, the Albright Institute, has done a great deal as well. Though I am hoping to start a new line of research that would leave them in the dust..."

Normally I would hesitate to show a new hire this... but she seems like an ideal research associate... and I just cannot keep it in!

His fingers flew over the glass-topped desk, which has a laser keyboard projected on it from tiny devices in the corners of the desk. Holograms appeared in the middle of the room again, showing news footage and performances by a variety of metahumans. "Everyone is familiar with superheroes and supervillains, right? And many scientists know some basics about their abilities; it is how institutions like Blackstone can function, because you cannot nullify something if you do not know how it works. At least, not without causing system-wide damage to the individual... but!" His fingers flew again, and the image shifted, now showing what appeared to be scenes from classic Universal Monster movies, in glorious 3-D holography. "But there is still much that has not even been approached by researchers. If the Freedom League was sent back in time a few thousand years, they would be seen as gods -- what about the reverse? It is my belief that all those so-called vampires and werewolves and mages and so on are, in fact, metahumans -- or possibly aliens -- same as the League or the Atom Family, and that they can be brought into the light of reason the same way so many other things have!"

[Electra]

"So you're invoking Clarke's Law," Miss A said thoughtfully. "It looks like magic because we haven't got the tools to understand the science yet. I think you're almost certainly correct about that. So for the moment, the thing to do is to concentrate on developing the tools that will allow us to measure the effects that we want to study scientifically." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, looking at the screen. "Have you been able to find any "magical" metahumans who will allow you to run tests on them yet?"

[Dr Archeville]

Yaaayyy!

"I have been in talks with a few, both from her and from my homeland, and some of them seem receptive to the idea. In a few weeks I plan to make a public announcement", he said, spreading his hands wide before him, "asking for any 'magical' or 'supernatural' being who would consent to having their abilities studied to come to an ArcheTech facility; I will stress both discretion and a sizable cash incentive for doing so. As for actual tests, I have only run a few on one being, a vampire. Or, rather, on the skin samples he had given me to work on during a particularly bizarre case; when we began working together on it I did not know at first he was -- or claimed to be -- a vampire. They proved quite difficult to test, though, due to some light-refracting property his tissues possessed. You see, this particular vampire does not show up on technological visual sensors, cannot be photographed or videotaped," he slapped one hand on the desktop, "he does not even reflect in a mirror! And his cells proved equally undetectable to PET, x-ray CT -- even SPECT! Fortunately, a combination of some very advanced ultrasonic scanners and MRI allowed me to glean some information... and raised about a dozen more questions!"

Oh, it feels sooo good to have someone with which to talk about this sort of stuff!

"Of course, I do not wish to merely increase understanding of the 'magical' and 'supernatural': I wish to alleviate its more detrimental elements. To this same vampire I also gave a blood substitute I had developed, which he claims was enough to satisfy his physical requirements, but he still had an urge to hunt; it would seem that the need for blood is both physiological and psychological. He has disseminated the substitute to other vampires, in an effort to get them to stop hunting. If the hungers of a vampire, or the changes of a werewolf, can be controlled, well, I believe the benefit to all involved is clear."

"What I would really like to study, though," he leaned forward slightly, "are some mages. Spellcasters, witches, that sort. I have a few hypotheses about their abilities, too."

[Electra]

"What's your going theory?" Miss A asked curiously. She'd done some reading on the attributed powers of magic-users, which were exceedingly impressive and equally hard to quantify. In many cases, they claimed to be able to do anything, if only they had a spell for it. Her own pet theory was that it had something to do with quantum physics and the behavior of explained and observed particles, behavior that science could not yet measure. She was more interested right now in hearing what the expert thought.

[Dr Archeville]

This! Is! Awesome!!!

"My theory," he began, a wistful tone creeping into his voice, "is that they all share a common mutation -- an unusually common one, at that, one passed from generation to generation with remarkable stability and does not show on standard metahuman genetics scans -- which at its base level allows them to generate and manipulate the four quantum forces. As with other types of energy manipulators, proper practice and training allows them to use this power for a wide range of effects. In their case, though, the training comes not just from friendly allies and experienced mentors but also from 'spellbooks,' which are at their core a series of mental exercises that put a person in the 'right frame of mind' to use their power for a given effect." Another few quick taps on the laser-keyboard, and the holo-images showed pages from alchemical and astrological texts, hexagrams from the I Ching, summoning circles from the Key of Solomon, sigils from Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, and others. "Of course, these are all couched in densely symbolic images and archaic jargon, and being passed on through the years and being translated and re-translated and having assorted notes and marginalia added just further muddy it. But the fact that they do work, that these 'mages' can use them to do all manner of things, indicates that there is something to them. As for the chanting and gesturing," he said making the 'devil horns' gesture, "those are likely psychosomatic limitations placed by their elders, who worked under them because that's how their elders did it, and so on, stretching back to the first 'spellcasters' who associated certain words and gestures with their 'spells' because they just happened to be position that way and uttered that string of words when the effect they were trying for went off, or used them as some sort of meditation aid."

[Electra]

That explanation got Miss A nodding again. "I've thought some of the same things," she agreed. "But I'm not sure it's merely a matter of rote that makes the spells and symbols appear so necessary to the use of those powers. We have seen in the lab that it's possible to make the human brain respond to certain visual cues in a predictable way, almost to the point of being able to order up a certain set of brainwaves with the right cues. It's all very rough of course. I believe it's possible that, perhaps by accident, perhaps by some sort of lost technology, the first users of these mutant powers were able to create very specific rituals and pictograms to create the necessary brain patterns for the functions of the power."

She paced the room, looking at the hologram. "If it's true, it would be revolutionary, of course. It would be the equivalent of finding the punchcard for the computer of the mind. Primitive, but actually effective, and from there, who knows what programming languages could be written? It would require immense study, though."

[Dr Archeville]

... of course!

Archeville stared numbly at Miss Americana, his jaw ever-so-slightly agape. But then he was a-whirl again, slapping both hands on the table as he stood up, actually going up a bit higher than he's intended due to excitement thanks to his Gravimetric Belt. "Of course!" He flew over his desk to land next to her, "but some training would be necessary for certain 'spells,' to... format the hard drive, as it were, and defragment the clutter. And that could be why they go on about how 'the uninitiated are not ready' and 'forbidden tomes' with 'things man was not meant to know' -- an unprepared, inexperienced mind cannot adequately process the ideograms! Ha!" He clapped his hands and spun around in the air, "this could be a huge find, both for understanding 'magic' and a number of psychological and neurological fields!"

And it would explain my recent change -- my mind was not prepared to 'run' the 'programs' from Taylor's grimoire! I am lucky, that spell could have fried my mind completely!