Bomb's Away! (IC)

[Supercape]

"Your accent does suggest a possible suspect," she told him, "but I am, of course, only guessing."

Supercape arched an eyebrow "Of course, of course... only guessing lets just say no more shall we?" he said in a congenial manner, tapping his nose and winking in a conspiratorial manner.

He watched Miss A study the sphere of quantum material. "Yes, ummm. Look, it dosen't quite exist as I said. So if you study it too hard..."

[Electra]

Miss A furrowed her perfect brow, looking at the sphere like a disappointed schoolmarm. "You do not exist in any effectively quantifiable manner," she informed it. The sphere wobbled, then popped out of existence, and immediately her frown changed to a smile. "You should be careful with those things," she told him cheerfully, "there's a great deal of sensitive equipment in here. I have no idea what an entity in quantum flux would do to my readings, to say nothing of the things it could break." She carefully replaced the test tubes on their shelf and floated back to earth.

[Supercape]

"I told you not to think about it too much!" exclaimed Supercape, rather upset his non-creation that didn't exist was now, indeed, not existing.

"Ah well" he sighed. "It didn't really have a right to exist anyway. As it didn't, in fact, exist. But your point is well made. As far as I can tell, its only those in the know, smart people who study it closely, which make it actually collapse from its false state. It should do fine for most practical applications, although I wouldn't want to rely on it long term. No bridges made from it, for instance. "

[Electra]

"I was interested to see whether it could actually be thought out of existence," Miss A said unrepentantly, "and hopefully before it upset any more of my beakers. I do think you're safe for the most part, it's going to be the rare civilian or villain who just happens to understand quantum physics to the point where he even thinks to disbelieve your creations out of existence. What's the longest you've ever been able to keep anything your created?" she asked curiously.

[Supercape]

"Errr... no idea" replied Supercape, honestly "it bears testing really, but I don't exactly have the resources to do the testing. I only recently struck on the idea how to create the stuff" he continued, gesturing at the scrawled equations he left on the desk.

"As for my part, being familiar with this stuff, and given how I seem able to just... sense these things, it pretty much comes and goes as I please. Under other circumstances..." he shrugged, thinking of the quantum crystal coffee cup he had left at Stesha's plant world. Was it still there?

[Electra]

"If you like," Miss A suggested with a gleam of science in her eye, "I can put one of your constructs into a containment unit and refrain from thinking about it too hard. That would probably be the easiest way to see how long your constructed materials last without any interference from outside forces." She pulled down a clear Plexiglass box from a shelf, opening the sealed lid to show him the diameter. "Something like this, you think? You could create anything that would fit inside it."

[Supercape]

"Sounds like an idea, thankyou" said Supercape graciously.

Holding out his hand he formed a straightforward cube of quantum matter, about 5cm a side. Letting it hang in the air, he pushed it towards Miss A.

"Will that do?" he asked "although I am not entirely sure how you will measure when it collapses. And in any case, it may be entirely random, like a decaying proton. One second or one year..."

[Electra]

"Well, make a few more and toss them in," Miss A suggested with an easy smile, taking the cube and tucking it away.. "If they all last a similar amount of time, that'll tell us something, and if they begin to dissipate at different times, that'll say something else. I imagine you already have some constructs lying around in places from other projects, you could keep an eye on them as well to see if the circumstances of their creation affects their longevity. I'll also keep that container you made for the bomb, see what happens with a slightly bigger object. And for something to put the bomb in," she added with a chuckle.

[Supercape]

"Well that's not a bad idea" replied Supercape, and with a few flourishes, the numbers one to five, in three dimensional sculptures, all formed of quantum crystal, were floating in the air.

"Now, how to measure when - or if - they actually stop existing. Or rather, cease pretending to exist. Stopwatch?"

[Electra]

"Have a little faith in yourself," Miss A laughed. "I'll use a time lapse camera with a motion sensor. A simple camera and sensor shouldn't trigger the "Does this exist or not" properties of the material, and well, if it does, we've learned something there, as well." She clapped her hands twice. "I need a Size 5 camera with a timer, and a Type 1 motion sensor!" she told the air. For a moment, it seemed as though she'd just said that to say it, but then a squat little robot that looked suspiciously like a certain copyrighted movie property rolled over with the required objects held on a metal tray. "Thank you, Emerson," she told the robot, which beeped acknowledgment and rolled away on silent, well-oiled treads.

[Supercape]

"Splendid stuff!" said Supercape, almost clapping himself.

"Of course" he continued "this is laboratory conditions. In the real world things may be different. It all depends on degree of observation. Quantum entanglement and all that"

Picking up the scraps of paper and the (now slightly blunt) pencil he continued his scribbling. "By my calculations if the existence of the matter was actually critical to ones own existence then quantum immortality would come into play. If we take the many - worlds hypothesis, then one would only be aware of the reality where the matter continued to exist, as when it didn't you wouldn't be around to note it didn't"

He paused. "Of course, that wont apply when its existence will lead to serious injury, or deaths and injury of others" he said, chewing the top of the pencil.

[Electra]

That got a thoughtful "hmm" from Miss A as she began loading the constructs into the plexiglass case. "I think for now we're better off not putting a lot of metaphysical pressure on these samples," she suggested, "at least not for this first trial. I'm not sure I'm ready to be holding my laboratory together with strings of quantum probability in such a concrete way!" She was quite efficient at her work, and before long had settled the samples into place, pointing the camera and the sensor at the box. Emerson rolled up with cords for the cameras as well, which were quickly attached. This time the little robot hung around, "watching" the whole operation.

[Supercape]

"Excellent" said Supercape, giving the robot a gentle poke. "Nice little contraption, this one!" he said, nodding towards the robot.

Casting his gaze around the laboratory, he sighed "well, it's been a pleasure, nay a delight, madam. Hopefully our joint scientific ventures will continue, given the plans for the laboratory!"

He still wasn't entirely sure about Miss A. Something a bit too perfect about her, something he was missing? but despite this he trusted her, and even liked her. And she was damn helpful. He would have to check up on his quantum numbers.

[Electra]

"Oh, Emerson?" she asked. "Thanks, he's something of a cross between a pet project and a pet. Very useful as a lab assistant, that's for sure, as long as I don't ask him to climb stairs. Should I just give you a call on the superphone, then, the first time I see one of your little constructs disappear? I'm sure I'll see you again soon, between all our mutual interests. You're sure you don't want a soda for the road?"

[Supercape]

"Stairs heh? bit of Dalek in him, then?" he asked with a wink.

"Yes, give us a tinkle on the old Superphone. It may even be a little super now you have had a tinkle with it, I dare say!"

"As for the soda" he said, pausing at the door, "I'm more of a cup of tea man, myself" he said with a wink, as he exited and flew off, cape fluttering behind him.