Medical Matters (IC)

[Dr Archeville]

By Tesla! It is my Other Side, manifest as some oil slick! Like on that episode of ST: Next Generation!

"You really should reign that in," Archeville offered as he made adjustments to his Electromagnetic Screwdriver. "You do not want to get on her bad side... well, any further on her bad side, believe you me."

"I do recognize that non-stop verbal quips can be a psychological defense mechanism," he continued, riding from his crouched position and looking about the room, "but if someone asks you to to stop making lewd comments of a sexual nature -- especially when that person is tying to help you -- it is typically polite and proper to respect their request and either change the subject, or sit there quietly."

Was he like this before getting powers? How did he get them? So many questions! And perhaps asking them will get his mind focused to a more useful end.

"So, where are you from, and how did you come to have these abilities? I can usually pick up from a person's accent where they grew up, but the neuradio communicator does not carry those inflections very well. Were you born with your abilities, or did they manifest later, after some traumatic encounter?"

[Supercape]

"I don't rightly know the answers to those questions, doc" replied Slick. "I guess nobody will, unless you have a time machine and can go back to world war II Nazi experimentation camps. Which I don't think would be on the top of anybodies list for a time machine. Come to think of it, you probably have one, don't you?"

"No... don't answer. I don't want to go back. But if I knew I could, I might. "

"What I do know is that I was never normal, but these oil like qualities came after the experimentation, around the age of four. That's about it. I have some fragments of my medical records from the camp, but that's about it. You could always ask Overshadow if he knew anything about it, I guess, if you fancy meeting him over a beer".

[Dr Archeville]

He certainly likes the sound of his own voice, even if it is distorted through the neuradio transducer.

"I believe if he and I met over a beer, then -- at best -- only one of us would be walking away."

Archeville examined an assortment of items in Miss Americana's laboratory, "medical records, even fragmentary, would be helpful, though in your condition I suppose it would be difficult to retrieve them. You say you were four when they experimented on you? Ah, that would put you in your late 60s, early 70s. Innnteresting."

Age has certainly not dimmed his libido.

"But, you are in luck," the Doktor exclaimed, and clapped his hands enthusiastically, "as there are few scientists out there who are better experienced with this sort of thing then me! It is, in fact, my life's work."

And that is why, despite my personal distaste for his demeanor, I shall do all I can to aid him!

"Now, let me see...." He tapped one foot, and his chin with his right index finger, "I would need some in-depth scans to see just what we are dealing with her, but it appears that such scans are what got you into this predicament in the first place. Tell me, has a part of you ever... dribbled off? When you are in this liquid state, do you remain one cohesive mass, or can you split and recombine? If I could remove a tiny bit of you, and put it under a few scanners, that would be of tremendous help, and should pose no further risk to you."

[Supercape]

"I've never been in this state before, Doc" replied Slick "its something quite new"

"Iv'e been close. And I suppose I may have been like this when I was a kid. But not in living memory. The closest I get is something semi-fluid when I am changing form. I don't really know what my innate form is - I don't even know if I have one."

He paused a while.

"To be honest, I have probably repressed my innate form. Well, you understand... we are both German, we do like our psychoanalysis..."

[Dr Archeville]

He seems to be calming. Thank goodness.

"I prefer the Swiss ones myself," he said with a grin. "Our countrymen tend towards the... controversial."

Archeville continued examining the laboratory, "no default form? If you fall asleep or are knocked unconscious while in another form, you still maintain that form? Interesting!"

How does the petroleum fit in, though? Was that an intended result, or an unintended side-effect?

"Well, if this is a new form or you, and you do not even know how it will react.. hrrmm." He tapped his chin, then reached into his labcoat pocket and withdrew a sealed syringe, "if you are amenable to it, I can try to withdraw a sample and run some tests on it."

[Supercape]

"How can I resist Doktor Archeville poking me?" replies Slick, his amorphous form mercifully free of any expression.

"Normally I am not a huge fan of human experimentation, as I am sure you can appreciate. However, circumstances are not normal, and neither am I. And consider my consent given.

"Nice syringe" he commented "I suppose you are going to give me a prick now..."

[Dr Archeville]

"Hrm."

He jabbed the wide needle into the goo and drew up several ccs of the black, oily substance. "Now to get some of this under a microscope," he squirted some on a trio of glass slides, "and the rest for the gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer. Neither of which I believe are in Miss Americana's laboratory," he did another quick sweep of the room, "though she does have some microscopes, so I can start those examinations." He popped the cap back on the syringe, set two of the slides aside, and prepped the third for examination under a microscope.

Ah, now, this, I can lose myself in.

"Hrrmmm... I do see some cell structures, floating amongst the black fluid. Odd little flecks on the surface of the cell walls; perhaps clots of the black substance, old and dried? The patterning if very regular... perhaps there are some part of the cells themselves? I have seen similar structures on other metamorphs, their cells had tiny grappling hook-like mechanisms dotted all over the surface, allowing the cells to spread out while the subject was in a fluid state yet still remain connected via fine microtubules. That may be what these are, though the unique properties of the fluid medium they are in may make attachment difficult." He turned back to the puddle, "perhaps this is why you are unable to resume your normal state, the oily substance is not viscous enough to allow the cells to recombine. In which case, cold should increase your viscosity, and allow you to get back to normal. If that does not work," he turned back to the microscope, "perhaps some chemical thickeners would help."

It could be as simple a fix as stirring in some cornstarch!

[Supercape]

"Brrrr.... chill me you say?" replied Slick, not overtly pleased with the solution.

"At least I will have your healing hands to warm me up, eh?"

He considered the options for a moment, before realising he really was in a position of both ignorance and helplessness. "Whatever you think best then, my knowledge of these things is only slightly better than the man off the street. I am in you hands. What a lovely place to be. "

"Its actually quite comfortable like this, to be honest, although I wouldn't recommend it. And I am a patient man, err.. woman, err... well, blob, at the moment. "

[Dr Archeville]

This constant lechery has to be some sort of defense mechanism. Or something akin to a nervous tic. Now there is an interesting psychological project: a study of metahuman shapeshifters born with their powers, or who manifested them at a very early age. Traditional gender roles might not even occur to them, since they would not have any one set gender!

"Patience is a virtue, sir... madame... Slick. And I do believe that these recent findings will prove most useful in manifesting a remedy for your predicament."

Archeville drew his Electromagnetic Screwdriver from his pocket, and dialed in the pre-set number for the radio frequency Miss Americana had given him to use when he needed to contact her. "Ready when you are, Miss Americana; I believe I have a few ideas that will compliment your skeletal scaffold idea. In fact, I believe everything we need is right here; I will need some compounds from the syntheskin division..."

After listing the chemicals he would need, he said goodbye, hung up, and turned back to Slick. "The binders used for the foam substrate of the syntheskin should prove adequate to bind your proto-flesh, though I will need to run a few tests to make sure there are no toxic side-effects, and that you still retain some mobility. If all goes well, you will be walking out of here in a few hours!"

Helping is fun!

[Electra]

"Understood," came Miss A's voice over the link, carrying well-disguised reluctance. "I'll be in soon with the mannequin." She was as good as her word, returning in just a few minutes with a robot that looked like a walking version of a store mannequin, but with a face more like a ventriloquist's dummy. She'd opened the chest to reveal the inner workings, and had installed a large bladderlike holding tank that, though it would give the figure a potbelly, should hold the gelatinous victim of the lab accident. Without saying anything, she sent the robot over in Doctor Archeville's direction.

[Supercape]

"What a figure!" remarked Slick at the sight of the mannequin. "I know I like curves, but this is ridiculous!"

He wasn't really in a position to argue. At this point, just being able to move again would be a welcome change from lying around helpless. "Can't say I am in a position to argue however. And I'm always open to new experiences"

He tried to wiggle around, only succeeding in creating a ripple in his body. "If this works, you have my thanks. If it don't, well you have my thanks for trying, and you can have me begging for you to carry on trying! I don't want to be a puddle for the rest of my, probably rather long, life. Not much good to anybody like this, other than greasing your mechanical contraptions, or fuel for your cooker. "

[Dr Archeville]

"I am sure this will be but a temporary lodging for you," Archeville said. "Now, how to get you in there..."

She works fast! I wonder how much of that is from her own metahuman mind, and how much is from her gynoid?

"Miss Americana," he tuned to the statuesque scientist, "did you incorporate any sort of vacuum mechanism into the bladder to facilitate fluid transfer?"

Do not say suction do not say suction do not say suction...

"Or did you have another means in mind for moving Slick her into hir new body?"

[Electra]

"I haven't," Miss A said tonelessly. "I thought I ought to leave that up to you and Slick to determine the most optimal means to facilitate the transfer." In truth, she wanted absolutely no part of dealing with Slick's body in any way, shape, or (lack of) form. "I would suggest some type of funnel device for minimal disruption, possibly something attached to the drain set in the floor here." If the idea of putting the disreputable shapeshifter down the drain pleased her, her expression gave no sign of it.

[Supercape]

"All of us are in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars" replied Slick, hoping some Oscar Wilde would cheer the stone-cold scientist up - although her voice sounded like falling tombstones.

"Hows about it Doc?" he asked more cheerfully. "I quite like the thought of being sucked... into the mannequin. "

[Dr Archeville]

... oy. Okay, let us get this over with.

Archeville made an indeterminate grunt, then began manipulating the controls of his Electromagnetic Screwdriver. A beam of violet light shot out of it, but the beam did not go far, stopping after only a meter or so. The end of the beam swelled, as if the beam were a balloon being filled with air. The far end swelled and then sprouted two projections at right angles (so it looked like a T of violet light was projecting from gadget), then the 'crossbar' resolved itself into the shape of a large baster, as big a Archeville himself!

"This should serve," he said as he dipped the end of the force construct baster into Slick's form, "as an acceptable transfer vessel."

And indeed it was, and moments later Slick was in the belly of the 'bot.

[Supercape]

"Not bad at all" said Slick, shifting around the contraption. He wasn't entirely sure not to name it. A mannequin? A container? "Bob"?

"What do you call this contraption anyway? Sounds like it needs some grand name, using all sorts of technobabble"

OK, so it wasn't perfect. But compared to half an hour ago it was a definite improvement.

"Whatever you call it, it is certainly a step up from my previous position. I can actually slide around quite nicely in here. What's the next step? reverse the polarity of the neutron flow?"

[Electra]

"It's a testing dummy," Miss Americana told him. "I pull parts off it to test new prosthetic limbs. And the next step of our plan is to shove it, and you, into a freezer and see if you solidify." She looked over to Doc. "I would say an hour to start with at a temperature of no lower than -10 should be sufficient to test the hypothesis, unless you'd like to try a liquid nitrogen compound for faster results." It was hard to tell from her expression if she was kidding or not.

[Supercape]

"Brrr!" replied Slick "no rush there, lady. It sounds Siberian as it is!"

He paused, weighing up the parameters. He was no doctor, but knew a little biology. "An hour... at minus 10 centigrade. That will be hard. I'm normally tough as nails, but that would kill most men, wouldn't it? slow down their metabolism or something?"

He was beginning to get a bit anxious.

"Is that safe? I take it for granted it will be unpleasant..."

[Electra]

"We'll be monitoring you the whole time," Miss A told him, giving the dummy a nudge to move it along in the direction of the cold room. "Even if it doesn't work, monitoring your physiological responses to the change in temperature and severe discomfort will be instructive. We want to get you back into your solid corporeal form as quickly as possible, and unfortunately that may call for some bravery and fortitude on your part." That part she almost seemed cheerful about.

[Supercape]

"Oh fantastic" said Slick dejectedly, as the dummy trundled slowly and gracelessly towards its cold fate.

If he had lungs he would be hyperventilating. Flashes of his early years under Nazi experimentation kept popping up in his psyche. "I've probably had worse, but even so..."

"Try not to enjoy this to much" he said to Miss Americana as he steeled his mind for the frigid horrors that he had concocted in his imagination.

[Dr Archeville]

I would definitely like to know more about this individual. There is something about hir composition that is vaguely familiar... and s/he did mention Nazi experimentation, so I know where I will look to jog my memory once I am done here.

"Just relax, Slick," Archeville said in a cheery and hopeful tone while the door sealed the goo-filled mannequin in the chamber, "I am sure we will have you back to normal in no time. You are in excellent hands, and-"

D'oh!

"... and what we need most from you is to hold a stiff upper lip," he added with a chuckle.

As he worked the cryonic controls, he turned to Miss Americana, and asked in a hushed tone, "so, level with me: did you do this to him on purpose after one to many lewd remarks?" His smirk implied he did not wholly disapprove of such an action.

[Electra]

Miss Americana's lips quirked in a reluctant smile. "I can't say that it might not have occurred to me, had I known it was possible," she admitted. "Even after ten minutes in his company, the urge to punish him somehow was very strong. But if this were merely a trick, I'd have found a way to discomfit him that wouldn't have interfered with your day as well. I'm afraid that whatever happened here, was done entirely by accident."

[Dr Archeville]

Archeville grinned and gave Miss Americana a dismissive wave, "I have faced worse in my time, and hir attitude is one I have encountered far, far too frequently."

From my Other! So glad that distraction is gone!

"Besides, I am actually rather glad I was called in on this," he said while adjusting the cryocontrols; in the chamber the temp dropped quite noticeably. "My main area of interest is not any one scientific field, but rather in helping others, especially those who were subjected to inhumane experiments, particularly those of the Nazis... and my grandfather." He shrugged, "personal dislike for his attitude aside, if I can help hir, I will do all in my power to do so."