Action at a distance (IC)

[Supercape]

1st December, 2011

Supercape punched up the visitors details on the Labs computer. He was, as normal, wearing his modified costume - his splendid white and blue cape replaced by a brilliant white lab overall - but a costume nonetheless.

Glow

He browsed through some rather (to him) uninteresting biographical data supplied by Claremont and got to the interesting stuff. A youngster with telekinetic powers!

Ever since the Lab was built, the scientists there had had the odd visits by Claremont students, for educational purposes and also to help with analysis of certain powers - at least the non-mystic ones. Between the four of them (five if you counted the more practical but still intelligent Protectron) they had almost all bases covered. The mystic expertise lay more with the Parkhurst Hotel.

Normally he found the visits slightly irritating, especially with the slightly...duller students, who didn't share his love of science. Sometimes they were stimulating.

It didn't look like "Glow" was going to win the Nobel prize for Science, looking at her test scores - although she was no dullard either. However, her powers looked very interesting.

And here she was - he saw her, on cue, walking up to the entrance of the Lab.

[Scuffles]

Kristin paid her taxi fare, only remembering to hurriedly add a tip after receiving a baleful glare, then stepped out onto the sidewalk. She paused a little and looked up at the curved outer of the building and wished she had been able to turn up a little more information. Apparently this was a seriously high-tech place but that was about all she knew.

A gust of wind chilled her through, so she pulled her jacket tighter, slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and made her way quickly over to the entrance. The doors slide open, so she headed inside. With a deep breath she headed over to the reception desk and waited patiently for the receptionist there to finish a phone call.

"Hi. I'm Kristin Jones. I'm here to see uhh.. Supercape" she said, quickly checking the printed sheet of her invitation to make sure she had the right name. "I think I'm a little early."

[Supercape]

Supercape leapt out of the lift on the ground floor and walked briskly towards the visitor.

"Thankyou, Jenkins!" he said, giving a friendly and informal salute to the security guard "I'll take it from here! this young lady is an official visitor!"

He extended his hand to Kristen and after a warm handshake, presented her with a high tech security swipe card, complete with a holographic display of her face and name.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss" he said, bowing very slightly "my name is Supercape, one of the founding members of the Lab. " he said, with a note of pride, sweeping his arm around the huge ground level, the expo hall.

"Welcome!" he added with a smile. "You sound a most interesting young woman, if I may say so. It is always our pleasure at the Lab to welcome young Claremonters to our humble abode. We have a very good relationship with the staff there. A bit of education, and of course a bit of analysis and testing of some of the metahuman abilities in you spiffy youngsters. Did your teachers explain about us?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin turned towards the elevator as it opened and Supercape made his rather enthusiastic entrance. Unable to contain her smile at his energy, she accepted the handshake as she looked up at the rather large man and replied "Thankyou sir, nice to meet you". As she pinned the visitor badge to her jacket she paused to thank Jenkins for his help, then turned back to Supercape.

"I just received an email from Mister Marquez." She said as she held up the printed sheet. "It didn't really say much, just the time of my appointment, and how to get here as well as saying that I might receive some lessons on the physics of Telekinesis and that I should bring my jumpsuit in case I needed it."

She laughed, suddenly a little nervous. "That last bit sounds just a tiny bit ominous now that I think about it?"

[Supercape]

" I should bring my jumpsuit in case I needed it. "

Supercape gave a little chuckle "Well, you know, you just might at that" he agreed, showing Glow into one of the lifts of the Lab. With an almost silent humm, they ascended to one of the higher levels, level 19.

"Here we are" said Supercape, stepping off. "The Lab has ten levels of dedicated laboratories, covering nearly every field of science. Not including the infirmary and the sub-levels for more...specialised equipment. We can examine nearly everything here...ah! and here we are, room 19.4"

He pushed open the door to the Lab, which was a large brightly lit room full of equipment that was on the edge of being organised - cables, instruments, desks and computer terminals lying everywhere. The centre of the room contained what looked like a glass room, with a glass door, and was completely empty inside - although various sensors and recording equipment all pointed in its direction.

"This should be perfect! we can take a look at your telekenetic abilities..." he said "...if that would be ok, I mean. It's usually pretty helpful to categorise and investigate them. Nothing invasive, I promise. Just taking a look at what you can do..."

[Scuffles]

The elevator ride didn't take nearly as long as she would have expected for 19 floors, and she looked around curiously as she followed Supercape out into the hall.

"I don't mind needing the suit, but I'd rather not need the infirmary as well!" Kristin chuckled as Supercape mentioned it in passing. She followed him into room 19.4 and looked about with a grin. Looks almost as messy as my sister's bedroom!

"I'm game for tests!" She said with a grin. "No needles though! But really, I'm looking forward to working out what I can do and how I do it a little bit more. I've not quite got it properly nailed down yet. I still sometimes move things without meaning to, and sometimes I can't move things when I should be able to. I also can't seem to affect myself at all which is a bit of a nuisance. People keep telling me I'm supposed to be able to but it just doesn't work for me so far!"

[Supercape]

" I still sometimes move things without meaning to, and sometimes I can't move things when I should be able to. I also can't seem to affect myself at all which is a bit of a nuisance. People keep telling me I'm supposed to be able to but it just doesn't work for me so far!"

Supercape snatched up a small computer screen and started hand writing on it, taking notes.

"Hold on, hold on!" he smiled, caught up with the young woman's enthusiasm. "Let's to this properly. I am a Scientist after all!"

He sat Kristen down and pointed a camera on her, complete with recording equipment. He perched himself by its side, out of shot, and continued making notes.

"Ok, so from the top, and for the record. Its the first of december and I am interviewing Glow, a sixteen year old human female" he winked at Glow "at least, according to your records at Claremont. You never can tell in Freedom City!" he smiled.

"For the camera then, tell me about what you can do, and when you found out you can do it?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin smiled as she tucked her legs up under herself on the chair and sat up straight. She glanced at the camera, then grinned again, complaining "I'm camera shy you know!" even though she clearly didn't seem very bothered by the setup.

"16, human and female all sound right. Last time I checked anyway!" she chuckled, then looked a bit more serious. "OK, My name is Kristin and I'm from Australia. I'm telekinetic." To illustrate the point she gestured at a pen sitting on a desk next to her and it floated over towards her. She plucked it out of the air and twirled it in her fingers as she continued.

"As for when I found out.. well I guess I showed some signs when I was little. Things crashed and fell over lots when I slept, but we never really noticed it. I like to sleep with a window open." She gave a little shrug. "If you want to see how I really found out, type my name into Google or something. I was on the evening news and all that."

"The short version," she continued "is that two thugs nearly ran me and a group of my friends and my sister over trying to run away from the police. My sister knocked me out of the way and got hit herself and I guess I snapped a little. I don't remember it very good, but I had the car floating in circles around me along with about half a ton of gravel and bits and pieces."

[Supercape]

"A car?" splurted Supercape, just beginning his cup of tea he had obtained from a cup of water and tea bag he had whipped out from his Cape.

"Half a ton?" he added, as that sunk in.

He wiped his mouth.

"This is probably going to take a little more...room to test" he concluded "at least for the capacity components".

He paused a little then adressed Kristin again. "So what can you do with you ability?" he asked, politely "I understood from what you said before there is no reaction? in other words, the force you exert, it creates no equal and opposite force on yourself? so you can't fly, or push yourself around?"

"And how precise is your control? in your estimation? we'll get to testing that in a moment..."

[Scuffles]

Kristin tried to cover her mouth to conceal her snicker as Supercape nearly choked on his tea. "Ok so I haven't tried to lift a whole car since then, but a few hundred kilos I can do for sure. I haven't been able to do nearly that many things at once either. I guess the first shock really made me push it."

She shrugged "I'm not a hundred percent sure exactly how I work yet. I know I break Newton's third law. For every action there really isn't an opposite reaction. If I push on a building that won't move I don't go flying backwards. I might crack some bricks, but that's about it."

"As for affecting myself, making myself fly or pushing myself around.. well I can't seem to do that at all. I can affect things I'm wearing." she said as she made the zipper of her jacket slide up and down for effect. "But my own body might as well not be there at all if I try to push on myself. I don't know, I've been told it's possibly just a mental block and that I might be able to push past it. I hope so, being able to fly would be pretty cool!"

[Supercape]

"I hope so, being able to fly would be pretty cool!"

"Yes, that would be quite something" smiled Supercape. He didn't really fancy telling the young woman about his own flight abilities, much less his ability to travel the length (if it could be called that) of the Universe in a moment. He had an inclination it would only dampen the girls infectious enthusiasm. In his heart, he sorely wished he could help Kristin fly.

He reached over and turned over the camera.

"Alrighty-ho" he said "that's quite enough of the interview. Don't worry, there other camera's that will record the testing. And not just in visible light, either..." he added, indicating the myriad of cutting edge instruments all pointing at the glass container. All useful, and he would be utilising his own extraordinary senses in the analysis on top of the recording equipment.

"Step this way!" he said, opening the door of the central glass room within a room. In it, he placed a pen and a sheet of paper in the centre of the room.

Once Kritsen was well inside, he continued.

"So, lets see how good your control is - see what you can do with that pen and paper..."

[Scuffles]

Kristin shucked off her jacket and hung it on the back of her chair before she followed Supercape over to the glass enclosure. "Have you got enough gizmos watching here?" she asked with a laugh, "Are you sure you wouldn't like to add a couple more before I start?"

In truth she looked a little hesitant as she turned to address the pen and paper. "My handwriting is pretty messy you know, this is probably not going to be very good at all!". Her hands went to her hips as she stood a couple of feet from the pen and paper. The pen floated up into the air a moment later and the cap popped off then flipped sideways to bounce off the glass.

Kristin's face took on a look of intense concentration as the pen floated down towards the paper tip first then unsteadily started to scrawl block letters on the page. A few seconds later she looked up and floated the pen back towards herself then plucked it out of the air. With a grimace she rubbed at her temples, then gestured at the paper, which lifted off the floor and then slapped firmly against the glass wall. The writing was large and childlike, but clearly read "HI SUPERCAPE".

The girl shrugged. "Close control like that is really hard by the way. It makes my head hurt and I get a little dizzy. I can do big a whole lot easier than I can do little for some reason. I've been practicing though. A couple of weeks ago the best I would have been able to do was a bit of scribble!"

[Supercape]

Supercape peeked up, engrossed in realms of data and readouts from the multitude of computer screens around hmm.

"Hmmm, wha?" he said, momentarily distracted.

"Fascinating data here, it shows a metaquadratic distribution of nth energy over inverse time which means..."

He caught himself.

"Ah yes, well done m'dear. Very pretty!" he added, with a thumbs up sign. "So, it seems fine control is not so easy at present, hmmm? although the potential is there, certainly, the potential...I guess for you to work on?" he said with a smile.

He scrunched up his forehead. "Right then, this is for data purposes, I just want to see your abilities can act on all materials. So for the purposes of demonstration, try it on a little invention of mine..."

Just in front of Kristin, floating in mid-air, a small cube of crystal-like substance sprang into being. It was about the size of her hand, a faint purple-blue colour, and looked like perfectly formed glass.

"Quantum matter!" shouted out Supercape "perfectly safe, it just ignores gravity. But see if you can push it around a bit! and, errr... don't look at it too hard, especially if you study physics...." he mumbled, a bit under his breath.

Quantum matter didn't technically exist. Which made it extremely strong. But it had a habit of properly not existing if it was examined very carefully, by scientists under laboratory conditions. He didn't think Kristin had the requisite apparatus and mind to fully determine that Quantum Matter did not exist, and therefore make it not exist, but it was almost a habit under these conditions...

"And do let me know if you want an asprin!" he added, helpfully.

[Scuffles]

Kristin shook her head to clear the dizziness away a little, then raised an eyebrow at how enthusiastic Supercape seemed to be about the readings on his monitoring equipment. "Yep, fine control is definitely the hardest thing just yet."

"I haven't found anything I can't affect with it so far," she said with a shrug. "Well except for me that is! And I can affect other people so I'm guessing that's not a "can't affect living things" or anything and just my brain being thick!"

The appearance of the Quantum matter cube startled her a little, but she recovered quickly and cocked her head to the side as she asked "Did that just appear out of nowhere? isn't that impossible? I'm sure there's a rule that says matter can't be created. It's not an illusion or something is it? Is that why I'm not supposed to look too close?"

Obviously intrigued, she walked around the cube a couple of times. "Whatever it is it's very pretty!" she grinned, then reached out towards it with her telekinesis. With a little mental poke she tried to send it floating towards the side of the glass room with the most monitoring equipment.

[Supercape]

Dutifully, the cube of Quantum Matter drifted across the room in mid-air, responding to Glow's mental poke.

"Excellent" replied Supercape, delighted at the dance of quantum events that fireworked out of the collision between telekinetic power and his creation.

"If you can move that, you can move anything" he added, with encouragement. He pressed a few buttons on a computer screen to save the data and then walked over to let Glow out of the glass chamber.

"So, for the bigger stuff, we will probably have to use one of the simulator suites. I think they are both free, so we can take our pick, although they are identical" he explained, leading her back to the lift. "And there we can try out some of the more dramatic uses of your power. Speaking of which, it might be time to change into that jump suit!"

[Scuffles]

Kristin stepped out of the glass enclosure and smiled at Supercape as she said "Being able to move anything has to be better than running into things I can't move! I get the feeling I'm not about to be running into Quantum matter around the place too often though?"

She collected her jacket off the back of the chair then stooped to pick up her bag before turning back towards the scientist. "So where are the simulator rooms?". A moment later another thought occurred to her and an impish, mischievous grin crossed her face. "And have you got somewhere for me to get changed that has less than a hundred different recording devices installed?" she laughed as she gestured at all of the high-tech gear spread around the room.

[Supercape]

"Good point, well made" answered Supercape, as the lift stopped on level 15.

He took Glow out and pointed her towards the Ladies lavatories - the Lab had them on every floor, and rather good quality they where too.

"No doubt Ironclad or Dragonfly have installed some emergency surveillance camera's there" he said, as diplomatically as possible. "But I can assure you of your privacy for a few minutes, unless you plan on setting of a bomb or releasing a virus".

"I'll just, um, wait out here then, whilst you get changed" he said politely. Now he thought about it, the Simulator Suites really should have proper changing facilities. He would have to speak to one of the other more practical members of the Lab about that. Protectron looked like he could be handy with a bit of structural reorganisation.

[Scuffles]

Kristin laughed a little at having made Supercape seem uncomfortable as she hauled the yellow and blue jumpsuit out of her bag. "Back in a minute!" she grinned brightly as she ducked into the bathrooms to change. As she slipped into the suit she marveled once again at how closely it fit wondered how Claremont had managed to get one made so perfectly for her build without ever having taken her measurements. Even the blue shoes she pulled on to complete the look were extremely comfortable!

Gah I'm skinny! she thought to herself with a giggle as she straightened and caught a look at herself in a mirror. Still, I reckon this thing looks pretty good on me...

She stuffed her clothes back in her bag and headed back out to rejoin Supercape. "I think I'm ready" she said, then wondered exactly what she was supposed to be ready for!

[Supercape]

"Here we are then" said Supercape, bring Glow into the Simulator Suite.

It was enormous, covering most of this level of the skyscraper. And almost totally featureless. Clinically white, with ambient fuzzy lightning, so that could barely make out where walls, floor, and ceiling met.

"The Simulator Suite. It can mimic almost anything. Holographic projectors can change the scenery, gravity, temperature, weather conditions, all can be manipulated. We could stage a moon landing here, if you had a space suit. There are also tractor beams, robots, and mechanised effects that allow us to perform all sorts of stuff here. "

He smiled, putting his hands on his hips and nodding in satisfaction.

"So, what takes your fancy, scenery wise? something to put you in the mood?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin looked a little awestruck as she stood next to Supercape and looked around the deactivated simulation room. After listening to him explain what it was capable she put her hands on her hips and laughed "I think I want one. I have a feeling I might need to save my allowance for a bit though!"

Hmm what kind of scenery.. well I have no idea! she thought, then looked back over at Supercape as an idea popped into her head. "I don't really know, something outdoors in the sun maybe? It would be nice to be outside and not freezing my butt off for a change! I might not have wanted to come to Claremont if I'd looked up the weather first!"

That's a lie... she immediately admitted to herself as she walked a few steps further into the simulator. Wouldn't be swap any of it except for maybe how it started.

[Supercape]

"Certainly!" replied Supercape eagerly "A bit of sunshine would not go amiss at this time of year. Computer!" he articulated in a slightly louder, clear voice.

"Scenery program Supercape 12, set season to summer, midday, ambient temperature 30 degrees..."

The room took a little time. First, the scenery changed to a green forest, leaves bowing over their heads, and undergrowth forming below it. A bright yellow sun in a blue sky shone heavily down on them, its light scattered by the trees overhead. Then, the temperature rose, almost unpleasantly high, where it not for a cool breeze that flowed over them.

"A simulation of the New Forest, England. Very pleasant in summer..." said Supercape, quite wistful "brings me right back to my youth. Many happy days. Anyway, I hope it is suitable, something like what you asked for anyway. Warm and relaxing. Should keep you happy for the fun ahead!"

[Scuffles]

Kristin turned in a circle as she found herself suddenly in the middle of a forest, more than impressed at how realistic the simulation was. As the temperature rose to match she walked over to a nearby tree and brushed her fingers along the bark to see if the texture matched the look.

The mischievous grin returned to her face as she looked over at Supercape again. "If this is supposed to be England shouldn't it be cold and rainy and horrible or something?" she giggled as she turned to lean on the tree. "No really, this is beautiful. It's different to the forest near where I lived, but definitely really nice."

After a couple more moments spent comfortably leaned against the tree she pushed off it and walked into a little clear space and asked "So what are we doing next? I think you mentioned 'bigger stuff'"? she asked with a little gleam in her eye.

[Supercape]

"If this is supposed to be England shouldn't it be cold and rainy and horrible or something?"

Supercape smiled kindly "I guess you haven't been there. A bit young to go travelling round the world, I guess. Well, it does rain, for sure, but the Summers are glorious, blue skies, fields of green and gold, and winding country lanes" he spoke softly, reminiscing. He did miss England, or maybe the country life.

"Except for Wales, of course. Rains constantly there..." he added.

He brought himself too and cracked his knuckles.

"Well, this is the part where we explore what you can really do. First off...mass! how much do you think you can lift?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin shrugged, then folded her arms across her chest. "I really don't know what my upper limits are. Like I said before, I know I've lifted a car, but that might have been a slightly special situation and I definitely wasn't consciously controlling it when I did that."

She chewed on her bottom lip for a second or two. "In the gym at Claremont I've stacked up about four hundred kilos and moved that about some. It didn't seem all that difficult at the time either so I reckon I can probably do a fair bit more than that. I wasn't really keen to push my luck when I'd only just arrived there though, I didn't think they'd take too kindly to me trashing the place on accident!"

An idea occurred to her. "Maybe we can start smaller and move up to something I can't move? Seems like a good way to work out where the limit is?"

[Supercape]

"A good idea" replied Supercape "what does it feel like? physical exertion? well...is it physical exertion?"

He paused a moment.

"Probably worth getting biometric readings, heart rate, blood pressure, that sort of thing...here, let me put this on you..." he attatched a small cloth bracelet to Glow's arm, which was quite tight, bordering on uncomfortable.

"Not too tight I hope?" he asked "it will measure physiological parameters. The little thing is a bit irritating I am afraid, but it does its job" he explained, pointing to the complex machinery contained within it, leading to a LED display and various small buttons.

"Anyway, lets start off with something small. Computer...400 Kgs standard weight for us please!"

A small automated cart trundled into view, passing through the holographic scenery as if it was not there, and deposited the suggested amount of weight in featureless grey-steel cubes in front of them.

"How about starting with this?"