Action at a distance (IC)

[Scuffles]

Kristin paused to think about the question. "It's hard to explain," she answered. "It's not the same as physical exercise. I don't get out of breath or end up with sore muscles or anything like that. I'm way more likely to give myself a headache than anything else like when I did the writing before."

She shrugged. "But if I overdo it I still feel tired. It definitely takes something out of me but I really can't tell you exactly how." Holding out her arm she let Supercape secure the monitor bracelet, then flexed her arm around a little when she felt how tight it was. "Maybe once we get done here you'll be able to tell me how I feel?" she laughed.

With a deep breath she turned to address the weights as they were dropped off, then reached out towards them. A faint green glow enveloped them as they lifted slowly off the ground and rose to approximately head height.

"That's not very hard.." she said with a glance at the scientist. "You know when you pick up something that's pretty heavy but you still think you could carry it for a while with no trouble? That's about how this feels."

[Supercape]

"Excellent. And Impressive" commented Supercape, carefully observing the glowing weights. His supersense all examined the energy and mass of the event.

"Well, put that down for a moment...gently, by the way, I don't want you smashing through the Lab, and take a rest. The Lab is pretty tough, but dropping that weight from a height could punch a hole in the floor".

He crinked his neck and ordered another 600 Kgs of similar weights.

"Right, lets crank this up to a nice round thousand" he said, giving Glow a Pep talk. "I know its a bit of a leap, but lets see how you manage. Don't push yourself too much for now, we are just trying out you can do without putting everything into it".

[Scuffles]

Kristin chuckled "OK OK I'll try not to break your lab!" as she lowered the weights slowly back to the floor and released her hold on them. "I can't afford to pay for the repairs!" she grinned, then stretched a little. "I think I tense up a bit when I do that don't I? she asked. "It'd probably not be quite so hard if I could work out how to relax properly.."

She chewed on her bottom lip as she regarded the rather large pile of weights. "A ton is a lot you know.." she said dubiously, then grinned at the challenge. Once again she reached out and wrapped her power around the weights and hauled them off the floor, slower this time as she took it a little more carefully.

Her breath hissed out between her teeth as she got the weights to chest height and realised that she was holding her breath. "See that's pretty heavy.." she said. "It's like an effort, but I'm pretty sure I could do it for a while if I had to!"

[Supercape]

Supercape nodded, taking note of Glow's physiological readings.

"Very impressive! a ton! I'm reading some significant elevation of blood pressure and heart rate, I guess this is the range in which you have to start stretching yourself..."

He looked back at the glowing weights.

"O.K. Put them down...and gently please. Dropping a ton of industrial weights would do some considerable damage. There, thank you!"

He called up the automated trolley again, bearing still more grey steel weights.

"At this rate, we will be out of supplies soon! So, how much would you like to try? We could just keep piling the weights on until you feel you have reached your limit?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin lowered the load even more carefully than before, and breathed a definite sigh of relief once the weights were safely settled. She raised an eyebrow as Supercape had yet another load of weights brought out, then gave herself a bit of a shake as she tried to loosen up. This was fairly stressful stuff!

"Are you sure you want me to try more? I know I can definitely do more, but I don't want to have an accident and drop it and break your lab!" She shrugged. "I guess I could just try to lift it a tiny bit off the ground. That wouldn't break the floor if I let go by accident would it?"

She grinned at Supercape again. "It's your lab! How much do you trust me? I guess I'm game if you are!"

I bet he wants me to try more!

[Supercape]

"As much as you can!" said Supercape, feeling like a high school football coach, pumping one fist into the other Palm in encouragement.

"Go for it!"

Brick by brick, the automated trolley started addeding more weight, in 25kg blocks, to the load.

"This time, lets push you to the limit. It could come in handy, knowing exactly how much you can hold. It could even save your life, or somebody elses. So don't hold back, take it as far as you can go, and further!"

"But this time, just levitate it a few centimetres off the ground. The lab floor is pretty tough, it can probably take a fall of that short distance. I hope"

Otherwise Dragonfly is going to be rather upset, he added to himself.

[Scuffles]

Kristin nodded and set herself to the task of testing her limits, amused by Supercape's enthusiasm and his pep-talk but knowing that he was correct - knowing how much she could lift in a pinch was definitely a good idea.

The warmth in the simulator room and the effort of exerting her powers had her sweating by the time the load approached 1500kgs, and as Supercape went to add another block to the pile she shook her head, quickly saying "I think I have to put them down!" through gritted teeth. She lowered the weights back down softly enough, although there was a couple of loud thunks as one or two fell off the pile.

She wiped her face a bit and looked over at Supercape. "I could maybe go a little further if I really had to," she said. "But that was starting to get to the point where it hurts.."

[Supercape]

"Well done...that was...just over 1500Kgs" said Supercape, looking at the Grey weights.

"Blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart and respiratory rate, all indicating significant physiological stress. You were probably right to stop there. I would imagine you could lift more, but only by putting your body under what would be, frankly, dangerous levels of stress. In other words, don't do it unless you really need too..."

Supercape took off the biometric bracelet and popped in a pocket.

"And now, with those parameters established, we get to the interesting stuff!" he said with a grin.

"So, you never know under what circumstances you might need to lift and push. And what that lifting and pushing could achieve. So for now, lets just play with one of these bricks..." He strolled over to the slightly dislodged piled of grey steel weights, and, with a little effort, took one into his arms. He wasn't unfit, but neither was he particularly strong. He could lug around the weight in a slightly ungainly way.

I should go the gym more, now I am a hero... he told himself.

"For starters...zero gravity!" he proclaimed. "Computer...Activate Zero Gravity!"

As he said it, the two heroes felt gravity seep away, and, at a snails pace, they lifted gently off the floor.

"Can you move this weight now?"

[Scuffles]

Kristin raised an eyebrow as Supercape dialed up zero gravity. Wow OK now that is seriously cool!

A moment later as the gravity faded away however she felt her feet float slowly off the ground, and the sudden disorientation made her stomach lurch. The colour drained alarmingly from her face and for a moment she looked like she might be ill. A couple of deep breaths restored her composure however, and she managed to laugh "Maybe you should have left the bracelet thing on me for that!"

Back on track, she gestured her hand at the block Supercape had separated from the pile and lifted it gently out of his hands with her telekinesis. The block floated easily upwards.. and kept on going until it was above head height. "That's different!" she said with a smile. There's nothing to make it stop if I push upwards, so unless I stop it myself it keeps on going!"

She experimented for a moment, moving the block up, down and from side to side, then sent it floating slowly towards Supercape and released her mental grip on it completely. "Hey catch!" she said with a grin as the block continued to move towards the scientist hero.

[Supercape]

The weight was not fast, so Supercape managed to catch it, and take on some of its momentum, making him drift away from Glow slowly.

"Very good. So, you can operate just as well in zero gravity, which may just come in handy one day"

He tossed the weight to one side.

"And, in this environment, we can see there is no reactive force on you. Which is handy for keeping your balance. However, it also means you are left adrift in this environment"

"BUt remember it's all relative! If you can't move, then you can move everything else! In this case, moving the entire earth may be a bit beyond you, not to mention dangerous!"

"Now, try this! Computer, engage double gravity!" he ordered.

THe two heroes flopped to the ground, nearly bent over with the sudden oppressive weight of their bodies. A momentary giddiness hit them as their blood pressures crashed to their boots, before their bodies compensated.

"Suffice to say..." said Supercape, wobbling slightly "not so popular, this setting. Still, worthwhile seeing if your powers are dependent on the mass, and the interaction with gravity..." he wheezed.

[Scuffles]

Kristin let out a little "oof!" as her shoes hit the ground and the sudden double-weight of her body made her knees bend a little more than normal. "Oh that's not fun at all!" she complained as she forced herself to straighten back up.

She set herself back to the task of moving the weight that Supercape had discarded and floated it off the ground once again, then tried moving it horizontally as well. "It feels heavier, so I have to do more to lift it up," she noted "but it's just as easy to move it from side to side. I just have to do more to keep it in the air.

With her hands on her hips she lowered the weight back down and set it in front of Supercapes feet. "What's next? It better not be triple gravity or I'm going to fall down!"

[Supercape]

"Computer! Deactivate artificial gravity!" said Supercape with a great sense of relief.

He straightened up and rubbed his back. I need to do something about high gravity he told himself, wondering if he could adapt his costume further to protect against oppressive gravity. It did rather cut down the planets he could explore.

"Target practice!" he said in Reply to Kirsten's question.

"Computer Deactivate artificial scenery" he ordered, and dutifully the forest and sunlight faded away.

"Bet keep this one free of distractions, for now..." he said "Computer! Activate three floating targets, configuration twelve, position 1, in formation three!"

Three red spheres of light, like three dimensional dartboards, appeared in the centre of the room.

"Now, see if you can throw one of those weights through each of those holes..." he said to Glow.

[Scuffles]

Kristin straightened and stretched a little as the gravity returned to normal, glad to be at her normal weight. She stood with her hands on her hips as she watched Supercape dial up a set of targets, then reached out to pick up one of the weight blocks and floated it over to circle slowly around her.

"By throw I guess you mean I actually have to launch it and let go, right?" she asked as she glance sideways at Supercape. "It would be pretty easy to shove it through the targets without letting go, but I guess that wouldn't prove anything we haven't already seen right?"

The block stopped just to the right of her body, then whipped towards the first target in a slight arc as she threw it as accurately as she could manage.

[Supercape]

Supercape watched as the grey-steel weight arced gently at whipped through one of the targets.

It was followed, soon after, by two other weights sliding through the remaining targets, each pulsing and evaporating once they had been struck.

"Bravo!" said Supercape, clapping his hands. "Excellent shot! might come in handy, that target practice. Always good to know you can throw a crook into a cell accurately!" he quipped. "Remember, if you go crime fighting, you don't always have to beat the bad guys senseless. Putting them in prison is the aim..."

He shrugged.

"Some heroes, well, they can smite the unjust a little harder than is strictly necessary, if you catch my drift...don't fall into that trap!"

[Scuffles]

Kristin grinned happily and even gave a subtle little fist-pump as the third block flew truly, although she winced a little at the loud thunk it made as it landed. She used her telekinesis to drag the blocks back over to the pile, then turned to smile at Supercape.

"Well yeah I guess it would be a bit of an overreaction to drop a ton of bricks on someone for jaywalking or something!" She said as he gestured at the pile of weights. "But it's nice to know I can do it if someone a little bit tougher needs to be stopped. I'm not about to let someone hurt innocent people if I can do something to stop it!"

[Supercape]

"That's the spirit!"

"Computer! Standby mode!"

At the command the Simulation room faded to its uniform light appearance, albeit this time much darker, with pinpoints of lights on the floor and at the exit for reference.

"Well, I think that about wraps it up. I have a bit of data to go through, won't take long, but it's pretty dull, and unlikely to be of much practical help unless you need to use your telekinesis in the middle of a particle smasher or in a sea of mesons"

He started walking Kristen out of the suite "Of course, if anything interesting does pop up, I'll let you know!"

[Scuffles]

Kristin laughed as she let Supercape lead her out of the simulator room. "I guess I'm not all that likely to find myself in a particle smasher or a sea of mesons any time soon. I hope not anyway, it doesn't sound all that healthy to me! I hope you got some interesting data though! Thanks for bringing me in here, it was good to learn a bit about what I can do!"

She glanced back at the pile of weights. "Do you want me to help put those away or something? I can load them back onto the cart for you if you want?" she asked, then realised "But obviously you had something to load them up in the first place, I guess it'll just get done the same way right?"

[Supercape]

"Yes indeed" replied Supercape as they left the Simulation Suite. "Thanks for the offer but I don't want to stretch you any more. You pushed yourself to your limit today, and beyond, if you pardon the illogical statement. Still, it is suitably poetic".

He took Glow to the automated lift and they made there way back to the ground floor.

"In any case, I am sure Ironclad is happy to let her little contraptions do the heavy lifting. That's what they were built for, after all!"

Taking back Glow's security visitors pass on the ground floor, he gave her a jaunty wave as she left.

"Good luck at school" he said "It was a pleasure to meet you. Quite a remarkable gift you have there lady! use it well. You know what us quantum physicists say...its always nice to see Action at a Distance!"

~ Fin ~