Wierd staggered into the small office and workshop that Gigozin and the G-body robots used for research, clerical duties concerning hospital supplies and patient recovery rates, and mechanical maintenance. It was about as organized as wierd expected from Gigozin. That was to say, not very.
X motioned to the single chair in the room, behind Gigozin's desk. Gigozin was cranking out Zs like he was a sawmill, dead to the world in his hammock suspended from two of the stone supports holding up the ceiling.
"Dont worry about him." said X. "The mountain could explode, and he would sleep through it."
"I didnt know you were programmed for sarcasm..." wierd chided.
"I'm programmed for a lot of things." said X with a wry smile on his face. "And what I'm not programmed for.. I MAKE programs for."
X unburied a stack of technical schematics and papers from the jumbled heap on Gizogin's desk, and handed them to wierd with a smile. "Like these."
They were notes, referencing books he hadn't come across, either in the fortress or in the microcline tower... The subject matter covered basic elemental magic, invocation technique, energy requirement calculations in joules, and annotations concerning omissions and errors found in the subject material, followed by an almost incomprehensible series of mathematical calculations written down, and several logic charts breaking down and experimentally deriving the threshold tolerances and yield variances associated with converting magical energies into other forms, efficiency curves for different processes, and values for ideal storage conditions. It was a dizzying and intimidating body of work. Shuffling through the pages, there were several blueprints. Those he knew how to read, having been a professional draftsman before being plunked down in this crazy mixed up world. The plans were for a device, roughly chest high. It depicted a cutaway view of the interior of the oddly barrel shaped structure held aloft at chest height by a sturdy support pole, showing a complex array of induction coils, oddly shaped chambers with notations concerning numerological significances and flag notes pointing at them with leaders, and a strangely crystalline like device being docked inside.
Other drawing sheets were for the crystalline device itself (Identified as "G-Core Rev B"), and the various components found inside the the barrel like housing.
It was painfully apparent to him that X had way too much free time on his hands, and that his intellect was not being properly utilized.
Wierd held up the "G-Core" print, with a confounded look, and X just smiled, unbuttoned his white lab coat, and unlatched the retaining mechanism on his thoracic assembly, revealing a slide-out tray mechanism holding a physical instance of the depicted object, retained inside a metallic support housing, and wired into is superstructure.
"Tada." He said, beaming. "As you can clearly see in the plans and technical data, this is a device for slowly accumulating, storing, and converting mystical and mundane energies for the computationally automated invocation of magical phenomena."
Wierd simply returned a wide-eyed stare. To him, magic was something innate, fluid, almost natural. This was the scientific deconstruction of the entire phenomenon, research data covering the properties and behaviors of collected samples of magical energies, waveguide equations correlated against numerology data cited from his source books, and most stunning of all, a working demonstration proof of concept model of all the hard science and theory put down in the reports he held in his hands. His mind was quite utterly blown.
"You ..Did.. read it, didnt you?" asked X, some of the enthusiasm leaving his tone.
Wierd blinked at him.
"I skimmed through it, and am vaguely aware of many of the concepts involved in here, but it would take more than a casual reading to fully digest all this..." he said, in utter bewilderment.
"Oh, Right... Organics.." X mused. "I had forgotten about your slower cognitive functions, and faulty data storage capabilities. I had heard that you were highly intelligent and knowledgeable. I'm sorry for overstepping your capacities. I only have my creator to regularly communicate with, and my experience with gauging the intellectual capacities of other organic minds is limited."
X motioned to Gigozin, snoring loudly in the corner.
"Gee... Don't mention it..." wierd said, not sure if he had just been insulted or not.
"I am very interested in the magical process you used outside." Said X. "I experienced an above normal rate of energy collection in my core prior to your arrival, which ceased, then resumed when you preformed the operation. Am I correct in my hypothesis that you were engaged in active magical activity in the time prior to my direct observing of it?"
"Yes...." he said hesitantly. He wasnt quite sure how to deal with this situation.
"Excellent." replied X. "I have been going over the data I collected. At first I thought there was a design error causing an anomaly in my new prototype core; but in light of this information, your calculated proximity to the core, and the times in which you were actively engaged performing the activity, I have concluded that my current core is incapable of sustaining the energy output you supplied during this experience. I am curious if you have a more efficient conversion method than the one I have extrapolated and recorded in the file you have in your hands."
X looked at him and tilted his head side to side, as if examining a truly interesting research specimen.
"I am also interested in how you were able to supply the energy in question, given the limited reserves present in your organic body. I have surprisingly little data to work with, as my source material has been... irritatingly sparse... on specifics and hard data. I realize you are clearly, and quite logically, fatigued by the experience; but Can you elaborate more on the specifics of the ability you just demonstrated?"
There it was... The million dollar question, eloquently and innocently put. In for a penny. In for a pound.
"Its an adaptation." wierd started, X putting a hand to his chin in rapt attention, and making him feel uneasy.
"Go on."
"Despite my best efforts, several books of severely dangerous and easily misused magic were salvaged from the library in the microcline tower; where our neighbors in the southwest live. I was recently entrusted with custody of several of these volumes, and asked if there was anything salvageable in the extremely unethical practices and formulas found in them."
"Unethical?" asked X, his expression locked in disbelief, apprehension, and bewilderment.
"Very. The books in question focus almost exclusively on how to forcibly fuse xenotic tissues and substances to living beings, with emphasis on the lack of informed consent; the many ways that plant and animal lifeforms can be forcibly reconstructed and deconstructed using magic; and a voluminous treatise on how to non-lethally inflict excruciating and debilitating pain and pathologies on sentient beings using perverted healing magics."
It was X's turn to have the bug-eyed stare.
"I can see why you would be apprehensive in revealing this information." The shocked expression gave way to that frighteningly curious look once more. "I take it that you were at least partially successful in your endeavor?"
"Yes and no." he said, before biting his lower lip nervously. "The author intended the books in question to be completely comprehensive, and included techniques and practices that she felt were... 'distastefully benevolent'... for the purposes of 'technical and academic completeness'. I focused my energies on attempting to collect and adapt these more utilitarian and benevolent spells to be consistent with more modern understandings of biology and medicine, and to condense them into a highly sanitized document."
"I see." said X, the hand returning again to his chin, before turning around to face the far wall. "I would be interested in reading your document, and the source documents to further my research."
Wierd went white.
"Absolutely not!" he coughed. "I might be convinced to let you read the sanitized version, but the original source material is too dangerous to be circulated! If I had my way, it wouldnt even exist!"
X turned back around and looked at him with a puzzled, and earnest expression.
"Do you really consider the contents to be that dangerous?" he asked, the tone completely free of any emotional tint besides true concern.
"Oh hell yes. Hell fucking yes." wierd cursed, staring X down hard. "There are people in this fortress that are far less ethical in their research practices than I am. Take for instance, the recent events with those cyber-augmentees." --his voice hard and unrelenting.
"Point well taken. The autopsies on the destroyed units suggested... Forced.. conversions. Your assertions that the more heinous uses of the processes recorded in your source material might be directly applied if made public do seem to have some credibility."
"You're damn right they do." wierd growled under his breath.
"however, that particular example of malicious misuse of information, resources, and equipment comes from a known adversarial entity to this fortress, and is not a suitable reference for baseline comparison."
"We've been here 5 days. How many "Adversarial entities" have we had show up trying to kill us all in that time?" wierd scowled. "given the trend, I'd rather not leave a "how-to" manual on how to kill us all in the most horrible and painful ways imaginable lying around for them to pick up and thumb through while torturing us."
"Point noted. I retract my request for the original source material."
"thank. GOD." he breathed. He wasnt sure he could win this argument against X. The robot was DAMN sharp.
"I fail to understand the need organics have to ascribe to a divine source, events and phenomena with a purely logical and rational basis for explanation.." chided X. "But I would still very much like to read your sanitized document. Assuming you have sufficiently sanitized the information inside, it should pose no threat to the fortress population should it be discovered by a malicious entity."
"Ok, But I want to borrow these notes in collateral. I haven't had time to complete the work, and I dont have other copies. And NO-ONE ELSE is to know ANYTHING about this!"
"Agreed."
Wierd slid partway out of his suit, so he could turn around and rifle through the reaction tank containment pack built into the back of his suit, and pull out his incomplete redacted copy of Thari's codex, and slip X's research notes and technical plans in its place, before handing the sanitized document over to X, and slipping back into his suit.
X politely accepted the extended collection of papers held together with a small metal binder that had been offered to him, and commenced intently examining them with an almost eager expression on his face; a process which tool about 100 seconds for him to read and process all 100 pages wierd had hand-written just a few days before.
"Fascinating. It's a shame you wont reconsider sharing the original source material." Said X, carefully filing the document in the back of the very bottom file cabinet next to the working model of the large barrel like device attached to its support pole.
"Absolutely not." wierd reiterated. "It would have to be a DAMNED good reason to share that."
"Understood. I will hold your document until you return my research notes." said X. "Since both are unfinished, there is equal incentive to have both returned as soon as possible. Can I assume that you will do so?"
It would take awhile for him to re-read, and go over all the technical specifics and details of X's designs and research. He was particularly interested in the detailed notes X had written about the elemental magical spells he had demonstrated capability with, as well as the notes on converting one form of magical energy into another. That latter idea had never really occured to him, but now the idea that he might be able to use the energy he used for reanimating corpses in... New.. and "novel" ways other than what was intended without violating his contract was particularly enticing. It would take him awhile to fully break down and digest this stuff.
"I'll bring it back as soon as I have it all figured out."
"Good. For the moment, our business here is done. Please return with my research as soon as you are finished with it. I look forward to reading your finished document, and would like for you to continue working on it, so please return my papers as soon as possible."
X walked over to the door, and opened it politely.
"Do not mention my work to anyone else. Your secret is safe with me."
Wierd nodded, and went through the door. Asking Eric for a pass to explore the ruins could wait. There were bigger fish to fry, and he just landed a great white in his backpack.
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Topic: If Bay Forum were a Mountain Hall, continued... FULL DISCLOSURE (Read 265557 times)