Template:Featured Articles/11-2022
The young woman perched herself on the edge of her stool, one foot curled back to rest against the back of the pole as she glanced down at the table in front of her, the shiny metallic surface obscured by the sea of grains that seemed to shift back and forth as she pursed her lips carefully, taking her time to arrange her thoughts. "So, we were trying to figure out what happened to Sooraya, if she's even alive at the moment and Laurie had the idea to check for an electric current, and we found one." The statuesque blonde leaned forward, passing a tablet over to Doug, showing their results, "but it's faint, really really faint and we're not sure how to get in touch with here. The electric current is too weak to try manipulating it directly, not if we don't want to cause more damage so...we figured it was time to ask the master of technology for some help." “And since we have yet to meet Forge in this reality, that left us with you, of course.” Laurie moved as she spoke, heading over to the table that currently held what remained of Sooraya’s body. “Given your abilities, and that you currently house sentient nanobots, you may be able to speak to her where we cannot.” "You think that-" Doug raised his right arm out in front of him. He'd been reluctant to let people see it, keeping it under wraps longer than he likely needed to, and wearing long baggy sleeves even after. "You think these can somehow find whatever is left of Sooraya?" It wasn't that he doubted the brainpower in the room, but he was still curious how they had reached that conclusion. "I mean, Laurie and I already talked about-" He cut himself off abruptly, not knowing if Laurie would want her secrets aired like that. "-the fact that they're integrated into my system." “Yes, Douglas, we think they can be used to find what is left of Sooraya and bring her back. You merely have to convince them to try.” Laurie, if she felt anything about the conversation they’d previously had did not show it. Instead, she handed him the files and the results they’d already gathered from their test. “We would not have asked you here had we felt the effort was useless.” Doug skimmed the file, trusting that the methodology was sound - he knew these three well, they would have been rigorous. Mostly he wanted to better understand the conclusion. "A sympathetic connection due to both her form and the nanites being silicon-based..." He made a thoughtful noise. "That does make sense. Let me..." His eyes got unfocused for a few moments as he considered that, and consulted with the collective sentience in his body. "They're willing to at least give it a shot," he answered once his reverie faded. "I am guessing it will likely require something a bit more than just sticking my hand inside her discorporate form?" he asked. Molly was still peering curiously at Laurie's pod personness before she glanced back at Doug. "Yeah, most likely. Otherwise, it'd be like...just sticking a plug next to the plugin, y'know?" she said. She folded her arms. "We were thinking maybe you could uh...." she trailed off, biting her lip and curling her nose. "Let them meet her directly." "We don't know how concentrated the nanites are in your system but...maybe a drop of blood or two might do it? Some medium by which they can interact with the sand, if we had time and a better understanding of the nanites I'd prefer to titrate them into a pure form and hold them in an oil-based suspension for maximum efficiency but, well Sooraya's signature is weak and getting weaker. My dad would kill me for saying this but sometimes we have to make do." |
