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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 9, 2010 11:26:29 GMT -5
Day 11, Event Horizon laboratories, open to Team Good.
Emirate Xaaron takes a moment to reflect that he's been here for years. It's not long really, in the grand scheme of things, but it's too long, all the same.
A lot can happen in an instant.
Still, he's had time to, off and on, more off than on, actually poke at some theoretical calculations. He's out of practise, and what he was trying to reconstruct in schematics is very, very complex. He doesn't understand all of it. Having access to all his files back home would have helped, but he doesn't have those. Not being so long out of practise in the physical sciences would have helped, but he's been needed more as a strategist than a scientist for a very long time and a politician before that.
But painstakingly, he's pieced together a folder of information that he thinks is halfway decent and presentable, though someone a rather more versed in the specifics is going to find a lot of holes that need filling and a great deal of the contents to just plain be wrong.
It's enough to go hunting the wild Perceptor in his natural habitat, however, and so it is that Emirate Xaaron knocks on the laboratory door and ahems loudly.
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 9, 2010 11:46:16 GMT -5
Ah, the wild Perceptor. Look here how relaxed he is in his natural habitat, fiddling about with beakers of chemicals and distillation apparatus scattered across the workbench he's concentrating on. See how he consults his notes with the occasional mutterance - not quite a mutter, not quite a musing, but somewhere in between - about this valance or that disassociative property.
No, no booze today. Today, the wild Perceptor is working on fast acting antidotes to the veritable cornucopia of pharmaceutical wonders that he'd isolated from the samples taken from Sentinel Prime.
And maybe, possibly, he might even be working on a bit of a nasty chemical surprise, himself. For such an instance as should he ever have to defend himself from one "Oil Slick". Maybe. Perhaps. What's good for the goose, and all that rot, pip pip, cheerio.
The wild Perceptor, though, is quite comfortable in his lair. Comfortable enough that he misses that knock, catching only the loud "ahem," which startles him out of his muttering and note scribbling to turn and stare wide-opticked at the door as if he is expecting to be flattened by a predatory dinobot.
Ah, but it is only Xaaron, the scientist from the next territory over. Curious things, these scientists. Sometimes they can be quite sociable and work cooperatively in almost harmonious accord. And sometimes they defend their little patches of territory as fiercely as any Mirage would defend his mate(s).
So, which shall it be today?
"Ah, Xaaron," he greets pleasantly enough. But wait! Is that a folder in Xaaron's hands? A project in the offing, perhaps? See how the wild Perceptor tilts his head in cautious interest as he sets down his notes and the beaker of viscous yellow froth he'd been working with. "How may I help you today?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 9, 2010 12:24:07 GMT -5
But lo, like a bowerbird, Emirate Xaaron is bringing a peace offering! To assuage any doubts of territorial invasion or merely as a prelude to something more? It is indeed a disk containing a folder full of... well, Perceptor will find out, if he doesn't reject it out of suspicion.
After all, Xaarons are known, to those in the know, for their fascination with weaponry, and weaponry can be something of a repellent to the shy, peace-loving Perceptor.
He greets, "Ah, Perceptor! I do believe I'm finally worked out enough of the details of my universe's space bridge that I'm not ashamed to present it to you." He holds up the disk between two fingers, a lure. "You're going to tell me it's all wrong, of course, but hopefully it is understandably wrong, at least." He finishes with a grin.
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 9, 2010 19:00:07 GMT -5
Hmmm, an offering! The wild Perceptor's interest is piqued! But will the offering be adequate enough to keep his interest - and thus, his attention?
"Space bridge?" Note the deeper tilt to his head, the tightening of his spinal struts, the way he seems almost to stand on the balls of his feet now. All distinct signs of either curiosity or the initial stages of territorial aggression. Ah, but look at the wild Perceptor's expression, the widened optic lenses and lips pursed in a faint, "oh" shape. Definitely curiosity!
"I am certain that if there are incorrect details contained within the information you are providing, that they will be minor imperfections," Perceptor replies, waving off Xaaron's self-deprecation with a dismissive gesture as he approaches. "Am I to assume that you wish me to examine the designs for construction feasibility?"
The offering is accepted! Now, will the courtship progress?
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 9, 2010 19:22:11 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron holds up his hands, almost in a defensive gesture, and he demurs and clarifies, "Now, 'space bridge' means a lot of different things to different people. The space bridges that my Autobots used had a stationary unit on side that could open up a doorway somewhere else, even in another solar system, but you had to be careful about the time windows due to interstellar geometry, and we didn't always have the best control over exactly where the doorway appeared - my Springer could tell you about the one time we hot dropped the Wreckers into the middle of a human city... uhm, I have some back of the envelope calculations going over that in one of the files, but I digress."
He lowers his hands and now gestures as he explains, "It would be advantageous if we could more readily transit between the ship and planets we may visiting, without intervening shuttles, and if we could set up a stationary unit on Gillanan III, as well, it would ease personnel transfers from Gillanan III to the Event Horizon and vice versa."
"Though I must admit, that er... I am told the space bridge induces fairly extreme nausea. It was a prototype unit, you see. The original creator of the space bridge was a neutral, and he - oh, I suppose it doesn't matter right now."
Emirate Xaaron finishes with a winning smile and cuts himself off before he can scar poor Perceptor's mind with the tale of Spanner's grisly end.
This is one situation where Perceptor may need to tell Emirate Xaaron to 'shut up'.
"...but yes, if you could determine if installation and operation would be within our means, that would be simply smashing."
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 12, 2010 4:38:10 GMT -5
Perceptor listens attentively, nodding in agreement as Xaaron notes the usefulness of such a device. "Yes, I definitely agree. That would require building a second unit for placement upon the planet's surface, would it not? Perhaps a more portable unit that could even be transported through the permanent gateway established aboard the Event Horizon?"
He is already off working on theories in his head, but recalls himself quickly back to Xaaron - whom he would never require brevity from, by the by. For one thing, taking science? Is never a bad thing. For another? Perceptor hates being "shushed" himself, and wouldn't inflict it on anyone else.
"Perhaps Jetfire's technology might be ab;e to assist in filling in the gaps within your notes, or even making adjustments necessary to eliminate the nausea?" he muses, then shakes his head. "But that can be determined later as I work on this."
His expression as he takes the offered disk is one of eager anticipation. "Thank you. I will get right to work upon it!"
---------------
ooc: feel free to time skip, Xaaron!
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 12, 2010 10:30:37 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron explains, "As long as the timespace dimensional vectors are correctly aligned, no second unit is required, and the spacebridge door can be opened. However, we always had timing and alignment issues, such that spacebridge service to certain locations was only open for small chronometric windows," which Ultra Magnus always managed to miss. Man was late all the time.
"Also, the endpoint sometimes failed to materialise in the correct spot."
"So I am not overly sure how safe it would be to transport a spacebridge unit through a spacebridge unit - I would worry about the temporal recursion causing a chain backlash reaction. However, in terms of the 'cons intercepting a transmission of the plans, physical transportation would certainly be more secure."
"Examining Jetfire might indeed prove a fruitful endeavour - there are surprising technological similarities across the universes. However, I would suspect it just as likely that Jetfire operates on a completely irreplicable technology, as 'special powers' often tend to be unique to their bearer."
Blah blah blah. Shut up, Emirate Xaaron.
LATER
Emirate Xaaron wandered off a while ago - he has different watches to stand, paperwork to do, clients who want to sue over 'sharp thing may cut hand', and random catastrophes to deal with.
But he does wander back a while later to peer at how Perceptor is doing making sense of his notes.
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 18, 2010 18:58:33 GMT -5
Well, Xaaron might wish to shut up only if he wishes Perceptor to actually get to work. Perceptor would otherwise be QUITE happy to simply talk shop for as long as Xaaron indulged him!
"Ah, but Jetfire's technology may provide insights to fill in the gaps left in what you have provided me," Perceptor refutes cheerfully, but the sentiment is taken to heart.
Left to his own devices - and given permission to tinker and experiment, even! - Perceptor opens the files and begins perusing them, pulling out his clear plexi walls that he is so fond of doodling his notes on. (imagine room dividers made of clear glass, and giant dry erase markers, and that would be pretty much exactly what he begins strategically positioning about his workspace.)
By the time Xaaron returns, Perceptor has filled in most of the gaps in the notes, a half dozen of the plexi-walls filled with diagrams and notes and equations carefully arranged around several workbenches. Upon the workbenches are a few components that he has begun constructing, tinkering with the bits that Xaaron had not been able to provide specific details about, just to experiment with them before building the entire device.
"Much of what you had provided," he comments absently as he continues soldering a new circuit into a control board he is concentrating on, "had quite a few similarities with the device that I had already built back upon Gilannan. The one which inadvertantly transported our counterparts to our reality."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 18, 2010 19:59:04 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron actually has an entirely pleasant smile on his face as he wanders about the laboratory, admiring the equations. It isn't sly or smug or conniving. He can mostly follow what's going on, although he loses track of some of the details, here and there, he's not ashamed to admit.
He can't help but reply, "Fascinating!" when Perceptor comments about the similarities. "...we aren't going to scar the fabric of time and space again, are we?"
Emirate Xaaron rubs his chin, frowning.
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 31, 2010 16:59:47 GMT -5
Perceptor eyes Xaaron wryly. "Please consider to whom you speak, Xaaron," he replies, quirking a single brow ridge.
Considering that Perceptor has a bleeding spark and has been known to repair their enemies because it was the right and compassionate thing to do? There's no way that he would risk something as big and vital as space/time itself.
"I have witnessed the effects of damaged space/time, and I assure you that repeating that experience is the very last thing I will tolerate in such an endeavor."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Aug 31, 2010 20:51:01 GMT -5
Space/time cannot make puppy eyes at Perceptor and probably isn't alive, but though... the Chronarchitect...
Emirate Xaaron considers Perceptor's assurances contemplatively. To move troops around... no, he's not willing to tear the universe a new one. To win the war? Oh, sure. So he'll let this matter lie for now.
"...hmm. What will you tolerate?"
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Post by Perceptor on Sept 5, 2010 21:36:51 GMT -5
Perceptor turns a suspicious look upon Xaaron at that question; it sounds like another one of those let's-see-if-we-can-convince-the-geek-to-compromise-his-narrow-principles questions again.
"A somewhat... expansive query," he muses. "In specific regards to this project? Not destroying, or risking destroying, reality as we know it would be preferable." No, not even to win the war, Xaaron.
"In regards to life, the universe, and everything... I am afraid that you must narrow your field of inquiry down somewhat before I can give a more comprehensive answer."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Sept 6, 2010 5:43:55 GMT -5
"Oh? Hmm. I meant as far as the spacebridge goes. Like I said, ours could only be opened at certain times due to the timespace dimensional alignment vectors, induced rather extreme nausea, and was not the most accurate in where the non-fixed endpoint appeared," Emirate Xaaron clarifies, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he peers at a four dimensional integral.
Interesting reaction from Perceptor, though, and Emirate Xaaron adds dryly, "Do you always expect me to philosophically assault you, or are you naturally defensive?"
Hands folded behind his back, he half turns away from the integral to regard Perceptor, one optical ridge arched.
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Post by Perceptor on Sept 6, 2010 13:37:04 GMT -5
"Ah!" Perceptor brightens at that clarification. "Well, ideally, I would prefer if we could develop the technology to a sufficiently complete state as to not be hampered by such restricting parameters. Additionally, I would prefer a margin of error for placement coordinates versus arrival coordinates of no more than .5%, however, I will grudgingly tolerate up to a one mile differential for the initial prototypes."
He quirks a brow ridge, though, at Xaaron's last question. "I do not expect to be assaulted, no, however you do have a tendency to challenge my thinking on a fairly regular basis." Go ahead, deny it. "And you must admit that the way your query was phrased was rather... open."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Sept 6, 2010 15:52:33 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron, with Kant's Metaphysics, in the laboratory?
He points out, ever Unicron's advocate, smirking slightly, "One mile up or down can prove rather problematic. I hope you mean one mile side to side?"
Then, smirking more, he insists innocently, "I thought that the context made it perfectly clear. However, if we're on that topic, as with anything, one's ethics do tend to change with examination, but that is no reason not to consider them often." Emirate Xaaron is trying to get all quantum up in Perceptor's beliefs! "After all, even if you keep hydrogen peroxide in a dark container, the contents will still degrade with time, and if you don't examine the contents of the bottle, you won't know what concentration remains."
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