Goo-Goo G'joob (part 9)
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Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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9th July 2013
08:12 GMT
Oh.
Oh dear.
I look over to where Leonard and Serling are pressing buttons and twisting knobs. "How bad?"
Serling makes an aggressive upwards motion with her right arm. "We've got about enough nanobots left to transmute a cup of coffee!"
Leonard pulls a cold field projector off the fabricator's frame. "Stripped for parts. I guess that's how the nanobots got as far as they did."
"What, he built his own cold guns and… Created super cooled channels?"
"It would have to be."
He looks out across the city, where… To be completely fair, buildings that were scheduled for demolition… Eventually, are now decorated with the 'A' in a circle symbol of anarchy. Or -more likely- Anarky.
"I'm assuming that they haven't just gone inert or something."
"Don't be stupid. You know that's not how they work." … "FUCK!"
He hurls the cold field generator… Housing, to the ground. It bounces once, casing deforming as it twists on impact.
Leonard then closes his eyes and holds out his left hand in a warding gesture, and I can see it as he makes use of his anger management training.
I turn to Serling. "How far did you get?"
"We were done with the lead and the asbestos from current demolition site." I nod. I was… Surprised that he chose something like this as his target. But if he just wants to slow things down without further endangering anyone… "But it's going to take us three weeks minimum to get enough nanobots to start up again."
"When was the next demolition scheduled?"
"Tomorrow. They're planning on doing the whole block." She sags, shaking her head. "I guess we'll just have to pile all the contaminants up until we're ready. Who would do something like that? After-? Everything everyone went through."
"Number one suspect: Lonnie Machin, also known as Anarky with a 'k'."
Leonard takes one last deep breath, then circles his shoulders and rotates his neck.
"Who?"
"As the name implies, he feels that order should not be imposed from above but rather arise from consenting participants. Hates lies and deceit. I'm not sure what I've done to earn his displeasure-."
Leonard's scowl deepens. "Hey, you're not the only one here."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I was. But you really haven't done anything that could attract his attention so I doubt that this is about you. From his point of view."
"So-."
Leonard just stands there for a moment, and then groans.
"This is one of those empathy things, isn't it? This is what it's like when a supervillain decides to do something and you're just there. Collateral damage." He raises his hands. "I get it. I get it. It sucks and I hate it, but I get it."
"It gets worse: he's ten years old."
He lowers his hands, thinking that over. "Oh."
"Feeling a bit less murderous?"
He looks up at the graffiti. "I-." … "Yeah. And a.. bit impressed. Ten?"
"Yep. As far as I can tell, he started doing this sort of thing after we got rid of the Anti-Life."
"Powers?"
"No. Just intelligent, as far as I know."
Serling huffs. "Leonard, are we getting back to work today?"
"I already ordered the parts." He shrugs. "I can't really do anything else until they get here."
She looks at him incredulously. "Oh, so you don't keep even one cold gun around that you could strip for parts so we can at least make a start."
He gives me a quick sidelong glance. "Of course not. That would violate my parole."
I shake my head. "It's okay. I don't really care. If we let you control a machine that could produce a gallon toxic gas in a few seconds, letting you have a gun isn't really that big a deal."
"It would still violate my parole."
"Well remembered. Cyclotrons, isn't it?"
"Yeah? You got some lying-"
I raise my right hand, transmuting a crate full of the model of cyclotron he designed for the nanoforge.
"-around… Hr."
"But don't cancel your order; I suspect that this isn't going to be a one-time thing."
"Yeah, we wanted to make another one anyway. I'll ask Dubbilex to-." Leonard frowns. "Wait. Your ring can transmute matter. You could just fix the nanoforge."
"Yes, but the whole point of this is to field test a device that isn't dependant on someone with a power ring being around to fix things. Because once we've done that, you and Serling can make hundreds of the things and set them to work without me."
"Alright, testing, sure, I get that, but I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day putting it back together again."
"And I'm going to have to spend the day doing a manual inspection of the entire city to make sure that there aren't any booby traps."
He doesn't exactly look happy, but he nods. "Fine. Is that something Anarky does?"
"I don't know that it's Anarky, he just seems like the most likely culprit based on the images. Once you've got control of the cold guns and nanobots, drawing that symbol isn't hard."
He nods, bending down to pick up the case he bent. He runs his fingers over the bend, winces faintly, then looks hopefully at me.
"Fine."
A beam of orange light and it straightens out, and I'm rising off the ground towards the nearest cluster of graffiti.
I try scanning, and… I can't scan the As with a basic scan, though visual scans work just fine. Thermal imaging… Some parts of the concrete are a bit too cold, but between the sun and the wind and basic conduction there isn't much difference between the paths that I suspect the cold beams took and the surrounding area.
Okay, first thing: fly up and make sure that someone hasn't drawn the symbol for a ritual sacrifice or something, because that's one obvious application for this methodology. Looking down-.
It's an arrow.
08:12 GMT
Oh.
Oh dear.
I look over to where Leonard and Serling are pressing buttons and twisting knobs. "How bad?"
Serling makes an aggressive upwards motion with her right arm. "We've got about enough nanobots left to transmute a cup of coffee!"
Leonard pulls a cold field projector off the fabricator's frame. "Stripped for parts. I guess that's how the nanobots got as far as they did."
"What, he built his own cold guns and… Created super cooled channels?"
"It would have to be."
He looks out across the city, where… To be completely fair, buildings that were scheduled for demolition… Eventually, are now decorated with the 'A' in a circle symbol of anarchy. Or -more likely- Anarky.
"I'm assuming that they haven't just gone inert or something."
"Don't be stupid. You know that's not how they work." … "FUCK!"
He hurls the cold field generator… Housing, to the ground. It bounces once, casing deforming as it twists on impact.
Leonard then closes his eyes and holds out his left hand in a warding gesture, and I can see it as he makes use of his anger management training.
I turn to Serling. "How far did you get?"
"We were done with the lead and the asbestos from current demolition site." I nod. I was… Surprised that he chose something like this as his target. But if he just wants to slow things down without further endangering anyone… "But it's going to take us three weeks minimum to get enough nanobots to start up again."
"When was the next demolition scheduled?"
"Tomorrow. They're planning on doing the whole block." She sags, shaking her head. "I guess we'll just have to pile all the contaminants up until we're ready. Who would do something like that? After-? Everything everyone went through."
"Number one suspect: Lonnie Machin, also known as Anarky with a 'k'."
Leonard takes one last deep breath, then circles his shoulders and rotates his neck.
"Who?"
"As the name implies, he feels that order should not be imposed from above but rather arise from consenting participants. Hates lies and deceit. I'm not sure what I've done to earn his displeasure-."
Leonard's scowl deepens. "Hey, you're not the only one here."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I was. But you really haven't done anything that could attract his attention so I doubt that this is about you. From his point of view."
"So-."
Leonard just stands there for a moment, and then groans.
"This is one of those empathy things, isn't it? This is what it's like when a supervillain decides to do something and you're just there. Collateral damage." He raises his hands. "I get it. I get it. It sucks and I hate it, but I get it."
"It gets worse: he's ten years old."
He lowers his hands, thinking that over. "Oh."
"Feeling a bit less murderous?"
He looks up at the graffiti. "I-." … "Yeah. And a.. bit impressed. Ten?"
"Yep. As far as I can tell, he started doing this sort of thing after we got rid of the Anti-Life."
"Powers?"
"No. Just intelligent, as far as I know."
Serling huffs. "Leonard, are we getting back to work today?"
"I already ordered the parts." He shrugs. "I can't really do anything else until they get here."
She looks at him incredulously. "Oh, so you don't keep even one cold gun around that you could strip for parts so we can at least make a start."
He gives me a quick sidelong glance. "Of course not. That would violate my parole."
I shake my head. "It's okay. I don't really care. If we let you control a machine that could produce a gallon toxic gas in a few seconds, letting you have a gun isn't really that big a deal."
"It would still violate my parole."
"Well remembered. Cyclotrons, isn't it?"
"Yeah? You got some lying-"
I raise my right hand, transmuting a crate full of the model of cyclotron he designed for the nanoforge.
"-around… Hr."
"But don't cancel your order; I suspect that this isn't going to be a one-time thing."
"Yeah, we wanted to make another one anyway. I'll ask Dubbilex to-." Leonard frowns. "Wait. Your ring can transmute matter. You could just fix the nanoforge."
"Yes, but the whole point of this is to field test a device that isn't dependant on someone with a power ring being around to fix things. Because once we've done that, you and Serling can make hundreds of the things and set them to work without me."
"Alright, testing, sure, I get that, but I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day putting it back together again."
"And I'm going to have to spend the day doing a manual inspection of the entire city to make sure that there aren't any booby traps."
He doesn't exactly look happy, but he nods. "Fine. Is that something Anarky does?"
"I don't know that it's Anarky, he just seems like the most likely culprit based on the images. Once you've got control of the cold guns and nanobots, drawing that symbol isn't hard."
He nods, bending down to pick up the case he bent. He runs his fingers over the bend, winces faintly, then looks hopefully at me.
"Fine."
A beam of orange light and it straightens out, and I'm rising off the ground towards the nearest cluster of graffiti.
I try scanning, and… I can't scan the As with a basic scan, though visual scans work just fine. Thermal imaging… Some parts of the concrete are a bit too cold, but between the sun and the wind and basic conduction there isn't much difference between the paths that I suspect the cold beams took and the surrounding area.
Okay, first thing: fly up and make sure that someone hasn't drawn the symbol for a ritual sacrifice or something, because that's one obvious application for this methodology. Looking down-.
It's an arrow.
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