Light the Signal New IC

[Mekboy]

Willow giggled. "You never give up, do you? For the record, still not interested on account of the fact I haven't suffered any serious brain injuries recently."

[hairy-joe]

"Hey Issac, good to see you. How are you today? I presume you're testing something or scanning me as you're not doing this for fitness, right?"

"Yes, I am testing some new motors in my Knee joints, they seem to be more efficiant than my old set."

Isaac doesn't speak much for the rest of the run, answering all of charlie's questions in a friendly maner but with a very, very, literal interpretation of the language.

"Hey Issac, after the run, are you heading tp the tech labs? I need to run diagnostics for today. Power-suit mandatory."


"i will be there for most of today, working on my flight propulsion units, as you may have guessed from my introduction at the meta-ball field they still require some refinement."

as Charlie finishes up his run and heads over to the corpse-that-walks in the shade Charlie continues his ru and begins to accelerate, pushing his new knees to their absolute limits. as his run enters it's third hour he turns for the familiar environs of the tech labs to perform a quick analysis of his performance. then he heads to the library to burry himself in ethics books (while monitering the cameras in the tech lab for Charlie) untill his internal clock tells him it may be time to try to find the rest of the team in the lunch hall for one of their chemical-energy-recharging-periods. Biologicals are a peculiar, yet fascinating group he thought to himself Biologicals-yet-not-humans like the unit designated Willow were even more fascinating

[Rhyvurg]

Willow giggled. "You never give up, do you? For the record, still not interested on account of the fact I haven't suffered any serious brain injuries recently."

"What are you talking about? I'm a real catch, how many of your friends have dated the clones of supervillains?"

[Mekboy]

Technically speaking Willow wasn't too sure what a clone actually was, but lack of knowledge never really stopped her.

"None of 'em have dated any rabid dogs either, but I don't consider them a 'catch' either."

[Rhyvurg]

"I promise I don't bite." He leans forward across the table a little, grinning. "Unless, that's what you're into."

[Mekboy]

Willow reached over and flicked him on the nose.

"It's almost like you want me to hurt you."

[Rhyvurg]

"Okay, but the safe word is 'banana'."

[Mekboy]

"Wait, what?" Willow looked genuinely confused.

[Rhyvurg]

"I'll tell you later. We should find a party for normal people tonight and just screw with 'em."

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie noted the urgency in which Rebecca climbed aboard, she proficently scrambled in before the hatch even had time to open fully.

"Sorry Rebecca, I should of edged closer to the tree so you didn't have to climb up on me in direct sunlight. Are you okay?"

He paused to allow her to reply.

The hatch closed once again and locked shut, the pitch black of the tank was only illuminated by the various screens, buttons and lights from within the tank, giving it a very dull red glow and technological vibe. In a seat just under the turret sat Charlie, who was perfectly still and sitting in his running gear. Over his eyes and on his head sat a device that looked like a plastic bar, no doubt a screen of sorts, but the thing that worried Charlie was the fact that he was literally plugged into the tank.

Several wires hung down from the hull and stopped seemingly placed into places hidden by hair. It would look as if his head was a puppet on a string, except with wire. He blushed, no-one outside of the project or the staff had seen him from the inside of the tank before.

The tank itself was quite spacious and seated three additional passengers, each seat with their own buttons, keyboards and screens. One had a screen with a feed to Charlies' vision camera, one had millions of lines of data being written, endlessly and automatically, one had a heart and body monitor on, and so forth.

"Welcome," Charlies' mouth moved as he spoke, "Houserules, please don't touch anything. I don't want you to accidentally set any system to manual - I may die, or the school will blow up and we don't want that. I can't see you, but I do trust you Rebecca." He said with a smile, "Sorry for the serious tone, I don't want to be, you just need to know. Anyway, should we be off?"

Within a moment, the huge engine in the back of the tank surged into life loudly, and then settled to a rumbling ticking over.
"Grab a headset so we can chat as we roll, or just come up to where I am."

"Where's Issac?" He said as he scanned the running field, with Issac gone.

[Anyr]

"Yes, I'm fine. In other news...Wow."

Thanks to her darkvision, Rebecca was able to see the tank's interior in all its glory. She marvelled at all the fancy devices in this technological wonderland. But of course, the biggest wonder was Charlie himself. Once Rebecca's roving eye happened upon him, it never left. Though she knew it was rude to stare, she just couldn't help it. The sight of all those wires snaking into his visored head was seriously surreal. Things got even more awkward when she noticed that Charlie was blushing. Was this embarrassing for him?

"Welcome," Charlies' mouth moved as he spoke, "Houserules, please don't touch anything. I don't want you to accidentally set any system to manual - I may die, or the school will blow up and we don't want that. I can't see you, but I do trust you Rebecca." He said with a smile, "Sorry for the serious tone, I don't want to be, you just need to know. Anyway, should we be off?"

Okay, that evened things up: Because if Rebecca had been capable of it, she'd definitely have blushed too. Pushing the wrong button down here could kill Charlie? And yet he'd let her down here without even being able to see her? This boy really did trust her completely. Rebecca walked veeerrry carefully across the room (taking care not to brush against so much as a cup holder), until she stood beside the red-faced pilot.

"H-hi. Nice place you've got here..."

[Wiz0rd]

Still blushing- "Oh this ol' thing? No, I didn't build this. It's a gift courtesy of the U.S Military and the tax-payer's dollar. I'm just a care-taker for now, I guess."
They started rolling back towards campus at a leisurely pace, the outside world being shown in its digital glory through one of the on-board screens as they trot.

He'd never seen a picture of himself while he was in the seat, nor could he look at a mirror, but he suspected that he looked like a cheap sci-fi character at the moment. It was strange to let people into the tank; usually they're just impressed with the hardware, but from the inside he was far more venerable. He was a brain and some wiring. It wasn't just the feeling of utter venerability, there was something else on his mind too.

He felt Rebecca tip-toe carefully around the instruments and additional cup-holders that were installed for the R&D team.
"You don't have to worry too much, all the buttons are safety locked and the computers are pass-worded, you won't do any harm if you accidentally bump into anything. You can relax. The 'houserules' are mostly for people like Willow and Herald, I mean, could you imagine them in here? Ha-ha,"
He paused, "Thank you for helping me get used to people being inside here, it's an unusual, strange feeling. A bit like butterflies, y'know?"

"I'll just need to quickly grab my stuff from where I set off on my jog, but then after that I'm taking you somewhere cool! I think you'll like it. We're going to head down to the tech-labs, I've got an idea. I don't want to spoil it too much, but I think I can really help out with your sun endurance training. Have you ever been down there before?"[/COLOR]

The tank rolled to a stop a few feet away from the discarded bag and coat.
Charlie hesitated. There wasn't anyone around, and he couldn't just dispell the tank: then Rebecca wouldn't have any shade. He reversed up and rolled gently to the nearest door to school.
"There you go, Rebecca. Hop on out and I'll be right with you with my kit, if you want, unless you had any other ideas?"

[Anyr]

When Charlie mentioned the safeguards, Rebecca relaxed a little; But only a little. She still felt the need to take great care in here. Charlie was obviously uncomfortable with letting others see this side of himself; And yet despite that, he'd gone out of his way to let her in. Maybe it was her imagination, but this seemingly innocuous ride felt like it had a deeper meaning to it. Before she could wonder too much about that, though, Charlie spoke up again.

"The tech labs? A few times. Couldn't make much sense of it, to be honest. But hey, this time I'll have a guide!"

Rebecca obediently hopped out of the tank and ran into the school; Getting only slightly singed in the process. Whatever Charlie wanted to show her, she was looking forward to it.

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn rolls her eyes at Herald's antics. Instead of getting involved in what she thinks of as typical teenage boy antics, she asks Indira, "So, are you a student or a teacher?"

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie couldn't help but wince as Rebecca climbed up and out of the tank and darted into the building. He could have sworn that he saw steam, or perhaps that was a visual glitch.

He soon scooped up his gear and eagerly rejoined Rebecca in the hallowed halls of Signal Academia. He led her down a series of corridors lined with lockers and various poster-boards with student made 'did you know' information and other bits about clubs, or exam timetables. Before too long they wound their ways down the tech corridor, and it was obviously such due to the small displays and exhibits. This area could put many technological universities to shame with it's wondrous playful gadgetry, each plinth detailed with different specs about processing power and capability.

But the corridor was not the reason why they'd set out. At this point, Charlie quickly checked his watch, he presumed the clique would still be at breakfast / lunch / brunch at this point in the cafeteria, it seemed to be a natural place to go and meet other students, if they weren't at the dorm.

Charlie whipped out his tech lab access card which he kept on a necklace, always. The stainless steel elevator door slid open and he stepped inside, and beckoned Rebecca to follow.
The elevator played the kind of cheesy elevator music you'd expect, seeing as the access elevator was frequented by electronic geniuses and playful geeks.

The only downside to the lift was it's size. It goes down a long way and it was pretty cramped. Not for the claustrophobic amongst the students; they normally opted for the larger vehicular entry, though it is quite a way out.

[Mekboy]

Willow perked up at this suggestion. She didn't really get much contact with the outside world - certainly not as much as she'd like anyway. Technically she was supposed to have some sort of official guide or someone to keep an eye on her, but she'd thus far been able to evade this requirement on her few trips outside of the school.

"Ooh, I'm up for that. You know anywhere? Any place in mind?"

[Anyr]

Rebecca eagerly followed Charlie along corridors, through doorways, and into the elevator. There, however, their brief spate of motion ended. Now came a laboriously slow vertical journey, in a small metal box. It took approximately twelve seconds for Rebecca to start fidgeting. With only four ceiling tiles to count, and not enough room to pace, there wasn't much to do. She idly wondered if she could turn into mist, slip through the cracks, and just fly down to the tech level. Then again, those geniuses below might well have anticipated that particular workaround, and prepared a nasty surprise. Best not to risk it. Maybe some idle small talk would help.

"I bet this thing's loaded with safety features. There was this elevator at my Mom's old job that looked like every trip would be its last. That rusty deathtrap creaked like the most overacting horror movie door you've ever heard. Every time I had to ride it, I was convinced this was the time I'd get stuck in there for hours, or drop 20 floors in one go..."

It belatedly occurred to Rebecca that this might not have been the best choice of topic.

[Wiz0rd]

Charlies smile and color faded over the course of Rebecca's sentence as they descended down. The cheery smooth jazz very quickly became twisted in its humor.
"Heh. Yeah. -Gulps- Loads of safety features. I haven't studied the schematics, but I'm sure it's really good. I hope. ... I'm sorry you had to go through that horror."

With a spirited 'ding!' the elevator doors slid open once again.
The open doors revealed a wide expansive cavern, fortified with modern areas of clean-cut concrete. It was as much a grand, glorious bunker than cavern, almost. You'd be forgiven to think it some kind of Bat-cave, or a kind of lair - as originally it was. This was the site for most of the evil expansion and development plans in the schools' darker past. Fortunately for the students, the area had been reclaimed by the staff and students as a safe, controlled environment in which to test and practice technological powers freely. Along one of the walls, you can see a number of parked vehicles, and on some areas of the walls and floors; scorch marks were openly visible. Usually the hall would be the location of great activity: lessons of every kind were often taken here, and in some of the students free time, they'd use the nearby computer labs and workstations to work on their projects or battle-suits. But now the cavern was quiet, there were only a few students milling about their work and on their passions.

Charlie stepped out onto the metal frame that acted as a walkway between various rooms and areas. Charlie made his way confidently down and around the metal steps, he knew exactly where he was going. Walking to a corridor that had been drilled into the side of the cavern, this led to the main rooms for serious scientific research.

Charlie found the door labelled "VLR #1" and turned to face Rebecca, provided that she'd been following him during this time.

[Anyr]

Rebecca had indeed been following close behind. It didn't pay to wander off in a place like this. She looked expectantly at her guide.

"So, what's the big surprise? The suspense is killing me! And just so you know: If this turns out to be an old sunbed, I reserve the right to slap you."

[Wiz0rd]

"VLR stands for the Variable Light Room, step inside."

He pressed open the door, and it slid open like a door from star-trek, with the swishing and everything. It was a pristine, cubed white room with no windows, but with glowing electric light being emitted from every surface. There was a slide panel with a computer behind it on one of the walls.

"This is one of the rooms where they test reactions to particular frequencies of light. It's a test, artificial environment where we control the light. I was thinking, rather than suffering in the shade outside in the sun, we can control the sun from here, and have fun doing it! You can build up a tolerance over time from going from 1% natural light, up to however high you'd like to challenge. So yeah, it's a glorified sunbed, slap me." He sticks his tongue out teasingly, as he walks over to the control panel.

[Anyr]

Rebecca spun around to take in the whole room: Which admittedly wasn't much. From the looks of it, this was one of those sterile chambers meant for serious tests. Still, Rebecca knew how to make the best of what life gave her. Bland surroundings could be really handy when you wanted to focus on something; Or someone.

"They've got a gadget for everything these days, haven't they? Okay, let's give it a shot! This thing has gotta be a step up from that full-blast fireball out there.

And besides, this is a perfect chance for us to bond. I mean, look around: It's literally just the two of us, spending tons of time in an empty room! Call it cheesy if you like, but 'all we have is each other'!"

Yep, here they were: No distractions, no interruptions, no deflections. She was really interested in seeing how Charlie handled this.

[hairy-joe]

As Charlie enters the labs Isaac is just finishing the download of the data from his test run. he lays everything down and sets off to find him. he rounds the crner just as charlie is opening the door to the VLR and is slightly taken aback by Rebecca's presence, but recovers swiftly enough.

"Hello Charlie, i appologise for leaving you earlier however i was in the middle of a test and i did not want to interupt it. Hello Rebecca, it is good to see you again, i was not expecting you to be here as well."

[Wiz0rd]

Fiddling with the control panel, with his back turned to Rebecca he says "Alrighty, a quick Oogle search says that natural sunlight is made up of Ultra-violet rays, Visible light and Infa-red. I'll set each to 1% and we'll see where we go from there. I've pass-worded the slider so it can only go to 5% of each for safety, just in-case there were any accidents. The password is "Rebecca" if you want to change the restrictions."

He flicks it on, and the lighting goes dim, and then raises back normal in a moment, there is a slight buzzing sound emanating from the room. Still fiddling with the panel;
"How is that? Does it feel tingly? Tingly good? Tingly bad? Does it hurt? Tell me what you feel. You're in control."

He turned to look at Rebecca, her black hair shone and stood out in contrast to the sterile white room in which they stood.
"Yeah, they really do have a gadget for everything these days. Einstein said that everyone is a genius at something, but you shouldn't expect a goldfish to climb a tree. With Signal bringing the best and brightest from all around the globe, then the production of tech' is only natural, I guess?"

Charlie sat down cross legged on the warm, smooth plastic floor, gazing at Rebecca's shimmering eyes and peering subtly at her lovely sundress.
"Yeah! I wanted to spend more time with you and try to get to know you better. I really noticed you at Meta-ball practice, and down at the pool. I mean, if you're cool with that." He blushed. Geez, I'm really bad at talking to girls. "Besides, this is the perfect chance to work on a tan."

"So, while we're in here and doing some endurance training, I thought we could..."-

-Swish-. The sliding door to the VLR suite opened. In steps Isaac, the long lost runner. The door shuts behind its metallic legs as it strides carefully into the room.
"Hello Charlie, I apologize for leaving you earlier however I was in the middle of a test and i did not want to interrupt it. Hello Rebecca, it is good to see you again, I was not expecting you to be here as well."

Charlie stood up startled, still blushing. "Oh-h-heyIssac! F-fancy seeing you here. Haha. N-no we weren't doing anything." Charlie took a breath to re-settle. "You don't need to apologize Issac; I'm the one who lost you over by the running track, but it is nonetheless good to see you again. I'm here with Rebecca to help out with her sunlight endurance training, and thought this would be a good place to do it."

Charlie sighed mentally. Dang-it.

[hairy-joe]

as Isaac steps into the room he is completely oblivious to the mood that he's just taken a sledgehammer to.

"This is the safest environment to experiment with electromagnetic wavelengths. however i was under the impression that sunlight was loosely beneficial to humans, why would you need to endure it? is this related to your abnormal readings Rebecca?

Isaac crosses to the wall panel and after a few seconds and keystrokes he turns

"you are aware you have set the room to increase the ultraviolet intensity exponentially every ten minutes?

[Anyr]

Hopefully Isaac wouldn't notice that Rebecca's smile of greeting was a little strained. When your 'just the two us' gets an unscheduled '...and a pedantic robot' added to it, there's bound to be a certain amount of friction. Still, she did her best to play the gracious host. It wasn't poor Isaac's fault that his timing was horrendous.

"Um, hi again. Yes, the light thing is part of my...erm...condition. Unfiltered sunlight burns me: I mean really burns me; Like, to a pile of ash. It needs to be filtered or artificial just for me to survive in it; And even then it still does a number on my skin. We're trying to fix that part."

[Rhyvurg]

Willow perked up at this suggestion. She didn't really get much contact with the outside world - certainly not as much as she'd like anyway. Technically she was supposed to have some sort of official guide or someone to keep an eye on her, but she'd thus far been able to evade this requirement on her few trips outside of the school.

"Ooh, I'm up for that. You know anywhere? Any place in mind?"

"Nah, we have to find one, the hunt is half the fun. Um, can you get drunk? I usually can't."

[Wiz0rd]

Charlie looked at Rebecca and shrugged, another time perhaps.

"Oh, I didn't realise, Issac. I thought I was being really careful too. I'll double check." He says as he strides back over to the control panel next to Issac to look at the controls. "The password for this session is "Rebecca", I could have sworn I activated the highest safety protocols. Yeah, the sun is loosely healthy to us. Vitamin production, makes us feel healthy and happy."

He turns and smiles at Rebecca, "We'd better keep an eye on the clock, it's hard to keep track of the passage of time in a windowless room. We're not missing or forgetting anything are we?"

"I see that you're doing well under these conditions, do you want us to crank it up a little bit?"

[hairy-joe]

"it is a very complex system to use, i do not believe that i would understand it if i had not examined its code line by line. and i do not believe there is anything that we are missinig, unless you require nourishment."

Isaac deftly manipulates the controlls

"I have set it to only increase intensity from verbal commands. if you do not mind me asking Rebecca, what condition you suffer from, the databases i have access to only link your symptoms with fictional or apocrephal ailments."

[Mekboy]

"Usually? Guess you'll just have to try extra hard. And yeah, course I can get drunk. What did you think, the magic stops the booze or something?"

[DarkLadyOfTheSith]

Bryn interjects a comment of her own. "I don't know about the reality, but the legends of the sidhe, or fairies, or fair-folk often talk about their fondness for whiskey or other spirits." She looks over at Willow. "For that matter, I don't know what name your people prefer to use for themselves. Just the legends. How true are they?"