He can, and he is.
Goddamn Teenagers (Worm, AU/time travel)
I honestly didn't remember and it's not like Marquis really focused much on the capabilities of the littlest new wave.
Safety Is Her Goal
"Hey, Taylor!" Missy shouted.
Taylor rolled her eyes and picked her way across the crowded room. The latest 'drill' (which Taylor was quite certain was not a drill even before Aisha's text) had the Wards' room full to bursting.
"Did you know," Missy began excitedly as Taylor drew near, "some bugs can, like, smell magnetism?"
Taylor twitched, opened her mouth, twitched again, then closed it and shook her head. "It really isn't like smelling but sure."
"Do you have any here? I was listening to Chris talk about magnets and was thinking that maybe I can use my power to make one, well technically it would use electromagnetism, well induced, but that's details, anyway I'm the safety officer now so I shouldn't test it with ball bearings, and after Dr. Weaver's classes on, uh, 'improvised defense of self and others', I figured out this thing with paper clips so I don't want to use those because it doesn't feel safe to use them after I, uh, never mind, and I know Armsmaster has those little iron pieces he uses for stuff like this but I don't have any and we probably shouldn't be suspending them in the air here what with the food and stuff around, so yeah bugs!"
Taylor blinked. "You want to do this here?"
"It's so boring I like the drills and all or at least I did it's not as bad since I started at the fire department and now my parents are less ugh but Dinah isn't here because she is doing drill things because they are being all stupid about her power and they won't let me go muster with the fire department and my stuff is here and they have the testing area closed up because drill and in a real emergency they might need the space for things and I told them I don't need that much space I can just make more and they said that would break their tinkertech sensor wall and I'm not going to go test this on the roof that would be all windy and I'm not allowed to test things in the shower anymore because last time I broke ours and we had to share with the boys for like a whole week and having to like wait for them to be done before using it really sucked even if it was fair that I had to wait not them because it was my fault ours had a hole in it."
"Did you ask Chris or Trevor about this?"
"I tried but then they got all excited about something and were going to go to Chris's lab to work on it and I asked if it was safe because I'm the safety officer and they said it technically wasn't a weapon, probably, so it's fine."
"Missy," Taylor said carefully, "I want you to imagine. Not that something will go wrong, but if it did. You will have to sit there. Explaining to Armsmaster and the Director. All about the thing you did. That when described to the tinkers inspired them to go make something that technically is not a weapon, probably."
Taylor rolled her eyes and picked her way across the crowded room. The latest 'drill' (which Taylor was quite certain was not a drill even before Aisha's text) had the Wards' room full to bursting.
"Did you know," Missy began excitedly as Taylor drew near, "some bugs can, like, smell magnetism?"
Taylor twitched, opened her mouth, twitched again, then closed it and shook her head. "It really isn't like smelling but sure."
"Do you have any here? I was listening to Chris talk about magnets and was thinking that maybe I can use my power to make one, well technically it would use electromagnetism, well induced, but that's details, anyway I'm the safety officer now so I shouldn't test it with ball bearings, and after Dr. Weaver's classes on, uh, 'improvised defense of self and others', I figured out this thing with paper clips so I don't want to use those because it doesn't feel safe to use them after I, uh, never mind, and I know Armsmaster has those little iron pieces he uses for stuff like this but I don't have any and we probably shouldn't be suspending them in the air here what with the food and stuff around, so yeah bugs!"
Taylor blinked. "You want to do this here?"
"It's so boring I like the drills and all or at least I did it's not as bad since I started at the fire department and now my parents are less ugh but Dinah isn't here because she is doing drill things because they are being all stupid about her power and they won't let me go muster with the fire department and my stuff is here and they have the testing area closed up because drill and in a real emergency they might need the space for things and I told them I don't need that much space I can just make more and they said that would break their tinkertech sensor wall and I'm not going to go test this on the roof that would be all windy and I'm not allowed to test things in the shower anymore because last time I broke ours and we had to share with the boys for like a whole week and having to like wait for them to be done before using it really sucked even if it was fair that I had to wait not them because it was my fault ours had a hole in it."
"Did you ask Chris or Trevor about this?"
"I tried but then they got all excited about something and were going to go to Chris's lab to work on it and I asked if it was safe because I'm the safety officer and they said it technically wasn't a weapon, probably, so it's fine."
"Missy," Taylor said carefully, "I want you to imagine. Not that something will go wrong, but if it did. You will have to sit there. Explaining to Armsmaster and the Director. All about the thing you did. That when described to the tinkers inspired them to go make something that technically is not a weapon, probably."
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This sounds like the kind of conversation where, as safety officer, she should really be following up on what 'technically probably' means, and maybe getting ahead of it in talking to the adults before they make whatever's technically probably not a weapon.
Or at least before they test fire it.
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Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Hmm. If Missy can create magnetic fields, can she suppress them?
Or, would that just be creating a counter-field, with all the horrible, "Should I have put a negative sign there? Oh. I just amplified the effect!" issues?
Maybe she should just start with an unpowered compass, for feedback, and see if she can just cause the needle to twitch, just a tiny bit...
(Making the compass fly across the room - test failed.)
Or, would that just be creating a counter-field, with all the horrible, "Should I have put a negative sign there? Oh. I just amplified the effect!" issues?
Maybe she should just start with an unpowered compass, for feedback, and see if she can just cause the needle to twitch, just a tiny bit...
(Making the compass fly across the room - test failed.)
To be clear, I don't actually know how Missy would do this. The idea I had is that if atmospheric conditions can create lightning, and electric current can affect magnetic fields, then in theory it's not impossible that Missy could do this.
To be clear, the above method would be stupidly dangerous. Laughably, insanely dangerous.
It's not impossible that there is another or safer way to do this. However she certainly shouldn't be testing this inside a building, inside a city, with bystanders
To be clear, the above method would be stupidly dangerous. Laughably, insanely dangerous.
It's not impossible that there is another or safer way to do this. However she certainly shouldn't be testing this inside a building, inside a city, with bystanders
Precautions Were Observed
"It's not a weapon!" Trevor insisted.
"Probably!" Chris added.
"Yeah!" Trevor nodded. "We haven't put any gun modules on it yet!"
"Shhhh!"
Weld stared at the pair incredulously.
"And it's not," Trevor continued, "uh, a device for transporting people, or a, uh, device for operating in the public highways! And it's still a test bed proving concept prototype experiment!"
"In the lab here!" Chris contributed. "So it's in the controlled environment! Monitoring! Stuff!"
Weld sighed. "Just reciting safety rules won't convince me to let you do this. We are in an emergency drill."
"It's not a real emergency!" Trevor retorted. "It's a drill!"
"You can tell," Chris said sagely, "because there are no sirens!"
"And it's not entirely tinkertech!"
"Well, other than," Chris began, before coming to a sudden sputtering stop when Trevor elbowed him.
"Is it safe?" Weld asked slowly.
Trevor smiled nervously. "We've got gloves and goggles and everything?"
"Just because something can be misused as a weapon," Chris recited, "doesn't mean it is a weapon. Armsmaster said so."
"You can kill someone with a pencil," Trevor said sardonically, "that doesn't mean we keep them away from Missy."
"Although…"
"Hey!"
"I mean, Missy? Maybe we should keep her away from pencils? We already have to hide the paper clips, after that one time she stole all the paperclips, and spent like a week staring at them making constipated faces, and took a bunch home, then the next day wouldn't look anyone in the eye and never touched a paper clip again?"
"Oh my god Chris stop helping I just joined up why are you so bad at this!"
Whatever Weld was going to say was preempted by the wail, far overhead, of the Endbringer sirens.
Note: We printed out the precautions! All of them! They're in that binder right there and we can see them from here!
Also Note: Other cities have multiple separate Ward teams with separate rooms for reasons of morale, and operational flexibility, and also to mitigate the combinatorial scaling of mischief potential you get as you increase the concentration of 'teenagers with attitude'.
"Probably!" Chris added.
"Yeah!" Trevor nodded. "We haven't put any gun modules on it yet!"
"Shhhh!"
Weld stared at the pair incredulously.
"And it's not," Trevor continued, "uh, a device for transporting people, or a, uh, device for operating in the public highways! And it's still a test bed proving concept prototype experiment!"
"In the lab here!" Chris contributed. "So it's in the controlled environment! Monitoring! Stuff!"
Weld sighed. "Just reciting safety rules won't convince me to let you do this. We are in an emergency drill."
"It's not a real emergency!" Trevor retorted. "It's a drill!"
"You can tell," Chris said sagely, "because there are no sirens!"
"And it's not entirely tinkertech!"
"Well, other than," Chris began, before coming to a sudden sputtering stop when Trevor elbowed him.
"Is it safe?" Weld asked slowly.
Trevor smiled nervously. "We've got gloves and goggles and everything?"
"Just because something can be misused as a weapon," Chris recited, "doesn't mean it is a weapon. Armsmaster said so."
"You can kill someone with a pencil," Trevor said sardonically, "that doesn't mean we keep them away from Missy."
"Although…"
"Hey!"
"I mean, Missy? Maybe we should keep her away from pencils? We already have to hide the paper clips, after that one time she stole all the paperclips, and spent like a week staring at them making constipated faces, and took a bunch home, then the next day wouldn't look anyone in the eye and never touched a paper clip again?"
"Oh my god Chris stop helping I just joined up why are you so bad at this!"
Whatever Weld was going to say was preempted by the wail, far overhead, of the Endbringer sirens.
Note: We printed out the precautions! All of them! They're in that binder right there and we can see them from here!
Also Note: Other cities have multiple separate Ward teams with separate rooms for reasons of morale, and operational flexibility, and also to mitigate the combinatorial scaling of mischief potential you get as you increase the concentration of 'teenagers with attitude'.
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Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
mangled words?
---
I'm pretty sure we don't want to know about paperclips and the Biron home. And, if you do, I don't.
"Lasers. It's all about synchronising the photons. Now, if all the different photons travel different distances, all so they arrive at the same time..."
Typo fixed in text! Thank you very much!
Warp Vision Turbulence
"Not here," Missy shouted over the noise, relief evident in her voice. "It would be the other tone."
Seeing the others' relieved expressions, Taylor held her tongue. Anyone paying attention had noticed that the last attack had been unusually fast-paced and wide ranging. Just because he wasn't here now didn't mean they were safe.
"Do we know where?" Taylor asked instead.
"Uh…," Missy said, having commandeered the console computer's mouse and keyboard from across the room. "Somewhere out West?" The younger girl's voice echoed oddly around the strand of twisted space leading from Missy's eyes to the monitor. "There are muster points," Missy continued, slowly approaching the console station, "like, all around corn land but everyone else is being sent to the usual spots for Mover pickup. They're saying there is still some time before emergence. No evacuation orders yet."
The spell was broken by Dennis flipping a potato chip into the strand of twisted space Missy was using to view the monitor. The resulting fine powder instantly scattered around the room, as Missy squawked, stumbled, tripped on a backpack, then used her power to arrange a soft landing in Dean's lap on the couch.
Ignoring the resulting exclamations, Taylor claimed the console chair and slipped on the headphones.
Seeing the others' relieved expressions, Taylor held her tongue. Anyone paying attention had noticed that the last attack had been unusually fast-paced and wide ranging. Just because he wasn't here now didn't mean they were safe.
"Do we know where?" Taylor asked instead.
"Uh…," Missy said, having commandeered the console computer's mouse and keyboard from across the room. "Somewhere out West?" The younger girl's voice echoed oddly around the strand of twisted space leading from Missy's eyes to the monitor. "There are muster points," Missy continued, slowly approaching the console station, "like, all around corn land but everyone else is being sent to the usual spots for Mover pickup. They're saying there is still some time before emergence. No evacuation orders yet."
The spell was broken by Dennis flipping a potato chip into the strand of twisted space Missy was using to view the monitor. The resulting fine powder instantly scattered around the room, as Missy squawked, stumbled, tripped on a backpack, then used her power to arrange a soft landing in Dean's lap on the couch.
Ignoring the resulting exclamations, Taylor claimed the console chair and slipped on the headphones.
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Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
'There are'?
capitalise 'mover'?
---
Terrible pity Missy landed in Dean's lap like that, I guess...
Typos fixed in text! Thank you very much!
I haven't decided yet whether Missy's landing spot was intentional (in which case she likely feels pleased with herself), or accidental (in which case she is likely mortified).
Could always be both. She intended in the moment to land in his lap, but after a short time of being pleased becomes mortified that she actually went through with it
Yeah, the "it seemed like a good idea at the time" plan.
Looking back, you usually end wondering "what the hell was I thinking?".
- Location
- United States
wait... Corn land... Would this corn land be near say... The Fallen?
Kaleidoscope of Nightmares
This time, Dr. Weaver had thankfully provided noise canceling headphones, so Lisa didn't have to endure All The Feeds. Just some of the feeds, and this time she controlled the toggle!
Power, again, seemed alarmingly interested in what she was hearing…
"…more notice than we have ever given. They are extremely resistant to tracking. Until recently, we were lucky to have minutes of warning…"
"…North Dakota or Montana, possible targets include…"
"…activation of portal connection to off-world facility, Eidolon confirms stability…"
"…throughput considerations, the portal facility simply cannot accommodate…"
"…standby Mover support to Des Moines, leave portal clear for medical…"
"…Dakota, target does not appear to be a major urban area…"
"…domestic disturbances, Valkyrie redirecting local responders but will not intervene directly…"
"…seismic activity, god he's deep…"
"…CUI mustering in Shanghai, has declined offers of Mover support…"
"…isn't hiding anymore…"
"…south of Lake Sakakawea…"
"…Garrison Dam, Jesus Christ…"
"…unseasonably high water levels, not just at Garrison, along the entire Missouri…"
"…Shakers, there aren't enough Movers in the world…"
"…evacuations downstream…"
Note: Reservoir (and dam) not chosen at random.
Power, again, seemed alarmingly interested in what she was hearing…
"…more notice than we have ever given. They are extremely resistant to tracking. Until recently, we were lucky to have minutes of warning…"
"…North Dakota or Montana, possible targets include…"
"…activation of portal connection to off-world facility, Eidolon confirms stability…"
"…throughput considerations, the portal facility simply cannot accommodate…"
"…standby Mover support to Des Moines, leave portal clear for medical…"
"…Dakota, target does not appear to be a major urban area…"
"…domestic disturbances, Valkyrie redirecting local responders but will not intervene directly…"
"…seismic activity, god he's deep…"
"…CUI mustering in Shanghai, has declined offers of Mover support…"
"…isn't hiding anymore…"
"…south of Lake Sakakawea…"
"…Garrison Dam, Jesus Christ…"
"…unseasonably high water levels, not just at Garrison, along the entire Missouri…"
"…Shakers, there aren't enough Movers in the world…"
"…evacuations downstream…"
Note: Reservoir (and dam) not chosen at random.
Earning their Pay
Emergence.
Such a deceptively simple term, for such a horrifying prospect.
"Can you tell me," Director Tagg's voice sounded from the comms unit, "hand to god, that every one of those spillways is in good repair, and can handle these volumes?"
"Reports have ascertained compliance…" began the far too junior representative from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Colin sympathized. This was Behemoth, not Leviathan. Army Corp was oriented to support local efforts, not respond to a sudden catastrophic risk to the biggest watershed in the country.
"Not a yes," Tagg interrupted implacably. "One more try."
"You can't just write off the dam," the other man pleaded, clearly close to tears. "It's an integral—"
"We're done," Tagg interrupted. A complex series of beeps indicated a change in comms channel.
"Dragon, this is Tagg, any update?"
"No," Dragon's voice replied immediately. "No superior alternatives identified, nothing further on potential side effects or mitigants, no meaningful consensus from Thinkers."
Another series of beeps.
"Kamil," Tagg said resolutely and without hesitation, "recommend Eidolon option, immediately."
"Tagg, Kamil," the Chief-Director's said with calm belief by the voice stress indicators on Colin's HUD. "Confirm timing."
"More time for fallbacks if Eidolon is wrong. Thinkers agree, we can't be sure of stopping the beast short of the dam, and at current water levels a catastrophic failure…"
"Understood. Anything further from Washington?"
"President insists it's our decision."
"Acknowledged. Authorized, confirm, authorized."
Note: I can't imagine how stressful it would be to make these calls. Suppose for Tagg after containment zone duty anything is easier.
Such a deceptively simple term, for such a horrifying prospect.
"Can you tell me," Director Tagg's voice sounded from the comms unit, "hand to god, that every one of those spillways is in good repair, and can handle these volumes?"
"Reports have ascertained compliance…" began the far too junior representative from the Army Corps of Engineers.
Colin sympathized. This was Behemoth, not Leviathan. Army Corp was oriented to support local efforts, not respond to a sudden catastrophic risk to the biggest watershed in the country.
"Not a yes," Tagg interrupted implacably. "One more try."
"You can't just write off the dam," the other man pleaded, clearly close to tears. "It's an integral—"
"We're done," Tagg interrupted. A complex series of beeps indicated a change in comms channel.
"Dragon, this is Tagg, any update?"
"No," Dragon's voice replied immediately. "No superior alternatives identified, nothing further on potential side effects or mitigants, no meaningful consensus from Thinkers."
Another series of beeps.
"Kamil," Tagg said resolutely and without hesitation, "recommend Eidolon option, immediately."
"Tagg, Kamil," the Chief-Director's said with calm belief by the voice stress indicators on Colin's HUD. "Confirm timing."
"More time for fallbacks if Eidolon is wrong. Thinkers agree, we can't be sure of stopping the beast short of the dam, and at current water levels a catastrophic failure…"
"Understood. Anything further from Washington?"
"President insists it's our decision."
"Acknowledged. Authorized, confirm, authorized."
Note: I can't imagine how stressful it would be to make these calls. Suppose for Tagg after containment zone duty anything is easier.
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What exactly are they planning to do?
Like, I'm not sure I understand what they can do, that involves 'writing off' the dam, that wouldn't be just as bad as Behemoth destroying it
All that water has to go somewhere, after all, no matter who sends it there. And "writing off" sounds catastrophic.
Like, I'm not sure I understand what they can do, that involves 'writing off' the dam, that wouldn't be just as bad as Behemoth destroying it
All that water has to go somewhere, after all, no matter who sends it there. And "writing off" sounds catastrophic.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
needs an edit?
should this end in a question mark?
---
Hmm. They wouldn't be going to do something (silly) like water-cooling Behemoth, would they? What that amount of steam would do...
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- Location
- Somewhere, Maybe
Given how radiation-happy Behemoth is, him having free access to a major dam on the Mississippi river could poison half the continent....
One of the reasons that Chernobyl was so dangerous was that if the reactor completely melted down, it would get into the water table and all those radioactives would find their way into the nearby Lake, poisoning the water for several major cities.
This has the potential to be EVEN WORSE..... and that's a goddamn terrifying thought. The phrase "Worse than Chernobyl" is not something anyone should have to say...
One of the reasons that Chernobyl was so dangerous was that if the reactor completely melted down, it would get into the water table and all those radioactives would find their way into the nearby Lake, poisoning the water for several major cities.
This has the potential to be EVEN WORSE..... and that's a goddamn terrifying thought. The phrase "Worse than Chernobyl" is not something anyone should have to say...
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
I don't think they are writing off the dam. I think it's more a case of "this is something we absolutely can't ensure is protected adequately unless we can keep the fight away from said dam."
Typos fixed in the text! Thank you very much!
You are correct at the scale of the risk, and the challenge in addressing them. You need the water to be *somewhere else*. You can't vaporize it, it would just fall down again as rain somewhere in the watershed. You can't release it, the dams downstream can't handle the sudden rush of water. Draining (or filling) a reservoir of this size is something done very carefully over a period of months.
My gut suggests that losing this dam catastrophically could well be worse than losing the Hoover Dam in a catastrophic incident, although I haven't done any research on the point.
grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
The character of the two disasters is difficult to directly compare.
Lake Sakakawea being flash-dumped into the Missouri-Mississippi system is a catastrophic flood risk for an assortment of major cities downstream.
There's a lot less human habitation and economic value along the banks of the lower Colorado River than along the banks of the Missouri-Mississippi system... but Wikipedia tells me that on top of the Hoover Dam's electricity generation facilities, Lake Mead supplies municipal water to 18 million people and irrigation water to a million acres of farmland.