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Inspiration Strikes! (A Quarian Pseudo-SI/OC in Mass Effect)

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Chapter Twenty
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    • Chapter Twenty – 2170CE


    Eventually, we were done showing off, and it was time to return. My parents still had shifts that needed to be covered. I was allowed to remain behind to continue our work and start planning our experiment.

    "So, as you can see, if we arrange the magnets like this, it will create a void in the centre where the fields mutually nullify. This allows the subject to be safely placed in the centre of the field."

    "If they're not exposed to the magnetic field, what is the point?"

    "Ah, physically, they won't be exposed to the field. However, the soul is only loosely bound by the physical form and typically extends about half a metre beyond the body in all directions."

    "Alright, I can see where you're going with this. The physical body sits safely in the void, but the soul will extend into the field. That's going to require some very tight tolerances. We'll have to test this extensively before we put anything important in there, especially a person."

    "Naturally."

    "Okay, so you've explained how you're going to 'safely' expose a soul to a ridiculous magnetic field. However, you've yet to explain why we're doing that and how we will detect it with that."

    "We're going to create a resonant feedback loop, feeding energy into the barrier of your soul, forcing it to visibly manifest in a measurable way."

    "Is that safe? For the soul?"

    "Yeah, they're pretty resilient things. I'm going to have to write up an explanation about the basics of soul metaphysics. There's not much point in progressing if you don't understand what we're doing and its theory."

    "Very well. This experimental setup makes sense and should be easy to put together, but it will require some strategic materials from the fleet to build. Are you still willing to fund it?"

    I nodded in reply. "Of course."

    "In that case, this looks like the start of a working plan. Now, shall we continue our work on repulsorlifts?"

    It was a great relief to be back at work, and my newly improved skills immediately pinpointed several problems and areas for improvement. With how significant the day had been so far, it was hard to believe that it was only last night I actually obtained the skills. It felt like weeks had passed in serious conversations.

    Just before I left for the trip home, Daro pulled me aside once more and stared at me intensely for a moment. "I'm serious about that warning from earlier, Kirah. You could endanger yourself and the fleet if it gets to the wrong people. Be careful."

    She then escorted me through the journey on the return shuttle until we reached the Iktomi and left me with a carefree wave.

    It's hard to deny Daro had a point. Suppose someone like the shadow broker found out what I could do and believed it. In that case, I could end up locked in a dark interrogation room. I did trust the three people I told, but just because I trust someone doesn't mean sharing everything is necessary. Still, I was happy with how the conversation went. It was a lot less awkward than I expected.

    I returned home, and whilst I wouldn't say things were normal between us, they weren't uncomfortable. We spent the night discussing what life on Earth in the 2020s was like. I pulled up some maps of Earth, showed them where I lived, and found some pictures of a beach I spent a lot of time visiting. It ended with a promise to teach mum how to surf if we ever somehow got the opportunity. She found the concept exhilarating.

    The next couple of weeks flew by. First, Rael confirmed I would be paying for Daro's requested resources from the strategic reserve. It was not a small sum, but the book sales would replenish the loss soon enough.
    Additionally, I wrote a basic primer on metaphysics for Daro'Xen. I then shared it with my parents and went to great pains to explain why I had passed out and how it won't happen accidentally again.

    The research paper on repulsorlifts was nearly finished. With the extra understanding of the technology itself and the mass effect fields necessary to mass produce the knots in space, it all came together very quickly. Next, we were going to establish a small-scale demonstration facility for the mass production of the repulsorlifts and document it for the paper.

    While all this was happening, Daro produced a new set of magnets that matched the new configuration and repeatedly tested the experimental setup. This culminated in several full power tests with a lab-pyjak strapped to a sled in the centre of the nullification zone.

    Apparently, Daro had recruited the Extreme Magnetic Field Research team to assist in the experiment. They were looking forward to having some more equipment to work with when we were done with it. As a result, merely three weeks after we visited their lab, I got a message from Daro requesting I visit the secondary magnetics lab for the experiment.

    When I arrived at the lab, I couldn't help but marvel at the machine. It very loosely resembled an oversized MRI, with a great ring of magnets looping around a bed structure that was mounted on rails that extended far beyond the magnetic fields before supporting the branching out to mount themselves to the floor. A clear plastic capsule would shroud the test subject and physically prevent them from accidentally waving an arm into the danger zone. A lesson learned in the aftermath of cleaning up the remains of a pyjak's tail.

    A clear divider prevented anyone from getting close to the machine, despite all the shielding around it. I was surprised to see Daro herself on the other side of the divider, getting into the capsule.

    "Daro insisted on testing it herself. Something to do with being confident in her work." Seiran'Ya, who suddenly appeared behind me, explains. "I know it should be safe, we certainly tested it a lot, but you could not convince me to sit in that capsule surrounded by fields of messy death."

    "Rest in Peace, Simon the Pyjak."

    "I think you mean to rest in pieces, Kirah."

    "Yeah, that too. I don't envy the team members who cleaned that one up."

    "Agreed." Seiran nodded very confidently. "That's why it's good to be the head of a research team and not just a member."

    Soon, Daro was in place, and we were ready to start. The testing room was evacuated except for Daro'Xen; doors were locked, shielding engaged, and the systems began turning on. Eventually, the magnets were minimally energised and brought to operating temperature, which was, to my surprise, somewhat higher than room temperature. I quickly took a seat at my assigned station.

    "Fields stabilised at 0.2 Telsa. Begin Countdown." Seiran announced as an alarm rang forth.

    "Five – Four – Three- Two – One – Energise"

    The field soared to a strength of 1800T, with the traditional whoomph accompanying it. Much higher than should be needed but much lower than the device was capable of.

    "That noise is a lot louder in person", Daro reported through the intercom. "Kirah, are you ready to begin?"

    "Yes, Daro, I'm activating the sensor suite momentarily." It was reassuring to hear her voice. I was here operating the Psychometry Station primarily because I was the only one not in the test chamber who fully understood what it was and how to use it.

    "Sensors activated," I announced and looked at the data stream. Unfortunately, there was a lot of noise in the data stream. Too much noise. It was frustrating despite the ingenious arrangement; we need sensors actually designed for this application. But, on the other hand, such was expected; that's why this was a two-stage experiment.

    "There's a lot of noise in the signal; hopefully, we'll get something in the statistical analysis. Now, moving on to the next phase."

    "Just as planned, Kirah."

    "Just as planned, remember, this will likely be a bit unpleasant."

    "Begin stage two. Raise field strength to two-thousand Telsa."

    For the next thirty seconds, the field strength rose.

    "Field Strength achieved. Begin oscillation."

    Suddenly the room gained a quiet hum as the magnetic field began inverting faster and faster. This constituted a direct attack upon the soul. When a resonant frequency was achieved, it would be forced to manifest into the physical world.

    As we breached 3Hz, Daro spoke up again.
    "Oh, I can feel that! Like a weird buzzing, I can't describe."

    "we're nearly there, then. Stay calm, everyone."

    Slowly the frequency continued to rise.

    "We're at 5hz. How are you feeling, Daro?"

    "That inner buzzing is definitely starting to qualify as unpleasant now."

    "Almost there then."

    Then, just as we hit 7Hz, it happened.

    Suddenly it was there. Waves of expanding pale-yellow octagons form a translucent barrier against further magnetic intrusion.

    "Absolute-Territory Field Manifested. That's a success, everyone."

    Under normal circumstances, manifesting it like that would be impossible; our mortal souls are simply insufficient for the task. However, with a magnetic field at just the right frequency, we can feed energy into the system through resonance, enabling the soul to deploy the barrier as a defence. Looking at the technical readouts, I could see the magnets were now drawing 42% more power to maintain that field strength. Presumably, feeding the extra energy into Daro. It's a good thing that souls are so resilient - that's a lot of energy.

    "Congratulations, Daro, we've proven you're not a soulless husk after all."

    "Ha. Ha. Ha. Very funny, Kirah. This is rather amazing, though. It feels like nothing can touch me. Looks nice too."

    "Readings are good. Pattern is Green and looks stable. We've got what we need. I can confirm that once we stop feeding it, your AT-Field will begin to fade back to its undeployed state."

    "That's really Daro's Soul?" Seiran whispered beside me.

    "That is the barrier that divides the essence of Daro from everything else. That is the light of her soul."

    "I'm sorry, I didn't really believe you before. It's so beautiful."

    "Yes. Yes, it is."




    Academic Writing II
    Akashic Links I
    Citations III
    Chemistry II
    Counterintelligence I
    Countersurveillance I
    Indoctrination (Reaper) II
    Indoctrination (Reaper - Detection) I
    Indoctrination (Reaper - Defence) II
    Language - Asari I
    Language - Batarian I
    Language - Chinese I
    Language - Drellish I
    Language - Elcoran I
    Language - English I
    Language - Krogan I
    Language - Prothean I
    Language - Salarian I
    Language - Turian I
    Language - Volus I
    Mass Effect Lore I (complete)
    Mathematics III
    Medicine I
    Metaphysics III
    Batarian Culture (Slavery) I
    History (Citadel Civilisation, Modern) II
    Omnitools I
    Physics III
    Physics (spacetime) II
    Physics (Mass Effect Field Theory) II
    Psychology I
    Psychology of Slavery II
    Quarian Physiology I
    Quarian Immunology I
    Quarian Pharmacology I
    Social Engineering II
    Technology (Star Wars - Repulsorlifts) II
    Translation (Literary) II
    Writing III



    ---------

    Whoo. Finally I can see the light of the tunnel that is the end of 2170. Still a couple of bits to cover but the mountain has been crossed I think.
     
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    • ... Now I'm just imagining where they're going to take this. If you can feed energy into that barrier, can you use it to store and transmit that energy? What else becomes possible with High power AT fields? Can you make devices to amplify that field more effectively than simple magnetic fuckery? Could you purposefully cultivate a soul somehow to eventually be able to make use of its AT field for something?
     
    dgr11897 said:
    ... Now I'm just imagining where they're going to take this. If you can feed energy into that barrier, can you use it to store and transmit that energy? What else becomes possible with High power AT fields? Can you make devices to amplify that field more effectively than simple magnetic fuckery? Could you purposefully cultivate a soul somehow to eventually be able to make use of its AT field for something?
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    That won't result in Navigator-esque subset of sentient at all. No siree...

    There won't be a genetically engineered sentients jacked into the ship's generator to provide them with AT shield in space battles.

    There also won't be development of man-portable AT-shield battery/generator at all.

    And there is totally no chance of everybody getting tang-ed.

    Tho if faced with the prospect of getting juiced, I'm not sure getting tang-ed is bad.
     
    There's gonna be quite the lcl cocktail if someone decides to do an impact event on places with large populations like race capitals, the citadel, etc.

    And while I do like taking inspiration from Eva when talking about soul physics I do hope you don't take too much inspiration from it. AT field manipulation is fine and maybe the s2 engine as long as its very hard to make but hopefully no angel and/or eva analogues.
     
    This does sorta solve the Geth Problem potentially doesn't it? Also, should he publish this mathematical proof of the soul when it hits the scientific community brains will melt.
     
    The Batarians somewhere in the near future:"I'm telling you Councilliors,the Quarians are using their impenetrable Soul Shields to harass Batarian transport ships in the Terminus,you have to stop them!!"
     
    Geth souls would be weird. Not that I'd be surprised if they have the, but their nature is so much more fluid than most sapients, they're VI programs grouped together and interacting in a network that possess emergent sapience, that their souls would be weird. Not quite a hivemind as I understand it, but also not individuals. I suspect that due to this while they'd have individual "Souls" for each grouping or program, they might possess a single shared AT field, a single barrier with which they divide what is them from everything else. This could have fascinating applications because, well, I suspect that if this is true that AT field could be, or could become, incredibly powerful, though probably unfocused. And since each platform has many geth VI onboard, if they have individual AT fields, well, their AT field is probably more like several hundred smaller ones generated by the VI. Either way, the Geth likely have some unique capabilities in the area of Metaphysics and the utilization of the power of the soul.

    Side note. Imagine the Asari looking up this data in the prothean beacon. That'd certainly be interesting.
    EDIT: The geth are effectively a post instrumentality race, aren't they? Perfectly understanding each other within their network, unable to lie and deceive each other. Thousands of minds in one "body" that is the collective of all the various platforms which contain the Geth's VI.
     
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    The geth could also end up looking like "foam", where every program has one tiny weak bubble. Meaning that using AT fields for a Geth could end up with lots of programs getting crushed each time something hits their field with significant force. Or, alternatively, the Geth are effectively already tanged. Or, the Geth doesn't have a soul unless the group acts as an individual for a while. Or they just don't have one. Or they start out as the foam thing, but slowly learn to cooperate instead of acting like ablative armor. Who knows.
     
    dgr11897 said:
    EDIT: The geth are effectively a post instrumentality race, aren't they? Perfectly understanding each other within their network, unable to lie and deceive each other. Thousands of minds in one "body" that is the collective of all the various platforms which contain the Geth's VI.
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    If you think about it, so are the Reapers. They break down the souls of an entire race and form an amalgamation of all their souls into one big cyborg ship. So very compatible with Evangelion metaphysics.
     
    Logos01 said:
    Reaper AT fields...

    Welp, that's the end of this story. <_<
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    Not neccessarily.

    If Geth have sideefects from AT fields, the same would happen to Reapers. Except probably worse. After all - reapers are not idividuals. Worse than the Geth. Violated by and hating the central conciousness. If they actually get AT fields, that would be around each (tortured) soul that were previously dominated by the central conciousness. "Exploded Reapers" is actually a very natural result, considering a lot of those souls have been "screaming without a mouth" for aeons.
     
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