I really want to see what she makes of the C-Crystals.
Zhang Ru and Victor Forge look like shoe ins for operation Ground Pound. Zhang is the only one that really fits the Power bill, and Victor is their in to Meta Material.
These power crystals sounds wonderful for energy weaponry, as well as engines and all that jazz. Though I'm more interested in their potential interactions with Psy abilities, in particular with the in-devolepment funnels.
I'll close the vote sometime tonight. Remember, you'll be directing Devin to talk and get a sense of what the scientist is all about. Then there'll be another in who to send along to Lenora Jenkins and who you'd like to augment the science team with.
"...and as you can clearly see, once it's fully realized, faedium has the possibility of causing some pretty seismic shifts across manufacturing and scientific endeavors!" For once in your life, you see Wilde and Henry being simply silent - whether that was because they were struck dumb by the possibilities offered by Mary's brief explanation, or they were having trouble with the fruit setup she'd used as analogies, you're not entirely sure. "And another thing-"
"-you've got our boss standing right behind you," Henry points out.
"Your boss?" Immediately, the scientist spins around, and you see a woman with frizzy brown hair and glasses thick enough to almost completely obscure her eyes. The lights that reflect off of her glasses seem to make the spectacles glow as a result. Aside from a lab coat she'd hastily thrown on, a simple t-shirt and jeans sums up the outfit she wore to a semi-professional interview. "Mary McCullough - just leave it at Mary, my last name's a bit of a mouthful." She extends her hand -
- only for you to realize that she's snatched your coffee mug from your hands and was downing the substance like water. "Your coffee is acceptable. Max tells me you're the sort who doesn't mind taking risks on new ideas for the Super Robot Project."
You just blink - you're pretty sure that despite a relatively deadpan tone of voice, Mary hasn't bothered to pause to even take a breath. You wordlessly accept the extended coffee mug Anna offers, ignoring how she seems to be enjoying this. "That's right. And if I don't take you, I know someone who would badly like to make use of what you offer."
"Good. Necessity and desperation are fertile grounds for risk taking. Your situation doesn't seem desperate, but necessity alone works too." Another swig of the coffee. Despite drinking from your particular blend, the caffeine doesn't seem to do much to her monotone posture, even as her free hand makes constant gestures. "Based my thesis on a new synthetic rubric for a crystal focus. I label it faedium. Don't ask why, I'm the one who discovered it, I get to name it."
"Fair enough?" If Sam is allowed to call the kaiju products K-Class, then Mary can call this thing whatever she wants... "What does it do?" You have a rough idea, but you brace for an inevitable deluge of information-
"Power conductivity and storage."
You blink. "That's...it?"
"No." Despite the monotone, you can sense a long standing sense of exasperation and annoyance. "Okay, yes, technically that is the summation of what it can theoretically do. However, what I am outlaying is a radical miniaturization of a standard power source. A small sliver would theoretically be able to power a calculator with an effective battery even smaller than the standard. I've run the numbers, and they would be able to bond together for greater capacity."
"I'm hearing a lot of theoretical," you point out. Again, you know the rough gist of it, but you want to hear this all from the horse's mouth. "I understand you weren't able to make a lot of headway."
"Correct." Again, there is no variation to the monotone to her voice. Yet it drips annoyance and frustration all the same. "It needs funding. Needs facilities, dedicated staff. My university wasn't willing to do that. Neither were any of the authorities in Unity Station or any regional facility." The coffee cup long set aside, Mary pulls down her glasses to wipe it down. The motion is quick enough you never catch the color of her eyes.
"So." You decide to try a different tact. "Could the crystal - sorry, faedium - bond with other crystals?"
"I don't see why not.Likely it would take on more of the characteristics of the host crystal, but I would require further testing." The question seems to bemuse her, but Mary is actively thinking it over, scratching her head. "Size and volume would have to be factored in, and nothing would actually beat tests. But possibly."
"Last question for you then." You idly note that Wilde and Henry had beat feet awhile ago - you're not sure why that was the case. "Just from what you understand of the Super Robot - how would you see faedium fitting in?"
"Weapon amplification," Mary immediately responds. "Current weapons hardware are limited by power bottlenecks. Could be possibly modified to serve as a conventional power source. A larger frame would require a larger fabrication of a focusing crystal, but it potentially would serve your purpose."
You nod. Mary seems absolutely confident in her product's future potential, but she still speaks in theoreticals. She's not making any promises she won't be able to keep, since she technically doesn't have a complete product to offer to you just yet. "I'll need to decide which project you'll be fitting into," you tell her, "but we've taken chances on lots of projects before. So long as faedium can contribute to the project, we'll be more than happy to have you."
"Good. Good to be appreciated. Less so to be ridiculed. Have had enough of that lately." With that, she shuffles along elsewhere, looking to poke at another of the DFRI staff.
- No working prototype, but a strong theoretical framework
- Power amplification and focusing - potential for weapon strengthening
- Utiilty for Ground Pound: Unconventional power source that could potentially solve its generator problems
Sounds like this is battery/conductor.
Pretty useful, but I suspect that while it would work for Ground Pound, it may put a limit to how long they can deploy if not paired with a power generation tech... 🤔
Sorry 
