Applied Sciences

[Oliver Queen]

The taxi cab drew to a halt, and Oliver shoved a few bills vaguely in the direction of the driver - more than enough, but he had no time to waste it counting. As he stepped out onto the sidewalk, he closed the door behind him with a satisfying clunk; perhaps afraid that his passenger would change his mind about his over-payment, the driver sped off into the night without a moment's hesitation.

Oliver glanced down at his watch; fifty-eight minutes. A grim smile tugged briefly at the corner of his mouth. At least I'm a man of my word.

Sticking to the shadows - by necessity of the layout of the light-obscuring scatter of buildings, rather than by deliberate choice - he made his way through the WayneTech compound, eyes alert for anything moving in the darkness. They settled upon a familiar sight: his car, discreetly parked up opposite the main entrance. A glance over his shoulder confirming that he wasn't being followed - old habits; damned paparazzi - he drew up alongside, a set of knuckles rapping against the driver's window. Tinted glass dropped a few inches, allowing Oliver a brief glance at the man inside as he spoke.

"I escorted her through security, Mr Queen," Roy revealed; though his words were clearly directed at Oliver, his eyes were clearly fixed on the entrance opposite. "I checked the logs: no one has been in or out since Doctor Qayin left earlier this evening."

Oliver offered a curt nod of approval, and a hint of an appreciative smile. "Good job, Roy." He glanced briefly towards the doorway, then back to the car. "Head on home; I'll take it from here."

There was a note of hesitation. "You sure, Mr Queen?"

The smile was allowed to broaden, slightly. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He patted a hand on the roof of the car. "See you in the morning."

Reluctance lingered for a moment longer, before the whirring of motors dragged the tinted window back into place. With a soft rumble the engine stirred into life, and the car drew effortlessly away. Oliver waited until it was clear, tail lights disappearing around the corner of the building before he crossed, pulling his security card - thank god Bruce had given him that already - and waving it in front of the proximity sensor. A small red LED turned to green, and he heard a metallic clank as the security bolts withdrew. Pushing the door open with his shoulder, he stepped inside.

[Aurora Qayin]

Time hardly flew when one waited, as Aurora spent an entire hour staring at the security cameras displays that covered an entire wall in the main control room of WayneTech compound. Pale images flickered before her, offering a panoramic view of the premises, yet there was absolutely nothing to entertain the eye. That last cup of Brazilian coffee kept her widely awake, giving her just enough mental nimbleness to endure through another meeting and then collapse into bed after a fourteen-hour workday.

Unlike most of the staff at Applied Sciences, Aurora only went home when she finished working on a project; sometimes, she'd look up from her working table and witness first rays of dawn spilling across the jagged Gotham skyline. At that point, taking an hour-long trainride home to East End was out of the question. Queen's predecessor didn't like when any of his employees were late for work, while he, on the other hand, retained the exclusive right to walk into the laboratory at will. A smile stretched across Aurora's face upon seeing her newly appointed boss enter the facility; clearly, punctuality was one of Oliver's strong suits. She picked up her bag and hurried to meet him in the briefing room, scurrying through a maze of corridors whilst trying to keep the remnant of coffee in her cup. Arriving just a few moments before him, the brunette slipped into the darkened room where perpendicular lights illuminated the impeccable surface of a large conference table.

"You are just in time, Mr. Queen." doctor Qayin said as the sound of footsteps neared, and emptied her bag on the tabletop - "I promise this won't take long. You'll be back at the party in no time."

[Oliver Queen]

Whether it was due to their own poor navigational skills or a simple lack of faith in WayneTech's employees Oliver couldn't be sure; but god bless the individual responsible for putting up all of the signs around the facilities. Were it not for those, he was sure to have become lost in the labyrinthine corridors.

Now that he'd found the Doctor, it was clear that she was far more comfortable here than she had been in the outside world; or perhaps she simply felt safer. Regardless, she had lost at least some of the edge of aggitated nervousness that she'd displayed earlier. She was still sporting the hot librarian look which, Oliver had to admit, could potentially prove to be quite distracting.

He made a point of steering himself around the table to block his view of anything he might potentially want to stare at, and folded his arms across his chest: starting from a position of defensive skepticism was a coping mechanism he'd adopted when dealing with scientists and techno-geeks in the past.

"This had better be good, Doctor Qayin," he warned, his tone friendly but firm.

[Aurora Qayin]

Whilst assembling the apparatus, Aurora merely smirked at his overt display of skepticism. If he wasn't completely dense, the incoming display would eliminate any lack of confidence he had in the young scientist. The sheer cognizance of such a discovery would awe most of Qayin's colleagues, the discovery itself somewhat of a Holy Grail in Materials Science.

"Your predecessor dedicated his life to study of nanoscience. A life-long dream of engineering at molecular and atomic level..." began the Doctor and placed a metallic plate right in front of Queen - "...something most of his contemporaries deemed impossible. He was mocked throughout the scientific community, this being one of the reasons of his abrupt retirement. A religion, he said, not science - for he knew things he could not prove."

The plate was then connected to a computer pad, a portable processing unit which was mostly used for completing tasks while on the go, giving the staff much needed mobility around the lab. Her fingers danced against the touchscreen rapidly, as if playing the piano; not even once did Doctor Qayin glance down to control what she was tapping. The code was known off by heart already, so the scientist continued her discourse.

"I am not going to bore you with technical details, Mr.Queen. You must be eager to return to your friends. Instead, allow me to demonstrate."
A vial was opened and a silver liquid was poured onto the plate. Aurora waited for it to form a small puddle at the center of it before playing with the touchpad console again.
"You are looking at a titanium-mercury alloy equipped with nano-technology. Under normal circumstances, it is liquid. But if I put it in an oscillating electric field..."
A short pause ensued, giving her time to activate the algorithm used to alternate the current. The liquid started to morph and warp into the shape of a perfect half-sphere, its reflexive surface mirroring light cascading from above. The wholly unnatural phenomenon made the scientist smile.
"...it becomes the hardest substance known to man." she finalized in an almost affectionate tone, humbled by the sight before her.

[Oliver Queen]

Oliver had often been bored in high school science - he'd much rather have been constructing the gizmos and concocting the aledgedly explosive chemicals than being sat around watching some demonstration from the teacher. As Aurora promised not to "bore" him with "technical details", he felt the same tedious underestimation of his abilities and intelligence creeping to the surface once again. Just because he had no fancy pieces of paper to show how smart he was, everyone seemed to assume he was as thick as a post.

Thoughts and frustrations over her opinion of him however disappeared as her demonstration burst into life. He more or less followed what she was saying - nanotechnology was, by definition, anything constructed on a nanometre scale: millionths of a metre. Science fiction had appropriated the term for nanites and nanobots, and all manner of other tiny little things that seemed to serve as a deus ex machina for most of their plot lines; but here Oliver was, watching that kind of fiction made into fact before his very eyes. He knew alloys of titanium were used in certain memory metal objects, and mercury was of course renowned for being a liquid at room temperature: but for once he was happy to admit that his comprehension of science was baffled, and was content to simply be amazed.

He resisted the urge to step over and poke the strange construct. "Can you make it look like Robert Patrick?" he asked, completely deadpan as he marvelled at the technological spectacle.

[Aurora Qayin]

Aurora's smile widened - the exact same association had crossed her mind when she conducted the initial experiment over a week ago. The only reason why she mentioned nothing of it earlier was to check possible fallacies in calculations and calibration of instruments. A discovery of this magnitude would not go unnoticed in major scientific journals, giving Qayin's citation count a rocket boost. Aurora wanted to make sure the methodology could not be disputed in an upcoming plethora of commentaries from dignitaries in the field that would undoubtedly flood journals in the months to come. Unlike many, the young scientist didn't desire publicity or fame, just an opportunity to continue her work in peace.

"With a little programming, you can make it look any way you like. It's completely malleable, at an atomic level." the brunette replied assuringly, glancing down to observe a warped reflection of herself in the semi-sphere.
"You look like shit, Q." Aurora inferred, remembering the one-digit number of hours of sleep she had in the past week or so. A sigh of relief left her lips.
"Mr.Queen, I hope this was worth your time. You have no idea how scared I was... carrying that around. Even had a feeling somebody was following me around previously." Qayin confided warily - "Wouldn't be much left of me if I tried to prevent them from stealing the invention."

[Oliver Queen]

At least Ollie now had context for the strange and slightly eccentric behaviour, and it suddenly didn't seem so unreasonable at all. While most people liked to think that they were living in a more civilized age, Oliver knew full-well that - especially in a city like Gotham - people were frequently killed over things far less important and lucrative than scientific breakthroughs. And for something as significant a development as this? Industrial espionage was far from out of the question.

He remained silent for a moment, musing WayneTech's security protocols, if there even were any. The labs of course were secure and sealed, as he had discovered already; but that protection extended only as far as the gates of the compound. Out on the streets, or in their own homes, his scientists were far more vulnerable: and while yes, it may have been an over the top and paranoid notion to entertain, the soldier that constantly lurked in the back of his mind was decidedly uncomfortable letting his troops fall asleep in such unprotected circumstances.

He pushed those thoughts aside temporarily, filing them away for review during his 'welcome to the company' meeting with Bruce and his new boss. Instead he deflected the topic, easing Doctor Qayin back into her comfort zone of scientific exposition. "Obviously it's a fantastic advance," he admitted, "But if the only way for it to maintain a solid shape is to be under the influence of an electrical field, that does seem to be a limiting factor. Is this purely something to expand our scientific understanding, or are there any practical applications open for development?"

[Aurora Qayin]

Queen posed a valid question; many recent discoveries in basic research were indeed worthy of awe, yet very few found practical use. The company would only benefit from findings which could be protected by a patent, a right to exclusively produce and distribute the invention and hence, reap extra profits. A fair return was expected on each dollar spent in Wayne R&D and scientists were expected to employ resources to facilitate highest possible payoffs in the future. Certainly, such an activity was beneficial for the society as a whole, the spillovers becoming a key ingredient in something what the marketing department referred to as corporate social responsibility. Aurora had already gotten used to superiors popping the profitability question after the initial thrill wore off.

"The current only makes it shift shape, sir. Hence, it programs the alloy on the molecular level. We only need the right current to get it in shape; once it forms, the structure is hard as diamond." she asserted, clasping hands behind her back after pushing the glasses up to the root of her nose.
"The program itself is based on fractals - endlessly complex and self-generating. It may take a little time - perhaps a week or two - before I come up with more algorithms. " admitted Aurora, eager to dedicate more time to further development of the concept.
"As for practicality... You are a soldier, Mr. Queen. You tell me."

[Oliver Queen]

You're a soldier...

Military applications, then. Oliver's mind began to churn away slowly, though admittedly his ideas stemmed more from science fiction and James Bond than from any genuine military training or experience. Cubes of metal, easy to store and transport, that would shift into prefabricated structures at the push of a button. Armoured vehicles that could magically heal impact damage with the flip of a switch. Worried about hostiles kicking your door down? No problem: we'll give you a solid wall, and magically open a hole in it when you need. Reinforced cables poured straight from a bottle. Aircraft that could adjust their hulls to optimise aerodynamics during flight. Spaceships and submarines that could fix their own leaks. Flawless stealth technology -

"We could build the spaceship from Flight of the Navigator," his mouth uttered, before his brain could work out what was going on.

He coughed into his hand, pushing swiftly past his accidental statement. "Alright Doctor, I'll admit: there are possible applications. But where do we go from here? All we've got to present to the board right now is a - cool, admittedly - novelty fruit bowl."