11935/Gravity of the Situation

Gravity of the Situation
Date of Scene:	09 July 2022
Location:	Meeting Room - GIRL Headquarters
Synopsis:	Dr. Hall visits GIRL to try and recover his research data, only to receive an unexpected offer from the young scion of Pym Technologies.
Cast of Characters:	Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Franklin Hall

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Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    It is not every day that Black Widow comes to Nadia with data, but when she does it is usually important. Studying the data at GIRL HQ it was very easy to see /why/ Black Widow brought it to her. Young though they may be, the collective of super genius young women known as GIRL have rapidly made a name for themselves as problem solvers for issues involving bleeding edge technologies and science.

    So it is that Nadia reached out to the scientist behind the experiment and invited him to GIRL HQ to discuss his findings and what went wrong, and really how to do it better. Because in Nadia's mind there is no such thing as 'bad' science, only poorly executed science or misused science.

    The young woman sits in the comfy swivel chair of the meeting room at the spot of the roundtable that bears her nameplate. She's dressed in street clothes with a labcoat draped loosely over her shoulders, more like a cape than any sort of protection. A large mug of tea is cradled in her hands as she reviews the files again on the room's main holographic display, while awaiting the arrival of today's guest and absently making some notes on a tablet with her free hand as she does.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    The door to the roundtable room opens as a handsome older man is led in by one of the attendants for GIRL HQ, dressed in a sports coat and button up shirt sans tie, with slacks and well made dress shoes. He pauses noticeably as he sees Nadia, looking her over as he enters, a faint twitch coming to his lips before he smooths his expression in a pleasant smile. "Ms. Pym-Van Dyne, I presume? Dr. Franklin Hall." he says, walking over to the table to take a seat. "I understand you have possession of my experimental data....though I'm not entirely sure why SHIELD felt it should go to you as opposed to returned to me."

    While the tone is pleasant enough, the smile definitely doesn't reach his eyes at that. For many reasons, he'd rather have that information in his possession....not the least of which is that New Horizons, the company backing his experiments, is looking for it as part of their investigation to the explosion that devastated one of their research facilities.

    And of course, it's his data. As far as he's concerned.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia is definitely not what most serious older scientists who went through the grueling ranks of academia expect, in fact she doesn't even technically hold a PhD and yet has the respect of the likes of SHIELD and the Avengers, which some find ...grating.

    "Oh! Dr. Hall! Welcome! You made it through security, I'm so glad." The young woman actually seems genuinely relieved by this, but when Black Widow is the security chief nothing is a foregone conclusion. The tea is set down on the table and she hops to her feet thrusting out a hand to shake. "A pleasure to meet you!" Before sitting down again when Dr. Hall does. "I've read a lot of your work, not just this data, your theories for constructing a stable wormhole are fascinating and could provide a real and stable solution to large scale interstellar travel." The enthusiasm and excitement seems quite genuine as she smiles broadly at him.

    "We just need to figure out how to make it not explode," Of course that was coming. "Though what are the odds of someone building a particle accelerator right next to it. I mean it really seems to be more a facilities concern than anything else, though I wonder if there is a way to bridge the connection without brute forcing it, that's why I was looking through the data. I don't know why Nat..Agent Romanov decided to bring it to me, other than she thought I might be able to help. I didn't realize it was the only copy. Of course you can have your data back." Some might find her manner disarming, others maddening, but she's just so optimistic and nice.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    For Franklin Hall, it's grating. Partially because he's generally a bit jealous of those who have intellect boosted by metapowers, but also because he simply likes to be the smartest person in the room, in his opinion. Under the circumstances, however, he's attempting to tamp down his pride a bit, because Nadia has what he needs at the moment. And perhaps she even might assist the experiments in question.

    He reaches out easily enough to shake Nadia's hand, though firm grip. Perhaps firmer than he really needs. Though the compliment on his work certainly puffs him up a little. "Yes, of course, that is the end goal. The recent accident was unforeseen. Carless of another lab running experiments at the same time, I can only imagine my employers, New Horizons, were pressuring them for results.

    God knows they have applied such pressure to him, after all. Small minded pennypinchers unable to see the glorious future that a stable wormhole generation would bring to the planet. And to his own fame.

    "I must say, I was quite surprised as well, though your, ah, organization has gained something of a reputation for thinking outside of the box." And at least she didn't take it to Richards. Ugh.

    And it is hard to remain irritated with her...though respect for Nadia's abilities is certainly warring with what he expects of a serious scientist and her general persona. "Either way, I'm pleased it was recovered...the lab itself apparently collapsed shortly thereafter, and when they didn't find it I assume one of my assistants had been negligent and not inserted a drive before the experiment began as he should have."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia's seemingly endless cheer briefly falters when Dr. Hall talks about the company funding the research pressuring scientists for results. In the unique sum of her experiences she associates that with her time in the Red Room, since leaving she hasn't had to deal with such things and even has trouble understanding why anyone would do that, it just undermines the science.

    "That's horrible, don't they understand that good science takes time?" Her voice sympathetic, and then she pauses and it changes to an almost upset tone. "What?! They /knew/ that the other experiment was going on and they pushed for this anyway?" Willful corporate negligence is apparently not something she approves of one bit. "They should be shut down!"

    All it takes is a few taps on a virtual holographic interface that appears above her workstation and the storage media with the data is ejecting from one of the ports. "Here you are." She offers it back to him, as simple as that.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    "Given the amount of damage, that facility may well do so, but that merely makes acquiring the experimental data and continuing that much more important." Hall says crisply, accepting the drive with a nod and a slightly relaxation to his posture. That's one thing dealt with. "Speaking of such, am I to understand you've reviewed the experimental data in question? I'm aware that your organization-" He just can't seem to call it GIRL "-has a working spacecraft, and possibly a stardrive or such, for want of a better word? I had wondered if it used similar technologies, though I was unaware if it was purely terrestrial or, ah, repurposed alien technology."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia nods her head a few times at the prognosis of the facility. She'd assumed as much from Natasha's report but would still rather the executives behind it have no future related to scientific pursuits whatsoever.

    "Oh, yes! I reviewed the data several times!" And also copied it, though she casually omits that part. "I would be really interested to see your actual experiments if you can get a new space set up. Maybe I can help with that! Pym Technologies certainly wouldn't put that sort of horrible pressure on you." And if they did they'd likely get an earful from Nadia about the altruistic glories of SCIENCE! "I can introduce you to Janet, my mom, she runs the company."

    "The Tereshkova! That's what we named the spaceship, after the first female cosmonaut and first woman to go into space!" Nadia is more than happy to discuss GIRL's starship, it is their pride and joy and the product of their pooled scientific genius, a veritable symbol of their friendship. "It is purely terrestrial, but the technologies are very different and much harder to replicate. Last year my dad had a theoretical breakthrough on converting Pym Particles into fields, Pym Fields. I took his theory and turned it to the practical application of interstellar travel using the fields to expand and contract space/time itself. But with the difficulty of producing Pym Particles, it isn't a technology easily applicable at the macro scale. Which is why I find your experiments so fascinating. If realized it could allow for large scale interstellar travel. A ship like the Tereshkova could be used to bring the receiving ring to its destination and then any ship could come and go from there with your wormholes. It's brilliant!"

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Franklin pauses, caught off guard by the offer. "Ah...well, that's...I might be interested in that. I'm unsure if New Horizons will elect to continue my experiments or not. Phillistines, not seeing anything but the glitter of gold." he mutters in irritation. "It would depend if you could provide the finding or equipment to let me rebuild the lab in question - I had quite a bit of customized equipment and materials. The exotic matter alone was very difficult to find in order to stabilize the wormwhole itself..."

    He pauses, listening to the explanation. "Ah! That's right. you're related to Hank Pym. I'm surprised he'd let that technology out into the world, but I suppose it's really sharing with family." Or giving the grandchild a toy, depending. "Ah, yes, it is brilliant, if I do say so myself. No one else has come close to the same understanding of gravitic technology on a replicatable level, setting aside one offs by certain creators." We're looking at you Franklin, and you, Dr. Doom, among others.

    So...are you saying you are able to manipulate space time without use of a wormhole? To pinch points together without the connecting point? Or does this require that the vehicle be shrunk down to levels where quantum interactions have a stronger influence?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "Oh, he didn't share it with me. I cracked it myself." Nadia smiles brightly. "He can definitely be very secretive with his projects." She leaves out the part about the Assassin training bunker she grew up in stealing a sample for her to reverse engineer and using that to escape. After the millionth SHIELD lecture from Bobbi, she's learned at least a little bit of discretion.

    "Not quite, rather I took Alcubierre's theory and applied Pym Fields to it to realize his warp bubble hypothesis. Although we've been working with a very different point to point technology utilizing Zeta Beams we encountered on the planet Rann in Alpha Centauri, but that is still highly experimental."

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Franklin's eyes raise at that. "An Alcubierre drive? Yes, that would make sense, though being able to compact a large enough area of space is...impressive, to make it useful." he admits, a bit grudgingly as he considers. "Zeta beams? I'm not familiar with them. Alien tech though, I'm guessing?" He motions to the data drive. "Mine, as you've no doubt noticed, is based on Schwartzschild wormhold theory, using exotic matter with negative energy density to stabilize it for long enough to make it useful. Incorporating them into the rings as a means of providing a fixed entrance and exit point were my work, of course, it's not been tried previously with this design."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia takes a sip of her tea as she listens. "Yeah, it's really fascinating. Like I said I think you should talk to Janet. She could easily sign off on rebuilding all of that equipment if you can convince her and Pym Technologies has the resources to acquire a lot of exotic materials for research goals." She leaves out the part about the Lawyers and what probably comes after the research is completed because she doesn't really think about that much. That's more Janet's thing. "Though if you find another lab and funding, I'd still love to have a look at your actual setup once its ready ...and far away from any particle colliders." She grins, it's a joke not a barb, or at least intended to be a good humored barb anyway.

Franklin Hall has posed:
    Franklin snorts, but smirks good-naturedly. "Yes, I think we'll avoid any particle experiments next time. Though I'll probably have some idiot military type wanting me to recreate the explosion." He rolls his eyes with a sniff, then ponders. "I will keep that in mind. I don't care who funds it, as long as I'm allowed the freedom to run the experiments and lab as I see fit." After all, as long as it's HIS discovery and he gets the credit, who cares who paid for the details?

    That said, he studies Nadia thoughtfully, then says slowly. "I'm...not against continued discussions over the theory and practice of making it a reality." he says finally, deciding to bury his pride. He's still the senior leader on any such project, after all? And Nadia seems to know much, much more than the assistants he's been stuck with, so having her as a co-researcher certainly won't be objectionable. "Perhaps you could set up a meeting with Janet at some point next week? I should have more of an idea of what I can and can't do at my current employment. And if I'm still employed, if they decide to cut my budget..luckily my contracts lets me cancel it if they're unable to provide the required resources for my research." He stands up again. "And I've taken up enough of your time for now, I think. But please, here...my number." He produces a card and sets it on the table. "My personal line, so I'll be more likely to pick it up. I don't really have an office phone currently." He makes a face. "Or much of an office, to be honest."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia rises as well, setting aside her tea again. "Of course! I'm sure I can persuade her to fit something into her schedule." She says accepting the business card. Janet van Dyne is very much one of those people that it is nigh impossible to get an appointment with, but Nadia has her ways. "Have a great rest of your day!"