14608/Open the Pod Bay Doors

Open the Pod Bay Doors
Date of Scene:	04 April 2023
Location:	R and D Labs: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Alex gives some of his eternal wisdom to Monica who is sad.
Cast of Characters:	Monica Chang, Alexander Aaron

---

Monica Chang has posed:
After the events at the Starport, things were slowly getting back to business as usual. Those injured were recovering. Those lost were mourned. The Starport was back in the hands of those who had created it to begin the process of repairs.

And Monica was in the lab. Burying herself in her work. For she was quite upset about it all. She had been there, on the carrier, fighting the good fight. She had come out with a few cuts and bruises but no major injuries. Most of her tech toys were destroyed and her pet project, HAL, needed some repairs but had performed well.

But they had still lost people. Good people. And Monica was taking that somewhat personally. As though she could've done more. Thus HAL was her priority now.

Currently the silver drone was hovering over her right shoulder as she typed on a screen, scrolling through lines of programming then looking up at the the machine.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    All roads lead to R&D.
    Ultimately. At least it seems that way. For most agents even in the far reaches of the Triskelion seem to be called upon to deliver support to the eggheads in some way or another. Sometimes it's due to the eclectic knowledge of many of SHIELD's recruits. Sometimes it's due to the wide backgrounds of the people that have trained there for often there are experts in so many fields doing duty across all callings in the federal agency.
    Today, however, Alexander Aaron was called away from his job of doing inventory...
    Because he was the one nearest to the supply depot and the required Russian Sokorsky Dinev 1/44th Corrugated Drill Winch that apparently was _super_ needed by the people in R&D.
    So he had gotten a break from inventory and was seen walking down the halls of the Triskelion. Wearing his black uniform and with that brown leather bomber jacket being the only thing giving him a splash of color, he made his way. And the whole time he was looking at the box, trying to figure out what exactly made this tool so important.
    The sliding doors parted leading into R&D and Monica heard his voice, "Hey. I have your... thing."

Monica Chang has posed:
"Thing?" Monica looks up from her programming, brow furrowed slightly as she tried to guess which thing this might be. When she saw the box, she rose to her feet to cross over. As soon as she rose, HAL lifted higher and backwards, so she wouldn't impact it in her movements.

"Oh! The winch! HAL, c'mere!" And she began opening the box. While Alexander held it. Instead of actually taking the box. The winch was lifted out and she held it up. "Sokorsky Dinev 1/44th Corrugated Drill Winch," she told Alexander as though that answered everything. From HAL came a brief beam of green light as it scanned over the winch but then it just hung there.

"I plan to add it to HAL. With the additional lift from the thruster improvements, he'll be able to actually lift a person or possibly two--weight limit of under 500 since he weighs 200 and I want to give a little space for more additions in the future."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Oh," Alexander's answer is succinct.
    His eyebrows are raised and he looks curious, then nods a little. "He has enough power to counter the mass differential? Hnh." He leans down to look closer at HAL, then straightens back up with his hands on his hips as he considers the situation before him.
    A slight smile touches his lips as he looks at Monica while she finagles with the drone and the equipment. A glance around the place and there isn't anyone else within earshot. Yet he keeps his voice lowered in any case.
    "So hey, how are you holding up? You were in the thick of it there for a while." Apparently he had heard or seen some of what she had to go through, though she might not be aware of what he was doing while the feces struck the air temperature regulation equipment.

Monica Chang has posed:
"I'm fine."

Too fast. Too sharp. Alexander knows Monica well enough at this point. They had become friends in the last few months. He was even one of her go-to teammates when she had down time and was gaming.

She popped open a panel on HAL and started to poke around inside. "Land over on the bench." The drone complied and she got to work on incorporating in the winch. Checking spacing, being sure she had her measurements right. Snug but it fit.

"I need to get HAL perfect. Then once I reach that point, we can produce a whole fleet of them. That way we can send them in, instead of people." And there it was. The reason she had been buried in the lab for a week. The reason she was acting like someone driven.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Never going to really reach that point, until well... we do." Alexander says that as he gives it some thought, a thought that starts out, then is mitigated as he recalls the various artificial intelligences he knows of. And some he has met.
    Yet he takes a few steps over and settles on one of the work benches under what looks like a raised automobile frame with vector thrusters instead of wheels. He rests a hand on one raised knee and tilts his head toward her. "You know some of the work you and the other R&D people did really helped a lot. You saved a good chunk of lives with some of the things you worked on."
    He turns his head, looking over a tray of obscure tools. Like a monkey before a monolith he casually pokes at that tray of equipment, and with just as much comprehension. Then he looks back at her and says in that too calm tone of his, "Don't think you should... worry that you added to your tally. One way or another."

Monica Chang has posed:
She remained focused on the work, refusing to allow herself to focus too much on the thoughts that wanted to run rampant. "Until we do." She repeated and gave a terse nod then pulled over a cable to run to HAL. A few quick keystrokes and she paused to watch as the information on the Winch was addded to the machine's database. Then it would be a matter of incorporating the controls and needed into that programming so the drone would be able to activate it.

At that point she would be waiting a few minutes so she leaned back against the edge of the workbench and eyed Alex after his last words. "My tally now is on the side of the good guys. So it doesn't matter like those of the past. Hell, it might've even balanced the scales but still. We...lost good people. I feel like I should've done more. Maybe been on the Starport itself? I don't know." She brushed a hand back through her dark hair, clearly a bit agitated. "If I had been there, then I wouldn't have been able to help on the ship."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    Alex pulls his leg up into his lap and leans against the large automobile frame, his head tilting to the side a little. Those pale hazel eyes watch her, and then he says... seemingly unrelated to everything...
    "You ever play an old game called Irritating Stick?" He waits, those eyes and that slight smile looking for her answer, and when she gives it he nods slowly.
    "It was this game on one of the early Playstations. The whole thing was about guiding this stick through a maze, and if you touched the sides it would go 'bzzzzt' and you'd lose and be dead. Apparently it was based on old Japanese games of chance ages ago. And if you actually touched the stick to the metal sides of the maze it would shock you."
    He nods slowly, "I sorta figure doing the whole... 'I could have done this, been here, done that.' imagining that a few small changes woulda made everything better is like that. Like you navigated this complex combat situation, and any number of times you coulda nudged your stick a little to the side and suddenly you woulda been bzzzted. You did your best, you got through, you survived."
    He gives a small shrug, "Highly unlikely there was a magical combination of events you coulda navigated to get one perfect outcome. I mean that sounds like something maybe Dr. Strange could manage. But us normal..." He then adds with a slight smile, "Normalish people. Not so much."

Monica Chang has posed:
That final did bring a slight smile to her face. "Ish." Since he was a demi-god and she was an artificially enhanced human. Hard to really call them normal.

"And you're right, of course. I think being a perfectionist is a dangerous thing and makes that tendency worse. I appreciate it and I know I did well. I mean, yes, obviously I'm still alive. I also helped save lives. Helped keep those scarab things from eating the ship out from under us and sinking her."

She gave another slight smile then moved to unplug the cable before moving over to the rolling chair. She sat, sliding over to in front of her terminal and tapping a few keys to see how everything was reading.

"How'd you get so smart about stuff like this? You're just a baby." Which is hilarious for her to call him, when she's barely older than him. At least it's hilarious to her. Probably not so much anyone else.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A small boneless shrug is given as he murmurs with a grin, "Munnono." Yet he makes a face as he looks away, eyes distancing as he considers, then he looks back at her. "I think it comes from... you know, I see things differently sometimes. Could be also that I'm a fatalist in some ways, since, well I've met them." Those darn Fates.
    "But really I'm just selfish. Since when you're being all down and grumpy you're much less fun." A single solid nod is given. "So really I'm doing this since when you're all introspective and mopey you get on my nerves." And as he says that last he casually throws one of the small joining bolts at her that he had scooped off that tray of tools and parts.
    A grin, a moment passes, then he adds. "You did good though. I mean. For a mortal." His lip twists.

Monica Chang has posed:
As that bolt came flying her way, she felt it thump against her shoulder because she was looking at the screen instead of at him. Thus Monica then spwn around to see what it was and found the bolt on the floor as it spun in a little circle. "Cute." The tone said it was not cute.

She put the bolt on her desk but stayed facing him instead of going back to her work for that instant. "Gee thanks. From a mere mortal." She added mere but it fit. "I'll get over it. I always do. But I guess I have been spending way too much time in here. I'm trying to get the AI for HAL up and running too." She gave a bright smile. "He's going to be epic when I'm done. When I get him to the testing point, come and interact with him a bit for me?" she asked.

Though she followed up with. "I should get out of this lab tonight. Care to meet up for some CSGo or COD? Y'know, if your girlfriend allows it."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "When you say interact with him a little bit, what you mean is let him shoot at me while I run away, right?" Alex crinkles his nose at her and slowly rolllls forward out of his seat, that languid lazy way he has of getting up. His lips curl into a smirk, "Sure, did you see the whole Counter-Strike Two thing that Valve is doing? Still can't count to three." A small nod is given solemnly, as if it were truly sad.
    He steps over to give her a pat on the shoulder as he looks at HAL one more time, then looks back at her. "And don't worry, she's very tolerant of the weird people in my life." A short nod is given as he turns, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he starts toward the door.
    "You bring the pizza, though." He calls out over his shoulder.

Monica Chang has posed:
"Well I wasn't planned on the shooting but now that you suggested it. I just meant chat with him." But he volunteered now and that was on him!

The weird comment got that bolt flung at his back which, should he turn around and look, would show she was sticking her tongue out at him. "You got it."

Then she turned back to her work.