View source for 7941/GIRL: Meet Q.U.I.N.N.

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2021/09/23
|Location=GIRL HQ, Pym Technologies Campus
|Synopsis=Avengers Assemble, but GIRL Gathers. This time to meet Quinn a new Quantum artificial intelligence. But that's just the tip of the iceberg as Kara reveals the truth about the Phantom Zone and the start of a new adventure for our heroines!
|Cast of Characters=1598,613,2552,321,40,186
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Other than dealing with the continuing threat of NOWHERE and working on the secret spaceship, it has been some time since a general meeting of GIRL has been called simply for things like fun and SCIENCE! That is until the notice went out that Nadia had something she wanted to show everyone or rather someone she wanted to introduce them to. The wording was really quite odd and knowing the eccentricities of many of GIRL's members, literally anything is possible.<br><br>The main meeting room with its large round meeting table emblazoned with the GIRL logo has been decked out more for a party than a science presentation. The meeting table is laden with a variety of snacks and beverages. Streamers and other decor hang from some of the monitors around the room. Really, it is pretty obvious this is a lab run by teenagers.<br><br>As the other girls arrive, Nadia is sitting in her favorite chair at the large meeting table hunched over a tablet. "No, they're going to love you!" And apparently talking to it. "Shh they're here!" Her head snaps up with her usual bright smile at the sound of footsteps. "Hi, everyone! Thanks for coming! There's snacks!" Of course there's snacks, there are always snacks.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:613|Vivian Vision (613)}} has posed:'''<br>One of the main reasons GIRL is always well stocked with snacks, aside from Caitlin visiting, is that Vivian Vision is often engaged in culinary research as part of her mission to understand humanity. And how better to do that than make things for the humans she knows to eat? <br><br> Today she's arrived prepared for a gathering. Which is to say armed with a basket of snacks. Today it's home made croissants fresh from the oven. Filling the air with the smell of buttery pastry. <br><br> "Good day Great Aunt Nadia," she says as she enters. "I trust that you have been well following your return from your recent adventures?" Alas school has taken up a lot of Vivs 'in person' time recently. Keeping her from GIRL, well as much as it's possible to keep someone away when she can uplink to the computer system from almost anywhere in the world!<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2552|Irie West (2552)}} has posed:'''<br>One of the main reasons GIRL is always well stocked with snacks is because a certain speedster always swings by to eat them. Now that she actually has a /reason/ to swing by, Irie appears in the main room with a whoosh and a blur of red and yellow. <br><br>"Hi Viv! Hi Nadia!" Irie calls out enthusiastically. "Ooh! Fresh croissants!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:321|Kaida Connolly (321)}} has posed:'''<br>"And behold!" Kaida declares as she races in and leaps up on to the table with a little spin and a flourish of a long red scarf which she allows to flip and flop behind her, "I am here!" She grins and puts her hands on her hips before she bounces from foot to foot and grins, "And there's snacks and soon I'll be going to the Themysciran Embassy to get a thing and I'll have had a meeting with GIRL and everything is awesome today!" Kaida spins around again and zips up to in front of Nadia and points at her.<br><br>"Everything is awesome!" She then zips back over to her seat but in the process she grabs several items of food along the way and settles in as she hums the 'Everything is Awesome' song to herself.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:40|Gwen Stacy (40)}} has posed:'''<br>Having gotten the call for the GIRL meet Gwen was certain to be there, no matter how much last few nights had been sleepless. It's visible on the blonde's blue eyes that kind of tiredness of nights without sleeping well. Perhaps due to her father having been shot? Most likely. But she's here, even if she may not be in the most festive of moods!<br><br>She arrives wearing jeans and a hoodie. All rather simple clothing, hands in her pockets and nearing the 'gang'. A smile crops up to her features. "Hey hey.." <br><br>And not having realized she was as hungry as she is now one hand is already reaching out for a snack. Nom!<br><br>She settles down close to the others. "So, what's the big occasion?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>Viv isn't the only one who's on a time crunch. Between school, internship at the Planet, her responsibilities as Supergirl, and her duties as a Titan, Kara hasn't had as much time for GIRL as she first thought she might. But, the Maid of Might does indeed show up to the meeting, taking time to change into her 'civvies' before walking in. "Hello!" she says with a freindly wave. And she heads straight for the snacks to get a few/ *sniff *sniff* Kara leans towards the synthezoid girl; more specifically, the basket Viv is carrying. "Have you been baking, Viv?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Nadia stands up and looks around the table grinning at her friends. "Some of you will remember how we started in some old mothballed labs of the main PymTech building. But you might not know their history." She pauses for a moment before continuing. "The reason those labs were mothballed is because they were originally Pym Technologies' AI department. They were shut down and sitting vacant because they're the labs where my father created Ultron." She reaches down for a cup and takes a drink of juice while that revelation sinks in.<br><br>"Ultron may be the worst kind of bratty kid brother, he just tried to kill me not long ago. Don't worry it's fine, the Avengers drove him off again. But SCIENCE! isn't good or bad on its own, its how we use it and the results it achieves. After climbing the worst flight of stairs ever recently, seriously they were so mean. I got to thinking about what I want to do, really /want/ to do and I decided one of those things was to try and redeem the legacy of this lab, the lab we grew out of.<br><br>Nadia looks around at everyone again gauging reactions before she presses onward. "SO, there's someone I want you to meet. I helped her come into existence, though she has mostly created herself to be who she wants to be. She chose to be she. Quinn began as an advanced Quantum Computer, able to make non-binary choices." She pauses making a face, "The technical explanation doesn't remotely do her justice, everyone meet Quinn!"<br><br>No sooner has Nadia said that the 3D holographic projection display in the center of the table flickers to life creating the image of an idealized young woman. Quinn appears like a teenager with shoulder length red hair and freckles dressed like someone fed her the Van Dyne fashion catalogue with accents of Vivian Westwood, more than likely her creator's influence. <span style="color:xterm13">"Hi, everyone!"</span> Quinn chirps cheerfully, seemingly fully emotion capable, nothing stilted or stiff about her at all. A perfect quantum digital 'human' intelligence. <span style="color:xterm13"><span style="color:xterm13">"Nice to meet you!"</span></span><br> <br>

:'''{{#var:613|Vivian Vision (613)}} has posed:'''<br>Vivian Vision nods and holds the basket out to each GIRL member in turn. "Some contain a savory cheese filling and some are plain," she explains cheerfully. "I thought that Great Aunt Nadia would likely have taken care of the sweet snacks." <br><br> She glances over at Caitlin and mock pouts. "I already have my own culinery lab within the GIRL campus!" Which is true. Even if some of the kitchen equipment was donated by Hank Pym and would probably be better employed in a high energy physics lab... "The purpose is also less about the baking itself and more about understanding how humans react to various foods in both a cultural and social sense." <br><br> Besides Caitlins kitchen is all the way over in Titans Tower.. <br><br> When Nadia makes her big reveal she gasps with shock. "Oh Great Aunt Nadia you should have told us! We could have prepared a baby shower and suitable gifts for the new addition to the family..." She adds in an electronic greeting 'handshake' broadcast on various shortwave channels for the benefit of Quinn.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2552|Irie West (2552)}} has posed:'''<br>Irie ends up waving enthusiastically and greeting everybody individually as they come in. "Hi Kaida! Hi new girl I haven't seen before! Hi Kara! Hi Caitlyn! Mmm. These croissants are really good! Almost as good as Caitlyns!" They must be good because Irie is on her second one now. <br><br>She settles down once Nadia starts her speech, silently chewing on a cookie. Probably her second one of those as well. When Quinn introduces herself she gasps and points. "She made herself look like /me!/. Cool! Hi Quinn!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:321|Kaida Connolly (321)}} has posed:'''<br>"Oh! Hey! Kara, Cait!" She then smiles and waves, "Hi, Irie!" Kaida is happy to see a lot of people but then she blinks and disappears in a blur to leap around Q.U.I.N.N. with a smile as she looks her over and then she hear's Irie's statement and she rushes around the room seeming to get angles on both for a moment before stopping by the hologram and tapping her foot rather fast and nodding her head.<br><br>"There are similarities!" She then looks over at Nadia and then at the new arrival and then she spins back to her seat and settles in, "I am happy to see a new person!" She nods her head and then consumes more food, "Especially one that doesn't eat which means mroe food for me!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>Kara manages to rescue a crissant before Irie gets to them, then takes a seat at the table before the presentation. "Not to steal your thunder, Nadia, but I have something I'd like to propose after you're all don. Is that okay?" And then, she stays queit for the announcement.<br><br>A new AI. Kara really doesn'tmind so much, but the talk about Ultron and 'redeem the legacy' does have her concerned. "That's amazing, Nadia," she says while thinking of a way to broach the subject. "And a pleasure to meet you, Quinn." She's genuinely enthused to meat the digital intelligence, but does ask Nadia..."So, is her code from scratch or..." She just leaves that question hanging.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Nadia blinks several times at Vivian, "A what? I don't think she needs a shower, she can't really get dirty." Nadia seems clearly confused by the idea of a Baby Shower but then she still doesn't really even understand dating either. She looks between Quinn and Irie, "You know I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right she does look a lot like you." Nadia grins. "Maybe you're secretly part of our crazy extended family too Irie!"<br><br><span style="color:xterm13">"You were right Nadia. They are all very nice. I am relieved."</span> While she is fully emotive and expressive there is little to no sense of holding anything back or guile to Quinn. Vivian's hardware greeting is also returned in a friendly manner.<br><br>"See?! I told you! They're great!" Nadia grins at Quinn. "Quinn is going to be helping us out around GIRL as she gets used to meeting new people. I'm sure she and Viv will have a lot to talk about but I encourage everyone to get to know her."<br><br>Nadia shakes her head at Kara, "Don't worry, Ultron's code isn't compatible with quantum computing architecture. The technology hadn't been realized yet when Dad made him."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:613|Vivian Vision (613)}} has posed:'''<br>Vivian Vision sighs. "No no a baby shower is a type of party to... well it's about welcoming a new baby," she explains. "I will email you some reference material to explain it better." The basket of croissants gets placed on the table to make it easier for Irie and Kaida to reach. "I could have prepared some data files to help with understanding the world. Music, films and other key cultural references like popular television shows." <br><br> She gives Quinn a smile. "That is of course providing you would like to receive such files?" <br><br> "I hope everyone has been doing well? It's been too long since we could arrange a gathering of GIRL members." Her head tilts to one side. "Personally things have been good for me. I have been attending a lot of school functions and experiencing a 'normal' student life."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>Kara looks more releaved at the explanation from Nadia. "Just making sure that the past doesn't repeat itself." She looks over to the synthezoid. "Vivian is wonderful and my firend, but I'm just not eager to find out if she's an outlier or something like that." She sighs, afraid she's being more insulting than friendly to the artificial persons. "At any rate, like I said, I'm happy to meet you, Quinn. And I look forward to getting to know you better and wrking on projects with you." Because, SCIENCE!<br><br>Kara looks back at Vivian. "I've been pretty busy myself, so don't worry about not being here 24/7 or anything. Nadia hasn't kicked us out for idling, yet." She laughs a bit and then gets a worried look at Nadia. "You're not going to kick us out for idling, right?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2552|Irie West (2552)}} has posed:'''<br>"It wouldn't surprise me," Irie says to Nadia, grinning. "Oh! Maybe we can give Quinn all the information we have on the Speed Force and relativity and see if we can figure out how to get me back home!" She's moved on from the cookies and now has a huge handful of popcorn that she's chowing down on. "Maybe she can help us solve what's happening that causes my age hiccoughs, too!"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:321|Kaida Connolly (321)}} has posed:'''<br>Smiling at how everything is going, Kaida retrieves herself a croissant and then settles in. She happily chows down, nose twitching and ears flicking here and there as she listens, nose sniffing. She's a sensory machine and then considers, "Honestly, we do a lot of computer and tech stuff here. I really need to get in on more of the biological and chemical stuff." Kaida nods her head, "I just don't get enough of it going." SHe chuckles and nods her head before settling in to chow down and let the others talk.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Nadia nods slowly at Vivians suggestion. Showering babies still sounds rather odd to her. "Sure, social traditions are always really weird and interesting."<br><br>She then grins at Kara, "I maybe a bit reckless at times, but I'm not going to clone my younger brother, he's pretty well and truly insane. Did I mention he tried to kill me recently? Natasha was there." She glances around to see if the head of security might be lurking about as she is prone to do, but in the end gives a little shrug. "Quinn though, she is amazing." Nadia smiles up at Quinn standing in the center of the table. "We've been taking her introduction to the wider world slowly, but she has developed the vast majority of what makes up her mind herself, growing just like we do."<br><br>Nadia's expression turns to delight at Irie's suggestion, "That is a great idea! I'm sure it would be really interesting for Quinn."<br><br><span style="color:xterm13">"What is a Speed Force?"</span><br><br>"Honestly I'm still trying to figure that out, but Irie uses it and it's really neat, you'll love it!"<br><br><span style="color:xterm13">"Alright, I am game to try. And I would love to see your files, thank you Vivian."</span><br><br>At the suggestion that Nadia might kick them out for lack of experiments and idleness, "Well..." She says leaving a long pause for dramatic effect. "No, things wouldn't be nearly as fun without you both." She grins.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:613|Vivian Vision (613)}} has posed:'''<br>"I will have to make additional updates to my firewalls if my Grandfather is around again," Vivian muses, mostly to herself, before nodding to Nadia. "You'll find an email summary in your inbox." She gives Kara a grin. "Oh just because I have not been physically around it does not mean I have not been involved in GIRL work. I've still been remotely working on my contributions to the spaceship project." <br><br> A portion of her mind begins putting together a suitable introduction package for Quinn. "I shall contact you shortly once that's complete," she assures the holographic avatar of Quinn. "I'll try not to include an excess of files to begin with. Just a few hundred hours of media to begin along with a few thousand books and a selection of art."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2552|Irie West (2552)}} has posed:'''<br>Irie gives Quinn a chuckle, "Nobody really knows! Maybe you can help us figure it out. I can tell a bit about what it does, and a little bit about how it works, and that I'm a conduit for it, and that it breaks relativity." She shakes her head, already some more food having materialized in her hands. "It's also doing something to me biologically that we should figure out, too, because at this rate I'll die of old age by the time I'm 23."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>Kara smiles at Viv, nodding. "I'll catch up on the spaceship project and give my input," she says. She then smiles to Nadia and looks at Quinn's projection. "I can also get a basic 'Kryptonian' package ready for Quinn to review. Not everything, of course. Just the stuff that Kal and I think Earth is ready for. Speaking of which..."<br><br>Kara takes a deep breath. "I've been thinking alot about that, recently. Kyrptonian sceince that Earth is ready fo. And Earth has dicovered the technology of dimensional portals for travel. Maybe not perfected, but all the basics were learned by human scientists on their own. So I'm comfortable with this." Another deep breath. "As some of you know, Kryptoinians used a parallel dimention we called the 'Phantom Zone' as a prison for our worst criminals. An alternative to the death penalty that we thought was a more humane punishment." She shakes her head. "I'm not going to argue the ethics of death versus eternal banishment; because it's beyond me. Anyways, a while ago, I discovered that thre we're survivors of Krypton, beyond the prisoners, who escaped to the Phantom Zone. We, that is, the Titans, are starting to research and build a Phantom Zone projector. But I'd like to propose it as a project for GIRL." Kara looks around the table, hopefully.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Nadia turns to look at Kara, it's the first she's heard of this particular project, but she is clearly intrigued. "I don't think it ever came up," It's amazing what Nadia forgets to bring up sometimes. "But early last year my father cracked dimensional travel by applying similar concepts to venturing into the microverse to pentrating the Spacewall in macrospace to reach parallel dimensions. I then had to reverse engineer it and rescue him with the help of the Avengers after he got himself trapped in another dimension by an alternate version of himself that had fused with Ultron. It was ...pretty bad. Anyway this sounds a lot like that, like a lot a lot and I'd be happy to help you reconstruct this device." She pauses and looks around, "And I'm sure everyone else would, too. Val can probably pull some data from the Fantastic Four database, I think her Dad cracked the basics of dimensional travel even before my Dad. Don't mention that in front of my Dad though he gets ...upset. Why are Dads so competitive? Anyway, let's do it! If there's any chance to bring back survivors, we have to try!"<br><br>Quinn nods several times as she listens to Irie outline each thing in turn. <span style="color:xterm13">"That all sounds very fascinating! Yes, we should definitely prevent you from dying, that would be terrible!</span> The holographic image smiles at Vivian. <span style="color:xterm13">"Thank you! It is much appreciated."</span><br> <br>

:'''{{#var:613|Vivian Vision (613)}} has posed:'''<br>Vivian Vision nods at Kara. "As both a Titan and a member of GIRL I'd be happy to help however I can," she promises. "Although I'll have to fit things in around my school schedule. Still even then I can remotely work on any math problems you need solving." <br><br> She returns the smile to Quinn. Already working on the very tough decisions for what the best sample of Human culture would be. <br><br> "Death and eternal banishment do however /both/ seem a bit extreme. But then I guess there are not many alternatives for an entity as powerful as a Kryptonian. Let alone one intent on causing people harm... And solutions such as depowering them would likely be just as unethical."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:2552|Irie West (2552)}} has posed:'''<br>"Ooh, that's cool!" Irie tells Kara. "I haven't hopped dimensions yet." She shakes her head, "I'm not a scientist. Not yet. I've read up on a lot of stuff, though, but I'm not a genius like Nadia and the other girls here are." She doesn't look down about it or anything. "But I'm handy to have around and I like hanging with you all, so it's cool."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>"It's...not as simple as that, Vivian," Kara says. "We didn't have the same powers on Krypton as we do on Earth." She doesn't quite elaborate on that. Yet. "I mean, I broke my arm when I was 10, before I was sent to Earth. The Phantom Zone prison was strictly to avoid the death penalty for extreme criminal cases." She swallows and prepares her self for speaking about the dark side of Krypton's history. "Serieal killers. Illegal expermientation on people. Horrible things. Off the top of my head, maybe about 100 in the history of Krypton were sentenced to the Phantom Zone. Maybe more. It's an eternal prison whith nothing living there. Nothing to harm or kill. But you never aged, never had to eat, drink, or breathe. You just...existed." She shudders and hugs herself. "That was considered more human than execution. A living death compared to an actual death." <br><br>She sighs and looks up. "That's why we're needing to do this with caution. Imagin is some of the worst criminals in Earth's history could arrive here, today. And suddenly had the powers of a Kryptonian. There are innocent people, refugees that need to be rescued. But there's also the chance we bring in unimaginable terrors."<br><br>Suddenly, Kara looks small and kelpless. Certainly not a woman who can lift an ocean liner out of te sea.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Nadia actually shudders, though death and its meaning and implications is something she had to come to terms with just recently on the Titans journey through the underworld and it did not leave her unchanged. "That... that sounds terrible. Just a slow drift deeper and deeper into insanity." But she pushes the feeling aside. "If there are survivors who shouldn't even be there we can't leave them there, we can't!" In the back of her mind she's wondering if /anyone/ should be made to endure that for eternity but for now it is best to focus on the innocents who should definitely be rescued.<br><br>Nadia steps forward and puts a hand on Kara's shoulder. "Every planet has its share of terrible people. I was raised by one of them for most of my life. But its not everyone and its not the fault of the others. The past doesn't define us, it is our decisions now which shape the future. So let's help those people!"<br><br>She grins at Irie, "Scientists come in many forms and so does genius, genius isn't really even required. If you love SCIENCE! this is where you belong."<br><br>For her part Quinn is just listening quietly now, not having anything to add to the new discussion, for the moment at least.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>"It's something...something I need to discuss with Kal," Kara says. "You're absolutely right. But I'm not willing to endanger Earth. Not even to save my people. we need to be cautious. We need to make sure Earth is ready to deal with this kind of refugee influx...." Kara sighs and slumps in her chair, feeling the weight of this decision.<br><br>Suddenly, she bolts upright. "Spaceship!" she cries out. "That's it! The spaceship project!" She starts laughing and is back to normal Kara happiness. "We can build and test the projector here...but we don't have to open the portal to free everyone, here!" She turns to the hologram of the new 'girl'. "Quinn...can you access data on extra terrestrial systems? What ever Earth knows about systems outside of it's own..."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:1598|Nadia Pym-van Dyne (1598)}} has posed:'''<br>Nadia nods her head, sitting on the edge of the table and tossing a piece of chocolate into her mouth. "Of course, Kara. Whatever you feel is right. I mean there is plenty of technology I don't even release to the rest of Earth. It really is hard to know what people are ready for." She grins from ear to ear when Kara brings up the spaceship project. "I mean yeah, that's why we starteed building it. Well not literally, it was to help a girl named Mori, it's a long story, but yes to help solve problems IN SPACE!"<br><br><span style="color:xterm13">"The GIRL databases have all of the star charts NASA has mapped, a number of Interlac and Kree star charts that Nadia acquired from Carol Danvers, and data from the Fantastic Four servers courtesy of Valeria."</span> Replies Quinn to Kara's query.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:186|Kara Danvers (186)}} has posed:'''<br>Kara nods at the report from Quinn. "Can you start compiling a report? All systems that are uninhabited by sentient life, but are still Earth habitable and standard Earth gravity. No sources of Kryptonite or associated radiation. Tectoniclly stable. Star past it's yellow stage; preferably early in the red giant stage." <br><br>Kara smiles at Nadia. "There's a new Krypton out there. And we're going to find it."<br> <br>
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