All Under Control

Though she hasn't been confined to the lab and locked away yet, Nautica's in something of a cage nonetheless; Pharma's device ensures he can keep an eye on her, and though she's not tested the theory yet she suspects it can function as a leash as well. So her demeanor as she sits at her new workstation near the insecticon enclosures is, perhaps unsurprisingly, considerably more subdued -- and somewhat angrier -- than her usual. But while one screen displays her current theories on insecticon digestion, the other displays a scan of the unfamiliar device Pharma placed inside her. Nautica isn't even bothering to conceal what she's doing on the screen; she expects only Pharma will walk in, and surely the doctor has to expect her to study what has been done to her at his hands.

Oh, he walks in, all right. Pharma had expertly implanted that device he had been telling her all about just the other solar cycle. No use trying to hide it from someone like Nautica, after all, and besides he's rather proud of his work. Rather nice that she hadn't come to in the middle of the procedure, so he'd just taken the restraints off and left her in the seat in front of the workstation where she'd been before--almost as if nothing had happened.

He stands behind her, watching the scans she's running with a sense of admiration for a moment before speaking up. "Fabulous, isn't it?" he says with a mild, self-satisfied chuckle. "Now that you've gotten a chance to see it up close, I'm sure you can...appreciate why I was so excited about it earlier, hm?"

Brainstorm suddenly peers behind the both of them, staring at the screen. "HEY! WHAT'S EVERYONE LOOKING AT?" The turquoise scientist has returned, electricity-measuring intrument in hand again... and this time with even more strange and outlandish looking gadgets and doodads. If he notes the somber tone in the room, he doesn't say so.

"I'm sure you'll understand if my admiration for your work is diminished somewhat by what you've done with it," Nautica replies, turning from her workstation to regard the medic a bit sourly. "I'm guessing it has a few extra features beyond the obvious, too. Probably to keep me from just deciding to resign my position and not come back."

And then... sudden Brainstorm. Nautica clams up, looking over at the other scientist with a pensive expression. Perhaps wondering whether he's party to what Pharma's done to her -- or the study of suspected outliers -- or whether he's just oblivious to what's happening.

Pharma smirks at her sour demeanor. "You're a sharp one, that's for certain." he laughs, patting her on the back. "But of course if you -weren't- brilliant, you wouldn't even -be- here, now would you? Consider it a compliment. Not every bot is worthy of my time." He looks back to the scans of the device.

"You see, even if you're not constantly and consciously aware of everything that happens in your body, your brain module has to have ways of subconsciously knowing what's going on at any given time, right? So it has to have some kind of surveillance center, if you will, something that receives signals coming from the -rest- of you and relays them to the parts that decide how to respond to them, if a response is warranted. Direct interface with that and you can see -everything-! You so much as cycle new -air- through your vent systems and I'll know. Oh, oh and you were right about extra features, not only can I monitor all your brainwaves, see everything you see, and hear everything you hear, but if you try anything funny, it has a small bit of a simple power cell that can self-overload and effectively fry the fragile circuitry in your neural cortex! It's magnficent, really. At least to me. Maybe for a polymath like you it sounds like maintenance work, but hey, not -everyone- is a genius on such an incredible level as yourself."

And then Brainstorm shows up. Pharma immediately scowls, sighing. "Brainstorm, I -told- you not to come down here unless I specifically requested your presence. You fail to comply again and you're going to -regret- it."

Brainstorm did see those scans, briefly...but if the mech HAS registered all this, it's not immediately apparent. Pharma's threat only gets a gleeful-looking expression (what's visable of it, at least) as he reaches over to pat the medic's shoulder.

"Awww, Pharma, you get on the wrong side of the recharge chamber again? I've got an experimental mood enhancer you could try... it lights up the room with bright, cheery colors and various soothing sounds to soothe the spark. You should try it. It might help! Just don't leave it on the "cozy fireplace" setting... it keeps /actually/ catching fire and I haven't been able to figure out why."

He chuckles to himself as he proceeds to walk over to Shrapnel's cage. "Hey, nautica, how's it going? I haven't seen you in awhile!"

The Camien stares at her former research supervisor, as if not certain why exactly he would ask that in light of the conversation. "How's it... I don't even know how to respond to that, Brainstorm. Were you /listening/?"

Turning to Pharma, Nautica folds her arms in front of her, optics narrowed. "I figured as much. So, is that how things are now? I stay in line, let you... /experiment/ on me, test your pet theories, and don't say a word about it to anyone else? And if I step out of line or don't compley, you blow my neural cortex? If you really believe I'm capable of so much, don't you think I'll find a way to remove it?"

"Oh, maybe you will." Pharma grins. "Honestly I'll be impressed if you do, but since I can see everything you're doing and saying as well as everything that's going on in your systems--whether you're excited or nervous or tired or whatever it may be, I should think that it wouldn't take a polymath to figure out that -anyone- would be hard-pressed to execute such a plan without getting her neural circuitry destroyed..." he shakes his head. "Tch, but that would be such a shame, wouldn't it? Such a brilliant, unique mind--I would -hate- for it to go to waste, wouldn't you Brainstorm?" He asks, suddenly turning to the engineer, while ignoring all of his other questions and suggestions.

"So can I count on you not to make that necessary, Nautica?"

Brainstorm leans down as he works some controls of the Electrometer, the guages and readings already starting to crackle and buzz. He seems quite intent on his work, finally pausing only to look up almost absent-mindedly. "Hmm? Oh, sorry, wasn't really paying attention. I've got a theory I simply \*MUST\* test out! See, if I can fine-tune the state of flux and cross-compute that with synchroscope, I might even get a higher productivity in the battery charges I'm trying to produce..."

He sounds quite excited about his work, and fairly oblivious to what's going on nearby. He does look up briefly again as Pharma calls his name. "Huh? Oh, yeah, sure... no waste. Nah, everything has a place." The last bit is almost mumbled as he goes back to work.

"Exactly, Brainstorm!" Pharma smiles. "Everything has a place, especially live specimens, yes? See, even your coworkers agree--can't argue with that, now can you."

The look Nautica gives Brainstorm is one of... disappointment? Betrayal? Sadness? Perhaps some mix of all three. After all, she can understand being caught up in one's work, but there are limits. So she turns her attention back to Pharma; at least she has no illusions about where she stands with him. "And what, my place is here? As your guinea pig? Destined to be taken apart, for my brain module to end up on that conveyer belt out there?" She turns to look at the scan results of the module that was implanted into her, and then adds, "I promise you that I won't try anything until I'm certain it will succeed." Apparently that's all the concession he's getting.

"Maybe." Pharma shrugs. "It all depends on you, of course. If you seem to be more useful in one piece than in many, then I'll probably -keep- you in one piece. But if you're difficult--you know, keep trying to escape, or are repeatedly unreliable or defiant, refusing to do as you're told, then I may decide your brain is more useful on the conveyor belt, yes. Really quite simple."

Brainstorm mumbles at Pharma, "Yeah!" and continues working on his Electrometer. There's a slight \*buzz\* and the scientist jerks up with a "Slag!" as some blue electricity arcs across the frame. He baps it with his hand impatiently, "Geez- acting up again." Energy radiates from the device.

"And what, exactly, do I have to do to be 'useful'?" Nautica asks, still clearly not pleased with the situation as she shoots another glance at Brainstorm. Then again, can you blame her? "Just sit down here, and help with the studies on the insecticons? And... for the love of Primus, Brainstorm, is that thing about to overload /again/?"

"Excellent, I was hoping you'd ask." Pharma grins. "Well, you can start by off by finding a way to make the Insecticons' energy conversion systems work -outside- of in vivo conditions. That would certainly be a -step- in the right direction!" He pats Nautica on the shoulder again. "I know you can do it."

And then Brainstorm's equipment starts malfunctioning. "Brainstorm, I swear to Primus, get your malfunctioning heap of slag out of here before I amputate your arms and weld them to your aft. These specimens are extremely valuable."

Not long ago, Nautica would have taken Pharma's threat as rhetorical. That time is past; the look she gives him suggests she genuinely believes the doctor might carry that threat out. But rather than reply, she makes her way over to Brainstorm's side. He may not have kept faith with her, but at least he's also not the one who cut her open and put a device in to, effectively, enslave her. "I'm certain the problem you have is in the power regulator; it's not balancing the input and output halves of the system well. The energy levels you're dealing with from Shrapnel are too high for the circuit." Apparently she knows the insecticon's name now.

Brainstorm looks over at Pharma. "But I've GOT THIS! Don't WORRY!" He tries to give a thumbs-up... just as the device starts humming. Brainstorm blinks and looks down at the Electrometer. "Uh....I don't think it's supposed to do that." He stares at it a moment longer, then taps his chin thoughtfully. "Y'know, one of these days I should make myself an early warning device just for such occasions..."

The humming gets worse, and before Pharma can protest again the scientist reluctantly picks the device up with a siiiigh. "\*Fiiine\*. Interrupt my experiment. Interfere with the pursuit of new knowledge and the betterment of mechkind. SEE IF I CARE." He puts his nose in the air and begins stepping forward. Nautica approaches and tries to help... but that's about the point when is when the humming reaches a crescendo pitch. Brainstorm stops and his yellow optics widen. "Uh oh. Uh... I think it's too late, Nautica. But... thanks. Also- run for your life."

But it IS too late. Just at that moment, it appears the Electrometer has reached its limit. There's a massive release of energy- and it shoots across the room, striking not only Brainstorm but heading right towards Nautica and Pharma as well!

/PURELY/ coincidentally, a massive charge like that... could \*potentially\* interfere with delicate microchips implanted inside someone's cerebro-cortex....

Oh, Brainstorm. He knows that if he subtly tries to destroy Pharma's work, the doctor will just have to cut Nautica's head open -again- to repair it, right? Once he manages to recover from the shock, he checks a datapad just to be sure, but he's pretty certain the 'mishap' would have had to fry Nautica if it fried his work.

Fuming, he storms over to the engineer. "Get. Out. -Now-." And he means it. The Camien's speculations that he might have actually been serious about amputating Brainstorm's arms may or may not be accurate...

Luckily for Nautica, she is not fried by the blast. The chip is, however, not in completely pristine state at the moment either; it's definitely shorted slightly out, as it gives Nautica several short, painful jolts. "Brainstorm! I don't... think he's actually... joking. He'll... experiment on you...!"

Brainstorm's optics continue to stare wide-eyed at the two as he staggers around, smoke coming from some seams and servos now. "Ow.." He tries to shake it off, then plays hot potato with the still sizzling device. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He finally seems to get a grip, still moving the Eletrometer from one hand to the other as he steps back from the snarling Pharma. "I...I was just..." As it goes back to one hand, there's another short static burst. He grabs it, and the guages and scanners seem to activate as he whirls around the room, stopping as Nautica speaks.

He stands there, looking at her while those scanners read- is it her? He doesn't stand there long though. "I...uh... yeah, fine. Ok, I have things to do anyway, but come see me sometime OK? It was good to see ya!" He gives her a glance that's just a little \*longer\* than usual, then his obblivious demeanor returns and he starts waltzing out of the room, seeming to grin at Pharma as he goes....

Pharma glares at Brainstorm's back as he leaves, then shuts and locks the door behind him. Locks, as in locks Brainstorm's access codes OUT. And now, as for Nautica. "Guess the Insecticon project will have to wait just a bit longer," he says, his face calming as he again takes out the TechVolt. "But only a little bit. As soon as I repair the damage that idiot just did." ZAP.

Nautica braces herself against the damnable chair with the restraints, waiting for the chip to stabilize and stop jolting her. This job -- this investigation -- has not gone the way she would have liked, to put it mildly. She raises a hand as if to stave off Pharma, starting in with "You don't need..."

But then she's down, stasis-locked again. This is getting to be a bad habit, Nautica.