Around the table, none had really been prepared for her less-than-professional wordings. Troy’s mind stood still, for the longest of times. Trying to process such a reality-shattering concept was not an easy feat. For long, he had thought himself knowledgeable about the world. Sure, he didn't know everything, but most things revealed weren't too surprising to hear. With the right gear, most stuff was possible. The 'Bender` had been one of the surprising things, but it hadn't shaken him too deeply. After getting it explained to him, with a general concept of, how it worked, his mind had relaxed. But… this? Troy would never fully grasp the sheer possibility of it.
Dr Hale, watching animatedly as Charlie threw a fork across the table, was looking confused. The doctor, who may have had an outburst or two, showing herself capable of emotion, was confused. He couldn't believe it. Angry was something everybody felt. Irritation wasn't anything, that could be stopped. Happiness? Sure, it was possible. Troy was decently sure, that she could be happy when drunk, at the very least. But, to be confused, was a marvel, he would never think himself able to witness.
For every second, that Troy had been around her, Dr Hale had always shown herself as a knowledgeable figure. Just because she couldn't tell you, did not mean she didn't know it. If even she, one of the most intelligent people here, could be confused, what did that mean for Troy?
Skirting around the weirdly specific existential crisis, which he was having, Dr Hale had gotten herself ahold of one of the forks. The curve it got, when getting nearer to the 'Bender`, had given it the force needed, to propel itself in the direction of her. Which was great, seeing as it could have hit the still-frozen Troy.
The fork itself was closely overlooked, Dr Hale checking every detail about it. On the sharper end, she even slightly bent it, as if to see what it was made of.
"This isn't some of the rarer metals, which we have stored in the forge", Dr Hale stated, as an observation. Her entire focus had shifted from the device, over to the cutlery used to show off the effects. Troy had done so himself, not too long ago, so he felt a small bit of agreement in her actions.
"Quite right. Good old stainless steel, for what I know about it. The details of cutlery aren't my expertise, though, so there is no need to quote me on that subject", Charlie confirmed, the smugness nearly radiating off of him. While he had gotten a smaller bit of real emotion out, when Dr Hale had been mildly vulgar, in her words, quick thinking had put him back on track.
Even if his superior smugness was fabricated, though, Darlow seemed to be loving it. The grin on his face never wavered, as if there was some inside joke about the whole thing. Which there most likely was, to be honest. Troy needed to get himself into those info-circles, if he was going to have any chance, if finding anything said funny. Nowadays, if it wasn't restricted to the group-members, there wasn't any humour in it. One needed a larger concept of the inner working of the group, and the members along with it, if one was to grasp even the simplest of jabs. It needed time, to fully be cultivated, but Troy knew that, if he kept at it, for long enough, the results would show themselves. He hadn't even been working here for that long, so not getting the jokes yet were to be expected. Yet, such a standard wouldn't be held for long. Attention was needed if he was to be ahead of the curve. Time was needed, but the focus was the real modifier.
Dr Hale looked at the fork in her hand for a few more seconds, before delicately putting it on the table. After doing so, she had the unexpected development of going under the table. While Troy did stop himself from going under it, with her, he did hear some very distinguishable knocking sounds. He had to be honest here, when he said, that he had no legitimate idea of, what she was doing.
"If you don't mind me asking", Charlie began, looking more amused than confused. "What on earth are you doing down there? If not from some very obvious hints, I would be utterly flabbergasted about your true intentions."
There were no pauses, in the continued knocks. Systematically, she had been going around the perimeter of, where the 'Bender` stood. It was like she was trying to find a hollow point if Troy’s guesses were correct. Not too bad of an idea. And, it would definitely explain how it worked.
"Trying to find out how your device works", Dr Hale answered, when she finally got herself up on the bench again, taking a few mouthfuls of food. While finding the true nature of the device was obviously important, not eating at all was a mistake few would ever make twice. Except for Troy of course, who had no trouble in forgetting those details.
"You can always ask, you know", Charlie pointed out.
"And, you will mislead me, with your words. Taking anything you say, at face value, is one of the few recipes for unrestrained chaos. Nobody will forget your instructions on how to control nuclear fission," Dr Hale pointed right back.
She had picked the fork back up and was slowly sweeping it across the table. Again, she likely hadn't given up on the idea, of something else manipulating its course. By moving it across the potential hiding places, she would be able to accurately pinpoint the true locations, of her target.
There was a certain idea of simply moving the device, and seeing if the results were the same, but Troy didn't doubt it would come to such a state. The fork, which she had been using showed no signs of unnatural movement on the larger part of the surface area. It was only when it moved towards the 'Bender`, that it showed anything of importance.
No, wait, he saw that wrongly. It didn't always react or do something otherwise unexpected. When Dr Hale moved the fork towards the device at a higher speed, Troy was able to see it press into her skin, desperately trying to change its velocity to the sides. But, when she glided it carefully by, nearly nothing came about. Sure, it moved, but, if that was due to shaky hands, or if it was due to outside interference, one couldn't be sure. From the sound, though, she had likely made a few estimates at its mechanics.
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"Touche. Fair point, for a fair deal," Charlie amended, before his face shifted into that of wisenheimer himself. "But, if I am not mistaken, even my false words of its nature would still help you. One step into eliminating one possibility. It might take a little effort, but that is what progress takes."
Dr Hale put down the fork yet again, putting her elbows down on the table. Nothing was hidden at this point, about her curiosity. Something was not working the way she thought, and she wanted to know why. If that took some complacency, Dr Hale looked more than happy to accept it.
"Talk. And do it quickly," she quite clearly commanded. Not a request, but a full-on demand. Troy was right back to normal, after hearing such a commanding tone. At least, he knew that she hadn't changed her personality by any small bit. If she could talk like that, there wasn't anything different about her.
Charlie was more than happy to do so, even clearing his throat to prepare. Or, as was more likely, he was doing it for dramatic effect. WIth how pointless his earlier actions may have been, Troy didn't think anything of it.
"Have you ever heard of magnets? Who am I kidding, of course, you haven't! But, I'm not going to explain that particular facet of worthwhile science, so lets you say they both attract and repel various materials. Simple", Charlie began it off with. He wasn't even being shy in being a complete dingus. And, nobody likely blamed him for it, as he gave the device on the table a good slap on the top. If it wasn't clearly made of sturdy design, some would have been frightened by it. Yet, it was the byproduct, of having a mad scientist around, so no harm was done. "This thing here is what I like to call the 'Bender`. Legitimate name. Not some nickname. I went through all the paperwork, for me to legally have it called this, so don't go around calling it something else. I’ll be very disappointed if I see that happening.
Anyway, I would like to say, that this thing works on the same principles of magnets. Only the concept of it, though. The actual physics, making the whole thing possible, is not too related. Or else, it wouldn't have been possible to implement the more exciting features.
Currently, this thing is on the repel-metals function. This, as you may have guessed, from the very obvious naming-scheme, makes it repel some metal. Not all of them, but nearly there. It still needs a few tweaks, before it will be able to do that.
This is not the only setting, which the 'Bender` can be used for. But, for the next forty seconds, this will probably all you get to see. Well, while having the ability to repel, it, of course, also has the ability to attract. That particular function isn't fully developed yet, due to some rather disturbing budget figures used, when testing that part. Yet, I think it should be available for use, within the next month… If I can get some leeway on the money, that they are letting me use.
Then again, if I add a few features, without the biggest time-crunch on bug-fixing, the higher-ups should be swayed into giving me-"
Troy had realised that the man was just going to continue talking. Sometimes, Charlie just got so into the sounds of his own words, that he completely forgot the part, where he was supposed to stop speaking. It wasn't too fair to judge something like that, as it showed just how much they were interested in the subject. But, well, that was only when it came to the majority of people, with this problem. The current continual speaker was a special variation of the disease. It was commonly known as arrogance.
Dr Hale was seeming of the same opinion, as she started talking over him. The one sitting next to her appreciated such an action very much, as he hadn't gotten himself to that point in his mind. And, would have likely never done.
"Seeing as you're not bringing anything more to the table, I shall proceed to start criticizing your words'', Dr Hale said, her normal speaking voice somehow overshadowing Charlie’s. "The first question should be, how this device of yours works, on a more abstract scale. From my own analysis, the effect it has on the area around it, depends on the amount of kinetic energy, relative to its own. While it doesn't absorb, or otherwise hinder this energy, it somehow changes the direction it is used towards, negating several known laws of energy conversion. I hope that this understanding of mine is wrong and that you will change my mind. This can be interpreted to you as, 'explain it again, but better`"
"Good question. Bad timing", Charlie shot back. He didn't look appreciative of being stopped from talking, but that was not a new thing. And, the business smile reappeared again not a moment later. "You aren't wrong, but you're not right either. The answer lies somewhere in-between. Yes, it reacts to the energy around it. But, it is not purely the kinetic energy. Otherwise, I would have branded this device as a weapon capable of mass destruction. And, I would have gotten more than just a raise, when showing this off. Maybe a bullet to the back of the head, to keep me quiet about it. Wouldn't be surprised, with the state of this place.
Yet, getting back to the point, and away from those scary eyes of yours, this thing does not work, purely by the reading of one energy-type. While I won't state explicitly, which it can influence with, it will go out on a limb, and say that it is a lot of them.
If it was only used to repel and attract metals, it could probably have been restricted to three. Yet, as you are about to find out, it makes sense, for the 'Bender`, to have so many detectors."
Troy couldn't really see anything, that was supposed to be detecting anything. How did one detect kinetic energy, with no cameras? It would require figuring out the mass and speed an object moved, but, without any ways of taking a snapshot, he couldn't think of any way to make it work. And, that wasn't even beginning on the others. There was a good reason that Troy hadn't decided to get into physics. It was all workarounds, to what should have been trivial things. Substitutes all of it.
Having actually waited for the man to finish his little tirade, Dr Hale looked fully ready to refute his words yet again. Yet, such an idea was never brought out onto the world. Something much more attention-grabbing had occurred.
As had been prophesized not long ago, the device had finally charged itself up. Or, whatever such a thing could be. The point was, that it wasn't standing on the table anymore. The 'Bender` wasn't standing anywhere, in fact.
Looking upwards, Troy was able to see it floating just a few centimetres under the ceiling. In a pulse-like fashion, a blurry wave came out. It feels around them, in a spherical fashion, putting them in their own little world of sound. If he hadn't seen it before, some reaction to it would have been needed.
Luckily for him, Dr Hale and Darlow had made him unneeded in that department. Both would need medical aid if their jaws were to work fully. It was almost a positive, that he hadn't been of right mind when first having a look at it.
As the cloudy barrier finally hit the ground, they became unable to fully hear the outside sounds. While it hadn't been totally removed, it was muffled at best, making it all intelligible. The focus, however, did not seem to be on that facet of the current situation.
"Your device can fly", Dr Hale got out, her voice coming back to its usual levels of professionalism. It seemed she had gone full circle.
"It's not really flying", Charlie said. "Calling it 'assisted floating` would make much more sense, if you understood the mechanics of it."
"Are you going to tell us the mechanics of it?"
"Nope."
"Then, I believe your demonstrations are completed. It would be best, if you packed it away, now. While I'm not too sure on the details, the crowd is not enjoying its practical uses."
"I don't blame them. Now, the tricky part is just to get it down," Charlie amended.
"Just undo the trigger", Dr Hale pointed out.
"It's on a timer," Charlie pointed right back. "If we’re lucky, that thing should be getting down in a few minutes."
"Then, get on the table, and disable it manually."
"That's not how it-"
"Are you giving us classified information about the mechanics of the device?"
"... Give me a minute."