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jedibuttercup) wrote2010-03-09 09:55 pm
jedibuttercup) wrote2010-03-09 09:55 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: Maintaining Scientific Objectivity (BtVS/Eureka; PG-13; 9/?)
PG-13, BtVS/Eureka; 2100 words. (9th of "No Place Like Eureka.") SPOILERS THROUGH 3.15.
Bruce had come to this town-- one of the scientific pillars of the modern world-- expecting to play a part in uncovering untold secrets of the universe.
Title: Maintaining Scientific Objectivity
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Bruce had come to this town-- one of the scientific pillars of the modern world-- expecting to play a part in uncovering untold secrets of the universe. 2100 words.
Spoilers: B:tVS post-5.05 "No Place Like Home"; Eureka mid-3.15 "Shower the People"
Notes: 9th in series. Starting to wrap this up. At least one more chapter, though.
Bruce felt what seemed like half the muscles in his body unwind when Dr. Fargo looked up from his screen to announce that Tess' system had been cleared. Until that moment, he hadn't truly been certain that their hastily cobbled together solution would work; science beyond the bleeding edge of the known always carried some degree of guesswork, and it had been the brainchild of the decidedly unscientific Sheriff Carter rather than any of the scientists whose extremely technical projects had contributed to the problem.
Including his own. Bruce swallowed at the sight of Tess relaxing limply in the nutrient bath where she'd been thrashing wildly only moments before, suffering from the unforeseen consequences of Dr. Rivers' synthetic water reacting to his irradiating procedures. He took a step away from his workstation, his first impulse to make sure for himself that she was okay-- but another thought stopped him in his tracks a moment later, and he paused, glancing over at the Sheriff where the man stood breathlessly awaiting the outcome.
Carter caught the look and returned it, worry clear in every tense line of his features. Reluctantly, but certain he was doing the right thing, Bruce gestured in the direction of the chamber.
Carter blinked, then raised his eyebrows and pointed to himself as if to ask, 'who, me?'
Bruce nodded confirmation. The man needed no other sign; he bolted to Tess' side without further ado, sliding his arms into the tank to lift her wetsuit-clad torso free of the solution and help her remove the respirator mouthpiece. Tess' expression was soft and open as she slid up her goggles and gazed into the face of her rescuer, and Carter had eyes for no one else in the room.
Bruce closed his eyes at the sight and took a deep breath. Yes, it had been the right move to make, even if he would rather have been the one inspiring that look from Tess. So what if he'd come to Eureka with certain expectations after he'd found out that Tess had asked for his assistance by name-- expectations that had been upheld when Tess had smiled dazzlingly at him and called him 'Dr. Manly' again in her introductions? Expectations were not reality-- only theories without evidence-- and the evidence was that there was more brewing between that pair than a simple professional acquaintance.
Just as events had proved Kim Yamazaki's duplicate to be far more than the impersonal, if extremely complex, organic computer he'd expected to work with when he'd agreed to come to Eureka.
Just as Nathan Stark's daughter had turned out to be far more than she appeared, as well. Bruce recalled how the Kim-clone had described the girl when it had been her turn in the nutrient bath: "the visible form of an energy matrix vibrating at a dimensional frequency beyond normal human perception."
He didn't think Allison and the others had intended him to overhear their subsequent conversation about 'incarnation' and some kind of unnamed Artifact, but he'd picked up enough to glean some idea of the unbelievable implications. Any type of light that could have been seen at a considerable distance from Earth nine years ago while simultaneously embodied as an apparently ordinary human being was quite clearly not anything known to Earthly science.
Bruce scrubbed a hand over his face, tearing his eyes away from the scene in the irradiating chamber to take in the other watchers. Allison had rushed back from her office with Stark and his daughter after Carter had called from the infirmary to report Tess' condition; Henry had shown up shortly afterward as well, eyes still reddened but the second Kim accompanying him. Both 'artificial' beings were behaving in a perfectly human manner, as far as he could determine from a casual glance: Dawn hanging onto her father's arm with obvious insecurity, 'Kim' sneaking frequent, searching glances at her co-designer.
He wondered if Dr. Deacon actually thought of the constructed woman as the second coming of his lost love, or more as a sort of daughter sprung full-grown out of nowhere-- an echo of Athena, the mythical goddess of wisdom. The parallels with Dawn Stark's situation appealed to him: a pair of daughters, far more than merely human, gifted to men who cared more for who they were than what their existence might signify.
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, then asked the nurse present to take Tess back to the infirmary for precautionary follow-up observation, and return with Dr. Bell so they could give the other afflicted scientist the same treatment.
He'd come to this town-- one of the scientific pillars of the modern world-- expecting to play a part in uncovering untold secrets of the universe; instead-- well, in addition to, really-- he'd played witness to an exploration of the mysteries of the human soul. Who was to say that Dr. Deacon wasn't right about the organic A.I.'s potential for growth? And who would dare suggest that Miss Stark didn't deserve the same rights granted to any other pretty teenaged girl-- mooning over boys with her friends, attending school dances, and anything else her father allowed her? He could hardly support the latter while continuing to deny the former's personhood; it would be more than a little hypocritical of him.
Carter left with Tess, of course; and as her gurney passed by the other group on their way out of the lab, Bruce watched the sheriff pause a moment to wrap an arm around Dawn's shoulders.
"Sorry about all this, kiddo. How about we talk after they let Tess out of the infirmary?"
"It's okay," the girl replied solemnly, leaning into the hug for a moment. "It's not like it was your fault everybody timed their crises for today."
"Hey," Tess objected weakly from the bed, smiling at the pair. "It's not like it was my idea, either."
Carter returned the smile over Dawn's head, then pulled back, holding the teenager at arm's length by both shoulders. "You good, then?" he asked her.
Dawn glanced over toward her father and stepmother, then nodded at him. "I'm good," she reassured him. Then she turned to Tess and visibly scraped herself together, adopting a lofty expression. "You get better," she said imperiously, "so I can help Zoe give you the shovel speech, okay?"
Tess chuckled painfully. "Got it," she rasped, as Carter stepped back to the gurney and helped the nurse wheel it carefully through the door.
The others also dispersed after Tess' departure: Stark to return home with Dawn, and Henry undoubtedly to a similar destination now that 'Kim's' data had been downloaded and it was a lot less likely that someone might demand her return as though she were a misplaced hard drive. Only Allison stayed-- in her capacity as Director of G.D.-- and Bruce took a moment to speak with her alone before Dr. Bell's arrival.
"I don't pretend to understand everything that happened here today, Allison," he told her, quietly. "I'm sorry about what happened to Drs. Monroe and Draper, and the sauna attendant. I should never have taken for granted that the safety setup had caught every possible danger, given the unprecedented nature of my experiment; I should have examined the procedures more thoroughly. And I'd also like to apologize for my detached behavior with the organic-- with Kim."
"It's all right," Allison told him, smiling sadly. "None of us spotted the issue with the pipes, and most of us have been working here far longer than you have. And as far as Kim goes...." She sighed. "You were trying to maintain scientific objectivity, I get that. It's a lot harder for those of us who knew the original Kim to achieve that, especially Henry; but the fact remains that she isn't human, and it was your methods that enabled us to extract her data. It's a miracle that we were able to preserve them both."
"With some help from your friendly neighborhood sheriff," Bruce joked mildly, then sobered again. "Seriously, though, Allison, if you need anything else from me...." he trailed off, shrugging. "I am an expert in anomalous neural pathways," he suggested further. He didn't want to hint any more closely to the subject of her stepdaughter, but he thought she'd get the idea without need for elaboration. "Anything I learned, I'd be more than happy to keep between just us."
Allison clasped his hand, briefly. "You're a good friend, Bruce," she said. "I'm glad you were available for this project. But-- I think we're going to leave that other matter where it is, for now. It's up to Dawn to decide whether she wants to pursue it further, or not; and Nathan and I have decided let her do that in her own time. I'm pretty sure Jack will agree."
Bruce smiled wryly back, professional curiosity raging at the further hints towards Dawn's unique origins and parental situation, but knowing it wasn't his place to ask. "No doubt. I trust I'm leaving my other favorite student in good hands with him?"
Allison snorted. "Carter's used to taking orders from strong women, if nothing else," she said, lightly. "I don't think he'd hurt her deliberately. But I'll be sure to keep you posted if that changes-- Dr. Manly." Her cheeks dimpled in a teasing smile, lifting a little of the accumulated weariness from her expression.
He chuckled, acknowledging the hit. "That's good to hear," he said, then nodded to acknowledge the end of the conversation. He moved back to the control station, setting the chamber to flush and fill with a clean, sterile batch of the nutrient solution.
One of the sub-panels was flashing a warning that the temperature of the water in the coolant pipes was slightly warmer than optimal; he ignored it, as it was a direct consequence of isolating a loop of the synthetic water system from the main body of the recirculating flow, thus limiting the volume of H2O available to disperse the heat of the radiation he had used to trigger the decompression of the molecules in Tess' lungs. There was nothing to be done about it, unless they wanted to risk inflicting the same effects on yet more people in the course of healing the two surviving victims; should the chamber be needed again in future, someone would have to entirely redesign the cooling system.
By the time he looked up again Dr. Bell was being wheeled into the room, awake now and watching his every move with pained eyes. Fortunately, her extraction went even more smoothly than Tess' had. Dr. Fargo announced the release of the molecules with more aplomb the second time, and Bruce himself helped the recovering woman out of the tank. She'd been suffering the symptoms longer than Tess, and was weeping with relief and exhaustion by the time the nurse escorted her back out.
He didn't see Tess again until after her release from the infirmary more than twenty-four hours later. Bruce had finally finished the last of his reports on both the information extraction project and the various incidents with the synthetic water, and was on his way across the rotunda to deliver them to Allison when he noticed the familiar blonde figure standing with Carter in the center of the tiled floor. She was flirting with the man, displaying all the mannerisms he'd become acquainted with when he'd been her target-- and a moment later, practically swallowing his tonsils.
Bruce sighed and continued past them, pride slightly stung by the display-- what had all that 'Dr. Manly' business been, if she'd already had the sheriff on her string?-- but well aware he'd never had any actual claim to her to begin with. So much for that celebratory "just the two of them" dinner; but there was no arguing with emotion, as he'd just had occasion to observe at great length, and she did deserve every happiness life could bring her.
He'd have other compensations for this visit, anyway. The expertise and credit he'd gain from two completely unprecedented procedures-- even if the details were classified-- would be a boost to his career when he returned to Bethesda. And he'd make sure to keep in touch with Allison on a more regular basis, afterward; he'd meant it when he'd offered his help with anything they might need in regards to Dawn's future development.
Bruce would keep the secrets he'd learned here, both great and small. But he didn't doubt that this week, and all its opportunities-- both lost and gained-- would continue to haunt him for the foreseeable future.
-~-
(not x-posted on LJ)
Bruce had come to this town-- one of the scientific pillars of the modern world-- expecting to play a part in uncovering untold secrets of the universe.
Title: Maintaining Scientific Objectivity
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Bruce had come to this town-- one of the scientific pillars of the modern world-- expecting to play a part in uncovering untold secrets of the universe. 2100 words.
Spoilers: B:tVS post-5.05 "No Place Like Home"; Eureka mid-3.15 "Shower the People"
Notes: 9th in series. Starting to wrap this up. At least one more chapter, though.
Bruce felt what seemed like half the muscles in his body unwind when Dr. Fargo looked up from his screen to announce that Tess' system had been cleared. Until that moment, he hadn't truly been certain that their hastily cobbled together solution would work; science beyond the bleeding edge of the known always carried some degree of guesswork, and it had been the brainchild of the decidedly unscientific Sheriff Carter rather than any of the scientists whose extremely technical projects had contributed to the problem.
Including his own. Bruce swallowed at the sight of Tess relaxing limply in the nutrient bath where she'd been thrashing wildly only moments before, suffering from the unforeseen consequences of Dr. Rivers' synthetic water reacting to his irradiating procedures. He took a step away from his workstation, his first impulse to make sure for himself that she was okay-- but another thought stopped him in his tracks a moment later, and he paused, glancing over at the Sheriff where the man stood breathlessly awaiting the outcome.
Carter caught the look and returned it, worry clear in every tense line of his features. Reluctantly, but certain he was doing the right thing, Bruce gestured in the direction of the chamber.
Carter blinked, then raised his eyebrows and pointed to himself as if to ask, 'who, me?'
Bruce nodded confirmation. The man needed no other sign; he bolted to Tess' side without further ado, sliding his arms into the tank to lift her wetsuit-clad torso free of the solution and help her remove the respirator mouthpiece. Tess' expression was soft and open as she slid up her goggles and gazed into the face of her rescuer, and Carter had eyes for no one else in the room.
Bruce closed his eyes at the sight and took a deep breath. Yes, it had been the right move to make, even if he would rather have been the one inspiring that look from Tess. So what if he'd come to Eureka with certain expectations after he'd found out that Tess had asked for his assistance by name-- expectations that had been upheld when Tess had smiled dazzlingly at him and called him 'Dr. Manly' again in her introductions? Expectations were not reality-- only theories without evidence-- and the evidence was that there was more brewing between that pair than a simple professional acquaintance.
Just as events had proved Kim Yamazaki's duplicate to be far more than the impersonal, if extremely complex, organic computer he'd expected to work with when he'd agreed to come to Eureka.
Just as Nathan Stark's daughter had turned out to be far more than she appeared, as well. Bruce recalled how the Kim-clone had described the girl when it had been her turn in the nutrient bath: "the visible form of an energy matrix vibrating at a dimensional frequency beyond normal human perception."
He didn't think Allison and the others had intended him to overhear their subsequent conversation about 'incarnation' and some kind of unnamed Artifact, but he'd picked up enough to glean some idea of the unbelievable implications. Any type of light that could have been seen at a considerable distance from Earth nine years ago while simultaneously embodied as an apparently ordinary human being was quite clearly not anything known to Earthly science.
Bruce scrubbed a hand over his face, tearing his eyes away from the scene in the irradiating chamber to take in the other watchers. Allison had rushed back from her office with Stark and his daughter after Carter had called from the infirmary to report Tess' condition; Henry had shown up shortly afterward as well, eyes still reddened but the second Kim accompanying him. Both 'artificial' beings were behaving in a perfectly human manner, as far as he could determine from a casual glance: Dawn hanging onto her father's arm with obvious insecurity, 'Kim' sneaking frequent, searching glances at her co-designer.
He wondered if Dr. Deacon actually thought of the constructed woman as the second coming of his lost love, or more as a sort of daughter sprung full-grown out of nowhere-- an echo of Athena, the mythical goddess of wisdom. The parallels with Dawn Stark's situation appealed to him: a pair of daughters, far more than merely human, gifted to men who cared more for who they were than what their existence might signify.
Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, then asked the nurse present to take Tess back to the infirmary for precautionary follow-up observation, and return with Dr. Bell so they could give the other afflicted scientist the same treatment.
He'd come to this town-- one of the scientific pillars of the modern world-- expecting to play a part in uncovering untold secrets of the universe; instead-- well, in addition to, really-- he'd played witness to an exploration of the mysteries of the human soul. Who was to say that Dr. Deacon wasn't right about the organic A.I.'s potential for growth? And who would dare suggest that Miss Stark didn't deserve the same rights granted to any other pretty teenaged girl-- mooning over boys with her friends, attending school dances, and anything else her father allowed her? He could hardly support the latter while continuing to deny the former's personhood; it would be more than a little hypocritical of him.
Carter left with Tess, of course; and as her gurney passed by the other group on their way out of the lab, Bruce watched the sheriff pause a moment to wrap an arm around Dawn's shoulders.
"Sorry about all this, kiddo. How about we talk after they let Tess out of the infirmary?"
"It's okay," the girl replied solemnly, leaning into the hug for a moment. "It's not like it was your fault everybody timed their crises for today."
"Hey," Tess objected weakly from the bed, smiling at the pair. "It's not like it was my idea, either."
Carter returned the smile over Dawn's head, then pulled back, holding the teenager at arm's length by both shoulders. "You good, then?" he asked her.
Dawn glanced over toward her father and stepmother, then nodded at him. "I'm good," she reassured him. Then she turned to Tess and visibly scraped herself together, adopting a lofty expression. "You get better," she said imperiously, "so I can help Zoe give you the shovel speech, okay?"
Tess chuckled painfully. "Got it," she rasped, as Carter stepped back to the gurney and helped the nurse wheel it carefully through the door.
The others also dispersed after Tess' departure: Stark to return home with Dawn, and Henry undoubtedly to a similar destination now that 'Kim's' data had been downloaded and it was a lot less likely that someone might demand her return as though she were a misplaced hard drive. Only Allison stayed-- in her capacity as Director of G.D.-- and Bruce took a moment to speak with her alone before Dr. Bell's arrival.
"I don't pretend to understand everything that happened here today, Allison," he told her, quietly. "I'm sorry about what happened to Drs. Monroe and Draper, and the sauna attendant. I should never have taken for granted that the safety setup had caught every possible danger, given the unprecedented nature of my experiment; I should have examined the procedures more thoroughly. And I'd also like to apologize for my detached behavior with the organic-- with Kim."
"It's all right," Allison told him, smiling sadly. "None of us spotted the issue with the pipes, and most of us have been working here far longer than you have. And as far as Kim goes...." She sighed. "You were trying to maintain scientific objectivity, I get that. It's a lot harder for those of us who knew the original Kim to achieve that, especially Henry; but the fact remains that she isn't human, and it was your methods that enabled us to extract her data. It's a miracle that we were able to preserve them both."
"With some help from your friendly neighborhood sheriff," Bruce joked mildly, then sobered again. "Seriously, though, Allison, if you need anything else from me...." he trailed off, shrugging. "I am an expert in anomalous neural pathways," he suggested further. He didn't want to hint any more closely to the subject of her stepdaughter, but he thought she'd get the idea without need for elaboration. "Anything I learned, I'd be more than happy to keep between just us."
Allison clasped his hand, briefly. "You're a good friend, Bruce," she said. "I'm glad you were available for this project. But-- I think we're going to leave that other matter where it is, for now. It's up to Dawn to decide whether she wants to pursue it further, or not; and Nathan and I have decided let her do that in her own time. I'm pretty sure Jack will agree."
Bruce smiled wryly back, professional curiosity raging at the further hints towards Dawn's unique origins and parental situation, but knowing it wasn't his place to ask. "No doubt. I trust I'm leaving my other favorite student in good hands with him?"
Allison snorted. "Carter's used to taking orders from strong women, if nothing else," she said, lightly. "I don't think he'd hurt her deliberately. But I'll be sure to keep you posted if that changes-- Dr. Manly." Her cheeks dimpled in a teasing smile, lifting a little of the accumulated weariness from her expression.
He chuckled, acknowledging the hit. "That's good to hear," he said, then nodded to acknowledge the end of the conversation. He moved back to the control station, setting the chamber to flush and fill with a clean, sterile batch of the nutrient solution.
One of the sub-panels was flashing a warning that the temperature of the water in the coolant pipes was slightly warmer than optimal; he ignored it, as it was a direct consequence of isolating a loop of the synthetic water system from the main body of the recirculating flow, thus limiting the volume of H2O available to disperse the heat of the radiation he had used to trigger the decompression of the molecules in Tess' lungs. There was nothing to be done about it, unless they wanted to risk inflicting the same effects on yet more people in the course of healing the two surviving victims; should the chamber be needed again in future, someone would have to entirely redesign the cooling system.
By the time he looked up again Dr. Bell was being wheeled into the room, awake now and watching his every move with pained eyes. Fortunately, her extraction went even more smoothly than Tess' had. Dr. Fargo announced the release of the molecules with more aplomb the second time, and Bruce himself helped the recovering woman out of the tank. She'd been suffering the symptoms longer than Tess, and was weeping with relief and exhaustion by the time the nurse escorted her back out.
He didn't see Tess again until after her release from the infirmary more than twenty-four hours later. Bruce had finally finished the last of his reports on both the information extraction project and the various incidents with the synthetic water, and was on his way across the rotunda to deliver them to Allison when he noticed the familiar blonde figure standing with Carter in the center of the tiled floor. She was flirting with the man, displaying all the mannerisms he'd become acquainted with when he'd been her target-- and a moment later, practically swallowing his tonsils.
Bruce sighed and continued past them, pride slightly stung by the display-- what had all that 'Dr. Manly' business been, if she'd already had the sheriff on her string?-- but well aware he'd never had any actual claim to her to begin with. So much for that celebratory "just the two of them" dinner; but there was no arguing with emotion, as he'd just had occasion to observe at great length, and she did deserve every happiness life could bring her.
He'd have other compensations for this visit, anyway. The expertise and credit he'd gain from two completely unprecedented procedures-- even if the details were classified-- would be a boost to his career when he returned to Bethesda. And he'd make sure to keep in touch with Allison on a more regular basis, afterward; he'd meant it when he'd offered his help with anything they might need in regards to Dawn's future development.
Bruce would keep the secrets he'd learned here, both great and small. But he didn't doubt that this week, and all its opportunities-- both lost and gained-- would continue to haunt him for the foreseeable future.
-~-
(not x-posted on LJ)
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This is a bit delayed, and I don't know if I've ever commented before, but I wanted to say that I've really been enjoying your Eureka/Buffy crossover whenever I remember to check the folder full of WIPs in my bookmarks. :) I hope you keep writing, too, even if it is just a tidbit every now and again. I'm all curious now as to what opportunities you might find for Dawn to help save the day in Eureka, which isn't quite the sink for supernatural baddies that Sunnydale was.
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http://jedibuttercup.livejournal.com/361119.html
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