hyperkinesia | ( Savrou ) IC Contact

[ Right, well. 'Try' being the keyword here, so good luck with that. ]

I'm a little busy today, so tomorrow morning, would that work for you? I'll be at the department starting early.

[Nihlus doesn't have a lot of luck, but he does have experience and some measure of stubbornness! Especially since there's no way of making sure that adding unknown ingredients to a popular drug used by aliens wouldn't kill some of them horribly or something.]

That is suitable. I will see you then, Doctor.

[It's morning the next day and Nihlus is waiting politely near the entryway with a little box tucked under one arm. He's been working with Tali cleaning up after the scraplets for most of the night and he smells a lot like the engines.]

See you then.

[ He lets the feed wrap up then, and doesn't think about the conversation until the next morning. Even then, he doesn't really expect his visitor to drop by so early, and his steps slow down as he's just getting to the department and spots him by the door, acknowledging his presence with a slight nod of his head and a greeting once he's close enough. ]

Hi. You're up early. [ Getting the door open, he steps aside to let Nihlus in. ] Were you waiting long?

[Nihlus offers Bruce a smile and a shrug when he approaches.]

A little while, but I was trying to air out the engine room smell a bit before interacting with other people.

[Well, just Bruce, really, since he was going to duck back in after this.

He steps into the room, giving his uniform's collar a sniff.]

Of course, turian noses tend to be a bit more sensitive. You wouldn't happen to be smelling anything odd, would you?

[Nihlus is just a liiiiittle sleep deprived.]

[ Bruce smiles back, shaking his head a little at the question once they're inside. ]

You're fine, don't worry. I've smelled worse.

[ Bruce's own senses are a little sharper than an average human too, but he doesn't point that out. Like he said, it's not the worst smell he's had to put up with, not by a long shot. ]

Everything alright with the engines? [ There's some concern there, but not too much. He knows if something were really wrong, Tali would've contacted him about it. ]

I wouldn't say that everything was alright, but nothing's exploded and repairs are progressing as expected.

[Which is about as well as things can go considering they're stuck trying to figure out how an alien engine worked.]

In our universe, every FTL space craft ran on Element Zero. Coming here and finding a non-Eezo engine is fascinating to say the least. I've only seen prototypes or concepts for such things.

Sounds like it's going well, then.

[ Particularly on the former, that's pretty fundamental considering they depend on those engines to stay alive. ]

Back in my world, we're still pretty green when it comes to space travel, but in theory fusion power would be what would fuel a vessel of this kind, especially during prolonged deep-space travel. The engines here are interesting, though— they're not the same, but I found a few similarities when I was studying them. [ Curiously, he adds: ] What can you tell me about Element Zero? Is it some kind of fuel, or a type of energy...?

Well, Element Zero is a material that can basically generate dark energy once subjected to an electrical current. The energy can be manipulated to create a mass effect field and then we can use that to raise and lower an object's mass.

[He reshuffles the box in his arms as he talks.]

The biggest sources for the stuff sits at the edge of unstable stellar bodies like neutron stars. Mining it's lucrative but dangerous.

Really? [ Bruce's eyes widen just barely, interest clearly piqued. Suffice to say it's probably a good thing there's no Element Zero in this universe, or Bruce would be dying to get his hands on some. ]

Is it produced by the reactions within the neutron stars, or is it just naturally drawn to them? Do people know, in your universe? I assume it's a naturally occurring energy source, but is it renewable or is there a finite quantity in a system?

[ Feel free to tell him when to shut up, really. ]

It's produced by the reactions, so not particularly renewable unless we somehow detonate stars artificially and that'd be more effort and money than it's worth.

Stars are definitely not renewable with our current level of tech.

[Sorry, mate, it's nerd time.]

Thank god for that. Stars can get too unstable, I can't even imagine the kind of shift in a system it would be to just go around either renewing them or blowing them up.

[ Actually Bruce almost can imagine it, and it's definitely not pretty. ]

Anyway, can I... [ He gestures at the box in Nihlus's hands. ]

Well, it IS the next level of advancement on the Yulias Scale.

[He means Kardashev scale, but like a lot of things in a universe culturally dominated by Asari, it tends to be named after blue space women.

At the gesture, Nihlus seems to suddenly remember he's carrying the box.].

Ah, yes!

[He hands it over, explaining,] I got samples of both the refined and unrefined whale minerals.

[And sure enough, inside are four vials, labelled with as such.]

Never heard of that.

[ The other one, though, that he has. For now he turns his attention to the box, accepting it from Nihlus, and making his way over to an empty counter nearby so he can carefully open it and take a look inside. ]

Useful. Thanks. [ Neat and organized, despite Bruce's personal views on the matter. ] Do you mind leaving them here for a little while? I won't use them up or anything like that.

Scale for measuring technological capability? I think there's a Terran term for it, but it slips my mind at the moment.

[Either way, he's inclining his head in agreement.]

I don't mind at all. Hopefully it'll be another layer of defense for the Cetans. At the very least, it'll be a source of money that isn't dependent on the Captains.

[He's got backup in case something went awry at any rate.]

Oh. Kardashev Scale. Got it.

[ And well, it might be the next level of advancement for Nihlus, but not for Bruce. Still. Interesting to find similar concepts that simply have different names. ]

Alright, thanks. I'll start by looking into their composition, then go from there. I'll keep you posted too, and you're free to come by anytime.

[ Like Bruce said, no promises, but he also isn't going to go so far as to destroy these samples either. Worst case scenario he'll end up refusing to help— but he might find a way to do so that doesn't go against whatever morals he has with regards to this topic. ]

Thank you.

[Nihlus' tone is quiet and sincere.]

If you need any help, just message me.

I will, don't worry. Thanks.

[ He offers a small smile and a nod, waiting until Nihlus leaves to start looking into those crystals right away. ]

( Savrou ) IC Contact

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Thread wrap? Also, sorry for the lateness!

Sounds good! And no worries :)