Metal Response Experiment #03 [ Lex Luthor, LexCorp ]

[Deleted]

-click- "Thaddeus Sivana speaking. The following is a record of Metal Response Experiment number zero-three." -click-

LexCorp Laboratory 5 is designed to minimize the risk of unforeseen chemical reactions.

The room exudes a constant dull gleam.  Every single surface in all directions is made of matte-finish stainless steel, to reduce glare, and are differentiated by slight differences in the tint of the metal; the storage cupboards are blue, the floors are practically bronze, and the lab table surfaces are in a bright silver under the recessed lighting in the ceiling.

Classified as an extremely low-level cleanroom, large grates at either side of the laboratory lead to high-power air filtration systems, and special shoes must be put on in the grey room just outside. 

Presently, two men are seated at the lab table on green-tinted stools.

Dr. Sivana deactivates the lab mixer and ejects the beater into the bowl. He removes both parts, purple gloves carefully gripping only at the sides, and places it on the table. The man to his right presses a button on a nearby speaker grille.

"William Magnus speaking. A solution was formed of 15% Fe3O4, 30% ethoxylated sorbitan monolaurate, and carrier fluid, producing 500 millilitres of molarity one ferrofluid. Per experiment specifications." 

He releases the button, stopping the recording. Sivana finishes carefully scraping the last few bits of ferrofluid off the beater. He then slides the bowl to Magnus and puts the beater aside.

This is a big moment. The prior two experiments in this series have proven the response device's capacity to create simulated crystal growth - in effect, to make iron take on a manipulable, programmable crystalline form. Experiment two demonstrated the machine's capacity to selectively break down and regrow spires... The metal had outperformed all reasonable expectations, to the point where movement was able to be effectively induced.

Better than it should have.

Sivana lifts a glass suitcase onto the table and opens it. He takes a small, silvery metal dish with upturned edges, the size of an ashtray, out of the case. He hands it to Magnus, who slowly fits it into a set of small slats above a machine that looks like a giant speaker cone. Magnus then holds down the button on the recorder. "Sivana speaking. A uniform plate of Suspendium compound was placed onto the metal response animator machine. Suspendium was selected for its nonreactive qualities." 

The two scientists have been working with each other for a few weeks now and already, they've established a good experimental rhythm. Straightening his safety goggles, wizened old Sivana turns his attention to Magnus, who looks like he's sweating up a storm. The older man laughs in a way that makes his eyes crinkle and his shoulders bounce.

"Heh heh heh... Nervous, Dr. Magnus?" He waves his hand dismissively, waggling his fingers in a way that betrays his comfort in tight rubber gloves.  "There's absolutely no cause for it. You should be confident! All the work you've put into this metal response project, and this, the final consummation of your oh-so-romantic alchemical theories. It's been a roaring success so far. Breathe!"

With that, he claps a hand on Magnus' shoulder. "If it's any consolation to you, young man, I'm confident it's going to fail this one."

Magnus snorts and laughs, the joke breaking through his nervousness. "Well, if nothing else, that'd kill the romance." 

Sivana meets his gaze, a twinkle in his eye. Then he says, "Are we ready, Doctor?"

Magnus nods, and Sivana lifts the bowl. With the glass rod, Magnus guides the ferrofluid out into the suspendium dish, little by little. 

Oh, yes. This one's going to be fun.

[Deleted]

The security doors were thick and built to the exacting standards of Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, for in many ways these laboratories were his domain, and Dr. Sivana was master within them. When the doors opened, Lex Luthor was transported, just for a moment, back into simpler times at the University. The special functions lab deep under Beck hall, constantly abuzz with opportunity and activity with minds that attempted to plumb the depths of a reality that man was not meant to know. 

Meeting Dr. Sivana had been a lifechanging experience for the young Lex Luthor, one of the first and indeed, one of the only times, that he'd ever found a mind able to keep up with his, moving into the heights at the bleeding edges of human imagination. In many ways, the man that Lex Luthor was today was defined by his early relationship with Dr. Sivana. Late night philosophical conversations, discussions of science and the miracles of engineering, and the pitfalls that befell the lone genius. Dr. Sivana was Lex Luthor's role model, showing by example what to do, and it must be admitted, what not to do. Sometimes the latter made for better education than the former. 

Dr. Sivana was a man whose mind pushed into the heights and dimensions of understanding that mot human minds could not hope to comprehend or maintain. There were times, Lex Luthor admitted to himself, that he had trouble following to those heights, although he always got there eventually. But even so, with head in lofty clouds it was easy to lose one's footing. There was a purity to the work of Dr. Sivana, one that Luthor understood and indeed might have envied. In some ways Lex Luthor saw himself as a scientist and enginer first, and a magnate second. It's not that Lex didn't enjoy the social challenge of the political game, or the ruthless joy of negotiation and business, but even so, he knew that work was a dirty habit, a guilty pleasure, unlike the pure joys of fundamental research and development. Lex wondered in the back of his mind whether or not he would have gone the path of Dr. Sivana if HE had someone in his life to elevate the ground so that HE could keep his head on higher pursuits. 

But such what ifs were unecessary. The truth of the matter is that there was only one Lex Luthor, and that Lex Luthor elevated the ground so that Dr. Sivana could fly without tripping. So that Dr. Sivana could focus on these grand schemes and great ideas, while Lex Luthor helped him live his dream: of making the world pay. Well, Lex Luthor made certain that the world paid for what Dr. Sivana did. In fact, it paid quite handsomely for the fruits of Dr. Sivana's labors. 

Nevertheless, Lex Luthor admitted to himself, one of his purest joys was working with his old mentor and current partner. It was an uncontaminated joy, one untouched with moral quandries, marked only by the singleminded destruction of human ignorance. One time out of ten it was even useful for the world, although Lex didn't begrudge or even mind the excesses of Thaddeus Sivana. In fact, he found he treasured them. 

Lex Luthor straightened his tie and let the coat fall along his side as he approached the experimental chamber. His suit jacket was outside in the antechamber. The others weren't wearing masks, so it wasn't necessary to maintain full precautions. "So is this the sample you wanted me to see, Doctor? What is the experiment today?" 

[Deleted]

In the harsh tones of a man who never stopped being a teacher, Sivana, not even looking up from his work, replies to Luthor. "Goggles and gloves if you're going to be in here, Alexander. Remember, Carol didn't wear her safety goggles..."

Magnus snorts softly and straightens his own goggles with his free hand. With the other hand, he begins agitating the ferrofluid slightly inside the suspendium dish. Standard procedure to make sure the iron is evenly distributed. It's a formality here, of course... The metal response animator eliminates the need for uniformity before the sample is active. That, in fact, is the whole point of the experiment.

"This is Dr. William Magnus. I'm sure you've met before... Dr. Magnus has been working on a portion of the Arkham project."

Sivana waves his arm dismissively at the ferrofluid in the dish. "The sample isn't particularly important. Standard ferrrofluid, molarity one. Dorm-room science project stuff. It's actually just toner from the copy machine mixed with oil. No, what matters is this here." He taps the device rigged under the table. "Dr. Magnus, if you would."

Magnus goes into his pitch. "This is the metal response animator... We're working on a name that's less of a mouthful. Do you... Just want the essentials, or...?"

Sivana moves the suitcase closer and lifts up a layer of foam. He begins unpacking items from it.

"The animator emits a high-frequency waveform, which- When a source of iron is exposed to this waveform, it enters what we call an... 'active' state. It becomes manipulable and programmable. In-" 

Sivana chimes in. "In our first experiment, we got it to start dancing like oobleck on a speaker cone. From there, it formed a solid crystalline structure similar in arrangement to the crystal base sample you provided the lab a year ago." He slides a long silver plate, rectangular with raised lines, out onto the table near the animator device.

Magnus picks up after a second. "We prepared a second experiment to measure the animated iron sample's response to non-animated iron... To see if it could take additional building blocks and animate them for use in creating the crystalline structure. The sample... outperformed expectations. While the device was active, the sample mimicked ambulatory motion to connect to the iron sample... Before instructions were fully programmed."

The younger doctor licks his lips and continues. "You see... It's my belief that metals have a certain innate character and intelligence to them, and that the animator can-"

Sivana finishes preparing and leans back against the table. "Best begin before we start down that route again, eh, Dr. Magnus?" He nods to Lex and then to Magnus.

Magnus holds down the speaker button. "The metal response animator device was activated."

A knob is turned... With a click, a rumble, and a soft and heady hum, the machine comes to life. Magnus slowly turns the knob higher and higher... And the ferrofluid responds. 

As the power is turned up more and more, tiny spikes form in the fluid, pointing out in all directions, and get larger and larger. They mimic the waveform. Then, finally, with a sound like a lid coming off of a particularly tough jar, the spikes begin to rotate. Dr. Magnus lowers the power output of the device. 

Sivana presses down the button. "The animated iron sample was separated from the carrier fluid... An experimental maze sculpted from Suspendium was prepared..." He slides it forward, towards the dish. "And a sample of non-animated elemental iron was introduced with the use of steel tweezers." He gingerly lowers the iron block into a far corner. Then, continuing, he says, "The animated sample was introduced to the furthest point away from the non-animated iron."

He releases the speaker button. "We could use an extra pair of hands, Alexander." He chuckles. "Brings back memories, eh?"

Magnus lifts the suspendium dish and Sivana moves to hold down all four corners of the dish, to ensure stability. 

[Deleted]

Lex Luthor smiled sardonically to himself. Carol never wore her safety goggles, and now she didn't need them. He took the goggles off the wall and put them on, as well as donning the sterile gloves, using sterile procedures, this wasn't a solid clean room, but still, it was important to maintain appropriate laboratory protocols. This wasn't some strange drippy back room in a mental institution or an underground place with animals flying around, more focused on mood than process. This was a high tech, advanced scientific facility where the world was changed.

He'd heard how many geniuses put their thoughts to crime or fighting crime. Build a giant robot to rob a bank? Why, when you can use the servo of the leg to BUY the bank? Really, far to few people really thought out their options.

"Dr. Magnus, we have met in the past and I am as always, impressed with your work. I always look forward to hearing your responses." He smiled as he listened to the quality of the design. Yes. . . the crystal sample. That HAD been expensive to procure. Over 15 million dollars to create the satellite, another ten million for the factory in India, the sabotaged accidents, the complicated breakdown over Metropolis. All to distract one Alien for the one hour thirty four minutes required to gather the Polar samples of the crystalline structure.

"And when all is said and done, what do you feel the Metal" he tries to find a better name "Responsometer will do? And what exactly is the focus of this experiment?" He looks about and starts to observe, he'd be an extra pair of hands. It really was worthwhile to return to the laboratory on occasion. To remember the basics that helped him to build the global empire he had today.

[Deleted]

"Well, uh, that is to say... You see, Mr. Luthor..."

Magnus looks to Sivana for approval and Sivana waves his hand. "Well, out with it, doctor. He wants the romance."

Magnus clears his throat and continues. "Well, you see... When we say that the sample in response experiment two outperformed expectations... We mean that it did so by an order of magnitude." He leans in a bit, straightening one of his gloves. "The active sample sought out the the target iron as we were speaking about instructing it to do so... And mimicked bipedal ambulatory motion to close the gap, while our intent was to program a sort of pseudopod-style of movement. You see..."

Sivana shifts the suspendium plate into place. "The romance, doctor."

Magnus hesitantly goes on. "You see... It is my belief that the pure metals have... their own innate personalities and intelligences. I hypothesize that the metal response device... the, uh, Responsometer..." Already, the term makes the old words feel clunky and slow. Luthor's name for it flows like water off a duck's back. "That it activates the intelligence inherent to the metal at the same moment as it gives the metal the ability to restructure itself into crystalline forms."

Sivana chimes in. "Today's experiment is your classic maze test," he says as he fits a small glass box around the active metal sample. "You know, in the tradition of Tryon and his rats. It seemed the natural choice when testing for hive sentience. The active sample goes in on one end, a tasty morsel goes in the other... Doctor Magnus hypothesizes that the metal will have the capacity to hunt its way through the maze using the most efficient path and find the inactive iron. Whereas I hypothesize that the sample will do nothing of the kind unless we tell it exactly where to go. Heh heh heh."

With that, he looks to Magnus, and nods his head. Magnus swallows and nods.

Sivana lifts the glass case, and all at once, the metal starts to flow.

Magnus leans on the button. "The active metal sample was released into the maze without instructions."

At first, the metal stays in a thick lump. Then, slowly, it starts to flow out of the starting end. It gets more watery as it moves. It turns one corner... Then another... And then a large chunk of it flows forward into a dead end.

Magnus looks down, a bit crestfallen, as Sivana gives a bit of a self-satisfied smirk.

The metal keeps flowing along the length of the maze. It flows around and into every nook and cranny, every dead end catching the same full amount of it. The effect is rather like watching a thick honey being poured into a glass and thinning until it can fill the whole thing.

Sivana claps Magnus on the shoulder. "Well, my lad... I think that's that, then," he says.

And then, a change occurs.

After worming its way through the maze and filling all available space, the active sample finally spreads into the final dead end, wherein lies the inactive sample. As soon as it touches the lump of iron, the fluid reaches up to wrap around it, like a swarm of ants clustering around a morsel of food.

Then, the metal in the dead ends starts to ripple... and retract.

Sivana stares, mouth agape, as the metal along the most efficient path through the maze begins to thicken, and the metal in the dead ends thins... thins... retracts... retracts... Until only a thin and tenuous tendril is left behind in each, branching just a bit inside. Soon, the dead ends are nearly empty, and the optimal path is jiggling like gelatin.

Then, with an audible "SCHLKING," crystalline forms begin to erupt out of the metal.

Sivana is gobsmacked. Magnus, however, is hyperactive and highly focused. He quickly presses the button.

"The active metal sample began by filling all available space within the maze at minimal tolerable volume-per-area. Upon contact with the target iron, the active sample retracted all portions of itself not on the optimal pathway between the entry point and the target sample. Crystallization did not occur until the most optimal path had been completed." He leans in with a magnifying class. "Outside of the optimal path, the dead end pathways have been indicated by tendrils left behind as the active sample receded. These tendrils... Were of differing length and cross-sectional size." He releases the button, drops the magnifying glass, and quickly produces a scalpel. "We need to measure their mass," he says quickly.

Sivana doesn't follow, but he does quickly produce an electric scale. He turns it on and then quickly tares it to the weight of the suspendium activation dish.

Working quickly, Magnus slices off one of the tendrils just before it can crystallize. He separates it from the active sample. Then he does the same with another... and another. By now, the crystals on the optimal path are half a foot in length and still growing, but the tendrils have only solidified and not grown. No two of them are the same size or length.

The first tendril is quickly dropped into the scale. Magnus leans on the button, and quickly barks out, "Tendril segments were separated from the active sample so that their mass could be measured. Mass of tendril one from one-inch dead-end..."

He stares at the readout. Then Sivana stares at it.

After a moment of dead air, Sivana manages to stop leaving his mouth hanging open and speaks. "Mass of sample: 55.845 milligrams."

Magnus doesn't even bother moving the first sample before dropping the second in. "Mass of tendril two from three-inch dead-end..." The readout shows 111.69 mg. "...55.845 milligrams."

They quickly add another sample, then another, then another. Magnus leans on the button and speaks. "Remaining samples, despite differences in cross-sectional size and length, each had mass of 55.845 milligrams."

As soon as the button goes off, Magnus lets out a little noise of excitement. "A millimole! One millimole exactly in every tendril! If that doesn't show it's conscious, I don't know what does! Why on earth would it be gearing itself to our measurements otherwise?"

Sivana pipes up. "Well, shut my mouth and call me Sally," he says, before clapping Magnus on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Doctor. If nothing else, this proves that the intelligence of the metal justifies further study." He laughs. "Heh heh heh... This could be the breakthrough of a century, my boy. Intelligence you can flick on and off with a speaker cone and some expensive circuitry? It's the stuff of science fiction."

Magnus just beams slightly and looks to Mr. Luthor. "Would you care to record any thoughts, sir?"

[Deleted]

Lex Luthor listened to the scientific romance of Dr. Magnus, the basis of his scientific theories were significant leaps in logic beyond which he could understand at the beginning, but one could not deny the effectiveness of the results. To create organic metal structures, that was an interesting and entirely unforseen result. Again, the universe was proving to me significantly more interesting than imaginable. 

"Intelligence, Doctor Magnus? Do you mean to tell me that there is an inherent intellect found in the metal itself? How?" He quiets and watches the scene in front of him, the world is redefining itself in interesting ways and already Luthor's mind is starting to work towards new and interesting applications. 

He watches as the active sample works through a maze, problem solving, flowing according to simple growth protocols, like a fungal pseudopod, growing organically. Organic metal growth. . . Lex Luthor's mind flashes immediately to applications, growths, shifts. . . even this simple sort of "intelligence" the metal presents completely revolutionizes the entirety of metalurgy, construction, application and engineering. 

As it moves to the dead end and splits, he furrows his eyebrows, it doesn't show a sense of intelligence, but still, the growth of the metal had interesting side qualities, it's when the ripple occurs and the retraction occurs. While Sivana is surprised, Lex has an odd intense look on his face. "Yes. . . this is very good. Very good indeed. The applications of this are significant. . . will it maintain cohesion and shape once the responsometer is removed? This . . . changes everything, Dr. Magnus, even if intelligence is not discovered, the abilty to shape and utilize these techniques in manipulating metals. . . revolutionary doesn't hope to describe what we will do with this. Your bonus will reflect this, and we will put the patents in today for these materials. Suggest a budget. . . you have it. Take whatever resources you need to forward this research, and keep me personally informed of your progress." 

He smiles as he says "I want to review all of your research, and congratulations, Dr. Magnus. Your . . . romance. . . will change the course of humanity."