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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2016 17:13:25 GMT -5
"I'm certain that Dr. Crane recalls you with the same intensity he recalls everything else, but I am not surprised you were in school together, although I was unaware of the fact. Caution is . . . really fear tempered with reason. In my experience many people tend to be driven by reactions that are rationalized later. The individuals who can allow themselves to be driven by reason and then let that guide their emotions are very rare indeed. Free will, Nina, is a rarity in this world, not because it is not something we're gifted with, but because it is something we must work so hard to maintain. Freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom of will. It's easy, sometimes, to allow caution to become rationalization, and while it is . . . good to think before acting, one must risk to gain. I fail quite often, honestly. Nine out of ten of my projects fail in abysmal wrecks, expensive, self destructive, apparently foolish. But in the end, no one remembers the nine out of ten failures, because the one success is often world changing and more than makes up for the failures."
He finishes his water and then puts the bottle into a small trash bin. There's a faint humming as the plastic is reclaimed for later production later. Recycling is important for a structure like this, the only way it can maintain operations. "Power" He thought for a moment "Power has so many meanings, I suppose. To me it means . . . freedom of choice. I wasn't always rich, you know. Influential. Connected. When I started, I had nothing except . . . a keen mind and the rage to push forward against poor circumstance. I achieve, I grow, I push forward, and always find greater barriers, greater boundaries. Some might assume that was the universe's way of telling me to stop. That I am a megalomaniac going against the will of fate. Well, I've never been one for fate, and if I'd listened to the universe I'd be dead long ago." He shrugged as he said "More power than one as a right to. . . Who makes that call, I wonder. I suppose if there were some guiding force to the universe . . . I'd want to have some words with it. I'd demand a reckoning of the God that made this world that could have such things in it. People think I want to play God. People call me arrogant for what I do, say I'm playing God." He shook his head and chuckled a bit. "I'm nowhere near as cruel. In the end I'm powerful because I recognize that power is not about what we are capable of, but what we choose to do. Because I know, deep in my heart, that power isn't something seized or taken or forced. . . but something given. I am careful with who I give my power, as are you. I have been lucky that you've been willing to collaborate with me, that you have chosen to apply your talents in the same direction as mine, but I know I can't force this, nor would I want to. It would diminish you to a battery, a weapon, a tool, and a human being is so much more than that."
He looks at her square in the eye, he knows she's been keeping things from him. He's read the reports, and he looks concerned. "You are more than your . . . power, and I won't push you to share information on it if you don't want to, although I must admit. I've my suspicions, and it's something I'd been hoping to speak with you about, when you were prepared. Whatever that power may be, it is yours, in the end. But that power is more than just the capabilities you hold, but rather the choices you have and how that power is applied. Your freedom of choice. In the end, I hope to convince you to see . . . my goals and my hopes for this world, to apply yourself in a direction that will see what I hope to be a brighter tomorrow."
He'd had his suspicions. Suspicions that might or might not be confirmed by the scans as she applied her thoughts and powers to what was around her, but then again, the fact that his people couldn't replicate her results had been the first clue, the main concern. At first Luthor had assumed that the information taken from her work had been incomplete, but after the ongoing reports, the subtle and hidden observations. . . the fact that step by step following the steps she took in one experiment. Science was about peer review and replicability, when the results could not be replicated, the only options were that the data was falsified or the experimentation was not taking a step into account. Her results, however, were clear to see, the materials she'd created and the research she'd done had been confirmed in observation, that left the only option to be . . . steps left out. After eliminating obvious sources for the incongruities, it only left metahuman abilities. It would be mundane, easily overlooked, if Luthor hadn't been trying to figure out how Nina came up with the results she had with independent labs.
He looked up at the monitors and the surroundings "I'm sure it's hard to see how this could all be for a brighter tomorrow around here, but I hold onto that hope. In the end, I am not one for wasting ability. I myself feel that the two of us have a great deal to offer to the world, either as partners or as individuals, and I'm not one to put my life at risk pointlessly. But I know that to not try to leverage my abilities into something else, well. . . it's like Einstein's Parable of the Energy of the Atom. The Atom is like a rich man, with coffers full to the brim with gold, but who never spends a dime, so in the end, he may as well be poor. Knowing when to use power, when to make a choice, when to act, and when not to act. . . that discernment is really the key to what power is, and what separates the powerful from the powerless. You are powerful not because of what you can do, but because of what you choose to do, and I feel that power is much more impressive than any . . . other rare ability you might have."
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Nina Stenet
"Great acts are made up of small deeds." - Lao Tzu
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Player: Avalikia ~
Registered On: Nov 4, 2010 0:01:40 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 696
~ Relationship Status: Single
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Post by Nina Stenet on Apr 27, 2016 22:51:41 GMT -5
"Well, there's one difference between us - I don't much care about what other people make of me, just so long as they take my work seriously. Even if I'm completely forgotten by history, as long as what I've discovered is out there I will be completely content with my life. Or, better yet, if even my work is forgotten because it's been surpassed - in fact I'd like that better. I'm merely a woman who was lucky enough to be given power that I did nothing to earn or deserve. Who am I to have such a gift? Am I wiser than anyone else? Do I even know what I'm doing with it? Is there anyone on this planet able to give a much better answer to those questions than myself?" she asks rhetorically, and then sighs, "But we could debate the philosophical questions for hours and not actually get anywhere - it doesn't change the essential facts of the situation we're in."
When she catches the look of concern that has come to his face, at first she looks confused by it, but gradually her expression becomes one more of irritation at his words. "Well, you're welcome to ask me questions, but there's a lot of them that I don't care to answer," she replies calmly.
Any scientist in her field could tell you that there's something inexplicable in Dr. Stenet's work - and it's not that other scientists can't get the same answers that she gets. It's that she gets too many good results too often and too fast and with apparently poor documentation. And Lex knows even more about it than most of Nina's peers - he knows more about her business operations and finances. Not that he knows the full details unless he's been snooping into her bank accounts, but how many of her published papers mention the results one would get from tests using equipment, studies, and other resources that Lex knows for a fact that she doesn't have or didn't have the time to do herself? Of course, she never actually states that she did the tests herself - instead she states what the results of the tests would indicate as a statement of fact.
And here's the kicker: even though she couldn't have done the tests herself, if someone does those tests they always get the result she states - at least if they did it correctly, anyway. If anyone else worked as she seems to, they'd be making many wild assumptions, not checking to be sure that they were correct before moving on to the next step. But if she were making true assumptions, her poor scientific practice would turn into poor research and failure to actually discover anything. No, somehow she knows that she's correct without needing to run the tests.
For example, your average scientist attempting to discover a new drug is considered to be successful if only one in a thousand of the substances that he discovers results in a viable medicine - the rest prove to be too toxic or have side effects that are too severe or don't actually do what they're supposed to. Nina does not have the capability of testing a drug on more than a couple hundred lab rats at best, which is only enough to really determine that it doesn't outright kill a rat. And that's if she uses her rats for drug testing at all - there's no evidence that she does aside from the fact that she has rats in her lab. As a result, she needs to hand over her discoveries to someone else for testing, and that's where the direct comparison can be made. The full results are not quite in for the long term studies of even her earliest discoveries, but thus far it appears that her average is nearly one hundred percent. That kind of a success rate is unheard of - the entire purpose of drug testing is to find the rare good ones among the many, many failures, but somehow Nina is able to either do this beforehand or by avoid ever creating drugs that won't test well to begin with. Of course, she doesn't offer up a new drug for testing very often, but with that drastic of a difference in success rates she can outdo other researchers without producing very much.
And to say that this frustrates her peers would be an understatement. People who don't follow firmly established scientific procedures to the letter aren't supposed to make successful discoveries. But when they try to argue with the way she works, Nina usually counters their argument by asking them if there's any fault in her findings themselves - if the things that she says are true are true or not. So far it seems that nobody has been able to find a decent point to contend with her on that front - not unless they want to be reduced to quibbling over typos and things of that nature.
"And before you go incorporating me into your plans for a brighter tomorrow, you need to keep in mind that I don't share your vision - and I probably never will. Yes, I hope for a brighter tomorrow, but what you have in mind is not the same thing that I have in mind. The direction? That we can agree on. The speed and destination? That's different. And I don't think that even you could give me a speech so eloquent as to change my mind - as we've both mentioned, I'm a very stubborn person. Especially when it comes to how and when I do what only I can do. Very often I find that the best use of my power to refrain from using it - and whether someone else declares that to be a sensible way to exercise my free will or a waste of my abilities doesn't matter to me. And I have my own thoughts and opinions about the future of humanity. But as long as we agree on the direction, there is a lot that we can do for each other," she comments.
Standing up from her chair, she wanders the short distance to the spot in the pod that's closest to the creature, stopping and facing the wall as if she could gaze through it and every other obstacle that stands between her and the monstrosity that had made her so uncomfortable moments before. "Our friend over there, for instance, is clearly no good for anyone. This is something that I can take care of without hesitation," she adds, her voice abruptly even more serious than usual.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 0:32:58 GMT -5
"That's the rub, though, isn't it? I care about what others make of me because otherwise my work won't be taken seriously. I've seen it happen to many a genius. Misunderstood in their time, laughed at by their peers, their genius work languished and ignored. Did you know that I once met a man toiling in a sewer who had discovered a method to generate zero point electrical energy using garbage he salvaged from behind a lab? He used it to rob banks to fund his research. Because I had done what I had done, and taken the time to establish myself as I had, I was able to pay his legal fees and hire him, and his technology is now central to the very batteries that power this structure, as well as the recharging energy that is used to power millions of homes in Metropolis. Lives changed, improved because of the regard that society has for LexCorp, ignored and misused because others didn't understand the application of the work." He shrugs as he says "It's a sore spot for me, I suppose. I feel as if I had been less focused in my youth, if I hadn't been as ruthless as I was, I could see myself as another man like that, languishing in obscurity, bitter that my contributions to the world were unappreciated, ignored, and the world would lurch forward without being able to be improved by what I had to offer. I wonder if I would have created a robot to rob a bank myself, if I hadn't been the sort of man to decide to do . . . well, to rob the government legally." He shook his head.
He stared out as he said "I was hoping you'd talk to me about your . . . abilities . . . honestly, though. I'll admit, though. I had my suspicions about the fact that you had abilities. I suppose it's time for a bit of a confession, although I doubt that you'll be surprised by mine. I must admit, Dr. Stenet, I've had people try to recreate some of your results, and . . . they weren't capable of doing it. That left two possibilities, unfortunately. One, that you had faked the results." He shrugged and then said "Looking at the physical results from the samples of some of your experiments, that was proven to be . . . not the case."
He rubbed his hands together "The second possibility, though, was that there was an additional element that was influencing the results of your research, which seemed much more likely. Seeing as . . . I'm very aware of what equipment you've been using and had access to . . . well, that leaves personal ability. Q.E.D."
He looks at her as he says "You can understand the conundrum, and the uncertainty it places on your research in general. If no one else can replicate your results because there's a confounding variable that's not accounted for, it reduces the efficacy of some of your discoveries being applied generally moving forward. I was going to talk to you about it after this was all said and done, but since it's come up, I suppose there's no time like the present. I have . . . I've had, my suspicions that you may actually be capable . . . of doing something about the situation in there. I can't confirm it or deny it, but none of my people can reproduce your results, which suggests to me that it's something about you, and if it's something about you, then it means that you are . . . the only one who can fix this. "
Because in the end, if there was a confounding variable, such as a superpower, that wasn't accounted for and discussed as part of the discovery and the statement, then her discoveries could neither be confirmed nor denied nor applied, which meant that it was a theoretical work of interest, with impressive results, but then again in a world with GodKings and Aliens and Marvels amazing results were a dime a dozen, but hardly a discovery at all. Perhaps generations in the future might confirm her findings experimentally, perhaps they'd prove her right. But that remained for future generations to see. "I'd argue that the difference in vision is arguing over semantics. I believe in a world where one is entitled to opportunity, where a genetic quirk of birth doesn't dictate ones standing in the universe, and where all can live a better, stronger, happier life free to make the very choices that you yourself make."
He looks her square in the eye as he says "But I hope that in the end you decide to use your . . . ability, whatever it is and however it may be used, to help stop that, either by understanding how it can be stopped, or to do something about it." He shakes his head as he says "I'll pilot my drone, we can watch together through the monitors so it won't . . . disorient you as badly." He pulled away and started to move the drone down the hallway again. "I'll leave our friend in there for now, and see if I can't investigate one of the other labs. Perhaps I can find a lab report somewhere we can interpret and find."
He went down the hallway, the image visible on the monitors as the drone entered the furthest lab in the hallway. It looked destroyed, flickering lights, broken glass and small tubes. A broken clean room appeared to have the wall taken from it, something smashed through the window and the airlock. A computer flickered on the wall, it appeared semi-functional at least. "Perhaps I can download some of the information from that. What do you think we should do?"
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Nina Stenet
"Great acts are made up of small deeds." - Lao Tzu
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Player: Avalikia ~
Registered On: Nov 4, 2010 0:01:40 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 696
~ Relationship Status: Single
~ Character Profile
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Post by Nina Stenet on Jun 2, 2016 20:06:05 GMT -5
As Lex speaks of misunderstood geniuses, Nina's expression becomes somewhat perplexed, though also patient. She's not sure why he's telling her this, but she's willing to hear him out until he makes his point. Only... when he does reach his point she's not exactly sure why he made it. Though in spite of her confusion she can't help but be amused by his joke about legally robbing the government - mostly because she isn't a fan of the government. She used to feel rather neutral about the government, but ever since a government agent shot her in the knee twice when she clearly didn't deserve it her opinion of it took a rather severe nosedive.
As he goes on to confess about recreating her work, once again her expression becomes confused, but this time there's a lot less patience behind it - he's speaking of her work, after all, and she has some rather strong feelings about it. However, she convinces herself to once again hold her tongue until he's explained himself, though she doesn't exactly look pleased with that he's saying while he does do. When he's finished, her lips purse before she says, "I hope that you meant to have said that they can't replicate my results in the same timeframe and with the same equipment - not in general. If not, then I have a very poor opinion of them. I might withhold certain information in my research, Mr. Luthor, but don't speak about my work as if I flaunt the scientific process - that offends me. I make it a point to include in my research a method that any scientist can use to verify my results. Is it the method that I used? No. But anyone can verify anything I say - it's just time consuming and expensive. If it was truly impossible for someone else to verify my results, it would be bad science and I wouldn't publish it. I do not believe that any ability I have puts me above basic scientific principles." And it's something that she feels quite strongly about, to judge by her tone - which remains steady even though she's quite clearly has strong feelings about what she's saying. In fact, she's practically scolding him for not being more careful with his words.
But then her voice becomes much lighter - in fact, if anything she looks amused - as she comments, "The way you speak of me makes it sound as if you wish that I was languishing in obscurity, unrecognized, unfunded, or otherwise in some sort of a situation that you could save me from. Why is that, Lex? Do you want to be my hero?" She's teasing him, but not in a mean way - she's simply saying out loud something that she's just realizing seems to be a common thread between them. At least if she's not misreading the situation, which is possible, but she doesn't think that she is even if the billionaire disagrees with her assessment.
His next words remind her that there is a job to do here, and she's certainly feeling better than she was a few moments ago. Time to get back to work then. Though she can't say that she's exactly sure how to proceed, so when Lex suggests exploring a bit more with his drone, she raises no objections. Perhaps they really will be able to find out more useful information. "Okay," she says, shifting to where she can more easily watch the monitors.
Though as the drone enters the destroyed lab, she finds herself having a hard time actually paying attention. She intended to merely consider in the back of her mind what she would have to do in order to apply her unique gift to this situation, but the logistics of that question are so tricky that the line of thought took over most of her thought processes. So when they're interrupted by a question, her first response is a confused, "Hmm?" But then her mind quickly catches up and she says, "Oh, well, it wouldn't hurt to try, I suppose."
Hesitating for a moment, she finally says, "But I honestly doubt that they would have any information that would actually help me very much. Whatever that thing is, it isn't something that they intended, and that means what they did intend to make becomes almost purely academic, at least if the goal is to get rid of the creature." She pauses to frown before she adds, "Unfortunately, if you'd like me to bring my abilities into play here, the problem is that I don't know where it is." Expecting him to object to that, she holds up a hand and quickly adds, "Yes, yes, I know that it's locked in that room - I could draw a map of where it is. I could walk there. A part of my brain is pretty sure that I did just that a few minutes ago. But if you could stretch out your arm as far as you wanted and through walls, could you reach out and touch it without looking?" Turning to look at Lex, she answers her own question by saying, "I can't. It would help if it wasn't so far away."
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