[The stairs from the narrow front entry to the main living space of the hive meander, sharp enough turns that there's no direct line of sight from Waspfire's front door to the open-plan living/dining room/kitchen, but once they've reached that the space opens out, with a reasonably high ceiling and a wide bank of sixteen-paned windows along one wall. At the other end of the room, a door stands open to a second set of stairs, leading downward; outside, John might have noticed the bay door of her workshop.
Waspfire's careful not to put herself between John and the exit he knows about, though; steps far enough into the open room so as not to crowd him. Feeling cornered very rarely helps diplomatic matters any.]
I mean, I hear you? I really do. But like... untreated clone sickness is pretty damn dangerous, too.
I'm comfortable telling people we've found the cure and offering pre-programmed medical nanomachines, but only ones that we've programmed. You don't understand what kind of power those machines have, Waspfire. [He stands stiff, at near-attention, near to the entrance to the stairwell.] They can remove powers, they can remove and manipulate memories, they can rewrite whole personalities.
We're way past the point where any of that is novel, honestly. Welcome to the transuniversal abduction circuit. But I get your point.
[She sighs, briefly burying her face in one hand as she rubs at her temples, trying to piece together what she's willing to offer, what she's willing to concede.] We can do that, but either we need to give them at least limited capabilities to edit the programming, or you need to accept responsibility if and when a case crops up in a species with genetic or biochemical structures our current programming doesn't account for and the turn-around inherent to relying on panicky temporally-asynchronous preadolescents as couriers prevents us from getting a functional treatment to them in time.
That's not a risk I'm willing to take personal responsibility for, but I need your cooperation for that choice to even be an issue, so I'm willing to compromise.
I'll take responsibility. [It's an immediate response. The terror of the medical nanomachines run rampant like in Norfinbury is far more intense than the more nebulous concern of not getting specialized machines there in time.]
The machines were all programmed the same way for our victims. They should be sufficient in the majority of cases. And I made a promise that we would keep control of these things.
[That's one thing he's not willing to compromise on.]
[Honestly, Waspfire wouldn't be in the least surprised if the residents of the other worlds ended up reverse-engineering the nanites anyway, but she thinks better of saying so. She didn't get where she is in life by pointing out to the relevant authorities that instruction manuals are useful but not always necessary to a sufficiently clever engineer.]
Is it ok if I mention what transuniversal abduction scenario they're sourced from, who did the work developing them for our purposes, or should I figure that's need-to-know intel too? Like, I get that you don't want to hand out a Medical Nanites for Ignoramuses guide or nothing, but it's also a little rich to be like, "here's a mysterious cure we're telling you nothing about, trust us, signed, people you don't know from the Handmaid of Death."
We can tell them where they're derived from, yeah. Anyone from Norfinbury in other worlds will know how dangerous they are.
[Because they're some of the most dangerous medical equipment he's ever handled, and he's done treatments that involved medicine that came just short of being completely deadly to the patients.]
And it might be more helpful to tell them what sorts of expertise were involved in developing them. Unless you think everyone's gonna know who you, Xanthous, and Pokey are.
I meant more the part where you were project lead, but like...
Honestly yeah I don't know how much cred me and Pokey have on a multiversal basis, but Xanthous and his Descendant are disproportionately common in transuniversal abduction scenarios and while individual instances vary to some degree they do tend to be, like, massive perfectionist programming nerds. I don't usually get along with them super well [- that's an understatement, but probably it's a good sign that she's gotten to the point of being able to talk about her ex-kismesis in those terms -] but honestly? If you gave me a tech-based remedy to something and told me a Captor had worked on it, my confidence in it would absolutely fucking skyrocket.
Well, yeah, of course. I'll talk to them before I put their names on anything. [The words are accompanied by a vaguely placating gesture, both hands open and upraised.]
Like I said, I was mostly thinking about what kinda credit to give you anyway. Something this sensitive, I do think it's only going to help our credibility to clarify that the guy who directed the project is someone who's both got medical training and has seen them in the wild, as it were.
[Waspfire continues to be the subject of a deep frown. He nods after a moment, though.]
You can tell them I'm a doctor. A trauma surgeon specializing in battlefield medicine, if that makes a difference. I don't have any particular expertise with nanotechnology, I'm just aware of it. The rest of you lot did all the work there. I just knew what they needed to do. Ienzo and Aeleus helped with that some, as well.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[The stairs from the narrow front entry to the main living space of the hive meander, sharp enough turns that there's no direct line of sight from Waspfire's front door to the open-plan living/dining room/kitchen, but once they've reached that the space opens out, with a reasonably high ceiling and a wide bank of sixteen-paned windows along one wall. At the other end of the room, a door stands open to a second set of stairs, leading downward; outside, John might have noticed the bay door of her workshop.
Waspfire's careful not to put herself between John and the exit he knows about, though; steps far enough into the open room so as not to crowd him. Feeling cornered very rarely helps diplomatic matters any.]
I mean, I hear you? I really do. But like... untreated clone sickness is pretty damn dangerous, too.
no subject
no subject
[She sighs, briefly burying her face in one hand as she rubs at her temples, trying to piece together what she's willing to offer, what she's willing to concede.] We can do that, but either we need to give them at least limited capabilities to edit the programming, or you need to accept responsibility if and when a case crops up in a species with genetic or biochemical structures our current programming doesn't account for and the turn-around inherent to relying on panicky temporally-asynchronous preadolescents as couriers prevents us from getting a functional treatment to them in time.
That's not a risk I'm willing to take personal responsibility for, but I need your cooperation for that choice to even be an issue, so I'm willing to compromise.
no subject
The machines were all programmed the same way for our victims. They should be sufficient in the majority of cases. And I made a promise that we would keep control of these things.
[That's one thing he's not willing to compromise on.]
no subject
[Honestly, Waspfire wouldn't be in the least surprised if the residents of the other worlds ended up reverse-engineering the nanites anyway, but she thinks better of saying so. She didn't get where she is in life by pointing out to the relevant authorities that instruction manuals are useful but not always necessary to a sufficiently clever engineer.]
Is it ok if I mention what transuniversal abduction scenario they're sourced from, who did the work developing them for our purposes, or should I figure that's need-to-know intel too? Like, I get that you don't want to hand out a Medical Nanites for Ignoramuses guide or nothing, but it's also a little rich to be like, "here's a mysterious cure we're telling you nothing about, trust us, signed, people you don't know from the Handmaid of Death."
no subject
[Because they're some of the most dangerous medical equipment he's ever handled, and he's done treatments that involved medicine that came just short of being completely deadly to the patients.]
And it might be more helpful to tell them what sorts of expertise were involved in developing them. Unless you think everyone's gonna know who you, Xanthous, and Pokey are.
no subject
Honestly yeah I don't know how much cred me and Pokey have on a multiversal basis, but Xanthous and his Descendant are disproportionately common in transuniversal abduction scenarios and while individual instances vary to some degree they do tend to be, like, massive perfectionist programming nerds. I don't usually get along with them super well [- that's an understatement, but probably it's a good sign that she's gotten to the point of being able to talk about her ex-kismesis in those terms -] but honestly? If you gave me a tech-based remedy to something and told me a Captor had worked on it, my confidence in it would absolutely fucking skyrocket.
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You can put my name down, but you'll have to ask the others if they'll allow it. I don't much like answering for them.
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Like I said, I was mostly thinking about what kinda credit to give you anyway. Something this sensitive, I do think it's only going to help our credibility to clarify that the guy who directed the project is someone who's both got medical training and has seen them in the wild, as it were.
no subject
You can tell them I'm a doctor. A trauma surgeon specializing in battlefield medicine, if that makes a difference. I don't have any particular expertise with nanotechnology, I'm just aware of it. The rest of you lot did all the work there. I just knew what they needed to do. Ienzo and Aeleus helped with that some, as well.