Science Experiments

We run away from the junkyard. No reason to put a nice face to it on my personal journal. Medkit thinks he might be able to find out something from Euraka Island where a group of scientists are living and hiding out. We send him off and head to the Infinity Foundation where Dr. Beast has his headquarters. We enter and start discussing the moss. I let Don take over to see if they can come to a conclusion about how to prevent this moss from taking over the city.
 
Beast is happy with the challenge to discover more about the creature. I run my tri comm over it and I can tell that it is moving around slightly - almost like it is testing the limits of its current prison. I also think that is as close to testing a live subject as I want to get. I leave it to Hank and he is thrilled. He names it Herb and carries it to a different part of the lab while I go over to the metal arm structure that Amethyst had grabbed as we were running out the door. My tri comm tells me that is a honeycomb structure within the forged metal which Beast identifies as covatrinium. I attempt to cut off a bit so I can begin doing some testing. Nothing happens. I look around to see if I can see something that could cut. If nothing else, I can always try the liquid nitrogen.
 
I ask Dr. Beast if there is anything in his lab that might be able to cut this metal. He agrees that the liquid nitrogen is a possibility, but not as precise. He digs around in a tool drawer and brings out a pen light sized device and when he clicks a button, a four-inch red laser light. I take it and snip off the tip of the "pinky" finger. First, I apply some heat and the metal becomes flexible and you can see the honeycomb inside. As it cools, it goes back to the original shape. My tri comm tells me that if heat was applied direct to the honeycomb structure, then there would be a chance to change the struture. I flip the test and apply cold. It begins to shrink, but as I am watching the reaction with my tri comm, I can tell that the honeycomb structure is getting stronger until it reaches a point at which it becomes impervious to the cold and no longer has any reaction.
 
I listen to an update from the boys about what they have been doing with the moss - Herb. They want the hand part of the metal to see if the moss would interact. I continue working with the metal by adding some acid. I am able to slowly etch the exterior of the metal. I then put a drop onto the honeycomb structure and it dissolves and crumbles away leaving a hollow tube of the forged metal. I then attempt to bend the tube and it flexes easily. Trying to do the same thing to the section with the honeycomb structure intact has zero effect. The honeycomb is obviously providing the strength and durability of the creatures. Then Amethyst offers to do a sonic test on the metal pieces. He begins at a low level and slowly increases until the metal is singing. Well, humming anyway and providing musical tones. He plays with it a bit and does manage to get a decent rendition of Twinkle, twinkle little star. After that he continues to increase the level and the metal reacts by floating until it begins to reflect the sonic energy in various directions.
 
Next up, we attempt the lightning. Based upon the reaction to the higher levels of the sonic energy, we put the metal pieces inside a blast shield and then Amethyst starts at a low level and slowly increases. This time the metal reacts by storing the energy. After he stops the test, it holds on to the energy for a while before it discharges. This actually makes sense for storing the chroniton energy to slowly dissipate as the creature moves around. The possibilities flood my mind as a way to help those who need prosthetics. I force myself to stop this as we are in the middle of a crisis and further scientific study can wait. Dr. Beast offers to make us a couple of devices that can detect the radiation given off by the chroniton generators and the team votes to check out the possible drop off lccations for more materials to be used in the next stage of experiments by Dr. Grimm. Then we can take that to some local experts to see if we can determine what Dr. Grimm is actually attempting.
 
After an hour of tinkering around while we rest and refuel, Dr. Beast hands us five of the radition detector. Trevor explains about AIM using old underground parking decks and empty warehouses. We all turn to Trevor to get his experienced viewpoint on the best place. He knows of a group of warehouses that are vacant and unused - except in spring when Hammer empire uses them possibly for the Golden Lotus festival during the Lunar new year. Hank also tells us that Dr. Isly has information on Dr. Grimm and is willing to talk to us on video later. Same goes for Telsa Coil from New York who had chroniton energy experience.
 
Our devices pick up a trail of energy which is so strong that is appears that AIM has stolen another Lex Corp generator and headed for a warehouse. We stop to pick up Dr. Reynolds on the way to find out what he discovered as we head to the area as a whole group again.