[ open ] science is neat, but I’m afraid it’s not very forgiving

[finalfrontiersman]

Who: Jim Kirk, Spock, Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker, & You!
Where: STEM room at the club building.
What: Open house at STEM!
Content Warnings: Probably profanity, canon-typical lab accidents.

WELCOME TO STEM

Welcome to STEM! The room is cramped with activity, a bit of an organized chaos - well, if you ignore the fire in the corner. It's probably fine, don't worry about it; someone will rush in with the well-used fire extinguisher soon.

The walls are completely covered in writing and project diagrams, loosely organized based on what type of project it is: a physical engineering build, chemical synthesis, or coding work. The STEM members can be found flitting between projects, and are always down to assess new projects people might bring in to see what they can do.

STEM TEAM

FIRST TIME?

The activity in the room can be overwhelming, but never fear; the STEM club members are all fairly approachable. Jim can be found at one of the worktables, offering beginner lessons in coding and technology basics, for those who may find Aldrip's advancements foreign.

On the other side of the room, the spider-teens are hard at work at the chemistry and engineering bench. All newcomers are encouraged to wear goggles and gloves, and observe proper lab safety protocol. Gwen and Peter are happy to help with improvements to the community or any projects the Chosen might bring to them.

As for Spock? Well, he's certainly something. When most filter into the room, they'll note that he spends the bulk of his time putting out the oft metaphorical or literal fires (though, 57.3% of the time he is the one setting most things alight), but never quite engages as readily and as surely as the others do.

Either way, when he's not tangled up in his own projects (and even when he is), he tends to shadow Jim. He seems most comfortable, upon further observation, when seated beside him. You might even get Spock to talk about what he's up to or help you out with items of your own if you catch him just right (if, well, the pile of assorted goods often dissembled and reassembled between everything else he appears to be doing is any real indication).

FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT

If you're in an experimenting mood, perhaps you'll find yourself in the company of Gwen and Peter and their endless box of prototypes, in between messy blueprints and chicken-scratch papers.

As much as STEM pushes lab safety, practicing what they preach is easier said than done. Accidents do happen - the passive-aggressive lab safety flyers and fire extinguishers (are some of those empty by the door?) are there for a reason. If you happen to notice a fire before the excited nerds, feel free to leap into action - lucky you, there's a fire extinguisher within reach.

CODING CLINIC

There's a workstation off to the side littered with computer parts, and when Jim isn't flitting between stations or teaching, he can be found situated at the computer terminal, plugging away at more complex code. Today, he's pouring over strings of data and building communicators - a bunch of them sit in a bucket by his feet as he finishes building each one.

Spock can be found where he usually is, situated toward the sidelines, buried in coding so complex that it makes one's eyes glaze over the longer they stare at it. Or, well, maybe that's the speed of his input?

HEY, WHAT'S THAT?

Spend long enough in the STEM club (or pay enough attention), and you might find yourself drifting towards the back corner. All of the STEM team members have drifted by at some point, and seem to be working on a more...sensitive project. Perhaps you received a message and this is what you're here for, or perhaps one of them pulled you aside and nudged you in this direction.

Jim is discretely handing out communicators and taking down names in a notebook; there's another terminal over here, with telemetry data that the STEM members seem to be debating throughout the day - adding numbers to a map of Aldrip that they not-so-casually cover with whatever's within closest reach whenever someone new approaches.

OOC INFO

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Check out the OOC plotting post here; sign up for an exploration team for the player plot happening August 26th!

OOC INFO

Want to plot out some involvement? Feel free to hit up any of the STEM members in the Game Discord / wherever you might have us added, we'll be happy to help get your character involved!

(CODE)

Comments

Jim Kirk | Star Trek AOS

[finalfrontiersman]

[ ooc: call me, beep me, if you want to reach me. ]

[solitarysoul]

[Levi was no real stranger to the club building, but he usually just went to the cooking club room and left. He wasn't really sure what the other clubs that Kotone hadn't conned him into joining were but sometimes he was curious. Some of them seemed to have quite a bit of activity, so one day he manages to reign in his nerves enough to check it out. He knocks on the door lightly then enters, looking around to see if anyone's in.]

[finalfrontiersman]

[ Jim looks up at the knock, goggles perched on his face as he finishes up with another communicator. He does a double-take - oh, he recognizes that face. Hazily, through the glimmer of the glitches - he's met Levi before.

Jim pushes the goggles to the top of his head, offering Levi a friendly smile. ] Hey, welcome to STEM. First time?

[solitarysoul]

Yeah...uh, I-I was just curious what this place was.

[finalfrontiersman]

We're a club! Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. [ Jim makes a vague gesture to the rest of the room, where various experiments are being conducted, the plans tacked up on every available inch of wall space. ] But our mission is to help the people here with whatever they need. Fixing technology, or teaching people something new. Some people are from time periods where the tablets are completely foreign to them, so we teach them how to operate them - that kind of thing.

[solitarysoul]

Oh, uh, t-that's me. I'm from a time before computers...but I think I've figured it out by now. I-its really nice of you to help people, though.

[finalfrontiersman]

Well, these things can do some pretty advanced stuff, if you ever want to get deeper into it. [ An offer Jim leaves on the table, for Levi to take or leave at will. ] Or if there's any other technology you might have questions about, we're happy to assist.

We have to help each other. We're all in the same boat here. Us against the Council, you know?

[garbagecanned]

[Yosuke had seen the network post, and had been interested. but instead of answering it, he'd made his way to the club building at the scheduled time. it's when he sees the communicators that he raises his eyebrows...]

So what's those for? Why do we need different ones than the ones we've already got?

[finalfrontiersman]

[ Jim looks up at the voice, goggles strapped over his face. He takes a moment to set down the component he's soldering and pull the goggles back up to the top of his head to meet Yosuke's curious gaze. ] We have reason to believe the Council is monitoring all network activity.

These, [ Jim gestures back to the communicators, the one sitting half-built on his worktable, the box of finished ones below. ] Are connected to a subnetwork. It piggybacks off the original network, but it's undetectable.

[ He picks one up and offers it to Yosuke. ] No Council monitoring.

[garbagecanned]

Why do you think that?

[he remembers that weirdass message on the network from a little while back, and considers the communicator when Jim passes it to him.]

And you don't think they could figure out a way into this if they really wanted to?

[he's a bit suspicious.]

[finalfrontiersman]

That AI on the network, for starters. How they always seem to know our comings and goings, how Jerry can find anyone, anywhere - take your pick.

[ Is it their fault they knocked something loose, with their messing around? Jim's not owning up to anything. ]

Maybe, but it's unlikely. We built an internal network to anonymize the traffic. [ It's boring and complicated, but the point is they've been over every inch of the code in the communicators, and Jim's 99% sure there's no one monitoring it but them. ] So far, no unauthorized pings have been caught spying, and we're watching that closely to be sure.

[garbagecanned]

[Yosuke thinks about it for a minute longer, and he flips the communicator around slowly in his hands for a few moments.]

Weird. You'd think if it was an AI, it'd figure out something like this by now. Maybe it's fine with letting you guys talk anonymously?

[if it's really an AI, then aren't they all knowing or something? this goes a little deeper than Yosuke really knows.]

[finalfrontiersman]

It's a possibility, I can't rule it out for certain and say this is foolproof, but - [ Jim turns to gesture towards the computer terminal behind him, cycling through code in the background. ] An AI is just like any other computer program, and processes take time, even when it's fast. We set up something called a rolling code. Several layers of it, actually.

Imagine it like this: we built a big ass wall around our locked down internal network. [ Jim gestures, trying to help conceptualize it. ] Each brick in the wall has a unique code attached to it. The AI has to figure out the code to each individual brick, in the hopes of making a hole large enough to slip through.

Now, [ Jim holds up a finger before spreading his hands expansively again. ] We're not just sitting behind our big ass wall. The codes for each brick keep changing. We change them at randomized intervals using a cipher program that also iterates, and plug it into a cascade effect - so if the AI figures out five bricks, well, when it changes again, they start all the way back at the beginning. You follow?

s'chn t'gai spock >> tos.

[ashaya]

[ ooc: hello? is it me you're looking for? anyway, hmu if you want anything specific. if not, be merry. use the above. ]

Re: s'chn t'gai spock >> tos.

[ashesofkatarr]

[The invitation issued on the network was intriguing. Certainly intriguing enough to get Visas out of the basement and down to this "STEM club."

She already knows who she's going to approach, and the fact that he is deeply engaged in coding is only an encouragement. The way his fingers fly and pause over the keys, the lines appearing on the screen, is comforting to her... computers remained familiar to her in the way few things had after her homeworld's destruction.]

I am Visas Marr.

I am also "from space."

[ashaya]

[ That he is selected is not so much a surprise as it is a curiosity. A curiosity, in that he is notably the least approachable of the four. It is not a kind of self-recrimination that he marks this, only observation. He is known sticking to the sidelines, for focusing upon his work with rare interruption. That interruption now comes more frequently? Well, that is neither here nor there. Still, Spock finishes the line of code that he is writing before placing down his tablet. If he is going to talk to a potential member, it is better that he pause. ]

Greetings, [ he says, turning about in his seat. He crosses one long leg over the other as he settles, one hand lifting in acknowledgement. His fingers come together and part, a steady "vee" forming between the valley he creates with them. ]

It would appear most are, [ he continues, syllables scraping at something almost dry as his hand lowers to join the other against the crown of his knee. He should remark on how Human-centric most are within this domain, but that much should be obvious. Give him enough time, perhaps, and he'll share his thoughts on it anyway. ] From where do you hail?

[ashesofkatarr]

What is most likely a different galaxy from the one you inhabit. [She learned while talking to Jim that her reference pools for interstellar geography were entirely different than Visas'.

She also doesn't want to give the most precise answer, which is "a planet that was reduced to lifeless rock and ash."] I was a traveler.

[She looks past his shoulder at his work on the computer.]

What are you doing there?

peter parker / mcu spiderman

[spidermenaces]

(have at him!)

[battlefieldbrat]

["knock and we'll be with you", eh? kakashi arrives at the STEM club door and knocks briskly, seeing no reason for hesitation.

he definitely looks like a ninja, clad in armor and wearing a mask that covers his face up to his nose. his left eye is bisected by a long scar and he's wearing a ninja headband, too. too legit to quit.

he waits patiently at the door, trusting that he's in the right place and someone will let him in.]

[spidermenaces]

(part of him thought it was a prank. when murdock told him about the ninjas, his brain produced an image that is very closely tied to the person who knocked on their door. he's not on the ceiling at this time, so timely is how he greets the other.)

Hey, really really a ninja, huh? Welcome to STEM!

[battlefieldbrat]

Really really.

[said so drily. but he does seem interested, peering around the room at all the various stations and goings on.]

Is it always this...busy?

[spidermenaces]

(wait, the thing to do is to give kakashi some space so he can come in. perhaps they have some leftover donuts from this morning, or so he hopes. peter surely didn't think this through as a host, but alas, he'll gesture with his hand and go find those donuts.)

Uh, busier, and quieter, depends on the day and the projects we might be doing. But, uh, thanks for coming, man, I've never met a ninja before.

[battlefieldbrat]

Sure. I've never met an, uh, mutant spider person? Before, either.

[he just looks like a regular guy to kakashi, but he knows well that looks can be deceiving. maybe peter has spider parts hidden away somewhere.]

And I appreciate the invitation. It might be nice to do a little math.

[spidermenaces]

(don't be like ned. please, don't ask him a million weird questions. questions, okay, but the weird ones? please. he's been through it once.)

Yeah, well, we're kinda holding off on the math for now. I super need you as a ninja right now, dude.

gwen stacy | itsv | ota!

[arachnerina]

i: repair station

[Being a superhero is hard work, but so is doing maintenance on your equipment. There's a variety of things to repair! You may come across Gwen and Peter running tests on their webshooters (if you ask really nice, they might even let you try one out), but sometimes it's just cosmetic. With the sewing club just down the hall, it's been easy to grab extra fabric to patch holes. You might catch Gwen in the corner, hand stitching at the webbing details of her spider-suit, other times, she's hovering over strangely colored boiling water with goggles as she pokes a tong at fabric she's dying to match for her suit.]

ii: messing around

[Whether you were there when the comment was made, or came in after the bets were called, it's loud today in the STEM room. Why, exactly?

Because someone thought it would be fun to test out the response time of the spider-teens.

Gwen's currently sitting in a chair, eyes closed, and waiting to see what the next challenge would be. Want to throw something for her to catch? Want to see if she can web something without looking? Challenge her, however you see fit.]

iii: wildcard

[Surprise me! You can pick from anything above, or create a new scenario of your choosing!]