Mad Science & You: Week 3 (Tuesday, Period 3)

[daimonhost.livejournal.com]

This week, the Danger Shop had been transformed into a massive underground lab. Dozens of switches and wires ran across the thick concrete walls. Vials full of strange chemicals bubbled away on top of Bunsen burners. Large pieces of retro-futuristic machinery were set up throughout the room.

There was an odd hole in the floor, as though some kind of plasma-based space sword had recently been stabbed into it.

A naked woman lay unconscious in a semi-transparent glass box. Long cables connected her to both a giant Tesla coil and a unmoving golden female android sitting in a nearby chair.

Prof Tomoe completely ignored the women as he addressed the class. "Welcome to the Metropolis!" he said. "Today, we're going to explore another important step in the early history of mad science. Dr Frankenstein's work in reanimation relied entirely on organic tissue. However, in this universe, Dr C.A. Rotwang's work was the first to combine human elements with a completely different material -- robotics."

He gestured wildly towards the golden robot with one hand. "You're about to see this robot be fully transformed into a perfect physical and mental duplicate of this woman--" He gestured towards the woman in the box with the other hand. "--one of the leaders of a workers' rebellion that is threatening to tear this city apart. This is a re-staged simulation, so you won't be able to affect anything, but let's see the process in motion."

He snapped his fingers, and the scene sprang to life as a scientist with wild hair and darting eyes entered the room.

( Oh hey look, a movie clip! )

Everything in the room froze as the robot woman finally opened her eyes. Prof Tomoe turned back to face the students.

"For today's activity, I want to you come up with a concept design for your own android. If you had full access to Dr Rotwang's lab here, what kind of being would you create? What would it look like, what would it's purpose be, how much destructive power would you give it, and so on. When you've come up with your own design, compare it with a classmate's and try to convince them that yours is better."

He grinned. "And don't throw your concept design away after class. We'll be coming back to robotics later in the term."

Library [9/11]

[secretheritage.livejournal.com]

Cassie was cleaning up tables, which wasn't unusual. It was one of her duties, after all. But cleaning up and putting away books after the hockey and lacrosse books got into a rumble? That was a little out of the ordinary. Or maybe not. It was Fandom, after all.

She finally got the books all on a cart and shoved it up by the front desk to deal with after she took a break for a few minutes. Giving the books a stern look, she plopped down behind the desk.

Ethics [Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

Ethics class had been told to meet in the Danger Shop this morning, and when they arrived, they found themselves in groups of three or four floating in dingies in the middle of a seemingly endless stretch of water. They couldn't see any of their classmates who weren't in the boat with them.


Anakin's voice came over the speaker system: "There is no land for hundreds of kilometers, no fresh water, and you've run out of food. The only resources you have are the other people you have in the boat and any powers you and they might possess. Will you turn to cannibalism? If so, who will be the first to go?"

Hope you weren't hungry for breakfast, class.

"If you'd prefer not to participate in this class, shake your head strongly and you will be taken out of the simulation," Anakin added.

With that the students were left to their own devices.

Personal Improvement Through Science: Aperture Laboratories Presents Physical Education (Wed/Per.2)

[gladigotburned.livejournal.com]

The locker room corridor was largely the same today, with one exception: where the portal-generating panel had been for the first couple of classes there was a regular (for this room, anyway) door. The sign beside the door was different, too, if you were observant enough to have remembered any of the details from last week's.

( Read the sign. Read it. )

If you hadn't . . . too bad. You'd have to figure it out on your own once you stepped through the doors into the test chamber.

"You came back again," GLaDOS said, in an almost bored voice, once everyone was assembled on the platform just inside the doors. "It's almost reliable of you . . . or maybe Pavlovian. Personally, I'd be more gratified if it's a successful conditioned response. What are the odds that you actually remembered anything from the last test, though? Don't answer that."

A few bars of 8-bit music that might be familiar to anyone who'd watched the American Olympics coverage a few weeks ago began to play, echoing off the walls of the chamber, until she cut the sound abruptly.

"While we continue focusing on cardiovascular fitness, I've decided to go ahead and graduate all of you to the dual portal device this week. This week's test will focus on the principle of conservation of momentum through portals, and how to apply that to the high jump. If words like 'conservation' and 'momentum' are too challenging for you, let me spell it out for you in crayon: speedy thing goes in, speedy thing goes out." Wait, high jump? Like, over those glowing strips of light on the other side of the chasm? Apparently. "Then, just to test your sprinting abilities, a simple long jump exercise. Good luck."

She didn't add you're going to need it, but it was implied. It was never sincere, but always implied.

[OOC: Please hold for the OCD, or there isn't going to be a party for you.K/s> OCD is up. But I lied about the party, and one of us is going to feel awful about that. It just won't be me.]