Ep1.5 - Experiential Bias - Closed

[Deleted]

Week 2, Day 2 - Shockwave's Lab>>

Megatron had been quite content to not see the Nemesis's notorious 'mad scientist' (as he was known by some of the more colourful of the Eradicon complement) during his period of medical leave. From what little he'd gathered, Shockwave was not one to socialise, leave his laboratory without explicit cause, or to enjoy company. Or anything, allegedly. Seeking him out would have been solely to satisfying Megatron's curiosity, which was nowhere near enough a motivating factor.

After the debacle of a training session with Roulette, however, his curiosity had surged. She'd said that she was the scientist's proxy (which made sense, if he was unwilling to interact with the rest of the crew and unable to successfully negotiate interpersonal terrain), and made not effort to disguise the fact that he infuriated her, she baffled him, and that ultimately they were tremendously mismatched. On the surface, at least. Doubtless the same was thought about his partnership with Fairwinds, and that worked fine for them.

He had ulterior motives for venturing to the lower deck where Shockwave's laboratory resided. Roulette had made herself scarce these last few days, by all accounts, and short of asking Knock Out he had no idea if she was alright. Her hand had been repairable when they'd parted ways, but there could have been more serious repercussions for the sharpshooter he'd missed. Megatron did not expect to see Roulette now, nor did he plan to ask her commander after her. Rather, he wanted to meet the reality of Shockwave after hearing the stories, and see the mech that Roulette had such a strange working relationship with.

The Commander passed several airlocks built into the corridor as he approached the laboratory, locked open but well maintained. A quick check of the Nemesis' schematics showed that the whole area was bracketed with airlocks and could be jettisoned into space at short notice with minimal disruption to the ship. With no memories to turn to, and scant mention of Shockwave's activities in the past, Megatron found himself wondering what in the Pit he could be doing in there that could necessitate such drastic safeguards.

The door, though notably reinforced, was ordinary when he reached it. It was expected on a military vessel, if somewhat anticlimatic.

Megatron touched a clawtip to the communications panel on the side of the door, transmitting his ID codes and a request for admittance at his indulgence.

[Deleted]

Shockwave was, quite literally speaking, mostly unable to lose his patience. It happened only when very specific subjects came up and almost each and every one related to continual and critical disruption of his work.

He had not been troubled by the need to leave his work in Cybertron; while rebuilding said work in the 'Nemesis' would of course take time, the vast majority of his research existed within the confines of his processor. He had not been troubled by the lack of resources; the system they currently inhabited had both a fair number of solid-state planets and an asteroid belt that could be strip-mined if necessary. He had not even been bothered by the restrictions under which he must toil: Shockwave had ever done his best work alone, left to his own devices and away from having to indulge others' perceptions of ethics and morals.

His one current proxy, however, was nowhere to be found. This caused a profound and uncontrollable surge of... emotion within the scientist. Anyone studying OCD behaviors would have likely been able to make a career and get several best-sellers out of the mech, because that Roulette was absent did not bother him as much as the absence itself. His routine was broken. Things Were Not As They Should Be. He was not at the point where he would force a command to report on her. He'd never get anything out of her if he did, if only because she'd then feel obligated to be contrary...

That Megatron had been ordered on medical leave had not even raised a blip on Shockwave's radar. His liege lord had come and gone before. He'd left for long-term campaigns during which Shockwave would hear nothing of him, only to have him return with a dozen or more requests to stretch the limits of his head scientist's capabilities. He'd been presumed dead so many times no one could keep count. He'd boldly gone where no Decepticon had gone before, beyond range of the most powerful communication systems known to their kind, and returned unscathed. A few days of his being relieved of command for medical reasons affected Shockwave not at all, and other than acknowledging the ship-wide announcement he'd given the matter no further thought.

When the request for entry to his lab came in, Shockwave realized he'd made a... small tactical mistake in his considerations. Normally the airlock would open for Megatron unless something hazardous were going on beyond it, but that automatic welcome had been dependent on his rank. It had not occurred to the scientist that perhaps he ought to fix that.

He'd been at the largest of his work consoles, examining a dozen blueprints. The press of one key immediately unlocked and opened the door for the warlord-in-recovery. "Enter."

The lab's lighting was very different from that of the warship. Focused spotlights shone on the work-tables, and environmental lighting filled every other space, rendering shadows almost non-existent. The largest of the specimen tanks were full, two of them with pressing greenery in smoky or gel mediums, one with bubbling water undergoing a laser scan. Most of the recessed, small bays were full of recycled crates, their old IDs erased and replaced with the scientist's own short-hand. One station was working on assembling small drills to minute power cells. An extruder was humming quietly to itself elsewhere. The only dimly lit area was the massive recovered airlock set as additional protection to the biohazard vault in the corner.

Shockwave turned fully. If it were at all possible, if anyone had been there who knew the scientist so well as to detect it, the vast glacial field had the faintest tinge of sheepishness to it, as a snow field might gather thin wisps of fog under an overcast sky. Fortunately for him Megatron was not himself and Roulette was nowhere to be found. "I did not expect you to have an interest in my company during your recovery."

[Deleted]

Megatron paused at the threshold out of necessity, shutterblinking his optics to adjust to the abrupt and unexpected change in lighting, and then just taking a moment to look over the contents of the laboratory.

Aside from a lack of partially-dissected conscious mecha displayed for the purposes of academic interest, the rumours about Shockwave's lair had been fairly accurate. He could identify very little of it, and had not been expecting the sheer variety of obviously in-process experiments and analytic procedures. There was something terribly foreboding about such a large number of unknown things going about their mysterious business with a living glacier at their center.

It was no deterrent, however, and Megatron entered the room with an obviously interested air. Though Shockwave was not reputed to be one for visitors, he had gained the impression that if the scientist did not want him there that he would say so. Particularly as Megatron was not currently his commanding officer.

"With the isolation of my memory banks, I was curious to 'meet' you," Megatron replied as honestly as he dared, directing his focus from the room to the non-standard 'face' of its owner. The root of his curiosity (how Roulette worked with the scientist) would remain Megatron's own business, he'd decided, but the rest of the reason for this spontaneous visit was true and valid enough. "Knock Out has mandated that I engage in as much interaction as I can with as many as I can as part of recovery."

He came to a stop before the similarly-massed mech, noting his reflection in the massive red lens watching him.

"If, however, my presence is disturbing your work..." He trailed off with a turn of one hand and a thin smile just bordering on humour. Clearly Shockwave was in the middle of a dozen work projects, and it would be no surprise to be requested to leave him to them.

[Deleted]

As Megatron moved through the lab, Shockwave examined his liege lord as keenly as the big mech was examining the experiments in progress.

Megatron's curiosity was plain to see - an unusual occurrence for the scientist. Whenever he worked for Megatron Shockwave was usually running on either a sweeping goal or meticulous instructions, but very rarely did he see emotional input; overall it made no difference to the scientist. At the moment, however, it was both satisfying and reassuring to see that curiosity: it meant the driving imagination that powered the scientist through his most unique breakthroughs was unharmed by whatever medical malady had brought the Decepticon Overlord to his 'vacation'.

Perhaps the only courtesy Shockwave could offer Megatron, he'd offered entirely on accident: the weapon he'd been given for examination had been sealed off in one of his lab's secondary vaults after he'd run every scan his equipment could provide. Shockwave didn't need the weapon out in the open to continue his study of it and given the circumstances no security measure surrounding it seemed excessive. Courtesy was an unforeseen social byproduct.

Megatron's words drew Shockwave's attention again. For a somewhat long and awkward moment he merely stared at Megatron; surely he'd misunderstood. Surely anyone would have pointed out to Megatron that Shockwave, of all mechs onboard the warship, was the last mech to provide "interaction".

And yet, irrefutably, his liege lord was standing before him.

Well, if the medical officer had recommended crew interaction as the best way to heal Megatron, then Shockwave could but do his part. Or attempt to.

"If, however, my presence is disturbing your work..."

"Your presence has never disturbed me." Shockwave was not unaware of the concept of flattery; he was simply incapable of either offering it or acknowledging it, and as such his tone lacked the wheedling tone to make his words anything but a statement of fact. "You have ever been a welcomed source of inspiration, if occasionally... unexpected in your commands." Which was something of an understatement: vast as Shockwave's knowledge of the sciences was, he'd had to scramble numerous times to familiarize himself with specific fields when Megatron had commanded results from any one of them. Or several simultaneously.

"You are also the only one that can be trusted not to be physically unwise within my workspace, without being instructed accordingly. One would think such caution to be only... logical." If he had been able to, perhaps Shockwave would have put emotion into the words; in truth, he merely sounded confused.

[Deleted]

Megatron's attention, whilst not exactly wandering from Shockwave, had at least split to include the bubbling tank of mysterious purpose. He wanted to move closer, to investigate the contents that the laser was so diligently scanning. Some small part of him wanted to touch the glass, but shriveled under Shockwave's comment about being trusted not to be 'physically unwise'.

He folded his hands behind his back in a formal pose. His build made it look authoritative, not that he was keeping his hands to himself.

Shockwave had assented to his stay, and Megatron did not intend to squander the opportunity. The scientist was a curiosity and a strangeness, and a welcome break from the monotony of his quarters. After the incident with Roulette, he'd been a little more wary of 'reaching out socially' to the crew.

Megatron frowned as he recalled that Roulette was Shockwave's proxy. "The 'only one'?" he repeated, fixing his attention back fully upon the mech. "Does Roulette not act with caution here, as your assistant?"

Though, he conceded as an afterthought, given what he now knew of the femme's attitude and physical clumsiness...

How did they work together?

[Deleted]

If it had been possible for the Chief of Science to evince a multitude of emotions at Megatron's query, perhaps he would have wilted. Sagged, sighed and sulked all at once, because Roulette was... Well. Roulette was.

Instead, Shockwave moved past Megatron steadily and activated a second bank of laser scans to the Artemia tank, sending spiraling green lights through the clouds of tiny organisms. Without the familiar cues, learned over their time together, Shockwave could not quantify Megatron's interest in the tank, but he could invite it.

"Roulette is a highly effective field proxy. She is... illogical and unpredictable, and yet highly curious in spite of her pretense at disdaining scientific curiosity." Shockwave tapped on the tank's control panel, calling for a population count, then turned to face his commander.

"However, she is either unable or unwilling to temper those same qualities within my laboratory. I suspect the latter, and I suspect she does it solely because it is... illogical and unpredictable." Whatever any other mech might have thought or felt at being so baited was seemingly lost in Shockwave; the scientist was merely baffled at the behavior. "She does not... unduly delay my work, or threaten the safety protocols often. She is merely..."

For a few long seconds Shockwave sought a way to explain further. However, he hadn't managed so far in his current time associated with the femme, and he saw no reason why that should spontaneously change at the moment.

There was the faintest tinge of resignation to the vast glacial field of the scientist as he spoke. "She is entertained by it, and the potential for self-destruction is obviated by her illogical nature. I cannot have the one without the other."

[Deleted]

Megatron leaned back from the tank when the laser array activated and began pouring through the tank, highlighting the tiny organisms inside in flickers and flashes. The sheer number of them in the tank, arranged almost like a centerpiece in the laboratory, suggested that they were important, though he couldn't begin to fathom what for.

Rather like Roulette's relationship with Shockwave, in fact: important, though questionable. The scientist himself didn't seem entirely sure of Roulette's position in is realm.

"If the more vexing qualities are counterbalanced by those of value to you..." Megatron replied, finding himself trailing off without intending to. Really, what more could he say about a relationship that baffled him almost as much as Roulette herself did?

Deciding that he'd spent far too much time thinking about Roulette and the bafflement therein, Megatron nodded to the tank that commanded so much space in the room.

"What are these... things? What is their purpose?"

[Deleted]

Though he was not in the habit of expressing otherwise, Shockwave was as close as the mech could be to relief to see the subject of his proxy set aside.

And his liege had chosen instead a subject that was, in the Chief of Science's unique fashion, near and dear to his spark. There was no gushing; Shockwave was wholly incapable of such an overt emotion. Nonetheless, there were other ways in which the sentiment, stunted as it was, became obvious. Shockwave moved to stand by Megatron's side, his tone gaining a didactic vivacity, his posture becoming assured once again. The single optic looked up as the Artemia spiraled and danced around the laser scans in elaborate arabesques.

It helped, as well, that the scientist was speaking to an audience that had never failed to understand the scientific grounding of even the most outlandish of his plans. "The Artemia is a native, primitive species. I originally acquired a sample for the sole purpose of completing a genomic database of the planet's organism, but have since discovered some scientifically interesting behaviors."

Shockwave touched the tank. There was the most subtle sense of 'aliveness' to him as he spoke. "This creature is capable of losing all its fluids, both bodily and environmental, and yet it merely becomes dormant. Their fluid distribution system is a remarkable faithful, if primite, micro-model of our own. I have been studying, among other projects, the likelihood of transferring such an ability to our own frames. It would mean a high percentage of combat injuries need not b--"

Any solemnity Shockwave's information might carry, however, vanished as the slow whirling of the tank's purification systems brought a tiny, garishly red bit of plastic bobbing upwards to the edge of its equally tiny plastic chain. The scuba diver blew a chain of bubbles and, its payload delivered, began to sink again while the Artemia whirled about the figurine.

Shockwave turned away and reached for a small net that was far too conveniently placed near the tank.

[Deleted]

Megatron was not immediately aware of how he ought to react. As a cautionary measure he remained perfectly still and silent, only watching the recovery of the novelty trinket from the tank. He would not think about the practiced ease with which Shockwave performed the extraction, nor the inescapably obvious culprit behind its presence in the tank.

He did not like embarrassment. He had no patience for it, and did not derive any pleasure from seeing it in seeing others. It was one of the starkest differences between himself and Fairwinds: her sense of humour ranged from physically crude to psychologically cruel. Megatron was not so easily amused, preferring dry wit and clever satire that demanded some intelligent engagement to appreciate.

Though his cassette had remarked yesterday that since his 'accident' he'd 'lightened up, like, a ton'.

Whether or not his demeanor was less somber, there was no way he was going to so much as acknowledge this bit of vandalism. Megatron simply didn't know Shockwave, and could barely read him as present let alone gauge his reaction. Though there was evidence that his proxy had done something like this before and she wasn't dead or mangled, so perhaps the scientist found something 'charming' in it.

Megatron studied the single, fiercely bright optic and concluded that that wasn't a possibility. Not even a remote one.

"That sounds... very interesting," he finally uttered, dragging his stare from the incongruity in the net back to the Artemia.

Fairwinds would have laughed herself sick by now.

[Deleted]

Ironically, Shockwave showcased no emotional response to the plastic scuba diver because he didn't have one. With utmost care he used the net to recover the bit of plastic and its air-hose tether, snapping it free and weighing it in one hand. Sedately, the Chief Scientist pushed a button and a small built-in drawer, half full of colorful plastic already, hissed open; he dropped the item in it and drew a small datapad from it, adding on the scuba diver's information.

At the same time, he remotely reset the population count process for the Artemia tank, sending the small creatures into new and ecstatic gyrations. It had taken less time than laser-scalpel battlefield removal of a limb, and his attention returned fully to his liege lord, datapad still in hand. "Apologies." His tone was still implacable, even, untouched by the utterly bizarre apparition and exorcism of it. "As Roulette will not cease to add odd minutiae to the tank, it is important that population counts take her interference into account."

He set the datapad away and, as Megatron had done, returned his attention to the tank. "If the Artemia process can be duplicated, death and incapacitation due to loss of fluid becomes moot..."

Unlike Megatron, however, Shockwave did know the Decepticon commander-in-chief. He did know his emotional responses; for all that he was a creature of cold, absolute logic, the big scientist would not have survived long under his liege's command if he could not read the undertones of his words.

Somewhat, anyways.

His attention returned fully to Megatron, and in becoming aware of the other mech's uncertainty Shockwave's optic shifted focus minutely. His tone shifted to something as... less impersonal as he could manage, which wasn't much. The vast, unmoving glacier of his field seemed to shift, to seek a different tack. "I choose to accept that I cannot explain my proxy's actions, Lord Megatron." His hand gestured to the drawer. "She will do this seeking an emotional reaction, and yet she will not cease when said reaction is provided. Or absent. It is highly illogical, but unquestionably predictable."

The datapad went into the drawer, and Shockwave closed it again. "In the same fashion,I do not understand Roulette, but I do not need to. I merely choose to exploit her unexplainable talent to push through to success, and ignore her... penchant for unreasoning behavior. If she has given you reason to try and puzzle her out, perhaps the only advice I can offer is: do not."

[Deleted]

Megatron turned his head slightly, redirecting his gaze from the tank just enough to give Shockwave's impassive optic a droll look.

"I'd gathered as much."

The massive lens continue to regard him with unfathomable cool, as impossible to read as the mech who wielded it. There was no tell, no nuance of behaviour or energy emission that would communicate any more than what Shockwave had said.

It was disconcerting that he would be giving Megatron advice about Roulette, and his assessment of her idiosyncrasies was practically a closing summary of the Training Room Incident. Which the scientist, then, knew about.

Megatron ground his dente and struggled to decide what was worse: a mech currently a stranger to him knowing about the private, embarrassing Incident; or that he honestly didn't know who was the most likely informant.

Soundwave was as much a conniving gossip as Fairwinds, best he could tell.

Or had Roulette made a complaint to he superior about what had happened? The pair must have some kind of working relationship, unorthodox though it seemed. If Roulette had been truly disturbed by their ridiculous predicament in the training room, Shockwave was a likely candidate to -if not confide- grouse to.

But who was he to suppose at what her feelings were?

Megatron scowled, his processor digging furiously down the rabbit hole.

He'd been irritated and unsettled by the peculiar turn of evens, but Roulette had been terrified. She'd offered to dislocate her finger so as to escape his presence all the quicker, and she'd bolted whilst he was still snarling at Soundwave before they could clear the air.

Though it had turned out that she'd left a bright green hand-print on his thigh for him to wear back to his quarters, so she couldn't have been that terrified. What hadthatmeant?

Shockwave's advice, sound as it was, had apparently had the opposite effect of helping.

Megatron's engine snort-grumbled, and he folded his arms across his chassis. "I will not pretend to understand how you can work with such a baffling proxy, but if her qualities are particularly suited and specialised to your work..."

More's the mystery.

[Deleted]

Ironically, Shockwave had no immediate recollection of any particular interaction between his primary proxy and his commander. If (and it was a big if) he'd been told about it by anyone, likely it had gone into the low-tier audio recordings that he tended to label gossip and set aside for study only when there was nothing, at all, absolutely, whatsoever that he could otherwise be doing.

The thing was, he didn't have to know, not in any great detail. To have Megatron exhibit such interest in Roulette meant he'd spent time with her. And to spend time with Roulette was bound to have gone... Well, much as anything having to do with the femme did.

Megatron's words, however, had their usual effect on Shockwave: to focus what had up to that point had been a scattering of facts he couldn't otherwise begin to organize. The scientist's posture shifted fractionally to something as close as he could come to pleasure; logic had triumphed, truth had been revealed to him.

"Her presence serves as yours does, sir." He gestured to the drawer full of aquarium toys. "I admit that my own scientific thoughts, while vast, are... incapable of straying. While she makes every apparent effort to eschew scientific pursuits, and you do not have the time to spare for them all too often, when you do, you both bring... inspiration. It is not logical, "he admitted easily, "but it is unfailingly helpful."

His attention returned to the Artemia, where the population count had finished. "She also helps with my social interactions, where, I will admit, I can be... lacking."

[Deleted]

Megatron's brow-plates rose very slightly. Beneath them, his faceplate remained carefully blank.

Lacking anything significant to say to that, Megatron settled for: "I see."

Shockwave, it seemed, was a mech who took 'rising to a challenge' to its absolute extreme. Unreasonable demands stoked his creative fires, and he embraced the interruptions as necessary catalysts. At least that was the impression Megatron got, and the only way he could put the square peg of Roulette in the round, eight-sizes-too-small hole that was Shockwave.

It made sense, Megatron reasoned, the more he thought about it. Shockwave was obviously a systematic thinker, meticulously pursuing new knowledge in a sequential way - one theme following on from another, leading every onwards in a chain. A dash of chaos broke the chain and inspired divergent thinking, forcing his mind down previously unseen avenues that he would not have otherwise considered.

Megatron could not see how persisting plastic additions to the tank was inspirational. That struck as purely for Roulette's own amusement.

Shockwave's admission that he was aware of his rather stunted social skills piqued Megatron's interest. "Do you? Interact socially, I mean."

The impulsive question felt dangerously stupid, inappropriate and prying, but the other mech had shown no sign of discomfort thus far and he'd gathered that it was incredibly difficult to actually offend Shockwave.

[Deleted]

At the question, Shockwave shifted to face his liege lord once again. Though he could not possibly know it, Megatron was achieving one of the very things that he and Roulette alone could do - get a candid response from the scientist.

"Not if I can help it." There was no shame to the response, it was as matter of fact as all the other information Shockwave had thus provided. "While you have always been tolerant of my single-minded focus, others unfailingly seek to use my emotional lack to manipulate, control or coerce me, much to their eventual chagrin."

A beep drew the single red optic's attention momentarily, as several casings of moldable substance, fitted to several of Shockwave's many extruders, popped out ready-made in a small haze of coolant fog. He stepped towards them and began setting them aside on a table.

"I am also laughed at in my presumed absence, and used as readily available material for humorous commentary, but as I am not actively involved in such exchanges I do not consider them social interaction." He closed the production fridge and reset the cycle, then turned back to Megatron. "However, if there is a social interaction level I could claim to... lack, it would be that of scientific peers, or even passingly like minds. Roulette is too concerned with balking me and you are ever busy, my liege."

[Deleted]

Rumour and mocking was part of life if you occupied a position of power. Even unconsciously, Megatron knew that. Given what he knew of Shockwave, he suspected that what the scientist referred to was stemmed from a need to personalise him - diminish him into something less fearful. Childish behaviour that anyone on this ship ought to be above.

The admission of lacking, particularly with bluntly honest reference to himself, made Megatron stir. Shockwave's complete lack of emotional inflection did nothing to detract from how sad that statement was.

Little as he knew his own history, Megatron knew himself - and he was not a mech to pity. The scientist in no way required such a sentiment, but it still prickled to hear such an admission of collegial loneliness.

The warlord was stood against the edge of a counter, the surface of which was neatly 'cluttered' with both identifiable and unidentifiable items. He leaned his weight back slowly lest he disturb anything, adopting a more relaxed pose that communicated a readiness to stay and talk. Shockwave was carrying on his work without mind of his presence, and would likely have no qualms telling him if he was in the way.

"I've gotten the impression that you value your autonomy," he said, resting the heels of his hands on the edge of the countertop. "Perhaps that's been taken for granted. You're assumed to be" -'happy' wasn't applicable- "satisfied."

At the risk of setting up a situation that his full-cognitive-function-self would balk at, Megatron rolled one shoulder in a shrug. "Meeting to discuss your current pursuits, especially as connected to the war effort, sounds like a worthy use of time."