2nd January
15:32 GMT -5
Mr Hamill towels herself down in a decidedly unfeminine way while Beryl performs some calculation-. Yes, she just shoved the towel up her cleavage. Should I draw her attention to that or not? What would
Ash do?
…
No, probably not. That would just make things weirder for her.
"So?"
"
Technically, you're not superstrong."
"Huh?"
"You're
very strong, but you don't
quite meet the threshold for being superstrong."
Mr Hamill wrinkles her nose. "Okay, so, am I bullet proof?"
Beryl's eyes narrow slightly. "Being bulletproof isn't a factor of
strength."
"Sure, but if someone's shooting at me I'm gunna be more worried about how tough I am than how strong I am. I could punch a guy out before
this happened."
"Okay." Beryl points. "Stick your hand under the pneumatic press over there, and scream when it starts to hurt."
Mr Hamill blinks. "What?"
"We test
strength because it's a lot
easier to test than toughness. But the only way we've really got to test your toughness is to hit you with things." She draws a taser baton and presses the activation button, causing a spark to jump from one electrode to the other. "How about electrical resistance? Since you've got
some sort of electrical power, you
might be more electrically resistant than usual." She
beams. "Wanna give it a try?"
"So, ah…" Mr Hamill pauses briefly while she tries to work out how to move the conversation away from that topic. "How strong am I compared to the Justice League?"
"Yoouuu're about as strong as Hawkman."
Mr Hamill looks disappointed. "The
bird guy?"
"The winged alien with gravity-warping metal running throughout his nervous system, who has muscles about four times the size of yours."
Mr Hamill raises her right arm and flexes her bicep. "I
guess. So I'd get stronger if I worked out?"
Beryl thinks for a moment, then turns to me.
"I don't know. If your body is working like a normal human body, then
yes. Though.. obviously, whatever your muscles are using to
make you that strong might not work like that, and you'll need to use
very heavy weights to get much effect. On the other hand, if your body is some sort of projection while your actual body was-
" Whoops.
"-dematerialised-.
"
"Dema-?" Her eyes widen. "
You think that fuckin' thing killed me?"
Beryl winces slightly.
"It's possible that your actual body is in storage in the device, while what you're in now is essentially a projection.
"
"What?"
"Have you ever watched Star Trek?
" She shrugs.
"You know the transporter?
"
"The beam-me-up thing?"
"Yes.
"
"So that dial thing kinda beamed me up?"
"There's a gap between 'dematerialisation' (when the person being beamed disappears) and 'rematerialisation' (when the person being beamed reappears) during which they're being transmitted from one place to another. It's
possible for the machine doing it to delay it, so they're basically stuck in the computer until someone presses the button again.
"
"Ooooo
h." She smiles, nodding. "I get it! Like that episode of Stargate where Teal'c got stuck in that dial thing!"
…
"Yes. Which does raise the interesting question of whether your mind is in the device and you're remote controlling this body, or if your mind has been transferred into the body, or-.
"
Beryl frowns slightly. "Orange Lantern? Is that really important?"
"It would give us a better idea of the inventor's capacities…
" She keeps looking at me.
"Okay, no.
"
Mr Hamill is frowning deeply. "I guess if this is just a.. projection or whatever, you can't just change it back into
me without the dial." She looks at me. "Can you?"
"If I had a sample of your DNA and a few more pictures, I
might be able to transform you back into you… But there would be risks, and I'd really feel better about it if we could have a look at the dial
first.
"
"Can't you just try changing something
small? Like.. my hair, or something?"
I glance at Beryl, who shrugs. "Can't see why not. Course… Just because
I can't see why doesn't mean some mad scientists didn't come up with
something."
If we
can't find the dial, I suppose that asking the Sivanas to take a look is an option. Though that would increase the number of people who know that I'm still in contact with them…And might result in Mr Hamill getting
possumised…
I shrug.
"You're an adult. As long as you understand that I can't guarantee results without side effects, up to and including the change being made permanent, it's up to you. Want me to try?
"
"Ahhh…Permanent like permanent-permanent?"
"Mister Hamill, this time last week I was dead. Weird things happen. Not to
most people, but I'm afraid you've tripped and fallen into the twilight zone. Some people who make things like this are well-intentioned researchers who took things a bit far. Others are mad scientists doing crazy things for the sake of it. I can't think of any good reason why anyone would add something to a device like this that would react to me changing your hair colour after the initial transformation occurred… But I don't really understand why someone would build something like that dial in the
first place, and it certainly isn't
impossible that they did.
"
"Ffff
uuuuuck." She sounds more depressed than angry. "And if you don't know what's gunna
happen, you don't know if you could fix it
afterwards. Right?"
"Right. Though… In the spirit of transhumanism, this form does have several advantages over your old one, and you might not want to be so quick-.
"
"I don't have a
dick!"
Beryl raises her eyebrows. "That's the worst part?"
"If I looked like another
guy, it'd be weird and I'd want to change
back but…" She gestures to her breasts. "
Look at this shit. I can't even close my eyes and
pretend I'm still me."
"But have you considered the advantages?
"
"Nothing makes up for not having a dick."
"And if you can hand on heart tell me that you've never watched lesbian pornography, I'll agree that that's the deciding argument.
"
"Huh." She considers for a moment. "No, no, I
have…"
Beryl sniggers quietly. "Should I leave you two alone for this bit? Because that's not a problem for me."
Mr Hamill shakes her head. "No, Amy… I don't think she'd go for it. She's, like, totally straight. And this isn't even a butch lesbian body where I could wear a strap on and she could sort of
pretend or something."
I think Beryl's starting to crack up.
"If you're sure?
"
"It's not that I don't get where you're comin' from? I mean, if I
wasn't with
Amy and it was just
temporary… But I
am, so… Yeah, no." She looks at me curiously. "You saying you
would?"
"Change my sex in exchange for superpowers?
" He nods.
"Depends
what powers? But, yours? Yes, I think I probably would. Flight is really great fun, stronger and tougher than a baseline human…
" I nod.
"Yeah, I'd take that deal. Squire?
"
She tilts her head to her right, supporting her cheek with her right hand. "Oh God, you think I'm one of the boys."
"Would you?
"
"Become a bloke..? For superpowers?" She looks both of us in the eyes. "You seriously want..?" We nods, and she rolls her eyes. "
No, because if it's that easy to give someone powers I could probably work it out myself."
"Ah, that's not answe-."
"Robin to Squire."
Beryl smiles in relief. "Squire here. Go ahead."
