06-06-2025, 05:13 PM
Her mind was in motion, equations racing ahead of her fingers as she pulled up new models, overlayed harmonic maps, and recalibrated the projected lattice. She blinked, adjusted her glasses, and finally looked up from the projection table. “You’re right,” she said, tapping a few quick inputs that sent the current model spinning. “If the spatial aperture is too small, the energy field collapses under its own instability. We’ll need to scale up to allow a sustainable entangled state. Probably at least two meters in diameter to start... maybe three for safety.”
Her brow furrowed as she brought up material composition parameters. “The keychain worked because of the shape and the way you wove into it, but it wasn’t just that. Something about the metal must’ve been sympathetic to the weave. Conductivity, maybe. Or trace elements that react to channeling. If we’re going to make a stable, scalable portal ring...”
She trailed off, then turned sharply and crossed the lab in a few fast steps. At a smaller terminal, she brought up a database of materials: classified alloys, rare-earth metals, composite polymers. Her fingers hovered over the display as she considered the possibilities aloud.
“We’ll need something with a high resonance threshold, low vibrational decay, and compatibility with both magical and electromagnetic frequency bands.” She paused. “Tungsten’s too dense. Copper’s too reactive. Vibranium’s fictional. Gold would be pretty, but completely useless.” That made her huff a quick laugh to herself before continuing. “Maybe a blend. Adamantite core wrapped in a boron-infused graphene mesh? Or…”
Her eyes widened a bit. “Or meteoric iron. Natural crystalline structure, high nickel content. It might channel intuitively if tuned right.”
She turned back to Allan, her focus re-centering. “You’re right about the Ascendancy. After we explain what this can do...” Her mouth twitched in a rare flash of excitement. “We might be able to bypass the test network entirely and leap straight to field testing.”
Danika walked back to the projection table, her energy tempered now but still glowing at the edges. “We’ll need to test different sizes, too. One ring at a half-meter. Another at full scale. Build them from different materials, document how each responds to the weave. I’ll draft a research grid.”
She looked at Allan again, softer this time. “And when we test them, I want you there. I think this only works if you’re the one doing the weaving. I can stabilize it. Maybe even amplify it. But you’re the one who opens it. Maybe there's a way to program the ring to open at a signal, for anyone to use? Ah, well, problem for future us.”
Danika smiled faintly, then finally allowed herself to stop moving for a breath. “We’ll build it. One ring at a time.”
And with that, she opened a new digital notebook, already tapping out material combinations and ring dimensions as the lab fell quiet again.
Her brow furrowed as she brought up material composition parameters. “The keychain worked because of the shape and the way you wove into it, but it wasn’t just that. Something about the metal must’ve been sympathetic to the weave. Conductivity, maybe. Or trace elements that react to channeling. If we’re going to make a stable, scalable portal ring...”
She trailed off, then turned sharply and crossed the lab in a few fast steps. At a smaller terminal, she brought up a database of materials: classified alloys, rare-earth metals, composite polymers. Her fingers hovered over the display as she considered the possibilities aloud.
“We’ll need something with a high resonance threshold, low vibrational decay, and compatibility with both magical and electromagnetic frequency bands.” She paused. “Tungsten’s too dense. Copper’s too reactive. Vibranium’s fictional. Gold would be pretty, but completely useless.” That made her huff a quick laugh to herself before continuing. “Maybe a blend. Adamantite core wrapped in a boron-infused graphene mesh? Or…”
Her eyes widened a bit. “Or meteoric iron. Natural crystalline structure, high nickel content. It might channel intuitively if tuned right.”
She turned back to Allan, her focus re-centering. “You’re right about the Ascendancy. After we explain what this can do...” Her mouth twitched in a rare flash of excitement. “We might be able to bypass the test network entirely and leap straight to field testing.”
Danika walked back to the projection table, her energy tempered now but still glowing at the edges. “We’ll need to test different sizes, too. One ring at a half-meter. Another at full scale. Build them from different materials, document how each responds to the weave. I’ll draft a research grid.”
She looked at Allan again, softer this time. “And when we test them, I want you there. I think this only works if you’re the one doing the weaving. I can stabilize it. Maybe even amplify it. But you’re the one who opens it. Maybe there's a way to program the ring to open at a signal, for anyone to use? Ah, well, problem for future us.”
Danika smiled faintly, then finally allowed herself to stop moving for a breath. “We’ll build it. One ring at a time.”
And with that, she opened a new digital notebook, already tapping out material combinations and ring dimensions as the lab fell quiet again.
"Magic is just science we don't understand."