As Rachel spoke, and mentioned something about a sister, Finn stopped examining the item, and turned towards Rachel.
"You have a sister who is also a scientist/researcher? Well this I didn't know. If you can vouch for her, then I'd love t' see what help we could get with this thing."
While hesitant, Finn smiled and thought how lucky they would be to have a second Winterton helping them out. Focusing his attention back on the object, he started noting and jotting down the various symbols on it, hoping to find a match somewhere - anywhere. A couple times he thought something was right on the tip of his tongue, but faded as quickly as they came to him. One idea though did pass through. He quickly grabbed his note book, and headed towards the door.
Brandon watched as Finn left the room, deciding to leave the holoprojector off he glanced over at Rachel. "Now where do you suppose he ran off to?" He shrugged and scratched at his eyes again. "I would welcome some outside input. But I'm weary of how far we spread this little 'project' to outsiders. Although even running these symbols against the Daam'K'vosh records doesn't come up with anything conclusive. Its clearly a hybrid of some kind."
He paused again and rubbed his eyes. "But still, someone who might know more would be quite helpful. I'm thinking of moving the object back to Cayman, it would be more secure there. Well I would feel more secure there."
"I wouldn't call Cayman the most safe place, after we've gotten the mobile facility up and running. Lets move it there for the time being, we can set up a restricted area where we can keep it isolated and work in a general area where normal people just can't waltz on through."
Beginning to pace the room slowly. "We can trust Tara when it comes to this sort of thing. All of my siblings work independently, granted they cover different subjects. They'll keep quiet about anything if we need to bring them in to help. I really wish I could do more myself, however.. I think i'll stick with physics for the time being. I'll bring her in tomorrow."
Brandon glanced at Rachel for a moment while she started to pace the room. "Well I look forward to meeting your sister." He leaned back in his chair and pulled up what appeared to be a manifest list. "But I would still feel better if this object was someplace that wasn't here. The IRG|Xochiquetzal is returning to Livadia for annual repairs this week. It is an option to move this out of the area. I'm more concerned about the Wild coming to get their object back than your average joe finding us."
Looking around obviously wondering where Finn got off to. "At any rate lets wait for Finn to get back, hopefully he can settle the matter for us. Heck he might already have a better area in mind."
After some time had passed, with Brandon and Rachel still examining the artifact, Finn burst through the door breathing heavily. As he put one hand against the wall, catching his breath, he held in his other hand one of the prototype mini-cores that the IRG had developed and were currently in the process of fine-tuning. When he finally was able to pause for an extended period of time, he walked over to the table.
"Alright, finally got it. This, our prototype core. My thought process is that, since ta Ingenuus core, which this little thing is an offshoot of, has Nomad properties, it might be worth checking."
Setting the core on the table next to the artifact, he glanced at both Brandon and Rachel.
"Ready?"
Touching the interface on the core, and thumbing the control panel illuminated above it, he turned it on. As the core hummed to life, and it's seams illuminated, the artifact next to it started to adjust it's form. After a few small clicks, the artifact opened itself up.
Dumbfounded and in awe, all three of them stared at this now seemingly active Alien Artifact of Nomad and potentially Daam K'Vosh origin.
After staring at it for a moment and apparently figuring that it wasn't going to explode Brandon started tapping out commands. "Sensors indicate a spike in Beta radiation but its falling rapidly away to normal levels." Brandon continued to rapidly type away on the tablet. "I've activated the recorders and the deep scanner." He looked confused for a moment and muttered under his breath. "That can't be possible."
Looking up from his tablet Brandon spoke to the room at large. "The Artifact is drawing the entirety of the cores available power directly but it doesn't appear to be fully activated. Additionally the computer is interpreting some of the signal interference as a handshake sequence for an interface coming from the artifact." Brandon looked down at the tablet again and furrowed his brow. "We need to increase the amount of power going into the artifact. It might give the computer a better chance to complete the handshake sequence."
The artifact started to hum and a slight red hue crept across it before the prototype power core failed. The artifact shut completely again. Brandon glanced up at Finn. "The core powered down to protect itself from the energy demand." A slight smile crept upon his face. "You said that was a prototype, does it come in extra large?"
Rachel leans against the wall of the room, seeming to be thinking a little about the sight which just unfolded in front of her. Taking a quiet breath, looking between the two.
"I advise that we don't continue any more under these circumstances. We're in a conference room outfitted with some basic scanning equipment. This right here is something that probably should have a little more isolation and controlled surroundings before we go any further.
Let me explain my thinking so far. The core was placed next to the artifact. When powered up, the artifact started to come to life. There is no direct current there. All energy is being blasted through the air to the device next to it. This is not a problem in itself, as from what I can tell, there is no simple way to 'plug it in' so it most likely was made this way. Second, the core powered down after taking a large draw. Looking at the laws of energy, I can observe that there isn't a large influx of heat in this room. That core has been charted to a decent amount of energy. The fact that this room isn't blistering hot right now tell me one thing. The artifact has the ability to store energy. Almost like a capacitor if you will. It's holding the energy within itself while running. While I am unsure of the details right now, a large amount of energy going in, and nothing goes out usually means either a very large endothermic chemical reaction is going on, or it's storing it up as a capacitor."
Taking a quiet breath. "Lets not do this here. Conditions are unsafe."
Brandon's smile faltered, but only for a moment. "We were just talking about that. Finn, the Xochiquetzal will be at Livadia later this week. We can transfer the artifact onto that vessel and take it pretty much anywhere. I suggested Caymen but Rachel will probably be adamant that be moved somewhere more secure."
Rachel laughs quietly. "My definition of secure, is giving it a portion of the Ingenuus. I'm not the paranoid type when it comes to this sort of thing. Admittedly i'm merely half lazy and want to work in a place which i'm familiar with, however it's also good to use the resources which we have. Which pretty much have been all consolidated all into that one facility."
With Rachel's words hanging in the air, Finn looked up.
"I have t' agree with Rachel on this one. Ta Ingenuus is ta perfect place t' house and study this for ta time being. I'll make preparations right now t' ensure lab space is dedicated t' you Brandon."
As soon as he finished, Finn started typing commands into his datapad. Nodding towards the two, he walked out of the door, and made his way towards the shuttle that would take him to the Ingneuus outside Sparta.