You Always Did Say You Liked a Product Tested

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

'It would depend on what such life scanners are tuned to detect," Taeli answered. "Heartbeat scanners or life sign sensors, for example, could be beaten by the droid since its droid brain can simulate the pulsing of a heart. More dedicated and specialized scanners would detect this first model of our infiltration droids though. It is something we plan to address in later models, once the proper research and development has been done."

It was something they had thought of, but Taeli and her team knew that they needed to make this base model for their liquid metal infiltration droids first before they began really going crazy with the concept. To beat specialized organic scanners and such other equipment would require... a great deal more research and testing with this avenue of droid technology. It was an honest answer to Danger's question though, and it might put a few more of her fears that she would be in danger from a Masquerade droid.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Another nod. This time, her finger came up to gently tap on her jaw.

"I see." that made sense. It also indicated that there was the potential for future models to completely bypass this issue. After a moment, Danger gave a nod.

"Alright." she began, uncrossing her legs. She pushed herself to her feet, setting down her glass. The slow, steady tattoo of her heels echoed while she rounded her desk, heading towards the droid to take a closer inspection. The product was quiet fascinating. A thought came to her.

"What other applications do you have for your liquid metal?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"We haven't begun exploring the potential future applications for our new alloy," Taeli said. "We are aware there a multitude of potential uses for it, considering the relative low amount of electricity needed to morph into the shape one requires. I could foresee morph-able prosthetics, adaptable armors, certain types of new weapons, possibly even further refinements and enhancements to create other uses in fields such as medicine. But, we were mostly focused on developing it this time around for the Masquerades."

CX-01 would remain still for Danger to observe, at her disposable if she wanted the droid to shift or show off different functionalities.

"We've only begun scratching the surface of this new technology," Taeli continued. "Just like with our Sianium technology, it's something I hope to refine and develop new uses for in the years to come."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Danger did not reach out to touch the droid, but instead would appraised it with narrower eyes. A thought crossed her mind then.

"How does it compare to Laminanium?" Laminanium was an extremely durable metal alloy developed by Tendrando Arms. It was based on Qellan technology and had the ability to melt and reform at almost any temperature which allowed it to repair damage. While the material Aurora was presenting was EMP resistant, Danger was curious if it could withstand blaster bolts or Lightsabers. She had mentioned anything molten would damage it, so In regards to the latter, perhaps it wouldn't work well.

"Is it possible to self heal if it is a liquid metal?"

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"It can take several blaster bolts, slug throwers will just be absorbed into the mass and reincorporated," Taeli said. "A lightsaber is going to cause some damage because it would vaporize part of the liquid metal upon contact. Same with a blaster bolt, but to a much lesser degree. Basically, it does have some properties like laminanium, but it isn't as... restorative I guess would be a word to describe. Not this particular alloy anyways. On the plus side, it is much cheaper to produce than laminanium and more of the alloy can be added to the base mass if some is vaporized."

To be honest, Taeli hadn't been looking to develop a true combat model of droid with the Masquerades... not yet anyways. These were meant to be body doubles or spies, even assassins if the need was called for to eliminate a target quietly and have the killer slip into the crowd as someone else.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

"With as many materials slugs are made of, how will it possibly reabsorb all those materials?' Danger quipped back, an arch of her brow in inquiry.

"That says nothing about the kinetic impact." if there were some areas she knew well, it was slug throwers and blasters. The woman had a bit of a fascination for them. She had one of the largest collections of ancient blasters and slugthrowers back at the Stronghold, with a few of them displayed at the far end of the wall in her office.

"Between phrik, beskar and your liquid metal... I've my money on the former unless you can explain how that would work otherwise."

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"I'm guessing you have fired a slug into liquid before?" Taeli asked. It was slightly rhetorical as Taeli would explain anyways. She couldn't help it sometimes. "Slugs don't do so well when they enter liquid. They love to fragment, especially ones going at high velocities. You want slower velocities when firing into liquid. The kinetic impact would cause ripples and be spread across the whole mass, mitigating a great deal of the damage. Think of a punch slamming into gel. You get some higher numbers at impact, but the rest of the damage is absorbed as the gel ripples. The fragments of the slug left in the metal would be reduced into their liquid state slowly, which while it would dilute some of the alloy, it wouldn't be enough to stop the Masquerade from controlling every drop of its 100 kg mass. It's part of the droid brain's programming to do so."

She played with the handle of her tea cup, in an almost absentmindedly way.

"Truth be told, we didn't intend for these droids to see much of a combat role," Taeli continued. "We had ideas for body doubles... spies... assassins if need be. As we go, we will be working to develop a more complex and combat designed model and refining the alloy. But it can do this... CX-01, please show Miss Arceneau your hardening and weapon subroutines."

"Of course, Mistress Raaf," CX-01 replied in its neutral voice. The outer liquid metal suddenly shifted, taking on a mirror like quality and would be solid to the touch. One of its hands, for lack of a better term, had turned into a bladed appendage.

"While definitely not as strong phrik or beskar, we did consider some defensiveness for the Masquerade," Taeli said. "If they must go into combat, they can shift their bodies between liquid and solid states, much like the polydroxol lifeforms that are made of denantium. It is only the outer layer at this time though, about three centimeters thick."

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

The Queen of Trade gave a nod. That made sense. Did she expect that this new alloy had the benefits as that of another rare material? No. However, she was always thinking to the future. Always pressing and pushing to see just what was the vision of a particular project. Did it end at the current model now? Or were there other plans?

One always had to ask questions.

Both brows rose at the shift of the arm into a metal shiv. Curious. It was clear that intrigued her.

"Well, you sure know how to impress, Miz Raaf." Danger began, her voice a thick drawl. She was sold.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Danger Arceneau"]

"You taught me long ago that, in this business, you need to push the boundaries to get ahead," Taeli responded, remembering back to that first conversation she and Danger had all those years ago when Taeli first gained what had been Krayt Industries. It had been, in Taeli's opinion, just as an important meeting as her first meetings with her old Sith master and then her sister. "I must say I am quite glad you find it impressive. Another lesson I took from you was... half of the pitch is always about the presentation. CX-01, if you would?"

The droid shifted back to its neutral liquid metal state, the bladed arm once again reverting to a hand shape.

"So with all of that out of the way, and to sweeten the pot for you in any deal we might come to... CX-01 is yours now," Taeli continued, the droid nodding to Danger that it fully agreed with the change in ownership.

 

[Danger Arceneau]

[member="Taeli Raaf"]

Well, Miz Raaf knew how to at least do her best to smooth her ruffled feathers. A half crook of her lips upturned into a smile.

"Well you sure know how to tempt a girl, Miz Raaf." she gave a small chuckle, but none the less gave an incline of her head. She knew that it was the way to make business, and the CEO of Aurora Industries had certainly gone out with a bang to get her attention.

"Thank you." she added, only to extend her hand over to the woman.

"Then we have ourselves a deal." Danger would be happy to invest and continue to review just how far Aurora takes this CX model. Perhaps in a few months to a year, it would have turned into several more innovative technologies.