asgardeventide

Did you know it is actually possible to pick up ghosts with an EMF detector? Though it's also perfectly possible that this thing is just picking up general ambiance, I mean, the bracelet, for one, she really seems to set it off.

[Bruce murmurs, almost to himself, vaguely aware that he's broadcasting but honestly more focused on the shade in front of him, and the strange collection of scraps and stripped wires and pen lights that he's rotating carefully. It's sort of tricky to make sure it doesn't fall apart as he does, and the spirit ahead of him seems to be intent on complicating matters by moving inexorably closer to him.

He's almost distracted enough by the device that he doesn't realize until she's a few seconds away, at which point there's a sort of jar of realization as she murmurs;]

I would have made it out on my own, if I hadn't had to go back to get-

[Her voice is somewhere right between sadly mellow and fingernails on slate, and what she's saying makes him swear in surprise. The video ends abruptly.

He is going to be significantly motivated to deal with this problem.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

so they really are ghosts then??

geeze

I don't know that. All I can ascertain from this is that they're something real, I can definitely register energy. If it's a mass hallucination, it's a mass hallucination that's extending to my ability to interpret feedback from machines. If I could get my hands on something to use as a voltmeter I'd be able to tell you more.

Edited 2013-08-17 15:37 (UTC)

something to use as a what now? high school science language please?

any idea how to get rid of them?

Electromagnetic radiation is on a spectrum, that ranges from Gamma rays- my area of expertise- through to visible light, down to microwaves, radio waves, with a number of sub-categories in between. These things show up somewhere on that spectrum, but what I've built here will only tell me that they do, not where they are on it. First of all, I need to build something that will let me know what... neighbourhood, for lack of a better world, they're in, which will in turn tell us what feasible ways we have of dealing with them. Want to help?

...okay i think i got it.

and yeah ill help. what sorts of stuff do you need for the- voltmeter?

you know in my world we had this... sort of ward. like a barrier for supernatural stuff, might work on ghosts. but i dont know where id find it here

The best thing we could possibly find would be an old speaker system. Something with a needle on the front, and speakers as well. I don't need the cd player or tape deck part, and I'm going to basically cannibalize it so it doesn't even have to be functional. See if you can track down one of those, or any similar electronics that might have been put out in the debris after the battle. I don't know what they were doing with the junk but that would be a good place to start.

yeah thatll be no problem. im sure i could find something like that

anything else?

Anything of that era. I need copper wiring- an antenna, if you see one, but that's a long shot- and small tools. I've already ruined a butter knife making this thing. Microwaves would be great, anything with LED lights in it, small motors or transformers. And if anyone has a computer I can borrow, I can promise it would come out intact. The speaker element is going to be the key to the solution, though, so focus on that.

[He doesn't know what that ghost wants, but whatever it is, he hopes it isn't what the ghosts haunting him want.

A little gold man wearing a turtleneck and looking very pale holds up a sprig of sage, then a sprig of sweetgrass, then a sprig of tobacco. He emphatically ties them together with a little twine, putts them in a shallow bowl, then takes out a lighter.

After showing the lighter to the camera, he lights the plants on fire, and he suddenly looks slightly less pale. It may not be completely clear, but he's trying to teach Bruce how to smudge a room and temporarily banish spirits from it.]

Do you think that's it's our perception of the effectiveness of these rituals that give them meaning? Some other cosmic string that they set vibrating? Or a property of the smoke itself that disrupts the stability of whatever pattern these creatures try to form?

[He's not exactly sure why it works, but he knows that the smoke does something to ghosts. Spirits like himself--Jack Frost, Santa, Death--can pass through smudged areas okay, but ghosts? Not so much.

Luckily, he doesn't talk, so he wouldn't be able to explain it even if he did understand. He pulls out a sketchpad and draws smoke, and the smoke wraps around transparent silhouettes and throws them off the page. It's something to do with the smoke, mister.]

EMF detectors work in my world as well. They are used often to detect spirits there.

[Tony inspects the EMF detector with a wry smirk, tiling his chin slightly.]

Seriously, Brucie? You built yourself an EMF detector and didn't even ask for my input? How is that fair? If I built a Geiger counter I'd at least try it out on you. If you were lucky, I might even ask first.

[He's only a little hurt you went ghost hunting without him. And a bit worried after the video went black.]

I'm coming over before you get yourself slimed.

You mostly see it on bad tv shows, in my world, but I'm glad it's turning out to be useful.

Right, I understand. Thank you for your input, I'll consider this.

[He's more interested in science than spirit, but it won't hurt to look into.]

If I can put together a slightly more reliable voltmeter, I'll be able to get a sense of what sort of frequency we're looking at.

From there, it might be possible to use bits and pieces of a speaker system, cone removed and hooked up to an antenna or substitute, to flood the target with a phase shifted replica signal.

[Same principle as the very good noise-cancelling systems; hit the ghosts with equal and opposite frequencies and you may be able to essentially borrow the principle of the higher end noise cancelling devices, and cancel out their ghosts. It's ambitious, considering how imprecise their readings will be and how they basically have to do it out of junk, but if there's anyone that can make it work, it's them.

Bruce is a radiation expert, after all, and Tony is one hell of a mechanic.]

... you made a ghost detector out of junk?

Dude, that'd be really cool if we weren't... surrounded by the things already, but- hate to break it to you.

That isn't really what the point of it was. I know they're there. Obviously they are.

Now I know at least part of what they are.

[She wants to point out that of fucking course they're ghosts, but-]

... you mean, science-wise? You think you can do something about them?

I honestly don't know yet, but I think I can make a very reasonable try. Let's call it... fifty fifty, at this point.

Best idea anybody's had so far. Count me in. What do you need?

I'll give you the same shopping list I gave Isaac.

An old speaker system. Anything with a needle gage. Junked electronics- we're doing this on basically no budget. Copper wiring, anything reminiscent of an antenna, anything remotely resembling a tool set, LED lights, copper wiring. Your best bet will be older motorized equipment, think far and vast, kids toys, especially anything with a remote control. Working order isn't important, I'm just going to be using parts.

This is more specific, but I'd kill for anything that'd help me solder.

Oh geeze, most of that is easy. You ever been dumpster diving next to apartments?

[She grins, rolls her eyes up.]

I can get the copper toys and junk, antenna, maybe a remote control. The rest might be harder. Where're you at?

In the Odin district. I'm going to get somewhere out in the open-

[Since being alone right now is just not turning out to be fun.]

Um. Know any land marks?

Nnnnnyeahno. Not at all.

Page 1 of 9

video

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

text

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[text]

[Video]

[text]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]