Every day is WIP Amnesty Day!
Way back when the new Legion of Super-Heroes comic was fresh and exciting, I started writing something that looked to have the heft of an actual plot to it. And then the next day, an issue came out and Jossed (Waided?) me royally.
However, I stumbled on the first bit on my forays through the wilds of my harddrive, and I think it's still pretty cool.
When he first met Brainiac 5, Lyle thought himself invisible.
He had snuck into a fascinating lecture. Querl Dox had found something curious in the evolutionary markers of DNA coded lifeforms from fifteen different worlds, all of which had never developed humanoid life. He ran the slides through a seven-dimensional comparative program that, Lyle noted with no small amount of pride, was just a more efficient cousin of the one he'd developed himself for such purposes. Holographic representations of nucleic acids shimmered and twisted beside his vid screen, and at Dox's command, certain segments were highlighted in blue. They were each well away from any vital protein sequences, deep in the areas of DNA that seemed to serve little useful purpose: those blank pages in which a skilled geneticist could write something more interesting...
Dox traced the DNA segments through both their projected half-life and the actual data from subsequent generations. They didn't match. And that was the end of the presentation.
Or at least, it should have been. During the closing remarks, one of the attendees became so insistent on interrupting him that Dox allowed them the floor.
It was a young Coluan woman, standing in front of a blank white wall. The name 'Arun Nol,' appeared beneath her image, along with her age and field of study and anything else Lyle's comm system determined as relevant. "I'm sure we're all very impressed at this attempt at an *observational* study, Querl Dox," she said. "But you have yet to explain the phenomena, or at the least present a hypothesis that satisfies the scientific body."
Lyle scowled in sympathetic irritation, but Dox just looked at her like she bored him. "Scientist," he said, the word rolling off his tongue like a punchline. "It was never my intention to present this information as more than a thought exercise. If you're looking for someone to satisfy you, I suggest you learn to do it for yourself. And now," he said, speaking again to the wider audience, "I will entertain any *intelligent* questions."
Nol's face flushed to a deeper green, and she left abruptly. A few people signed off after her, but mostly they stayed around and clustered in mini-conferences. Lyle flipped through them, unnoticed. Most of the people there thought Dox had found a point - it was currently fashionable for researchers to search humanoid DNA to explain the odd abundance of humanoid life, but no one had thought to look at it from the other direction. There was also a secondary conversational thread, touching on the conclusion that all Coluans were assholes.
After a while, one of the avatars broke from its group and sent an invitation for Dox to join it on a private channel. Lyle glanced at the name, Ranymin Lancier, and his eyes widened. Dr. Lancier had almost single handedly invented the field of aquantic retrogenetics, and was usually considered one of the best scientists of the last century. Of the current century, too. Lyle spent a minute breaking into their channel.
"-esting that you didn't display any samples from Durla," said Lancier, a small, human woman with wild grey hair and an unlined face.
Dox's lips tightened slightly, as though the comment had amused him. "It was unnecessary. My point was merely that the contingent of comparative xenolutionists should check its assumptions," he said. "Still, I shouldn't be surprised that you recognized the nucleic patterns -"
"-from my own work, yes," finished Lancier. "But if what you are suggesting is true..."
"I'm suggesting nothing," Dox said. "As our colleague was so quick to point out, earlier."
Lancier's face twisted into a grimace, but it struck Lyle as merely theatrical. Her gaze remained too steady. "Somebody's collegue, anyway," she said. "You're well quit of those people, Querl, my boy."
"It's Brainiac 5," corrected Dox.
Lancier paused a moment before replying. "Ah, yes, I've seen the newsfeeds. Is that for your friends as well, then?" Dox didn't say anything. His face remained impassive, and Lyle, who was usually good as such things, couldn't guess what he was thinking.
"I see," Lancier said eventually. She looked back at Dox, and her face was impassive too. "But I *have* been watching the news. It's been so interesting of late. I trust you know what you're doing?"
"You would insult me by suggesting otherwise?" Dox said, and he seemed almost interested in the answer.
"I would insult you by insulting you, henceforth known as Brainiac 5." The muscles in Lancier's face lined up into a smile that Lyle found almost parental - proud, calculated, proprietorial. She held it for the space of a few eyeblinks and then said, "I have to go." Dox nodded in acknowledgment, and then she logged off.
There were still quite a few scientists around, but not many seemed to be discussing anything interesting anymore. Dox seemed to feel the same way. He announced brusquely that he was going to be shutting down the lecture hall in a few minutes and directed those who remained to a less specialized university channel. Lyle watched as the people left, trying to place their names. There were some students and young scientists, but mostly it wasn't difficult. Querl Dox was, well, Querl Dox, and for the most part a certain amount of prestige was required to earn a seat in one of his presentations. Even Arun Nol was a giant in the field of biologics.
Eventually, the only one left was Dox himself. He was standing behind a computer display, working through a calculation, and Lyle wondered a moment if he had gotten lost in his work so fast he'd forgotten to sign off the university--
Dox glanced up from his work, and met Lyle's gaze across the vid screen. Lyle's eyes widened in shock. He stumbled backwards a step and punched his hand through the disconnect symbol. Nothing happened. He waved a hand through it again and then reached for the hard console, tapping the state switch almost compulsively. That didn't work, either. Dox still filled his screen, and he didn't look amused.
Lyle swallowed a couple times and then looked back at the screen. Dox was still glaring at him, but that didn't *necessarily* mean he was aware of Lyle's presence. Maybe he was just glaring at something on the other side of his screen.
"So. Lyle Norg of Earth," said Dox, shattering that hope. "And what did *you* think of this afternoon's entertainment?"
"I, um." Lyle felt a prickling heat rise in his chest and spread slowly over his cheekbones and ears. "You can see me?" he said, stupidly.
"You bypassed the University's security net neatly. One might almost say elegantly," said Dox, although it was clear from his expression that that one wouldn't be him. "You risked a significant amount of trouble to attend. I'm curious to know what you thought you were looking for."