At the mention that the lab equipment was vandalized and destroyed, Verna pales. Why? Why would someone waste it like that? Why not sell it, get some money? What's the use of breaking in with expensive equipment, and then destroying some more expensive equipment?
It means that the dream is over. She's going to have to find a new job now for sure. Or, possibly, crawl back begging for her old one. That thought has her staring at the asphalt, while the detective asks her questions she's answered several times.
If it's drug related, he says, and that's a hypothesis Verna's already ruled out. If it was some drug fiend, they'd have used a crowbar or broken a window. Why take the hardest possible way into the place? Why not take anything to sell?
"No, I haven't been able to contact either Dr. Jacobs or Dr. Andrássy. And... does what happened to that door look to you like the work of some drug addict?"
Verna's not asking. She's stating the ridiculousness.
"There are two sets of explosive impact points deforming what's left of the door, about 9 inches in diameter. That door is heavy, meant to stand up to rough treatment. Do you think someone punched it open? They used a battering ram of some kind, and completely neglected to so much as break a window," she says, trying to impress upon him the strangeness.
"Someone came here with heavy equipment made to bust down doors, and they very well wanted to use it," Verna says, and sighs. "I just can't imagine who would do it. The only thing that makes a shred of sense might be someone whose interests would be harmed by our research -- someone who would want to keep what we're working on from reaching the light of day. Why else would they just come here to destroy everything?"
Verna, by now, is thinking corporate thugs. There are those who wouldn't like to see cheap, room temperature quantum computers. It's a breakthrough that threatens to cause a ripple effect -- a disruption. Or, perhaps it was anti-technology terrorists. But who would even know that this is the lab of the Dr. Andrássy working on it?
Some stray thought, something she heard comes back to her then. More?
"You said there's more in the basement? More what? Blood?"
She takes a breath to steady herself. It's not his. It's got to be whoever destroyed the door. They got cut. That's all.
Noel @ 10:04PM
[Charisma 3 + Empathy 2 = Believe me about the door!]
Roll: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
It means that the dream is over. She's going to have to find a new job now for sure. Or, possibly, crawl back begging for her old one. That thought has her staring at the asphalt, while the detective asks her questions she's answered several times.
If it's drug related, he says, and that's a hypothesis Verna's already ruled out. If it was some drug fiend, they'd have used a crowbar or broken a window. Why take the hardest possible way into the place? Why not take anything to sell?
"No, I haven't been able to contact either Dr. Jacobs or Dr. Andrássy. And... does what happened to that door look to you like the work of some drug addict?"
Verna's not asking. She's stating the ridiculousness.
"There are two sets of explosive impact points deforming what's left of the door, about 9 inches in diameter. That door is heavy, meant to stand up to rough treatment. Do you think someone punched it open? They used a battering ram of some kind, and completely neglected to so much as break a window," she says, trying to impress upon him the strangeness.
"Someone came here with heavy equipment made to bust down doors, and they very well wanted to use it," Verna says, and sighs. "I just can't imagine who would do it. The only thing that makes a shred of sense might be someone whose interests would be harmed by our research -- someone who would want to keep what we're working on from reaching the light of day. Why else would they just come here to destroy everything?"
Verna, by now, is thinking corporate thugs. There are those who wouldn't like to see cheap, room temperature quantum computers. It's a breakthrough that threatens to cause a ripple effect -- a disruption. Or, perhaps it was anti-technology terrorists. But who would even know that this is the lab of the Dr. Andrássy working on it?
Some stray thought, something she heard comes back to her then. More?
"You said there's more in the basement? More what? Blood?"
She takes a breath to steady herself. It's not his. It's got to be whoever destroyed the door. They got cut. That's all.
Noel @ 10:04PM
[Charisma 3 + Empathy 2 = Believe me about the door!]
Roll: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )