Man Out of Time - A Captain America / Avengers Fanfiction

Chapter 58

Chapter 58

"So they're like dolphins?" Huojin asked.

"Or bats," Ralph said.

"We've documented sub-audible vocalizations on 52, 35 and 25 hertz," Doctor Banner said. "As well as 150 and 250 mega-hertz. The creature is like a bat, a dolphin, and a humpback whale all rolled into one."

"Can he echolocate?" Doctor Nyi asked.

"We don't know," Doctor Banner said. "Maybe. It would explain why we found no signs of radio equipment on the gliders."

"What's the range?" Charlie asked, another engineer. "Dolphins and whales can communicate great distances."

"We're not sure," Doctor Nyi said. "The creature would have the same limitations as other living creatures. He can only create as much sound as his lungs and vocal chords are capable of generating."

"How far can a whale talk to another whale?" another asked.

"The highest documented distance we have is a thousand miles away," Doctor Banner said.

"So what you're saying is these guys don't need a radio transceiver to get a signal from the mother ship?" Huojin asked.

"We can block the signal!" Ralph said excitedly.

"That's what we're hoping for," Doctor Nyi said. "The good doctor will track the physiology of our alien friend, while it's up to us to engineer something that works."

"Which is why I've recruited an … um … expert," Doctor Banner said. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce one of my colleagues from … um … let's just say Mr. Murdock is an expert on echolocation."

A tall, dark, and very handsome man walked into the room wearing sunglasses. Sunglasses? Down here? Mr. Murdock walked towards where Doctor Banner and Doctor Nyi stood in front of the enormous smart board where they had diagrams scribbled across the screen. The man paused in front of laptop case that had been carelessly left on the floor and stepped around it in a strange dance. He moved to stand between the others and introduced himself.

"Loud noise can impact a creature that uses echolocation to either supplement or replace poor vision," Mr. Murdock said. His face was strangely blank as he faced the large group of engineers jammed into the conference room. "We need to figure out which noises interrupt their ability to communicate or broadcast whatever the kill command is that caused them all to drop dead after the New York attack."

"Or hijack it to emit false instructions," Bernice added.

Everybody turned and stared at her.

"I mean …. why kill them if we don't have to?"

"They're monsters," several engineers said simultaneously.

"They're sentient creatures," Bernice said.

"They're drones," Ralph said.

"We're drones," Bernice said. She turned to the others. "Think about it. What do we do for work. We sit in a basement all day long and solve problems. The only difference is we choose to do it. These guys don't have a choice."

"Bullshit," Charlie said. "Both of my parents were killed in the attack. Nobody put a gun to their heads and made them kill innocent civilians."

"He's right," several engineers chipped in.

Bernice knew a losing argument when she saw it. She took a play straight out of the 'Skinny Steve Playbook of Playing Nicely Together.'

"It's a drone army," Bernice said. "What if you could seize control of that army for yourself and turn it against its master? Like a … I don't know. A dominating blow. Like the video game Path of Exile. You can seize control of your enemy's fighters for a short period of time."