poeticterms | (no subject)

"But I don't know how the interface works, which is kind of an important part, y'know?"

He hesitates another moment, then leans one hip against the table and holds up the cane.

"Want to play with it a little? Not take it apart, just use it."

"Sure."

Half his mind already occupied with circuit design, he comes forward to meet Auggie by the table.

"How's it work?"

"On-off switch is here." He indicates the button, then holds the cane out towards Tony. It's slim, black, about ten inches long.

"It vibrates -- strength of the vibration depends on the proximity of the obstacle. It transmits information to a wireless receiver that produces a beep, too -- the higher the beep, the closer the object -- but I seem to have left that in my desk, in my infinite wisdom."

"So you're not totally infallible? Could've fooled me," he jokes.

He takes it, examines it for a second, and then points it at the table. As he suspected, if he gets it at just the right angle, the laser matrix reflects off the glass well enough for the device to pick it up—but as soon as he moves his hand even a little, all of a sudden it's seeing the floor instead.

"Poor thing's getting confused already," he mutters, mainly to himself.

Auggie folds his arms and snorts.

"You're trying it on the glass?"

"Yeah. Like I thought, it doesn't know what to do with the refraction. But I mean, you could fit circuitry in here that'd do those calculations easy. It's just a design problem—hey, Jarvis, see if you can trick it."

He aims the laser at the ceiling, which is far enough away not to register at all.

A hologram appears, about four feet from the end of the laser cane, mimicking the laser matrix as though it were playing over a solid object in midair.

The cane buzzes.

"I take it that's a yes," Auggie comments mildly.

"Yep. Okay, I think I get the picture."

He offers the cane back to Auggie, holding it out so it brushes against his fingers.

"For the record, it's still awesome, but I can do so much better. I don't exactly blame whoever made it for not thinking about holographic spoofing, though. I mean, the technology's not exactly widely available, and anybody who can project an image with that kind of precision probably has better things to do than mess with a blind guy's spatial perception."

"While you're in here, however, I can make sure you don't run into any tables," says Jarvis.

Because he is a kind and helpful soul.

He grins up at the ceiling as he accepts the cane.

"Thanks, Jarvis. Yeah, I think holographs aren't going to be most people's first thought for messing with a blind guy."

"Probably not, no," he agrees.

"Thankfully."

He straightens up and starts his slow exploration around the table again.

This table has been more or less thoroughly explored. Jarvis watches for the right moment to convince the laser cane to register the next one.

When he reaches the end of the third side, he pauses, sweeps the lasers across the floor, and steps towards what he suspects is empty space.

It is in fact empty space. A fair bit of empty space, too.

When the laser matrix intersects another table, Jarvis provides the appropriate illusion.

Auggie slows down and puts out a hand, and is momentarily surprised that there's nothing in touching distance. Moving forward a little brings him to the table's edge; he grins when he understands.

"How did you set up this whole room for holographs?" he asks, running his fingers over the table to investigate its contents.

"...okay, the really short version is that that's part of the reason why everything is glass. There's projection equipment pretty much everywhere, but it's all tucked away in the walls and ceiling where nobody'll see it. And then Jarvis does a shitload of math to integrate it all and get a visible hologram. The setup is basically functionally useless without some serious hardware to crunch the numbers, because you can't just project statically if people are going to be walking through it, you have to actually change which focal points you're using as some of them are obscured."

Auggie's eyebrows go up.

". . . This weapons company of yours must be insanely lucrative."

"Just a little," he admits.

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of the opportunity to play with all this."

"Like I said, when I invent tactile holograms, you can play with 'em all you want."

Uh.

Right, not apologizing for accidental flirting.

Auggie smirks.

"Much obliged."

...Tony giggles.

Because c'mon.