Blake appears like a wraith at his employer's side without any warning. In his hand, he clutches some papers. It's been a day and a half since his trek back from the mines, still tending to and hiding wounds he shouldn't have. His return to work was unceremonious and as characteristically quiet as any other, but that typical silence is broken by an atypical question.
"What's this?" Blake asks, uncertainty mingling in the creases between his brows. "Somethin' for the mines?" He rarely has the need to question, but then again, it's equally rare Viktor has something in the planning stage that hasn't already been laid out for everyone in the shop who might be involved.
Viktor doesn't answer so much as he grunts in acknowledgement, a little mmm sound as he straightens on his stool and puts down whatever he's doing (something small and fiddly). He seems to consider whether or not this is a conversation he can keep working through, but Blake has some of his notes, and he pushes his goggles up his forehead so he can have a better look.
"For more than the mines, but that is one of the practical applications, yes." The papers that Blake offers detail not only his automaton research, but the things he wants to use it for. He doesn't see why this should be a surprise, given his work clearing the mines some months ago, and he's always expressed interest in safer conditions for workers.
"Do you have automatons, where you come from? Artificial intelligence?"
The confusion scrolls across Blake's face as he tries his best to process the questions following the answer he's given. His mouth opens to protest — he had read the notes, looked at the schematics, yes — but the flurry of words is robbed right from his mouth.
"What—? Ah, we— No, it's not really like that," he says, uncharacteristically unclear in trying to respond. He feels like Viktor might be trying to change the subject, but his usual level of nonplussed remains as if there's no question as to whether his intentions are positive. "Some families depend on that work. Are you—? Have you gotten any opposition?"
Viktor is getting better at realizing when he's crossed the line of "too esoteric"--perhaps the notes are not as clear as he thought. That's fine. He's always happy to explain further, and this particular proposal excites him. If he's not able to affect change with the Hexcore, his vision of autonomous constructs will be the next best thing. It's clear, from the raise of his eyebrows, that he hasn't thought about the displacement of the miners.
"I haven't pitched anything yet." So, no opposition, because he hasn't proposed it to the government. There's some questioning in Viktor's voice, like he doesn't quite understand where Blake might be going with this.
"They're meant to perform more physically arduous, dangerous tasks. Prevent human casualties."
If Blake had taken a bit more time to study the notes he might have answered a few of his burgeoning questions, but engineer and social planner he is not. His capable mind is best suited to kinesthetic learning and there's nothing here that's hands-on.
"That's— Well, it's great, of course," he admits, tipping his head in understanding. He thinks of the young child he encountered with Geralt and he can't help the way his throat tightens and his eyebrows pin together. Would he like to see the children no longer needed in the mines? Absolutely. Does he think it's realistic to believe families may be instantly bettered by this technology? No way. Unless the remaining workers see wage increases and access to childcare, does it really improve conditions or does it make it easier for the supply chain and its benefactors?
"But we can't just displace the people workin' there now without some kinda plan." This is the first time he's had anything more to say about Viktor's work than by your lead, but he's never shied away from sharing even if it means he's looked at unpopularly for it. "Like I said, they're dependin' on that work and a lot of 'em are barely gettin' by as it is."
Viktor says that matter-of-factly, like he's already made up his mind on the matter. There's some slight wariness creeping into his voice, unsure of just what Blake is getting at, but not particularly enjoying the feeling of having possibly overlooked something.
"The constructs aren't fully autonomous. They will need--supervisors, and people to maintain them."
But it is possible that nobody has brought this up outright to him before. He knows that Steve and Cal were outraged by the child workers in the mines, but that the situation is likely politically fraught. Viktor, however, cares very little for politics, and that likely comes across in the fact that his plans do not seem to account for the people who already work in the mines.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
Viktor is, above all other things, direct. He'd rather Blake just tell him he doesn't like the idea, instead of dancing gently around the subject.
The question is surprising enough that both of Blake's eyebrows hike up and he's left to wonder if it's really directness or if there's not some annoyance in there, too. Suffice to say, he's not exactly lacking in reasons to make someone roll their eyes, and being that he's very much an advocate for the devil, this probably won't be the last question he asks by far.
"About your relief efforts, you mean?" It's not personal, except to the people who are looking at losing their jobs, he imagines. "I have— reservations. And you should, too." Oh, how high and mighty. But Blake can't get it out of his head that there are whole entire families working in those mines to make sure everyone has a little bit to eat at the end of the day.
"How many jobs will this replace? What happens to the profits? Are the working conditions meant to be improved, or just the process? Have you done geological surveys to make sure it's not gonna overmine and collapse the whole thing?
"Is all that in the plans? 'Cause it's gotta be addressed if you wanna approach this safely."
Blake isn't sure how to be more plain than that in his expectations, and as much as he knows Viktor is a goddamn genius, he's worried that there might be a hyphenate involved in that description that he's yet to discover.
Viktor eyes Blake curiously for a moment, as if he didn't expect the barrage of questions. He takes a moment before he speaks, as if considering all of this carefully.
"I am obviously aware that this is just as much a political matter as it is a scientific one."
He already knows that the government will be resistant to change, and that the miners themselves will be apprehensive. That said, he has little interest in politics, and believes his work should be self-evident. This will save lives, and prevent injury and illness. To not implement it would be foolish.
"You sound as though you're speaking from experience."
Ugh. The mere thought of politics threatens to send Blake into a spiraling argument about the intersection between government and public interest. He remembers a time when he believed that certain tools worked towards the betterment of society and the potential risk was minute compared to the payoff. But time and time again he's seen those improvements twisted into something ultimately unstable if not downright hurtful.
"Experience, yeah," he agrees, although he's lothe to admit it. "We had a project goin' back home we had to shut down over concern for it bein' misused. Lo an' behold, someone got their hands on it anyway, and nearly wiped out eight million people."
Bruce Wayne must have been living on the hope that the Dent Act would carry Gotham into a bright future, indeed, if he failed to consider the misuse of his power project before building it. Blake can think of plenty of ways Viktor's tools might be misused, too, and ultimately knows a critical voice can't hurt, even if Viktor seems effortlessly nonchalant about how explosive this could become.
"What is it 'bout the mines, Viktor?" he asks, probing uncertainly. It's not that Blake is suspicious, but he does consider his boss's scope to be incredibly narrow for such an open-minded individual if all he can focus on is the mining aspect, even if it's meant to spare lives. "Why don't you train some robots to teach those kids some stuff, too? Or maybe set some up to help with food or farmin'."
Viktor's eyebrows knit together in apparent confusion--because Blake can't just say something like that and not explain the nature of the project, or why and how it nearly killed that many people. To have his own work compared to such a thing is almost offensive, especially when he doesn't even know what equivalence is being drawn.
"What sort of project? What was it meant to do?"
He supposes, though, that Blake asks a fair question. Given how tight-lipped he is about his own past, the focus on the mines might seem strange. Of course, he doesn't want the automatons to be restricted to just the mines, but it is an obvious place to start.
"Mining and factory work are the primary forms of employment where I'm from." There are some details missing, namely the fact that Viktor himself has been a student and a researcher in Piltover for more than a decade, at this point, but he doesn't consider himself from there. And it doesn't change the conditions for those in the Undercity. "The human and environmental costs are immense. It doesn't have to be that way."
A light turns on and Blake finds himself taking an even closer look at Viktor than ever before, eyes searching for those unseen facts that form pictures all around them. Sighing, he rubs at his hands and takes a lean on the nearest suitable surface. This makes sense.
"It was a power project," he finally says. "Huge investment in givin' everyone in the city — and eventually the world — access to free, clean energy. First step in changin' the world for the better. That kinda stuff. And I'm not—" Blake takes a pause to wipe at his lip, feeling the way sweat is threatening to gather. "It's not one-to-one, but I think we can both agree caution's due when we don't exactly know how it could be used against people."
It's the unintended consequences that worry Blake the most and he hopes that his friend doesn't take it heart because Blake would have the same concerns no matter who suggested the idea.
He locks eyes with Blake, scrutinizing just as much as he's being scrutinized. It's difficult to explain his own past, even if he thinks it would justify the trajectory of his research. Luckily, there are still unanswered questions.
"And how was this used against people? What happened?"
Viktor doesn't doubt that Blake is telling the truth. He does not, however, find this equivalent just yet--he can tell that perhaps there was some nefarious purpose or bad actor involved from the start. He likes to think he'd be smarter than that, especially now that Blake is cautioning him directly.
"I understand the implication of this technology. I don't plan to enact it irresponsibly."
"No one plans to enact technology irresponsibly, Viktor," he says, patient but still finding strength in his voice to borrow those words. He's been criticizing so long he's used to the flare of reasonable aggression most people feel when taken to task. Viktor's no different, although the little voice in the back of Blake's head is screaming you need this job, you idiot.
Frown deepening, he keeps the gaze as best he can, going on, "Terrorists took control of the machine and they held the city hostage — my city — for six months. Men, women, and children locked under the threat of a nuclear holocaust with no recourse. No way in, no way out."
It's been eight months of hell here in the Free Cities and still he thinks he might choose that over reliving those six months in Gotham. Maybe it shows.
"People starved. People died. In the chaos, people were put on trial and shoved out onto thin ice to drown in the rivers. And with no one to disarm the bomb, it was a countdown to the end for all of us and he knew it."
Blake will never forget standing next to a bus of children waiting for the end. He hadn't seen a flash of memories in the light of that explosion, hadn't felt peace knowing this was the end, and even surviving miraculously hadn't changed the aftermath. The cleanup, the destruction, the lives lost.
"It's not the same, I know—" He sighs. "And maybe it'll all work out exactly like you're plannin', but it wouldn't be conscionable to say nothin' at all when I feel so strongly 'bout it. Guard your vision, Viktor, but don't let this tech get into the wrong hands if yours aren't available to guide it anymore."
"They do," he spits back, sounding angrier than he perhaps intends, given the fact that he doesn't doubt Blake's own experiences. But he's seen this, too. "All of the time, especially if the venture is lucrative. That is the only thing that matters, even to some scientists. Everything else is acceptable loss."
Viktor's own work co-opted. Weaponized. Blake talks about a city held hostage--what about a city held hostage for years? Decades? Living under the thumb of an upper class who directly profit from and don't care to know about the suffering that happens underneath them. And they weren't even terrorists--they were the government.
But he's told Blake nothing of this, or his past, or why he does this work in the first place. Why he so desperately wants to ensure that what happened to him never happens to anyone else. He seems to wrangle himself after a moment, carefully considering what he says next.
"You're not wrong." And Blake might get the sense that Viktor finds this difficult to admit. Before his time here, he might take more offense to the very idea that his technology could be misused. Now, Viktor is less idealistic. He knows better. He will not allow what happened in Piltover to happen here. "But you are not the only person who has seen that kind of suffering."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
action;
Blake appears like a wraith at his employer's side without any warning. In his hand, he clutches some papers. It's been a day and a half since his trek back from the mines, still tending to and hiding wounds he shouldn't have. His return to work was unceremonious and as characteristically quiet as any other, but that typical silence is broken by an atypical question.
"What's this?" Blake asks, uncertainty mingling in the creases between his brows. "Somethin' for the mines?" He rarely has the need to question, but then again, it's equally rare Viktor has something in the planning stage that hasn't already been laid out for everyone in the shop who might be involved.
no subject
"For more than the mines, but that is one of the practical applications, yes." The papers that Blake offers detail not only his automaton research, but the things he wants to use it for. He doesn't see why this should be a surprise, given his work clearing the mines some months ago, and he's always expressed interest in safer conditions for workers.
"Do you have automatons, where you come from? Artificial intelligence?"
no subject
"What—? Ah, we— No, it's not really like that," he says, uncharacteristically unclear in trying to respond. He feels like Viktor might be trying to change the subject, but his usual level of nonplussed remains as if there's no question as to whether his intentions are positive. "Some families depend on that work. Are you—? Have you gotten any opposition?"
no subject
"I haven't pitched anything yet." So, no opposition, because he hasn't proposed it to the government. There's some questioning in Viktor's voice, like he doesn't quite understand where Blake might be going with this.
"They're meant to perform more physically arduous, dangerous tasks. Prevent human casualties."
no subject
"That's— Well, it's great, of course," he admits, tipping his head in understanding. He thinks of the young child he encountered with Geralt and he can't help the way his throat tightens and his eyebrows pin together. Would he like to see the children no longer needed in the mines? Absolutely. Does he think it's realistic to believe families may be instantly bettered by this technology? No way. Unless the remaining workers see wage increases and access to childcare, does it really improve conditions or does it make it easier for the supply chain and its benefactors?
"But we can't just displace the people workin' there now without some kinda plan." This is the first time he's had anything more to say about Viktor's work than by your lead, but he's never shied away from sharing even if it means he's looked at unpopularly for it. "Like I said, they're dependin' on that work and a lot of 'em are barely gettin' by as it is."
no subject
Viktor says that matter-of-factly, like he's already made up his mind on the matter. There's some slight wariness creeping into his voice, unsure of just what Blake is getting at, but not particularly enjoying the feeling of having possibly overlooked something.
"The constructs aren't fully autonomous. They will need--supervisors, and people to maintain them."
But it is possible that nobody has brought this up outright to him before. He knows that Steve and Cal were outraged by the child workers in the mines, but that the situation is likely politically fraught. Viktor, however, cares very little for politics, and that likely comes across in the fact that his plans do not seem to account for the people who already work in the mines.
"Do you have something to say to me?"
Viktor is, above all other things, direct. He'd rather Blake just tell him he doesn't like the idea, instead of dancing gently around the subject.
no subject
"About your relief efforts, you mean?" It's not personal, except to the people who are looking at losing their jobs, he imagines. "I have— reservations. And you should, too." Oh, how high and mighty. But Blake can't get it out of his head that there are whole entire families working in those mines to make sure everyone has a little bit to eat at the end of the day.
"How many jobs will this replace? What happens to the profits? Are the working conditions meant to be improved, or just the process? Have you done geological surveys to make sure it's not gonna overmine and collapse the whole thing?
"Is all that in the plans? 'Cause it's gotta be addressed if you wanna approach this safely."
Blake isn't sure how to be more plain than that in his expectations, and as much as he knows Viktor is a goddamn genius, he's worried that there might be a hyphenate involved in that description that he's yet to discover.
no subject
"I am obviously aware that this is just as much a political matter as it is a scientific one."
He already knows that the government will be resistant to change, and that the miners themselves will be apprehensive. That said, he has little interest in politics, and believes his work should be self-evident. This will save lives, and prevent injury and illness. To not implement it would be foolish.
"You sound as though you're speaking from experience."
Go on, he gestures.
no subject
"Experience, yeah," he agrees, although he's lothe to admit it. "We had a project goin' back home we had to shut down over concern for it bein' misused. Lo an' behold, someone got their hands on it anyway, and nearly wiped out eight million people."
Bruce Wayne must have been living on the hope that the Dent Act would carry Gotham into a bright future, indeed, if he failed to consider the misuse of his power project before building it. Blake can think of plenty of ways Viktor's tools might be misused, too, and ultimately knows a critical voice can't hurt, even if Viktor seems effortlessly nonchalant about how explosive this could become.
"What is it 'bout the mines, Viktor?" he asks, probing uncertainly. It's not that Blake is suspicious, but he does consider his boss's scope to be incredibly narrow for such an open-minded individual if all he can focus on is the mining aspect, even if it's meant to spare lives. "Why don't you train some robots to teach those kids some stuff, too? Or maybe set some up to help with food or farmin'."
no subject
"What sort of project? What was it meant to do?"
He supposes, though, that Blake asks a fair question. Given how tight-lipped he is about his own past, the focus on the mines might seem strange. Of course, he doesn't want the automatons to be restricted to just the mines, but it is an obvious place to start.
"Mining and factory work are the primary forms of employment where I'm from." There are some details missing, namely the fact that Viktor himself has been a student and a researcher in Piltover for more than a decade, at this point, but he doesn't consider himself from there. And it doesn't change the conditions for those in the Undercity. "The human and environmental costs are immense. It doesn't have to be that way."
no subject
"It was a power project," he finally says. "Huge investment in givin' everyone in the city — and eventually the world — access to free, clean energy. First step in changin' the world for the better. That kinda stuff. And I'm not—" Blake takes a pause to wipe at his lip, feeling the way sweat is threatening to gather. "It's not one-to-one, but I think we can both agree caution's due when we don't exactly know how it could be used against people."
It's the unintended consequences that worry Blake the most and he hopes that his friend doesn't take it heart because Blake would have the same concerns no matter who suggested the idea.
no subject
"And how was this used against people? What happened?"
Viktor doesn't doubt that Blake is telling the truth. He does not, however, find this equivalent just yet--he can tell that perhaps there was some nefarious purpose or bad actor involved from the start. He likes to think he'd be smarter than that, especially now that Blake is cautioning him directly.
"I understand the implication of this technology. I don't plan to enact it irresponsibly."
no subject
Frown deepening, he keeps the gaze as best he can, going on, "Terrorists took control of the machine and they held the city hostage — my city — for six months. Men, women, and children locked under the threat of a nuclear holocaust with no recourse. No way in, no way out."
It's been eight months of hell here in the Free Cities and still he thinks he might choose that over reliving those six months in Gotham. Maybe it shows.
"People starved. People died. In the chaos, people were put on trial and shoved out onto thin ice to drown in the rivers. And with no one to disarm the bomb, it was a countdown to the end for all of us and he knew it."
Blake will never forget standing next to a bus of children waiting for the end. He hadn't seen a flash of memories in the light of that explosion, hadn't felt peace knowing this was the end, and even surviving miraculously hadn't changed the aftermath. The cleanup, the destruction, the lives lost.
"It's not the same, I know—" He sighs. "And maybe it'll all work out exactly like you're plannin', but it wouldn't be conscionable to say nothin' at all when I feel so strongly 'bout it. Guard your vision, Viktor, but don't let this tech get into the wrong hands if yours aren't available to guide it anymore."
no subject
Viktor's own work co-opted. Weaponized. Blake talks about a city held hostage--what about a city held hostage for years? Decades? Living under the thumb of an upper class who directly profit from and don't care to know about the suffering that happens underneath them. And they weren't even terrorists--they were the government.
But he's told Blake nothing of this, or his past, or why he does this work in the first place. Why he so desperately wants to ensure that what happened to him never happens to anyone else. He seems to wrangle himself after a moment, carefully considering what he says next.
"You're not wrong." And Blake might get the sense that Viktor finds this difficult to admit. Before his time here, he might take more offense to the very idea that his technology could be misused. Now, Viktor is less idealistic. He knows better. He will not allow what happened in Piltover to happen here. "But you are not the only person who has seen that kind of suffering."