AN: The chapter where I beg physicists or physics majors to stop reading otherwise they are gonna throw the book at me. :)
Aya didn't arrive at the lab until later that day because she had been doing drills with Kilowog and some recruits all day. Kilowog asked her in passing if she had seen Razer around because he disappeared and although he trusted Razer with his life, he wasn't very comfortable knowing there's a Red Lantern just wandering around Oa.
"I mean, I'm asking for the poozer's sake not mine" Kilowog cared to specify.
"He's handling a personal affair" Aya answered and felt entirely comfortable with the answer. It wasn't a lie at all. It was a personal affair, it just happened to be about her person, not his.
Kilowog seemed to doubt her answer but then quickly relaxed.
"Ah, if you know about it, it can't be anything too bad".
After the drills she hurried to the lab and found Razer working on a strange looking device.
"Razer, perhaps you should step away from that mechanism. I am detecting an electromagnetic disturbance around it"
"Of course you are, here, sit down" he said pulling a chair from under the table and inviting Aya to sit down right in front of the strangely shaped device, resting in front of her. It was just a simple box with flashing lights but Aya was getting abnormal readings from it.
"Razer, I hope you didn't not get bored and built another bomb"
"No. And don't only happen once. No... This is going to help you. This could be your very own sexual toy"
Aya threw the ugly box shaped contraption the nav-com equivalent of a dirty look. The lights didn't even lit up in sequence.
"I don't find it particularly attractive" she said cooly.
"Haha. Aren't you the comedian. Look, we're very close to giving you what you want. We are missing only one special ingredient"
"And that is?"
"Pleasure."
"Pleasure?"
"Yes, there's no point in having intercourse unless you can get pleasure from it, and so far all the work we've done merely takes care of the mechanical aspect of the process, not the end result, which should be gratification. For both partners. Now... with humanoids, pleasure is the result of chemicals stimulating certain areas of the brain. Since that obviously doesn't apply to you and your electronic brain, we need to find the energy equivalent of pleasure. And that's where this thing comes in"
Razer tapped his hand on his creation.
"I don't really have a name for this but I suppose you could call it an electromagnetic alternator. It sifts through energy frequencies. I've already programmed about 126 energy signatures into it, and let me tell you, it isn't easy. One electron out of place and I could blow up half of Oa. Or you know, tear a hole in the space-time continuum"
Aya now shot the device a look of fear.
"This is not helping its attractiveness level" she said warily.
"Relax, I'm kidding. It's perfectly harmless, though it was boring to get those frequencies right. Anyway, you just connect to it through this port here on the side, absorb some of the signatures and let me know if you find something you like. I'll be in the other room"
Razer began walking away when he heard Aya's voice:
"Done"
"Done?" he asked turning around. He couldn't have made more than 3 steps. "Done with what? How many did you try?"
"All of them"
"All of them! And you didn't like any of them?"
"It's energy, they were adequate... what should I feel?"
"Nevermind, if you felt it you would know it" Razer said resigned. He picked up the box and took it to the work station to connect it to the holo-projector. A complicated graph was projected and Razer started working on it, moving indexes around, trying to find new energy signatures.
Aya came next to him and insisted.
"Perhaps you could elaborate the parameters of 'pleasure' so that next time I know what to look for"
Razer swinged his chair around and rubbed his eyes.
"It's like, he started, like getting a taste of something and wanting more. Like being extremely dehydrated and finally finding that one thing that will sate your thirst"
He stopped talking when he threw Aya a look and realised that none of what he was saying was registering.
"But of course you have no idea what I'm talking about because you've never felt hunger or thirst or any biological want for that matter... How do I explain this' to you?"
He looked at Aya pensively, trying to find some point of reference based on her own experiences.
"Remember when... we were trapped by that pin hole?"
"Yes. I have complete records of that event"
"It's like that. It's something that pulls you in, and you can't resist pulling back. At least for a while, and there's a struggle, and there's tension. But in the end there's a wonderful release of energy and you just... give into it"
"But the pinhole was dangerous. We would've been crushed if we hadn't pulled away"
"Well... a little danger makes it more exciting" Razer said smiling and swung back to start working again.
Aya remained silent to ruminate over his words, how danger could be exciting and anything else but dangerous... Her train of thought was interrupted by her sensors detecting a spike in electromagnetic radiation.
"Razer!" she screamed, just before the alternator blew up.
One huge explosion later
"Well, guess I did make a bomb after all", Razer said bitterly as he and Aya were hovering above the smoldering remains of their laboratory.
Aya's quick-thinking saved them both. She encased them in a protective force-field at the exact same moment the explosion took place.
"We had better evacuate the area before Green Lanterns come to inspect the premises. This area is isolated but you never know. An explosion on Oa is bound to draw attention, regardless of geographic coordinates" she warned.
"Look at you running away from the scene of the crime. I'm impressed. Yeah, let's go, we need to find a new lab anyway" Razer mused flying away.
"A new laboratory? For what purpose?" Aya asked slowing down. Razer had to turn around and reach her again.
"Hello? Did the explosion knock out your memory banks? I need to find you that energy signature?"
"No", Aya announced and stopped fully in the air.
"What do you mean no? This is only a minor setback. I promise you, I'll be more careful when I build the next alternator. I'll put safety guards in place. No more accidents"
"No! This experiment is over. It never should've been initiated any way. You could have been hurt, Razer. You could've died. Over... Over nothing"
Razer came next to her and gently grabbed her arms.
"Hey, I'm fine. Nothing happened. We shouldn't stop now. We're so close"
"We're nowhere near the end-objective. What if I hadn't been there? What if the device had malfunctioned this morning when I wasn't in the vicinity? No, I'm putting an end to this. I've been acting erratic and selfish"
"You're acting erratic and selfish now. You can't pull the plug. You're not the only one who has something invested in this now"
"I don't understand..."
"I want this for you. You should have something that makes you happy, that makes you feel good. You deserve it. Everybody else in this universe is born and has a shot at feeling ultimate pleasure, at achieving bliss. Why shouldn't you? And I want to be the one that makes that possible for you. As a gift. From one...friend to another"
"Why? This pleasure principle is overrated. It wouldn't help me progress as a Green Lantern. It probably wouldn't enhance my standing with the Star Sapphires"
"Will you forget about the blasted Star Saph..."
Razer stopped mid sentence. His eyes grew wide as a look of astonishment washed over his face. His mind raced, a vortex of thoughts and feelings around the idea that could provide the solution, or so he thought.
"Razer? Are you alright?" Aya asked tentatively, her earlier fury subsiding.
"Of course!" he said grabbing her arms more forcefully.
"I've been such an idiot. I don't need to fumble around the energy spectrum to find the frequency for pleasure. It has already been found. And it's readily available"
"It is?" Aya asked worried.
"Yes... the violet light of the Star Sapphires", he answered with great satisfaction.
"Prep the ship Aya, we're going back to Zamaron"