ExLibris wrote:There are three stories in which the storm happens.
In all three of those stories, lightning strikes the hydroelectric dam and causes a blackout.
In two of those stories, we're either told about ("Some girl got struck by lightning and they are blaming us for her death") or witness first-hand someone (Veronica) being struck by lightning and killed. We don't know if anyone was killed in the other story, but it seems more likely than not.
In only one of those stories was the PC directly involved in the experiment. In the other two stories the experiment occurs without him, with similar results.
Since the lightning happens with or without the PC, my conclusion is that the fault really lies with whoever decided on the settings, along with whoever decided to perform the experiment in a populated area and whoever decided than an undergraduate, someone she'd just met, and the guy who runs the computer centre were the right people to assist with the experiment. That's not to say that the PC wouldn't make a convenient scapegoat, but he's got less reason to feel guilty than others.
I agree with you. The various threads indicate the lighting is a function of the conditions of the night, combined with the planned settings for the machine. The PC is just the one adjusting the controls, new in town, and has no powerful backing to fight for him. As they say, credit rises to the top, blame sinks to the bottom.
That being said, if someone were to tell me, "Hey, go fiddle with that uber-powerful machine over there and see if you can get it to do X." Then the next day I find out that someone died based on what that machine did, I'm feeling pretty darn guilty. Actually I think I would feel much less guilty the more I knew about the machine and the more I was sure that I didn't do anything wrong with it during the process. (wrong, as in push the ionization way beyond the green before settling it back within the green... not as in, questionably ethical) Can I claim self-defense if she was about to kill me in a different timeline and I hit her with a bolt of lightning under fear of death?