CNR Laboratory, Ceres
Feb 2nd, 2398
14:02 GMT
Avis-Mergulus AKA Anton "Tosha" TeremnoiPiloting (2)Engineering Technician (1)Acrobat (1)
darkpaladin109 AKA David "Pirate Dave" Smith[4] Considering that the lights are off, the gunman most likely won't be able to fire at a threat. You charge down the hallway in the expendable body, aiming to leap at the gunman in the last moment, {7} but you are gunned down by fully-automatic fire well before reaching him. odd, considering he didn't have any goggles or electronic scope on his weapon. Blind luck, perhaps?
[4] You still have your commander at the ready. When you hear the sound of the gunman reloading his rifle, you immediately dash across the room and make it to the alcove before the gunman can open fire.
"Both parties made mistakes, but this one capitalized on them."
Samarkand AKA Felicia Hasting"Seriously?"There is a pause.
"It was supposed to be a hint. The gunman is just an android. Built with advanced Skylander tech, uh, robotics and biomimicry and the like. The colonel is upset that you didn't realize the robot's speech was just a trap."
Comrade P. AKA Hamilton TeromoSidearms (2)Swordsman (1)
Don't tell the colonel."
Chromatic Wasp AKA Chandler DavisComrade P. AKA Hamilton TeromoPhysician (2)Marksman (1) [6] You will the expendable body to rush the gunman, playing out the scenario inside your head, and lo-and-behold--its A.I subroutines take over and do just that as you swap back into your regular body. The expendable charges so quickly that even though it takes a full-auto blast to the face, its husk impacts the gunman fast enough to send them both flying into the back wall as a heap of torn joints, loose cables, and shattered optical equipment.
Since the threat is eliminated, you slow down and walk the rest of the way to the alcove. The lights turn on again.
The scenario concludes and everyone is reverted back to the limbo-state where they cannot see or control anything--only listen to the voices. This time, the female voice that some of the others heard before speaks first.
"Time to test the nanites?"Somewhat reluctantly, the doctor responds,
"Yes, it's time. Send them in."In the third stage, each person finds himself once again alone in a chamber with a single commander unit. This next room is a large, square opening with two halves separated by a deep trench, about three meters deep and two across. The trench has ladders leading back onto the central floors. On the far side of the room, there is a small metal bridge linking the two halves. In the center of the room, there is a thick glass tube with some kind of turret inside, equipped with two circular apertures on the front and facing the same direction. One aperture is larger and below the other.
In the far corners of the room, there are turrets hanging from the ceiling, each armed with a single blue-tipped missile mounted to a frame.
The room is currently full of some sort of glittering dust that constantly floats around the room and never settles.
"Alright. If that laser turret paints you as a target, you are going to be fired upon. Those missile launchers have one missile each, and can only fire down their respective lane. If one explodes near you, the EMP will knock the body out and terminate the exercise. Your goal is to get across to the other side of the room, as before.
To do this, you now have control over the nanite cloud within the room. You will know how to use these right away, thanks to some memory tricks Dr. McDonald used while you were asleep. This should be relatively straightforward. Any questions?
Remember, as soon as you step out of cover, the turret will start scanning. Take care."As the woman stops speaking, you begin to feel as if you had prior experience with these nanobots, although you don't recall having ever used them. The mechanics all become clear to you.
The Cloud
The Cloud is a swarm of nanobots that follows your commander body wherever it goes. Since the nanobots cannot be communicated with and instead use magnetics to receive both their power and commands, you must be in direct physical contact with the Cloud in order to control it with a body. The cloud's actions may or may not be self-destructive, and as such it is important not to run out of nanobots or the cloud will disperse.
The Cloud itself is non-sentient and individual nanobots are linked to their respective hosts. Whenever you consciously control nanobots in a cloud, they tag you as their sole user and deny others the ability to control them. As such, each person has their own individual Cloud that follows them or stores itself within a storage compartment.
Nanite Powers
The nanobots are equipped with tools allowing for physical manipulation of matter and energy. They can channel a body's power supplies into heat and electromagnetic radiation, or act as a catalyst for chemical reactions. They move using micro-sized ion thrusters, which can be used to manipulate particles and exert forces on objects. The nanobots can interact directly with microbial life, either harmfully or non-invasively. The nanobots can store minute amounts of matter within their claws, and can also "juggle" matter to keep it floating within the cloud and increase capacity. Finally, the nanobots can manipulate electrical potentials and influence computer systems and even biochemical circuits.
Some of the basic powers nanobots have include but are not limited to:
-Forming a barrier of non-Newtonian fluid to block projectiles
-Linking together to form physical objects out of nanoplasm
-Launch fireballs, create particle beams, emit dangerous radiation, create lightning, etc. Note that this destroys nanobots in the process.
-Invade computer systems
Nanobot abilities can be enhanced through expertise and through physical modifications.
Author
Topic: The Cloud - One Small Step... (Read 41137 times)