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[Sean Mirrsen]

"I doubt that would be very effective against the fleshhorror.  I know Xan can survive in a vacuum unharmed, so I doubt simply removing oxygen can kill a creature which has powers similar to him.  Pumping Chlorine Triflouride gas down there would be more effective against the creature, and probably less damaging to the stucture too.   Not that that's a good idea either.

Also, thanks for that video.  I've needed a good laugh."

"You're welcome. And the point isn't removing the oxygen - it's the sudden pressure differential. Without time to adapt, liquids in the flesh will boil, and any contained gases will try to expand, causing damage. Combined with the initial overpressure from the blast itself, it's much more destructive than mere exposure to vacuum.

But that's probably a good point too. It might bring down the structure itself. All the more need to get samples - if it's a living organism in the conventional sense, then it might be susceptible to poisoning or other kinds of chemical attack."

[Empiricist]

Charles prepares a pro-ARM propaganda speech and sends it's transcripts to his CO's via wristpad for review. (Charge Dynamic)

[piecewise]

8. Isn't that what Anton was working on? Because the problems for that haven't been solved as far as I know.

No.  Anton is working on automated movements, so that the thing can move without a connection to the controller.  I'm talking about a computer system that links someone's robotic body control systems to the remote body, over a radio connection, while simultaneously recieving all the camera and sensory feeds from the remote body.  I already have the sending and everything set up, I just don't have a program that actually collects the things I want to send.

Alright. Really, like you said, the program is gonna be very unfinished on the receiving end. The sending and server work is fine, but the intigration into other systems is basically unwritten.

I want to do that now.  This is all in reference to a user in a robotic body.

1. Make sure that when the program is activated, it locks the user's robotic body from recieving movement commands.  Also make sure that it unlocks the user's body when the program is deactivated.

2. While the program is active, block the normal sensory signals that the user's robobody sends to it, and replace them with the incoming signals from the remote body.

3. Collect the movement signals that the user's brain is creating, and send them to the remote body.  Make sure the remote body acts on them, as if it recieved the signal from a brain that's actually inside of it.

3. Put on one of the MK.III suits myself.  Order another one from Aresteve.

4. Are we taking far longer to solve this than you thought we would?

5. Idly wonder if Simus is suffering from a stasis-dementia induced coma.

Oh, alright then.

1. ok
2.ok
3.alright
4.fine
5.Nah
6.Might be. Maybe space accountancy killed him.

So piecewise, a few questions regarding my reincarnation:
How long until the message about my demise would reach Hephaestus? I'm fine to wait any amount of time.
What should I treat my character sheet as? I had ... 2 missions done when I made the clone,so should I treat it as that?
Could I do a minor respec?

A chill wind races through the facilities to find the copy of Xan embedded in a vault. A sense of a sigh echoes in the chamber.

Do better than me, kid. I failed to learn one lesson: if another person asks you for help, kill them instead.
And thus Xan fades away, leaving the brain in the chamber, waiting for release.
This'll go well.

Until someone sends it, really.
Set up the character like a new one, respecting as you please, but only use the standard starting points. Then I'm going to randomly allocate the other points you would have had when you made the clone, due to imperfections in the creation process.

I don't see much point in a thermobaric bomb, Anton - from what I know they act just like conventional bombs, but with a more compact warhead and a more sustained blastwave. And they can suck all the oxygen out of an enclosed space, killing anyone unlucky enough to live through the blast.

That's interesting news, Saint - no damage beyond the brain... Well, it's enough for me to declare that particular artefact a high-level hazard. Nobody enters the room I have it contained in, for the time being, especially not any of us. As for Grate's lack of an implant, I'm not surprised - it could be a side-effect of his 'immortality' that his body always comes back without implants or other augments. That's just a theory, though, and one I'd rather not tested, 'immortality' or not. We'll get him fitted when we can, along with the rest of the workers, if we're going to keep them.

Pull up all the different levels of decompensators and see how they work, exactly, and what facilities would be needed to make new kinds.

They all basically work in the same way: They monitor brain activity and activate when they pick up the kind of activity they were designed to look for. Depending on the level of the decomp they then deploy counter measures which can be anything from just a small jolt to halt activity for an instant or synaptic feedback to "Normalize" the aberrant readings. The facilities needed depend on two things: what level of decomp you want to make and if you have the brain activity data you'd need to make them, or if you need to gather in.

Anton Chernozorov

Ever seen one of those videos where they take a fighting game character and give it another character's move set? Yeah, it's kinda like that. It's funny as hell to see a humanoid attempt to use quadruped movements, especially when the joints don't line up, but it's not really effective. mostly because  the second the thing starts to trip it will drop into pony mode, drop everything it's carrying and then flail its limbs about.

"Pfffft..."

Send footage of experiment to Saint, with commentary.

<Attachment: Biped_Motion_Test_Footage.vrf>
Commentary: "This. This is why you need to climb more mountains in the future."

"Yeah, pretty much as expected. These won't be any help. Hmm."

Save and close the scene. Open up a copy of the Artee design, replace brainbox with comms equipment similarly to previous remote project. Replace weapon-carrier arms with proper handed arms. Test viability of drone-like control and direct control of arms and head via VR.

If unit can navigate reliably on its own and can be used to interact directly, continue. Strip all superfluous equipment like medifoam and kinamp, leave the grenade launchers and the tail laser. Load grenade launchers with ClF₃. Fit harness for carrying and resupplying scout eyes and larger drones on the back. Save project as "Support RT Remote Variant". Ask Aresteve if existing production lines can manufacture the resulting unit.

Check the scout drone data that should be becoming available about now.

Hmm. Depends on if you're controlling it Via thought or via physical controls. The first, like saint is doing, is possible though with that body you're gonna need to adjust to it. The second works but has some difficulties.

The data from the rapidly created and scrambled scout drone swarm shows a large mass inhabiting the lower levels. They can't get too far in, mostly because the thing literally blocks those levels off with its mass, but it is definitely organic and seems to be feeding on the metal and the stone. It appears to not be growing any larger, and is simply eating its way down into the planet's crust to stay alive. It hasn't attacked the drones.

Charles prepares a pro-ARM propaganda speech and sends it's transcripts to his CO's via wristpad for review. (Charge Dynamic)

charging the speech making.

[Xantalos]

M'kay then. Gonna put the new sheet here, since I'll be in this thread for the foreseeable future.

Spoiler: Xan's Clone (click to show/hide)

Name: [not chosen yet], Xan
Gender: N/A
Age: This one's functionally only a few minutes old since it's been in stasis for most of its existence. Personal information: A clone brain created by infamous flesh horror Xan in case of his demise, this countermeasure has come to pass. However, the cloning process was imperfect, and only time will tell whether this one will turn out to be as much of an arrogant fuck as the original.
Reason assigned to HMRC: N/A
Stats:
Willpower: 20
All else 0
Skills:
Exotic Weapons: 5
All else 0
Profession: Transhuman: +1 Exo, -1 Cha

[Sean Mirrsen]

Anton Chernozorov

Hmm. Depends on if you're controlling it Via thought or via physical controls. The first, like saint is doing, is possible though with that body you're gonna need to adjust to it. The second works but has some difficulties.

It's a combination of both. Aside from having an option to do either, it should be possible to control the body from VR, but only have direct control over the arms and head, allowing the onboard CPUs to handle the walking. So, three control modes: Direct control from VR with extra limb issues, Command control via zombie functions, Hybrid control with zombie walking and direct looking and interacting. The hybrid mode would be like sitting in a mobility scooter.

The data from the rapidly created and scrambled scout drone swarm shows a large mass inhabiting the lower levels. They can't get too far in, mostly because the thing literally blocks those levels off with its mass, but it is definitely organic and seems to be feeding on the metal and the stone. It appears to not be growing any larger, and is simply eating its way down into the planet's crust to stay alive. It hasn't attacked the drones.

Anton looks over the footage and frowns.

"This is... interesting. It seems it's some kind of giant earthworm... burrowing down. Aresteve, can you give me a plan of our underground facilities located roughly along the path the creature? Extrapolate its course from the current observation data. I want to know if it's heading towards anything particularly important, and how much time we have until it gets there."

Request projection of the fleshworm's path from Aresteve.

If the remote RT design works, have a unit manufactured and equipped.

Search the database for known general (as in, not human-specific) toxins that work on contact, that we could produce in bulk.

[syvarris]

Right after Anton asks his question, Saint asks this:

"And more importantly, is there a spot that we could leave a cache of high explosives and detonate them once it burrows near, without damaging anything important?  Also, is the damage spreading outside of the creature's path, or is it the only cause?"

After that, Saint says over the radio "Simus, I've finished a program that allows remote control of robotic bodies.  It allows direct transmission of movement signals over radio and to a remote body, which does not need a brain inside it, and makes that body act on those signals.  It requires the user to already be a robot, because that's the simplest way to get those signals, so sadly it's useless for Anton.

I'm unsure exactly how much lag it causes, and am in the process of testing that.  If it's low enough, we can just use a fleet of drones equipped with signal relays to explore and repair the damaged areas.  If it's too high, we'd have to manufacture quantum entanglement communication backpacks, which might be too expensive to justify the drop in danger.

And Anton, it just occurred to me- if you're having trouble making an AI capable of navigating uneven terrain, why don't you program it to use MK.III buzz mode?  We'll probably want to send MK.IIIs down anyway, simply so they can get where we need them to go."

Actual actions (forward video of these to anyone who wants them):
1.Double and Triple check that my program shuts off properly when it shuts off.  I do not want to be trapped in the wrong body.

2.Use the program to transfer into one of the bodies I ordered earlier.  Test how dextrous I am in it- can I walk, run, interact quickly and accurately with tools?

3.If that goes well, get into one of the MK.IIIs, and test buzz mode, then go flitting around outside.  Take it very slowly- if any dangerous amount of lag starts to get into the system, stop flying, and walk to the next step.

4.Exit the base, and get away from any buildings or anything.  Preferably through flight, but walk if I have to.  Make sure a collection of signal drones follow.  Once out in the desert, start flying away, and route the connection through the drones.  How bad does lag get?  Is it to the point that manual dexterity is basically impossible?

[PyroDesu]

Hmm... how is it that it's 'eating' stone and metal, yet seemingly neither excreting similar or beginning to become composed of similar? And, why exactly it's trying to get deeper. Surely not just for protection, if anything it's making itself more vulnerable by exposing itself.

Aresteve, could you contact Steve and see if we can get into contact with the people who actually went into the thing before the Sword left? While I'm sure footage from their cameras is available regardless, I want to know what they have to say about it, if we can get that information.

And Saint, that's something, certainly - now if we need something more substantial than the drones Anton's made up, we can take one of those down from here. Doubtful we'd need to, but it's another option we have. Also, the people back on the Sword might find it useful, once you refine it so the user need not already be in a braincase. Especially so for anyone in Avatars. You can go ahead and make what prototypes you need.

Does the MkIV decompensator use a different style of detection to the other 3, or is there something else that makes it more accurate at detecting and stopping abnormal activity? And is it possible to modify a currently existing detection parameters without needing new patterns entirely, say going from detecting out-of-bounds activity in one pattern to detecting and activating on any activity involving that pattern?

[Sean Mirrsen]

((For PW's benefit, summing up the RemoTee unit:

Spoiler: Sketch (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Description/Abilities (click to show/hide)

Standard robotic body shaped into a vaguely equine-like form.
Two extra standard arms mounted on the back, that fold into niches on either side of the body. Niches are covered by conforming body plates that open like butterfly doors (or wings).
Red Hand-like electrolaser in the prehensile tail.
Cutting torch and hydraulic pincer ("Jaws of life") in the head.
Two 40mm grenade launchers on stabilized pylons, mounted in compartments on the... well, rear of the body. Ammo: 4 ClF₃ grenades each.
Carry and refuel rack for several drones on the back.

Everything controlled remotely via powerful radio transceiver. Accepts basic commands, direct VR control, or hybrid VR control with walking controlled via commands.

I'm not being too optimistic about this thing's usefulness, am I? >_>))

[PyroDesu]

((For PW's benefit, summing up the RemoTee unit:

Spoiler: Sketch (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Description/Abilities (click to show/hide)

Standard robotic body shaped into a vaguely equine-like form.
Two extra standard arms mounted on the back, that fold into niches on either side of the body. Niches are covered by conforming body plates that open like butterfly doors (or wings).
Red Hand-like electrolaser in the prehensile tail.
Cutting torch and hydraulic pincer ("Jaws of life") in the head.
Two 40mm grenade launchers on stabilized pylons, mounted in compartments on the... well, rear of the body. Ammo: 4 ClF₃ grenades each.
Carry and refuel rack for several drones on the back.

Everything controlled remotely via powerful radio transceiver. Accepts basic commands, direct VR control, or hybrid VR control with walking controlled via commands.

I'm not being too optimistic about this thing's usefulness, am I? >_>))

((In my opinion, very. In Simus' opinion, it could work, but you're really overcomplicating it. And the chemical grenades - I made one as a, 'let's see what the GM will actually let me do in terms of strange and highly dangerous loads' thing. I'm not really sure how useful they'd actually be.

Also, uh - you might want to inform Simus before you start giving production orders. She'd probably approve a prototype anyway (though likely with comment), but she wouldn't be too pleased if you just did it without even telling her that you were working on something like that.))

[Sean Mirrsen]

((Anton will just have to deal with the consequences. In the immortal words of whoever first thought it up, it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission, although in this case it's mostly spur of the moment and he's plainly forgotten that he needs the permission. Anton has several good excuses for use afterwards, anyway.

Also, re: overcomplicating. It's been said in regards to the Artee several times, and I plainly don't see it. Which part is overcomplicated? Or which parts are, as it were. Manufactured as a plain robot body, it has nothing but potential to use things. Why not give it things to use from the get-go?))

[Radio Controlled]

(( Random idea:

Remember that speech sod thing somebody proposed? Has anyone looked into that? Because, if it's possible, then there are interesting things we could do.

For example, grow a sod to be charismatic, good at organizing and fluent with words and such. Then train him in things like guerrilla tactics, terrorist operations and organizing a rebel force.

Then send these around the galaxy to UWM worlds so they can rally the locals around them and train them in rebel tactics and advise them how to best fight against the UWM. Kinda like what the US and Soviet secret services did in the Cold war: send advisors to train others to fight their wars on their own, weakening the enemy in the progress. Basically letting them fight our war for us!

Of course, if those covert agents aren't able to convince the rebels to join ARM later on then we're just weakening the UWM while potentially training the future insurgents we'll have to fight ourselves (because, for example, we really need that particular planet). Exactly like with the Mujahedin!

[Xantalos]

((I could do that depending on how my cloning process can be manipulated.))

[Radio Controlled]

((I could do that depending on how my cloning process can be manipulated.))

Hahaha no.

No offense, but if you get mentally overpowered by a singing robot the first time you really try to use your powers for something not eating corpses or shaping yourself, then I'd say we look into more reliable means of getting that.

Unless you get a perfect decomp, of course. Then we can talk.

[syvarris]

No offense, but if you get mentally overpowered by a singing robot the first time you really try to use your powers for something not eating corpses or shaping yourself, then I'd say we look into more reliable means of getting that.

Unless you get a perfect decomp, of course. Then we can talk.

Arguably, he got overpowered by the AM.  Remember, Stacy would dance and sing because he was cursed to by the AM.  Presumably, when Xan assimilated him, Stacy's brain gained some control of Xan's form, and since he was cursed to dance and sing, all his thing cells obeyed.  Stacy was happy and went along with it, because he's stacy, and the angry rage kill bits of STAN happened because Xan was extremely pissed at having his body suddenly stolen and used for such a silly and idiotic thing.

[Xantalos]

Stacy was cursed to dance by the AM? I did not know this.