Day 13If only I had more time. I could spent my time refining and perfecting.
Continue researching Quantum Brains and Reactor
Memory units get built and tested, and as far as you can tell, they work perfectly fine. No suprises there.
Work with fission reactor is cut before you can start because you get an idea that simply cannot be ignored. Managing stream of gaseous uranium has created new technologies which can also be adapted for managing stream of electrically charged particles. With some additions particle beam is not mere curiosity for space combat, but very realistic anti-armor weapon. Basic things you need to do are rather simple, but getting them work in perfect unison is not. Particularly power requirements is what would normally inhibit usage of such weapon on field, but with portable fission reactor that limitation is lifted. And the best thing? There's no protection against beam of particles traveling near speed of light.
Your soldier will steal stuff on tomorrow night.
Research in progress:
Particle beam
To be researched:
Quantum brain
Miniature fission reactor
High density capacitors
EMP hardening
Modular design
Research done:
Armored exoskeleton structure
Artificial muscles
Digital brain copy
Major Technologies:
Electricity driven cells
Test subjects expired: 19
More training in multitasking.
Training continues you and slowly get to the point where you don't have to focus all your attention on managing things with the chip and you can actually walk around maintaining simple conversation. With this you have reached basic proficiency using the MMI. Learning to use it on new device with minimum acceptable precision doesn't take longer than than couple of hours.
I'll assume from now on you keep practicing daily to reach higher levels of skill.
New project! The Terrorizer. Refine this technology into a compact weapon that can be mounted on my hardpoint thing.
This weapon could project multiple different feelings depending on the tactical situation. No need to keep it constrained to negative feelings, either; overwhelming friendliness could be debilitating. Also... might be worth looking into whether this weapon could cause instant brain death.
Overwhelming friendliness doesn't drop target on ground like a dead fly. Overwhelming friendliness doesn't inhibit survival instincts albeit it may hinder one's ability to identify threats. Negative emotions have far greater weaponizable value, but by the very nature of the design it can transmit all kinds of emotions. The thing about compacting the emitter is that it cuts down effective range. It could be offset with higher output power, but that's something you need to study once you have functional prototype. And for prototyping terror much is easier emotion to identify than friendliness.
Instant brain death may not be feasible. For that more traditional projectile weapons are probably better. Of course, with enough power everything can kill, but with this device weapon handler will most likely suffer effects too. Unless it is remotely controlled. Either way, that's something you'll find out once experiments start.
Research in progress:
Dreamstream
To be researched:
Mind to machine interface - canine adaptation
Mind merging
Artificial muscles
Exoskeleton
Mind merging
Advanced medical procedures
Optical camouflage
Overclocked biology
Research done:
Stable weapon attachment point and remote aiming designator
Mind to machine interface
Test subjects expired: 0 (0)
"Look, I'm not saying this excuses what I did. But you have to understand that at the time, it seemed like a great idea. A lot of ideas do when you're on half the drugs I am."
Head Researcher Curious George, Knuckle Deep In The Mind, A Memoir
Into TERRIBLE GLORY we must ride! Lead me to the stars!
While you fervently work to finish up installation package you come up with a method which will make neurons grow twice as fast into designed shape. The method should be usable in hive mind module without any extra effort. After you finish single module of TERRIBLE GLORY you get instantly one test subject for impromptu brain surgery and install it. You are pretty sure neurons should grow in functional state in two or four days. Until then you just have to wait to see what it actually does. Or you could try to decode it. Shouldn't be nowhere as hard as designing entirely new naural networks.
The test subject is placed into separate observation room for now.
Research in progress:
Hive mind
To be researched:
Research done:
Improved coordination
Improved cooperative bonding
Improved learning ability
Improved reaction times II
Terrible Glory
Martial arts training
10 test subjects - 5 days trained
Major Technologies:
NERVOUS SYSTEM DESIGN AND UNDERSTANDING
Test subjects expired: 31
Radiation is a problem, but dense materials should be able to soak it up! Wait, if there was a toggle able gap, you could shoot people with radiation!
Indeed, you could double the reactor as radiation weapon, though it requires very dedicate and complex changes to ensure that the poor hapless person tied up into carrying it won't get radiation poisoning as a side effect. Although radiation won't be intense enough to cause instant cell death, but it could be lethal dose after few seconds close enough. Downside is that it is most likely extremely hard to aim properly. Having fixed direction is basically only viable way. It would also lead to energy loss, so it has limited usage. That's if you want to use it.
Research in progress:
Matter annihilation power plant
To be researched:
Reverse chemical formulation
Improved exoskeleton
Rail-guns
Improved training speeds
Intelligence increasing treatments
50 test subjects + 15 + 1
Research done:
Layered lighweight armor
Test subjects expired: 6
Automated research
You get hardly anything done today. Massive headache is taking care of that. Micro LEDs will work fine as christmas lights, but getting them directed and matching background light is the last problem that must be solved before having the perfect stealth cloak. Perfect as long as enemies use only visible light for detection.
Research in progress:
Optical camouflage
High density battery
Brain integrated chips - Improved reaction speed
To be researched:
Brain integrated chips - Imprinted knowledge
Killing emotions
Associate obedience with joy
Researched done:
Reaction time study
Test subjects expired: 15
I'm not entirely sure where we are in nanobot functionality.
Continue developing the simple structures to use as essentially the adaptive skeleton of the nanite being.
create specialized nanites for explosive, launched weapons (i.e. grenades, warheads, nanite guns) which consume what they encounter.
regrow limiter ( the "preventing the grey goo scenario" bit): I like the idea of a sequence of forms: first tier builders can build other, specialized nanites, but not themselves. For the explosives, I am still partial to something like a ten generation nanite reproductive system, where each generation produces a lesser version until the last version cannot reproduce. their function would be "limited destruction."
research additional materials for nanites to increase the diversity and functionality.
You have basic nanites that can move and cooperate to take new forms on command. What you are currently working is new special forms and functions that goes beyond basic usage. Constrained self replication, self destruction and "safe" manipulation of electric currents are specialized forms and functions nanites can currently be constructed with. Providing kinetic energy shielding and performing as structural support are extra functions being developed right now.
Gray goo approach for weaponized nanites probably need additional limitations beyond using generations. First generation nanites have to self destruct eventually or they will keep constructing second generation nanites infinitely. Same is true for all generations. Perhaps each nanite can construct only X number of next generation nanites? In that case payload of the delivering weapon should be determined on launch time to limit possible collateral damage. You can't use same warhead against tank and airship carrier.
Your soldier returns with couple of USB sticks.
Research in progress:
Nanobot functions: Kinetic shielding, Structural support, Limited Edition Gray goo
Robotic body
To be researched:
Nanomachines - diverse materials
Armor
Multibrain control systems
Distributed neural networks
Research done:
Nerve interface
Brain in a jar
Major Technologies:
Nanomachines
Test subjects expired: 19
Watch those regrowing tips. That's worrying. Or maybe it's not, I don't know how this shit works, I'm just here to kill shit. Speaking of killing shit, make sure the lab isn't being infiltrated
On this morning you find you have fully functional fingers again. Awesome! The downside is that new skin has never seen work, its all soft without wrinkles and calluses, unlike your other hand. You probably will experience all kinds of funny blisters in coming days.
Automated research
You complete your experiments today of merging individuals together. A great success. Few lives were lost, but you managed to merge couple of people together.
As you take off your blood soaked gloves you give a good thinking about work you have done until now. Large amounts of study about unusual biological manipulation, DNA manipulation and customized viruses doing the DNA manipulation for you. All this work you couldn't done without The Company's generous assistance and freedom from ethical and moral bounds. After all this work you are starting to see flesh as something very malleable, easily alterable. Something that could be called a hypothesis starts forming in your mind. How to manipulate flesh even more freely. Flesh is weak, but with properly managed is can do impressive things. It requires a good deal of experiments, refining methods and hypothesis.
Theory of fleshcraft. It sounds nice.
Research in progress:
Fleshcraft
To be researched:
New nerve pathways
Research done:
Targeted hyper cancer
Inline DNA manipulation
Artificial Siamese Twins
Monster maker
Rapid healing
Extra bodypart attachments
Major Technologies:
PANACEA
Test subjects expired: 28
Keep that working spirit up!
Yeah, the multitude of tiny knives might be a problem. File the material specifications for later use as maybe a sabotage tool, or part of a delivery system for contact poison, or something. Might come in handy, who knows?
Do what can be done to make the material non-destructive. Obviously the problem stems from the lamellar crystals shearing off of the solid material and acting as a nano-abrasive. Perhaps some additive could alter the crystalline structure enough to cause the solid material to break up into less jagged chunks.
((the crystallization process should have nothing to do with oxidation, it's just a phase change. the solid material acts as a catalyst to the phase change of the liquid material that is already on the brink of crystallizing. i.e. water can be supercooled to below its freezing point, because still and clear enough water will not be able to form a single ice crystal - but if there is a sufficient disturbance, or an ice crystal is introduced to it, the whole thing will rapidly convert into ice. "hot ice" works similarly, at higher temperatures.))
The fuel is quite good. Now to make the actual fuel reactor part of the "fuel cell" accept it and work without blowing up. A good idea would be to limit the amount of fuel present inside the reactor. If the reactor is miniaturized, the heat output of every individual unit will not be enough to cause significant danger of auto-combustion, and with multiple smaller units the entire power-generating infrastructure can be distributed more evenly throughout the body, making better use of the distributed cooling system, and providing much-needed redundancy in case of combat damage.
Also work on the inert lining materials for the fuel storage, it should be flexible (it's going to be inside a flexible body and subjected to kinetic impacts and blunt trauma like the rest of it), and remain non-reactive with the fuel mixture at as high a temperature as feasible. Some combination of glass fiber structural weave and perhaps gold and tungsten foil sandwich should be a good place to start looking.
This just reminds me that I shouldn't dive too deeply into subjects I'm not expert in. Consider me educated.
Yeah, it would be waste to throw away otherwise good material. Let's see if you can salvage it. Hmm, no, nothing comes into mind. Trial and error approach it is. If only you had some way to deduce material makeup from its properties alone...
You spend too much time trying out different material combinations to make much of process with fuel cells, so you focus on least effort intensive parts first. Like boxing the fuel cell structure, cooling issues with flexible casing and other such minor things you have to solve anyway.
Oh, on the mortning you notice some very small discrepancies in your lab. Like keyboard of your personal computer being in slightly different angle than you left it in last night. Seat next to it rotated few degrees too much. One entrance too many in access control logs compared to usual night traffic. Suspicious. Very. But nothing have disappeared, changed or added anywhere. It could be your imagination, maybe you are reading too much into this, but...
Research in progress:
High capacity fuel cell
Wear protection
Research to do:
Wetware AI
Research completed:
Structural skeleton
Myomers
Muscle layout
Cooling
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Topic: Roll to create a supersoldier! Bloody air resistance (Read 140709 times)