Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
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Post by Limen on Sept 6, 2016 16:28:43 GMT -7
Today Limen was on a quest. She had a man, robot, giant bulldozer to find. How hard could it be, finding an eccentric mechanic and his massive machines in the recently Aurorafied Horde and docks? For once irony was taking the day off, and the answer was ‘not very’. Limen needed little more than to wander out of one of her weapon caches with today’s quiver and food supply, follow the friendly advice of a couple black market dealers each about ten dollars richer, and she had come upon what would be under other circumstances the world’s largest playground hazard. She didn’t hesitate in approaching. For a whim had taken Limen; since the dragon fight, she had taken to wearing glasses. They were currently round things, with a strong prescription in the left eye hole and a glorified placeholder pane in the right that was there mostly for formality’s sake. She’d give it a week, she’d told herself when she first found her left eye to be a near-sighted blur after a close encounter with a dragon-thrown rock. It would probably heal after that. When week two passed, Limen found herself busy so she found herself glasses for her eyes that, now in a disagreement, didn’t like focusing together on computer screens or books. Her right eye, the one she aimed with, was fine and dandy, so it wasn’t interfering much with her fighting abilities, and so the issue took a back seat to ones that were more likely to have an immediate impact on her general welling being and state of aliveness. It took her one week to break the glasses, another to find a new pair, and until now to get utterly sick of the cycle that just went from there. Since her eye was not back to its pre-dragon state, she could safely assume something had gone wrong and she should probably seek medical attention. Problem was, last time she showed up at a hospital, the police were pretty quick to arrive as well. If she was going to get help, she was going to need to get it from someone who wouldn’t press that ‘police alert’ button under their desk as soon as they saw her face. Luckily, Pandaemonium (supposedly) had just such a person. Limen cheerfully entered through the doorway the current abode of said person, feeling much like someone who was nearing their quest marker. “Yo Dullahan, you here? I was told never to come to you for medical assistance so I came to you for medical assistance.” Dullahan
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on Sept 8, 2016 17:07:07 GMT -7
The cameras Dullahan had planted outside his current workshop gave him advance warning of his guest. He was not especially pleased to see her. Although Limen was a great deal weaker than Aurora Disicio, manipulation of electricity was potentially even more dangerous to Dullahan than the ability to turn inanimate matter into sparkles. In the underground hangar hidden beneath the workshop, the flight-capable drone carrying Dullahan's brain was prepared to launch. If Limen's intentions were anything but peaceful, everything else here could be replaced.
His workshop at the moment was a large warehouse marked with scavenged warning signs and ringed with automatic gun turrets. The guns continued to point straight ahead as Limen walked past them. There was no need to be overtly hostile.
Inside was a hulking half-finished metal behemoth, probably some sort of truck, although its exact functions were hard to discern at this early stage of construction. Dullahan had constructed scaffolding around his creation, and small mechanical arms equipped with welders and other assembly equipment slid back and forth on rails as they worked. The frenzied activity paused as Limen stated her business.
Dullahan's synthesized voice came from multiple speakers throughout the warehouse. "It is unsurprising that most people reject my help. There is a strong sentimental attachment to one's original body. This attachment becomes irrational when superior alternatives are available. The human body's ability to build itself without any external assembly mechanism is impressive, but with the resources of modern civilization at our disposal, there are other qualities which are more useful to optimize."
Privately, he found the way that so few people were interested in undergoing optimization to be tremendously irritating. By sheer force of will, Dullahan ended his rant and returned his attention to Limen, surveying her through the warehouse's interior cameras.
"Wait one moment."
A hatch in the floor opened, allowing a mechanism underneath to lift an operating chair up into the warehouse proper. The chair was well-padded and spotlessly clean, but it was presently occupied by a body. The body could have belonged to a young teenage boy, except that the head has been replaced by a small machine that Dullahan had designed to fulfill all the functions that the brainstem performed in keeping the human body alive. A hook from the ceiling descended to lift the body and move it out of the way.
"Sit down and I will diagnose you."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
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Post by Limen on Sept 11, 2016 2:19:31 GMT -7
Limen’s pace slowed as she entered the warehouse. She looked like a child in a toy shop, eyes moving all about the things held within, lingering the huge enterprise center stage, and nodding along to the friendly narrator over the loudspeaker.
“Yeah, I’ve thought a bit about that. I’m sure human meat sacks were great for our ancestors back a thousand years ago, when carriages were their frames of reference, but now, you compare something like a human body to a gun or a machine?” She blew through her teeth. “If you want to keep the body in peak condition, you’ve got to input a good bit of work every day. Take a computer? Optimise the hard drive twice a week and you’re being showy. Not to mention if you lose an important part of one, the body’s going to have a little harder of a time finding a replacement.” Limen shrugged. “Not that I don’t like my meat sack. It’s served me well and it’s a home if there ever was one, but part of loving something is seeing its shortcomings.”
She halted at the rising chair, containing whom might have been the host for the evening, had he had a head. Limen absently wondered if Dullahan was grabbing young people off the streets for experiments. She wouldn’t put it past him (or a lot of the more science-inclined supers, actually), nor could she blame interest in doing so. A lot of scientists wondered what exactly was going through that age groups’ heads.
The chair itself was pretty nice, actually. Limen pulled her bow, half-packed bag, and quiver over her shoulder and set them down on the floor where they seemed unlikely to get in the way of anything. This was the entirety of her gear that she had brought with her today; she figured the other ten to twenty pounds of stuff she carried around with her would only serve to get in the way. Nor did she have any other weapons on her, save for the bow, brass knuckles in her pocket, and a single paint bomb in her bag for the reason that being a walking armoury wasn’t always taken well by others, and Limen figured it was probably a good idea to make a good impression. And so, leaving behind her stuff and hesitation, Limen trotted up to the chair and sat down. As far as Limen’s ability to discern such things went, it was indeed a nice chair.
It was fairly common for Limen to have at least a handful or two of injuries on her at any given time. Presently, her role call was the last of dual knife wounds bandaged on her upper left arm and accented by a third, more recent knife wound just above, a fairly large bruise on her right side and hip, several recent electrical burns also on her right side and one on her left thumb, and a second bruise on her left leg that was what happened when one gets the perspective depth of a decorative gargoyle and the ledge one is trying to leap to wrong. Since there was a bit of an array to choose from, she figured she’d best explain her actual reason for coming.
“Back during the dragon fight, I got punched in the face by a rock. Made my eye sting and cut up my forehead a bit.” Limen ran her hand along a scar above her left eye. Time had faded what had been a decently deep cut, but not enough so that it was entirely gone. “But the real trouble was when I finally got around to treating my eye, its vision was blurry. I thought I would give it a few days, see if it didn’t just need some downtime, but, uh, obviously conditions haven’t improved. My bet is I’ve got some good old corneal abrasion that’s decided healing is overrated.” She sighed. “It’s a bit more than I can take care of myself, and since sight is kinda important for aiming, and reading, and not walking into things, I’ve come troubleshooting.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on Sept 11, 2016 19:44:02 GMT -7
"Yes, sentimentality is only acceptable up to the point where it begins to interfere with one's goals." Dullahan's voice was emotionless as ever, but he was quite pleased that Limen seemed to agree with him here.
"The world would run much more smoothly if replacement parts could be manufactured en masse and distributed so that lost limbs and damaged organs could be swapped out immediately. The potential we are currently wasting is enormous. It is theorized that aging and bodily decay are beneficial to animal populations as a whole by paving the way for greater genetic diversity, but we no longer need to rely on such crude methods."
Once Limen was seated in the operating chair, it released a short pulse of ultrasound. The ultrasound's reflections off the various internal structures in Limen's body were fed back to Dullahan. It painted a very vague picture, but it was enough.
Dullahan's true power was his ability to intuitively grasp the workings of biological systems, particularly brains and nerves. He could diagnose neurological conditions simply by watching the way a person walks, grasp the flaws in an entire system just by glancing at one part of it. Within moments, he felt that he had a good understanding of Limen's health.
He began to explain his findings. His dull monotone was broken occasionally as he mentally worked out exactly what he was perceiving.
"Your cornea is the least of your worries. Your left upper zygomatic bone is fractured. The trauma also bruised the vitreous humor... many of your retinal blood vessels have collapsed and are failing to recover. The lateral ciliary nerves have been severed as well.
"There is significant damage to the rest of your body... Recent damage to your left arm's motor nerve is slightly impacting your dexterity. Strained ligaments in your right elbow... mild, probably no functional impairment, but it could worsen with repeated stress. Significiant bruising on your left leg... likely from the same event that caused the microfractures throughout your tibia... General wear and tear. Under your current lifestyle, your body's effective age for healthiness purposes will be five to ten... perhaps fifteen years older than normal."
The burns gave Dullahan momentary pause. Judging by their pattern, they were electrical rather than heat- or chemical-related. He decided not to mention it. Some supers could get very defensive about power incontinence.
"Most of the above issues are things I cannot repair while retaining your natural organs. I recommend full body replacement."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
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Post by Limen on Sept 14, 2016 14:56:16 GMT -7
Limen’s smile widened with her eyes and she lightly touched the side of her face by her left eye. “That’s, uh, worse than I thought.” She chuckled. The eye especially - not one thing he said about it sounded the least bit healthy or good for the longevity of her seeing ball, and now it was pretty clear why her eye was not - but not in entirety. Maybe having all her injuries, previously nomenclatured by ‘it’s not broken so I’m fine’, put into more certain and science-sounding terms made them sound a little more serious than something she should just walk off, take a painkiller if it’s really bad. And this was for a fairly standard set of injuries. Five to fifteen years older? That sounded about right. She wondered if maybe she should visit a doctor more often.
Limen had to suppress a laugh at his final diagnosis. It came out as a snort through her hand, and left a wide smile and a chuckle in her voice. “I’m just here for the eye. As cool as Limen 2.0 sounds, and even if it did mean a sweet new uninjured not thirty-six-year-old body,” she looked up and to the left, “and a new face to throw the police for a loop, and I assume it’d be superior to a vanilla body in every way,” she shot a smile at a speaker (for lack of much else obvious to connect with the super’s presence) and waved dismissively. “Seems a bit much for a simple brain scope. I’ll let the rest heal with the power of time.”
But there was one other astounding thing about Dullahan: he was actually talking - in more than one or two sentences - about his opinion with little more than Limen giving hers. It was a serious breath of fresh air in a faction full of employing all her tactics to draw only ten word non-answers. It’d be a disservice to her, her company, and all the mice watching to let it peeter out.
“But I have to wonder,” she began offhandedly, “what would it do to the world and its people population if all of the sudden, we were living longer and not dying via loss of important parts? If aging’s an old trend and a new arm’s just a mechanic’s visit away, humanity might as well be a couple trillion and growing immortals, right?”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on Sept 17, 2016 7:09:28 GMT -7
Dullahan decided not to press any harder on the full body replacement angle. Even if it would be far superior to leaving the job half-finished, he didn't want to frighten off yet another patient with worries that he wouldn't stop until there was no more natural flesh left.
"Just the eye, then. The eye itself is unsalvageable. We should remove the surrounding bone of the eye socket as well. An electronic eye replacement can be inserted and cemented into place with a synthetic bone-analog to anchor it to the skull. The electronic replacement will be spliced into the severed motor and sensory nerves... Depending on desired optical fidelity, there may be some spare room for additional equipment.
"With the removal of all mucous membranes in the area, your left eye will no longer be vulnerable to irritants such as pepper spray. However, chemicals which enter your body through your mouth, nose, and other eye will still affect you. Full replacement of your ears, nose, throat, and eyes would allow you to take full advantage of this immunity. Gills could even be installed to allow you to function with full efficiency underwater... although your throat would need to remain mostly intact for dietary purposes.
"However, that last requirement could also be removed. Chemical converters ran on electrical energy could be installed in your body to turn various waste products back into useful proteins and sugars. This would free up a tremendous amount of space in your torso for additional equipment, and the few unsuable waste products could be compressed into solid cubes for a more efficient, far more sanitary excretory system. You would need only to inject some vitamin supplements to keep your muscles healthy.
"And even that could be dealt with by replacing them with fully synthetic musculature. Although synthetic muscles lack the natural repair abilities of natural ones, they are stronger and less prone to exhaustion. It would be possible to over-exert them, of course, but replacements could be easily kept on-hand and installed in the field."
Dullahan had to stop himself before he got the point of explaining how removing the muscules would drastically reduce the body's oxygen requirements and invite a streamlining of the respiratory system. Perhaps he hadn't quite given up on the idea of full-body replacement after all. But it wasn't his fault that each improvement paved the way for two more.
The scale of the dilemma Limen brought up next was far greater, anyway. It was a question he had asked himself before, but he was quite content to go over his plans again. The workshop's machinery hung motionless as Dullahan traced over his reasoning.
"The decrease in deaths without a corresponding decrease in births would result in an exponential increase in population, and that population would demand resources in proportion with its size. However, I believe that these resources are obtainable.
"It is common knowledge that the human body consumes 2,000 kilocalories per day. In electrical terms, this is 100 watts, of which only 20 watts are used by the brain. It is the electrical measurement which is relevant, because the human brain is ultimately nothing more than a computer which takes sensory inputs and produces behavioral outputs. With no more than 20 watts - and less if the design can be improved upon - we can create a device that perfectly emulates a human consciousness.
"The Sun, as a typical main sequence star, produces approximately 400 yottawatts, which is 400 million billion billion watts. Thus, a sphere of solar panels constructed around the Sun would provide enough energy to run at least 2 million billion billion human consciousnesses. If this proves insufficient, expansion to other stars is possible.
"It is true that convincing the current population of Earth to submit to having their consciousnesses digitized would be difficult, and that the sudden population explosion caused by the curing of old age might catalyze a descent into worldwide chaos before the other phases of the plan could be enacted. But this was never a plan that could be enacted on Earth in the first place. The dragons would ruin it before it started."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
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Post by Limen on Sept 20, 2016 21:05:18 GMT -7
“If that initial chaos could be overcome, then we could have mass immortality.” Limen hummed. “If we run out of physical space and some weren’t keen on an interstellar road trip, we could probably code a virtual world. I mean, if we’re advanced enough to store brains in a computer. Of course, we’d run into problems like assholes never dying, and hacking might be a problem for more than your bank account, and if servers got attacked by, well,” She sighed. “Damn dragons, can’t have anything nice.”
The eye certainly didn’t sound - or feel - salvageable. Limen had never injured a bit of her bio body beyond repair before; it wasn’t like she could carefully stretch her eye back to health, doing light exercises until it grew back to the strength it was previous. Her impression of eye exercises was they were a little difficult to come by. Then again, she’d never fought a dragon before either, and she very well could’ve ended up a whole lot worse from that. Namely, dead. She was perfectly fine accepting this devil’s contract of her life for an unsalvageable eye.
Speaking of trade offs, Limen was about to ask what ‘additional equipment’ might entail, but was quickly stopped by the possible specs of robo Limen. Being an actual breathing merperson sounded amazing (even if getting in the water was a bad idea for her about ninety percent of the time for reasons beyond oxygen supply). Not having to eat and powering herself only with condensed vitamins (or even better, mech muscles) even more so. She could wear sunglasses and maybe finally stand a slight bit of a chance in standing her ground against the more physically-inclined supers. And, if she did get an arm or kidney offed by a dragon or someone channeling their inner dragon, or shattered her legs because she seriously missed a jump from three stories up, or if her luck ever ran out at the most convenient of inconvenient times, maybe she could just pop in a new one and not die. Maybe she was overestimating what Dullahan was offering, but with breathing underwater and never having to eat again on the table and a giant machine to the side, anything felt possible.
And Limen was sorely tempted.
The problem, and the hole that deflated her hopes, was that she would have no idea how to fix parts or build replacements herself. She had some knowledge of mechanics (mostly how to start them without possession of a key and then drive them while simultaneously ignoring as many street laws as possible and not crashing into anything), but it was far from an area of her expertise. She would be heavily reliant on Dullahan should anything go wrong. As great and, frankly, superhuman, as he was offering, Limen was very hesitant to tie herself that tightly to someone. She could carry on fine enough if she lost her left eye. Not so much with her digestive system.
So, with reluctance, Limen confirmed, “Yeah, just the eye. But, what exactly do you mean by, ‘additional equipment’?” She couldn’t help but add, and couldn’t keep entirely free of excitement.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on Sept 25, 2016 11:11:54 GMT -7
Dullahan was pleased to see that Limen was still interested. He had been afraid that she'd want a replacement eye built as closely as possible to human specifications and nothing else. That sort of thing was a technical challenge in its own right, but not the type that he found rewarding.
"There are two pieces of additional equipment I strongly recommend. The first is a facade built in front of the artificial eye to give it the appearance of a natural one. A close examination in the right light could still reveal the artificial nature of the eye's underlying mechanisms, but because the facade must allow light through, this is unavoidable. It would still aid you in maintaining the appearance of normalcy to against casual observation.
"The second is a nerve splice to allow particular sequences of movements of the eye to be interpreted as electronic instructions. This will allow you to operate any other equipment installed in the eye. It could also be used to, for example, type on a virtual keyboard.
"Both of these modifications will take up a very small amount of space... Not entirely negligible, considering the small scale we're forced to work at here, but I believe the benefits most likely outweigh the investment."
He paused as he considered the other options. Dozens of possible equipment configurations filled his mind, overlapping each other and shifting constantly as different ways to arrange the components occurred to him. Finally, he settled on a small range of options.
"The size of the installation is limited by the need for a natural appearance on the front, the left frontal lobe of your brain on the back, and the structural integrity of your skull on the other sides. The remaining space must be divided between any systems you wish to have installed, so choosing more of them will sharply decrease the effectiveness of each one.
"The most straightforward option is to devote as much space as possible to increasing the optical fidelity and magnification range of the eye. For an aperture of your eye's diameter, the physical limitation on highest possible resolution is distinguishing a feature several inches in size at a distance of one mile. If we optimize the entirety of your eye socket to this purpose, I believe we can approach that limit.
"Alternatively, you could have an eye sensitive to a greater range of wavelengths. Extending your spectrum into the infrared would allow you to see body heat, while extending it into the ultraviolet would allow you to see much more clearly even at night. Indoors and underground environments without artificial light would remain pitch-black even in the ultraviolet, but carrying a source of ultraviolet light with you would allow you to see while leaving others in the dark.
"Aside from visual enhancements, the cavity could also be filled with other devices that could catch people off-guard when you appear to have been disarmed. A laser beam scaled down to this size would be too weak to make a proper weapon, but it could be used to temporarily blind enemies by eye contact or to set flammable materials alight in a relatively short timeframe. Alternatively, a single .22 caliber bullet could be stored and fired. Reloading would require some specialized tools, but the eye's facade could be replaced like a contact lens after scraping away the remnants of the old one."
Something about that last sentence struck Dullahan as odd, and it took him a moment to realize what it was.
"Incidentally, I will be rerouting all pain nerves in the area. Any stimulation of the eye and surrounding tissues that you would previously find distracting or unpleasant will be perceived as painless pressure. Keep in mind that careless fiddling with the eye still might cause damage even if it doesn't seem painful.
"As for other devices that could be integrated into your local nervous system, a smart phone would be another option... Perhaps closer to a pager or PDA. Its processor speed and data storage would depend on how much space you wish to devote to it. Your speed at operating it would also depend heavily on how quickly you can get used to controlling it with your eye movements.
"Finally, you could simply use the space as miscellaneous storage. Installing a hinge to allow you to swing the eye open and shut would be simple enough. Anything roughly the size of an eyeball would fit, less if you wish to install other hardware."
Dullahan considered the last option the most boring one, but he wouldn't complain if she picked it. At this point he was excited enough about this new project that any configuration at all would be satisfying. His voice, of course, remained completely dull and monotone.
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Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
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Post by Limen on Sept 30, 2016 23:25:38 GMT -7
Limen nodded along. Given what she did and who she hung out with, she doubted it would raise eyebrows more than once if she suddenly went around with an obvious uber-eye. She wouldn’t, for instance, have to explain to employers that no, really, it was just a very strange eye color and indicate to doubtful coworkers that if they were bothered by it that was their problem. One of the pros of her occupation, she guessed, but there was something to be said about the element of surprise. As much of a conversation piece it may be otherwise, Limen agreed with the Doc’s assessment.
She was also immediately glad she had asked about upgrades. Her expression through the catalogue began its journey at shock and bewilderment, before moving slowly to consideration and forward onto a grin that bordered on devilish. The people who said not to come to Dullahan for medical aid were clearly either trying to trick her or wouldn’t be able to see a great deal if it slammed into the city like the organs of the dragon of months past.
“Don’t poke myself in the eye, got it.” She affirmed.
It was one of the rare times Limen did not have an immediate response to the presented question. Again contemplative, she rested her chin on her fist. Heat and blinding vision stood out to her as the best surprise to have up her sleeve (or eye socket, in this case) and she’d love to see the face of someone who found themselves blinded by her face or set stuff on fire just by staring at it hard enough. An eye gun sounded like the optimal way to earn and maintain a flawless win streak at I-spy. She could keep all kinds of things in an eye compartment, from mini oranges to keys she borrows on occasion.
She wondered if the iPDA could be connected to a laptop wirelessly. She’d gotten an apple watch to do that with some... alterations, so probably maybe, but said apple watch worked pretty well with what she needed. It was the first two that stuck out most to her, and what was giving her the most pause. Couldn’t go wrong either way, could she? Though she was beginning to consider asking if she could get eye #2 done as well and not have to pick.
Limen quelled her greed. Pick she would, and that she did. “That first one, increasing my eye range, can you seriously get it up to a mile?” Greater draw distance was a tried and tested method for success, even if it wouldn’t be on her natural aiming eye. She’d been looking for an excuse to practice shooting left-handed. “Yeah, I think that one’s my favorite.” She said with a restated grin and enthusiasm she wasn't even going to try to mask.
Though there was one more thing. “As much as I like surprises, I’ve got to ask - how’s this all going to go down? Your artistic process and all that.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on Oct 3, 2016 4:52:44 GMT -7
Dullahan approved of the choice. Trying to do too many things at once always led to inefficiency. Not to mention that the eye's original purpose was vision, so optimizing that to the greatest extent was the most elegant use of the socket.
"One mile in the visual spectrum. Theoretically slightly more in the ultraviolet, but greater atmospheric absorption in that part of the spectrum might counteract that somewhat."
The question regarding the process was reasonable enough. He supposed that it would be better to establish expectations now than to risk a misunderstanding in the middle of an operation. Things always got messy when a patient tried to fight.
With a mental command, the tools that had been working on Dullahan's vehicle began sliding toward the operating chair. Human bodies were just machines of a different sort, after all, and there were only a few tools that Dullahan kept for exclusive use on them.
"The first step is to strap you into the chair so that any involuntary movements on your part do not result in mishaps."
A syringe slid forward. "An injection of local anaesthesia will cause the remainder of the operation to be painless. Stopping any future phantom pain would require a more direct operation on your brain itself... which I am willing to perform."
Then a large drill emerged. "Obliteration of the eyeball and the surrounding damaged bone. It would be possible to use less destructive methods, but there would be no practical purpose to it."
Dullahan brought out a small electrocautery tool, already beginning to glow white-hot, along with a rubber hose connected to a vacuum. "Cauterize the blood vessels and use suction to remove any blood along with lingering pieces of bone and flesh."
Then some small bundles of electronics, wires dangling as they were slid forward. "Connect your exposed motor and sensory nerves to converters that allow motor impulses to be interpreted as instructions and electronic signals to be interpreted as visual data."
From a rail leading to the warehouse's back room, what looked like a half-assembled professional photography camera was carefully railed into view. Dullahan had used this part on his vehicles in the past, but he always preferred to construct his components as multi-purposefully as possible, so he had made it roughly the right size to fit into an eye socket. "Connect the camera assembly. Perform diagnostics to ensure that it interacts well with your other eye."
Finally, some sort of paste dispenser emerged along with what looked like a flashlight. "Cement the eye in place with resin acting as a bone-analogue and insulator against side-effects from your power's electric effects. Cure the resin with an ultraviolet light. At this point, you will be fully functional.
"Matching your skin tone and other eye's color will require some manufacturing time. You may stay here while I work, or you may take the eye out for a test run."
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Pandaemonium
Posts 278
Power Level 25
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Post by Limen on Oct 5, 2016 19:15:15 GMT -7
Several inches at a mile. Limen’s left eye couldn’t currently see much at several inches, so this promise was quite the jump, and a serious potential saver on high-quality binoculars. She could read lips and over people's shoulders at quite the distance, and never again would she have to ask to be read the specials menu written on the wall at the other end of the resultant. Maybe she could yet again claim the title of ‘best scout in the area’. Something to work towards.
The needle was a sharp reminder of the question posed at hand (posed by her, as it were). All that sounded fine and good - she’d rather not be the cause of any slip-ups, and a lack of precedence meant she had no idea how her body was going to react. The possibility of ghost pain was dismissed with a, “Nah, I can live with that.” The rest was simple enough, in the context of a super’s warehouse in the middle of the docks. No glaring flaws or warnings rose, interior or exterior, that said ‘and this part is likely to kill you’. Plus, Dullahan seemed like he knew what he was doing.
“So I’ll be awake for it?” She asked, pondering that, and then pondering the drill. Couldn’t say she’d ever had one of those taken to her face before. There certainly wouldn’t be much going back from it. But, after a moment, she shrugged. “As long as it doesn’t hurt. And you’re careful not to cause any unrelated effacing of my face and or body.”
This seemed like it was normally the part where someone signed some sheet for legal purposes. But, for lack of paper or any legal holding whatsoever, her word would have to do. “If that’s everything, I’m well, good, and ready.”
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Pandaemonium
Posts 78
Power Level 25
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Post by Dullahan on Oct 6, 2016 16:23:16 GMT -7
"Do not worry. I will be careful."
It was the truth. Dullahan's motivations for doing this perfectly were twofold. Not only did he find the idea of doing a sloppy job repugnant in general, but he also had a slight inkling that this could be the beginning of a long-term partnership.
If Limen felt indebted to him and were willing to help him obtain materials, that would be great. But even having someone to help test his combat-based modifications would make this all more than worthwhile. Dullahan had seen enough sci-fi movies to know that giving unwilling people super-soldier abilities for 'testing purposes' was practically guaranteed to backfire.
Not to mention that seeing his creations being used by people other than himself would just be incredibly satisfying. Dullahan wanted to share the feeling of feeling everything work properly with someone else.
But before that could happen, he'd need to make sure that this operation went off a hitch.
"I will now begin."
Limen was locked in place and the tools descended to begin their work. By the time they were done, Limen would have herself a new eye.
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