The boss looked around, a bit concerned but not overly.
"Bah! Fine, fine. Go, Sotha Sil. Work your magic and bring me some Gallic subjects. Just like the good Doctor said - not seduced; in good condition.. In the meantime. Torro, bring me Franz. He will be used until the Gallics are delivered."
And with that, Torro Trait and Sotha Sil departed.
"Franz was involved in the retrieval of the Rheinland power armor. I think it's best that he be used as an initial subject in the experimentation.."
The doors opened up behind them, and Franz entered. He was wearing regular outcast army gear, and looked a bit confused as to what was going on.
"Sir, you called for me?"
"Yes.. I did. It's your turn, Franz."
He stood still, not knowing what to say. His eyes darted around the room and realized what was happening. He nervously lifted a hand and began to point towards Torro Trait, whom had trailed behind him and was now in the room.
"Will i be.. l-like.. him?"
"No no, not exactly. We have something a little different in store for you. You'll do fine, I'm sure."
Franz nodded quickly and cleared his throat.
"Yes sir. I am ready to serve sir!"
Death Runner smiled and looked towards Dr. Steel.
"He's not on cardimine, either. For infiltration we needed him to fit in as well as possible.. Will this do? And.. Will it work? Will my soldier die during this?"
Franz stood stolid, remembering his place, willing to die for the benefit of the nation.
The mad Gaian and his Nurses whisper in staccato bursts while the Doctor's pencil dances across his notepad.
He scribbles furiously. "...Neural dampers..." "...chemical long-strain axons?" "...have to grow them..." "...need samples..." "...biological amalgams..."
"...Nomads?..."
Dr. Steel's head snaps up and he tears a piece of paper from his notebook.
Stomping over to Sotha Sil, he shoves it into his hand, and blurts out;
"POTASSIUM!"
Amid a lab full of startled faces, tense guards, and an ignored test subject, Dr. Steel stands tersely still. "Nomad Neuroscience - is potassium present in Nomad neurology?"
He stares down his nose at his captors like a professor awaiting an answer from a dim-witted student.
Blinking into the silence, he flicks a half-look at Franz and Torro Trait. "Yes," he says exasperatedly, waggling a gloved hand at the test subject. "that one is fine. Whatever."
"Po-" he asks again. "-Tass-" as his mirrored goggles wink in the lab lights "Eee-" and he stabs a finger at the note in Sotha Sil's hand "Umm?"
Building a Utopian Playground - One Smile at a Time
"Yes, I got you doctor, and I'm thinking. I'm not an expert on nomad neurology, and I think there aren't a lot outcasts who might know that. But I have an idea.
Sil turns around to Death Runner.
"Maybe the Oracles know that. I don't think they will listen to me, but maybe you can acquire this information. Anyway, I assume I should now go after those gallic test subjects. Possibly we already have some prisoners at Torino, if they aren't dead yet. I will see what I can do. In the meanwhile, I will let some of my people stay here."
He points at a man, wearing a red overall and a hat with the number "4" on it.
"Security guard fourth class Stanley Tweedle, you will stay here and oberserve this. If the doctors have any wishes, contact me immediately."
Sil extinguishes his cigarette and leaves the room.
Jeez... Finally he's gone... Now we can talk under more favorable terms, Steel.
Foetsch strolls over to the doctor.
Potassium is massively important to all living beings, humans in particular. Without potassium, the NA+/K+ pumps would cease to function. Without this, our cells would be unable to perform active transport, and they would become unable to regulate their size. You know what happens then.
He makes a gesture with his hands, similar to an explosion.
Pop! Anyway, as I see it, the Nomads are no different. They need potassium, just as much as we do, in order to regulate their bioneural and nervous functions. But what does this have to do with a suit of armor?
Death Runner clears his throat and puts his hands together in a clap. He looks at Professor Foetsch and Dr. Steel standing before him and nods with a smile at each.
"I will go and consult with the Oracles. Perhaps they have the answer to your question, Dr. Steel. I will leave Torro Trait and Mister Stanley Tweedle on watch. You have here a fine soldier of mine, Franz, to use as you see fit. I should be back shortly with the answer to this peculiar question."
The boss rolled himself to the door and exited the room.
Dr. Steel glares pure acid at the retreating wheelchair and it's pilot.
His rubber gloves singing 'reee-errr, reee-errr' as his fists clench and unclench.
Composing himself as the door closes, his grimace relaxes and he turns with a sardonic smile to Dr. Foetsch.
"My very good Doctor.
You mentioned XiaoBei and his failed experiments with exoskeletal frames... something about the number of limbs the human brain is prepared to manage, if I'm not mistaken.
Totally reasonable.
The organic human brain cannot, or will not, control something from which it recieves no neural feedback stimuli.
This is one of the key reasons we control robotics with not by hand, but with computers and processors, yes?"
He holds his gloved hand out and Nurse Hatchett places an armored suit gauntlet into it.
He turns it in his hand, tracing his fingers down the metal palm.
"But what if - now bear with me if you will - what if, we could lay nerve fibers into the suit itself, allowing the user to 'feel' the exoskeletal limbs?
Now, human nerves are far too delicate to work with in such a mechanical medium.
...but Nomad neural physiology...
Biologically simple, and if I'm not wholly off the mark, resilient enough and large enough to work with - for our purposes.
"The question is, can we make Nomad nerve tissue 'talk to' human nerve tissue?
And the answer, I hope, is Potassium!"
Dr. Steel high-fives the steel gauntlet, and handing it back to his Nurse, begins to pace.
"Sodium - blocked by the neural membrane at resting potential - won't work.
Chloride ions? Same - they won't pass through the negatively charged membrane."
But Potassium - potassium moves freely through the neuron's membrane, and in fact is one of the ways the neuron 'speaks' to the nerve axon."
"Initially, we may need to, erm, irreversibly modify a number of differing subjects to be sure it works for different individuals.
Eventually the procedure can become far less intrusive, until the suit user requires only minor surgeries - I'm thinking that in the end we can use a catheter system to eventually marry suit nerves to the user's nerves, via potassium pumps.
But for now we will need to be more barbaric in our initial experiments."
He walks over, hands clasped behind his back, to the test subject, Franz, and points to him with his nose.
"We'll need to open this one up first, and attempt to physically and chemically marry its nervous system to Nomad nerve axons.
It's likely to be massively painful - which will aid our experiments vastly by providing instant, recognizeable feedback..."
Franz gulps, but aside from a minor tremble, maintains his composure, mostly.
His eyes flick to Dr. Foetch, hope of disagreement in his eyes.
Building a Utopian Playground - One Smile at a Time
In the Coalition, we tend to try and avoid such barbarism at all costs. We're not the disgustingly militant villans Sirius makes us out to be.
He sighs.
But there are some exceptions. You gotta' do whatcha' gotta do. Now then, one other question... Where precisely are we going to get the Nomad tissue? I don't think they'd be willing to give it up that easily...
Foetsch turns to the nearest Outcast.
I suppose you have a way, eh? Being the big bad Outcast man you are.
Torro Trait looked over at the Professor with curiosity.
"What, you think we'll just kill some nomads for this project? Hah. I don't think so. I hold little regard for them but to everyone else they are spirits and of great importance. It's doubtful that we'll end up using live specimens. Though, you may be able to convince the boss once he gets back. Which, should be soon. He settles transmissions pretty quickly.."
The man walks back a little, moving towards the door.
"I'll most likely be sent off to handle it myself, if it's really required that much. Though lets see what the Oracles think of this Potassium thing first."
He bumps his back against the wall and stands leaning there, waiting for Death Runner's return.
A familiar sounding voice echoed through the lab as the man in the wheelchair appeared through the doorways.
"Well, I should say, not particularly."
Death Runner looks at Doctor Steel and continues.
"I am of course referring to the Potassium dilemma. The Oracles do say it is there.. but.. Not as prominent as Silicon. Does that answer your question?"
He glances at everyone in the room, then back at the Doctor.
"Silicon?"
Dr. Steel twists his face in thought.
His welding goggles flash in the greenish light as he twitches, new ideas caroming around his head. "You're talking about Neuromorphic Engineering, yes?"
He rubs at his bald head with his gloved hand, producing a horrific sound.
Stooping a bit, he stares at the floor and begins to mutter and pace, yanking at his beard with his other hand.
"...simplified neuron circuit comprised of two modules, both based on log-domain low-pass filters..."
"...soma would have to include membrane, axon hillock, but the damn refractory
period..."
"...hmm, maybe a synapse diffusor with current mirrors spreading inhibition to neighboring neurons..."
He slams his gloved hands together, and pops up ramrod straight.
"That'll work! Saves the trouble of rotting Nomad stench as well!"
He pantomomimes clearing the air in front of his nose.
"All we would need is a single living Nomad in suspension and we could genetically force it to 'grow' silica synaptic fibers! We could farm a single parent nueron string that would ensure genetic nonvariance in the suit manufacture process!"
Dr. Steel smiles - a slow, sharp smile. "Brilliant!"
He turns slowly to Death Runner. "Now we just need a healthy young Nomad."
Building a Utopian Playground - One Smile at a Time