Day 12Continue my work on Quantum Brains and Miniature fusion reactors. Just plugging along.
Reprogrammable quantum computer actually already exists. It just happens to five atoms large which makes it damn useless. With stolen blueprint available you take a look on the design and throw it into trashcan. Damn useless. That's not how it should be done. Rapid solid state data storage takes priority because memory is core of every computing system. Once that is solved, you can focus on actual computational features. And now to think about it you don't really need it to be reprogrammable as long as it can simulate digitalized brain. That means you can skip quite few steps on the process. You draw design for memory units that should operate well in cooled enviroment. Building a bunch and testing them takes some effort, which you will do tomorrow.
For the reactor core you pick a ceramic material with very high heat resistance and insulation. It should tolerate uranium in its gaseous form long enough for it to cool down should something break. Highly efficient photovoltaic cells are strategically placed to capture maximum amount of light it generates.
Your soldier reports he has located a pair of labs for raiding, but has decided to raid the one with least scary security.
Research in progress:
Quantum brain
Miniature fission reactor
To be researched:
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
Train in multitasking again. This will help me control more dogs more efficiently.
Mad cackling of your scientist in his work disturbs your training greatly. The crazy fire in his eyes worries you so much that you decide to ask for leave today which is thankfully granted. The lab doesn't feel so safe place currently. At least movies on local theater are good.
Finish dog chip. Then, MIND-MERGING! Implant some test subjects and some dogs and have them use the chip directly to co-operate. Observe results.
You wake up with idea of weaponized nightmares. Relocating the chip, or rather adding peripheral chips around brain and connecting them into primary chip, causing drug induced nightmares combined with special built electromagnetic field generator you could stream absolute terror and fear from subject to anyone within range. In fact with your man machine interface you could record pain, horror, hallucinations and all kinds of emotions from humans and possibly dogs. You know, "bullets" of special kind of hell. It could be adapted into single target weapon if necessary.
You complete the extra chips and with memory from your dreams install them on specific spots on test subject's brain. Simple test proves that you can in fact record their sensations of pain and play it back on them. And probaly on others too.
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)
Isolate 5 subjects into more secure quarters and implant them with the hive mind modules. Not like they're doing anybody much good unmutilated, as previous contact has shown. And hey, we've got a strict timetable here. Implant 5 modules in the heads of the subjects, leaving the sixth linked to a communication method - see if I can implant thoughts into the hive mind this way. We might have inadvertently invented a mind-machine interface.
Yeah, your regular program of scaring test subjects have been interrupted. Dreams have brought you an idea, another neuron pattern to install into hapless person. The design is burned into your mind with such terrible clarity that you cannot forget it even if you wanted to. It's doubly complexity and size of the hive mind, takes entirely different direction, is intented to be installed in between brain hemispheres around visual cortex, yet you cannot remember what it ultimately does. All you remember is blinding light of terrible intensity. You could try to figure it out but you got no time for that, you must build it first!
Thanks for not having to waste time designing it you start working fervently, employing techniques you planned for hive mind package. It is so much bigger, so much more complex that you can't even complete it today. Having burned yourself out for the day you fall asleep in your lab.
Research in progress:
Terrible Glory
To be researched:
Hive mind
Research done:
Improved coordination
Improved cooperative bonding
Improved learning ability
Improved reaction times II
Martial arts training
10 test subjects - 5 days trained
Major Technologies:
NERVOUS SYSTEM DESIGN AND UNDERSTANDING
Test subjects expired: 31
Use a Magnetic bubble, duh!
That's the basic idea, isn't it? You start the day with headache which you treat with handful of pills before getting into work. And boy do you get stuff done! Containment is much easier than you thought it would be, perfct vacuum and magnetic bubble, toggleable "gate" you can squeeze antimatter through into opposing bunch of matter. Theory is perfect, but you can't exactly test it because in its current state it would simply kill you with gamma radiation. Once you have method to harness that, you could run tests with it. And possibly kill yourself if you messed up anything.
Eh, it has only 0.463% change to blow up on your face. No biggie.
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
Hrm. You figure out how to make bright enough LEDs with capable of producing multiple colors, but that's about how far you get in half day. Rest of your waking time is used for perfecting battery technology. With some very low level structural modifications you manage to multiply its theoretical energy capacity enough to work for your vague purposes. It only needs to be packaged safely without accidentally breaking it.
Error! Error! Brain function failure! Shutdown imminent.
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
Sounds like a plan. Good idea, making it directed by the brain in charge. Let's continue with both the nanite functions, and the command functions of the braincase to direct the nanites.
May as well prototype some larger structures as well, to act as skeletal framework pieces if necessary. Not full sized roboframes, just parts that could be assembled like elgos r what hahve you, that the nanites can interact with.
Regrow limiter could be archieved via similar style; have nanites mostly physically incapable of constructing more nanites. Only limited number of nanites would have the capacity, but even then it shouldn't have blueprint for itself. Those nanites should always stay in center of the nanite mass, shielded by others and performing more structural duty until needed. Alternatively rebuilders could have blueprint of reduced rebuilders who do not have reproductive blueprints and are preprogrammed to self destruct after limited time. This way soldier could temporarily boost nanite generation, most useful when he has lost large chunks of mass and have to restock nanites quickly.
Electrical manipulation can't deal with extremely high currents. Heat it generates will invariably melt nanites into slag. But as long as currents stay manageable, say under 100 amperes, they can act as electronic circuit or particularly thick copper wire.
Lego type structures you say? That could be done. You could make some tubes or blocks that nanites could weld together to make them more structurally solid than mere legos. With a couple of simple basic types you could reach large structural variety. Imagine if your soldiers were to carry couple backup "legos", he could assault enemy, retreat and fully rebuild his skeleton over minute or two! Though anyone using more advanced detection methods won't be fooled by shapeshifting soldier. Anyway, this lego based approach makes the body design so much easier.
Infiltration happens tonight. You sleep restlessly, waiting for news.
Research in progress:
Nanobot functions: Kinetic shielding, Structural support
Robotic body
To be researched:
Armor
Multibrain control systems
Distributed neural networks
Research done:
Nerve interface
Brain in a jar
Major Technologies:
Nanomachines
Test subjects expired: 19
((I'm sorry. I even read your characters name and went, 'yup, that's a female name', and typed him anyways. My bad, won't happen again.))
Wave at Dr. Ivana with my damaged hand. Use my good hand to prop up my middle finger and give the assistants the middle finger while smiling at them. Then laugh and say I'm kidding, they're just doing their job. See if they wanna hang out later? Get healing if the good doctor allows it. Oh, and make sure there's no one trying to infiltrate this lab.
Dr. Rosecrans gives your damaged hand with couple of injections. You are not to leave the lab before your hand his healed, and until then you should eat a lot of meat for proteins (regrowing muscles) and cheese, yoghurt or milk for calcium (regrowing bones). You actually should stay in rest with your hand unbandaged. Can't have them restricting regrowth.
So yeah, that's how spend your evening. Eating a lot and watching TV. By evening meat and bones are mostly grown back, only two last joints from pinkie and ring finger are still missing. The new skin is pink and tender. Tips of regrowing fingers are soft and kinda bubbly mass.
((renegadelobster: no problem))
I use my healing tech on my soldier and get an assistant to take notes on the process. I devote the rest of my work today to figuring out the muscular and skeletal modifications necessary to attach new body parts. And I'm not just thinking limbs here, I want direct torso-to-torso connections. If there is more time, I continue studying new nerve pathways.
You inject the regrower and panacea on your soldier. His immune system might be gone now and he'll need panacea injections for rest of his life, but infections are not permitted right now.
Connecting muscles and bones from two different limbs to each other is not really an issue as you have seen with gorilla arm man. It's the modifications for all extra things body doesn't normally have. For example connecting two torsos together back to back is less challenge than extra arms, because you can simply detach outer muscles connecting to respective spines and sew them together. Of course it needs extra meat to fill the space between curves, but that could be used to store body fat. More exotic connections... well, you need to develope generic surgery theory how to cut and sew muscles, weld bones, connect bloodveins and oh god bloodtype mismatches. Problems are are endless, but so is your brain power. One obstacle at the time.
Research in progress:
Extra bodypart attachments
To be researched:
New nerve pathways
Research done:
Targeted hyper cancer
Inline DNA manipulation
Artificial Siamese Twins
Monster maker
Rapid healing
Major Technologies:
PANACEA
Test subjects expired: 25
Legs? Who needs those silly organic legs. See if the Company has any good prosthetic replacements in catalogue, and have the guy repaired. If he thinks he can get out of inhumane training by being merely maimed, he's got another thing coming.
But really, I need the guy trained for more than just brain thing. Depending on how the research goes he may or may not still have to use his body at some point.
Is it really a problem that it shaves skin off of fingers? It's not like there will be many fingers in frequent contact with the stuff. Also make sure that the whole lubricant delivery system is designed in such a way that even the smallest segments of it can close off when damaged - otherwise if the material crystallizes in contact with both itself and air, the first penetrating wound will result in the entire system solidifying. If possible, see if the material can be made slightly more stable so that it doesn't crystallize on contact with air, but with some other trigger, allowing more controlled application and storage.
Finish off the radiator system and the coolant circulation system, complete with synthetic heart and secondary pumps. Secondary and backup systems are going to be rather prevalent in this design in general - because the body cannot regenerate, it is important that it is as hard as possible to incapacitate.
If there is time and/or focus left, start putting out feelers for fuel cell technology. Wasn't Toyota working on their own design of fuel cells for cars? Or was that Elon Musk? Either way, requisition good examples of existing technology from the Company liaison, so that there is a starting point that can be worked from. First order of business for improving the design is the fuel - typically fuel cells work on gasoline, or hydrogen. Our design will need to have a thick, dense fuel likely based off heavy oils and nitro- compound polymers, possibly including fluorines for stronger kick at the cost of higher volatility and more problems with storage. In general though, if a fuel storage cell explodes into noxious corrosive gas when punctured, it's only a problem for cars, not velocicatraptor supersoldiers in melee range of their opponents. Obviously, strong and chemically inert enough materials will need to be devised for compact and safe storage of this fuel inside the unit's body.
You could build better prosthetics by yourself, but there's no need to waste effort for something that doesn't get used longer than couple of weeks. Your agent will arrange new legs for your man in safe and reliable hospital.
((It's less lubricant and more bunch of tiny frictionless knives tearing shit up. Well, not frictionless, just very low friction. All those tiny blades will shear your fine myomer muscles into dust instead of protecting them. So I would call it a problem.
I figured that crystalization is basically oxidizing process, so entire thing won't solidify to core if there's no O2 available to form chemical bonds with. Certainly it makes production and refills bit harder, but that's nothing current technology cannot handle. I'll skip work with this for this turn in favour of more clear goals.))
You put minumum work into finishing cooling system. Wings should work well for their additional purposes, and with some extra effort you could match their appearance in rest with rest of the body, making them less obvious. Myomer based heart makes sense, extra parallel pumps running along the spine. Alot of your stuff will be aligned with the spine, and they all need to be as flexible.
Working out potential fuel doesn't take too much time, thankfully. Extremely volatile mix of very toxic and noxius materials are fun to work with, and you aren't cheap with safety measures. The small sample you synthetize with assistants burns fast and almost too easily.
Research in progress:
High capacity fuel cell
Research to do:
Wear protection
Wetware AI
Research completed:
Structural skeleton
Myomers
Muscle layout
Cooling
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Topic: Roll to create a supersoldier! Bloody air resistance (Read 131842 times)