[ 002 | VOICE/VIDEO ] late at night

[spah]

Howdy, folks.

[It's fairly late at night. You may have heard that drawl around. Or maybe you heard about a guy with a Texan accent setting fire to a pile of lingerie in a sex shop by accident. Either or.]

So. This ain't my first time around alien technology. Last extraterrestrials I met wrecked my property and tried to kill me. Then me and some other fellas stole their guns and forcefed 'em beer until they crashed.

[nOW WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO UNPACK ALL OF THAT--]

But these folks are alright by my standards. And all this... cybernetic enhancement and augmentation business has me curious:

Anybody here got something similar in 'em? Prosthetics, bionics, cybernetic enhancements... anything along them lines. And since it wouldn't be fair if I didn't meet ya'll halfway--

[Video comes on. It's a downward shot of Engineer sitting at a desk chair, his device's camera pointed at his skeleton-like metal hand. He open and closes the fist, splays fingers out, turns them over - and wiggles them.]

This here's the Gunslinger. Pretty as you please. Designed by my grandfather, built by me. Oh, and there's my heart too, but... can't exactly pop that open for y'all. Heheh.

Anyway, I'm just curious. I been thinkin' about how different places come up with different ways to fix the parts we've either lost... or wanna improve on. One way or another.

[And, after a pause--]

While I'm at it... can anyone tell me a decent area to buy garage space? [Prismagram is: Now Looking For Recommendations.]

Comments

[spah]

I can't tell if you're upset or not, miss.

But, uh... not really. It's a baboon heart. With a high-voltage pulse device on top of the right atrium.

You don't gotta worry about that part either, 'less you wanna figure out how to make me bulletproof again.

[cadeuces]

( Her carefully neutral demeanor can only last so long— he says he can't tell if she's upset or not and he'll see the quiet bounce of a huffed bit of amusement when she begins to murmur some reply about that remains to be seen, and then the confusion sink in when... baboon. It just sort of escalates from there. )

...A baboon heart. With a pulse device. ( ?????????? ) Why...?

And what do you mean bulletproof again?

( She's definitely squinting. )

[spah]

[... You know what. He better start over.]

The fella I told you about, Medic? He came up with a way to make an entire human body invulnerable to just about anything. Bullets, fire, rockets... only lasts about 80 seconds, but it's a lifesaver in a lot of cases.

[Most of those cases being warzone-related.]

He calls it an ÜberCharge. Now, I ain't gonna pretend I got a perfect understanding of biology... but from what I knew working with him, it had to start in the heart. But most human hearts can't withstand the kinda charge the Über devices put on ya. Kinda makes 'em explode.

So, long story short, mega baboon hearts can.

[cadeuces]

( That might be for the best, yes. Even as he explains it, she's curling slender fingers around her chin and easing backward, leaning into the sofa back and looking troubled.

What a reckless procedure. )

I'm not even sure what to say to that, Dell, or where to begin. But I suppose so long as you've had no adverse effects...

( Then, murmuring to herself as she stands up and just sort of... wanders off: ) Baboon hearts, really.

( She's back with a fresh cup of coffee and starting a new reply, visibly having thought about it. )

And the obvious answer hadn't been to simply allow someone the ability to heal and slightly lessen the invulnerability, I suppose.

[spah]

If you say so, ma'am.

But all due respect? I've taken more bullets than anyone can reasonably treat. Even him - and he's clean crazy. I can't exactly go bulletproof whenever I wanna without his medigun, but it's got its uses.

[cadeuces]

I'll remain thankful that we have armor and shield technologies to supplement, by 2076, then. I don't know what I'd do if I heard about baboon heart transplants as the new normal.

[spah]

[... Okay. Engineer is mildly insulted at that. He keeps his mouth shut, that said, but it's harder to disguise it in his voice.]

If you say so, ma'am.

[you said that 2 seconds ago dude]