Posts made by Harbin

"Cassidy." Mneme's head tilted slightly, and text appeared on Cassidy's HUD, informing her of the events going on outside. Cassidy nodded, thankful. The prior information was indeed helpful to receive in advance. She straightened her jacket, ripping her fingers away from tracing that line on her cheek.

"Officer, there are people fighting out there, it isn't a one-sided assault, although those with the helicopter appear to be much better equipped." Her throat felt dry, and something was rising at the back of it.

"Officer Kale, we need to evacuate. This facility is not well-suited to a full-on terrorist assault. It was built with defenses in mind, but only to the possibility of small-armed criminals. The chance of an attack like this was chosen to be out of the equation by the contractor, .04% chance was outside of normal probability." Mneme brought up a map of the hospital. "The closest possible Exits are here." Mneme highlighted some locations on the holographic map.

"Do we have any patients currently in ICU or unable to move?" Cassidy spoke up, unable to recall the exact figure, her mind occupied on her body, which felt a bit unsteady.

Mneme, not so limited by human frailty, checked.

Cassidy paused, gathering her thoughts.

Why was there an attack helicopter outside? The most she had to deal with was a couple thugs with guns. This was unprecedented and random, and her mind searched for an explanation. She paused, and then realized she was possibly in shock. Perhaps the loud bang had unnerved her. Time felt like it was moving ever so slowly as she brought up Mneme.

Mneme's thought process had been extraordinarily simple. There was an attack helicopter outside. The capability to turn off certain parts of her virtual amygdala, as well as do some overclocking of her anterior cingulate allowed her to make on-the-spot decisions. Noticing that there were multiple others around Cassidy, she paused before speaking, taking a moment to appear as if she was thinking.

"I've already locked what doors I can, Doctor Adler. There will be panic momentarily, and there have been no confirmed casualties so far. Outside of Adrian Rogers Tremblay, is there anyone who could be related to this attack? Perhaps Officer Kale?"

"I'm--- not sure." Cassidy spoke, a finger tracing down a scar, over and over again. "Ah, were there any distinguishing features to the helicopter? Can you bring that up, Mneme? What do you remember, Mister Shields?"

"Do you mean to say, imply, insinuate, that they're not out of danger yet? And that there may be people, with firearms, on the premises?" Cassidy's expression darkened quickly, her hand moving up to her face's left side. She ran her fingers back and forth over the keloidal tissue there.

"Mneme, what were the caliber of the bullets-"

"9 Millimeter." Mneme's response came as quickly as the query.

"Ah." Cassidy brought her fingers together, then to her face. "Ahh. Shit."

"That is quite apropos." Mneme brought up a series of diagrams, then proceeded to cause them to disappear, then stopped.

"Detective, you are most versed in these matters. What can we do to prevent information from here from leaving, and what would you have us do? Alerting the hospital will simply result in panic. The best method seems that you would want to have backup, and there is very little in the way of that here. Is there a reason you have been unable to establish contact with your department?" Cassidy inclined her head.

"He's in stable condition, and asleep right now. His implant was fried, it was a hack job and you can quote me on that if you like. Whoever put that in was just asking for an accident to happen and should be sued for negligence. I'd also like to personally throw what remains of the implant at them, if you can arrange that, that would be wonderful." Cassidy paused.

"You aren't thinking of interrogating him right now, are you? He may be your lead in this, but he's at a very sensitive juncture. He needs at least a full night's rest before questioning, then familiarizing with his new implants. This isn't a facial or a boob-job. His central nervous system was submitted to what appears to be electric shock, which fried his prior implant, which didn't have any protection against that. Adrian Rogers Tremblay may require rehabilitation after what occurred to him." Her expression was now irritated, a shift from amicable.

"Lieutenant Barrett." Cassidy inclined her head slightly. "You don't look well. You should be resting in one of our beds. No matter how much we can fix in a day, it won't stay that way if you're on the warpath."

She waved toward the man slightly behind her. "This is Daniel Shields, he provided the implants for Adrian Rogers Tremblay."

"Oh, I'm not actually entirely sure on as to why you're coming along, no worries about that. Hopefully, there's a good reason. Doubt it. Not too much other than a vague link at best. Hm. Good point. Should tell him that when you see him. Ask for lawyer, maybe? Could be doing work right now. Me, not you." Cassidy paused, then continued her spiel of data. "Apologies for unclear statement. Or could be sleeping. Applies to both." Cassidy stepped forward, canceling the document with a swipe of her hand, opening the door to the waiting room, Mneme validating her identity.

"So let's see. We're going to meet with..." Cassidy trailed off.

"Lieutenant Kale Barrett. He was shot two times, presumably in the same incident involving Adrian, bringing up his sheet now." Mneme finished, projecting the file into the air. Cassidy nodded, bringing the information of his injuries up to the forefront.

"Hm. Veteran. Okay. Probably needs a psychologist. So much wrong with police procedure unavoidable can't do much about it. Moving on. Oh yes, Mister Shields, we'll be apparently going to address this Detective before you can go. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope you don't mind terribly." Cassidy's smile retained its beatific countenance as she reached a hand out to pat the disgruntled cybertechnician on the shoulder.

"Why thank you, Mister Shields, for your courteous gesture." Cassidy said earnestly, leading the way but continuing to talk. "Can't suggest sleeping upright for too long. It makes you shorter because of the discs in your back. Compression. Also bad for circulation. Could cause a tophus, gout, miscellaneous other issues."

She passed through a couple of doors, sliding her card through two sets of doors, one set of double-doors and then into a recovery room. "He's stable."

"I've been done for ah- two hours? Two hours, six minutes now. Just waiting for you to wake up while going over the documents I'll have to read. His previous implants were quite a hack-job. It's almost like they used a mishmash of unshielded tech. Kind of like cobbling together a car out of other cars. Not good cars, either. Sure, it'll run, but it's like an accident waiting to happen. I actually had to go in and extract some of the "artificial nerves" that were branching out onto other nerves." Cassidy rapped the holo-sheet the room had projected into her hand.

"The Dice-111 on the other hand is much better. Almost even affordable. Much less destructive, much less of a mechanical monstrosity but needs an AI-level intelligence to monitor and compensate, otherwise there'll be significant delay, making it all kinds of useless. Wonderfully shielded, also subcutaneous. Could have subvocalized commands to the AI as well, or would specific muscle group movements be easier? Depends. Some more efficient in other areas. Er. Sorry, talking about irrelevant things. I apologize." Her voice cheerful, indicating no sense of remorse whatsoever as she offered a hand to Daniel Shields.

"Mneme is currently tending to Adrian's vitals and the AI within. I believe you have to activate it? We should go to the recovery room to do that. Then there's forms I-35b and c, and the Therapeutic Specialty Care form. I imagine you can get them done within an hour or two, at least."

"Okay so just to lay out the double cores into their respective bits. Mneme, give me some new cutters and get ready to do some suturing with me. Going to need to make these nice and perfect after all that."

"Your guest, Daniel Shields appears to be falling asleep. Shall I wake him?"

"No, leave it. We need to focus, anyhow." Cassidy posed her hands, beginning surgery once again on Art's back, which looked as if the upper half and his neck had been flayed. The skin, removed entirely, portions of muscle and bone lifted out in virtual holographic squares, looked at, examined, then put to one side or the other. The cores were inserted without complications, and began a diagnostic check.

Cassidy didn't show a single sign of worry, beginning to sew up her patient already, creating micro-sutures through the flesh made of bio-artificial replacement. There was a slight spray misting over the barely visible stitched up wound, limiting both swelling and creating an artificial covering for Adrian's still-sensitive "replacements".

"Oh, I don't think you should. Should at least record the presence of the implant to the point where it's embedded in the subject." Cassidy paused, then started moving the instruments once again, humming.

"The implant should be surveyed as part of the proceedings by you, as a representative of Laplace Industries, Daniel Shields. I, Mneme, apologise on behalf of my partner, Cassidy. She is engrossed in her surgical proceeding. Hopefully, this should not take much longer than a few hours."

The music finally switched.

On a dark desert highway-

Cool wind in my hair-

Warm smell of colitas-

"Thanks a bunch!" Cassidy glanced over, the grin still on her face. "Whatcha think of the operation so far? I've extracted most of the defunct implant. Does that look like a hack job to you or what?" Her voice cut through the music, which she didn't bother turning down at all, the door sliding shut automatically behind Daniel like a sentence to spend some time with the chatterbox surgeon.

"Did you get a chance to look up who did the previous work for this poor guy? His name is Adrian. Nice abs. Shame about his CNS. And the name." She paused, tilting her head, then flicked her hands sideways, upward, then made a "cut" motion through the air.

You're droooowning~,

The room's lights dimmed slightly, and the holograms froze.

"Alright. I think he's ready. This'll have to go through sterilization and through a 'lock. Put it through there, would you?" Cassidy motioned at what looked like a closed hole in the wall, which irised open.

And then I reeaaalize, the joke is on me- hey!~

"I'll start prepping the procedure to get it in-"

"Adrian Rogers Tremblay is being maintained in his medical stasis."

"Thanks, Mneme. Ah, right. Where are my manners? I'm Cassidy Adler. I run the place. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to stick around after the operation. We have to check to make sure the AI is running properly. Sorry about the inconvenience." Cassidy's voice never deviated from a cheerful, upbeat tone as she continued to flick through operating procedure, not even when apologizing.

So shame on me now~

Cassidy could have entered the operating room covered in muck, after a dive into sewage, or having gargled radium-water. It wouldn't have made any difference to Art.

She wasn't even in the same room as Adrian Tremblay.

Cassidy flicked her hands through the air like she was trying to dry them off.

Adrian Rogers Tremblay's unconcious body flickered into a simulated view, the haptic-tactile controls of the room Cassidy stood in moving the surgical automachines into their ready positions. Telemetry was a wonderful thing.
She moved toward the simulated 'gram, placing a hand over his chest, snapping the fingers upward. Art's simulated body twisted 180 degrees, revealing the swollen skin around the splenicus capitis.

"Ugh. Dirty, dirty. Mneme, isolate, scan." Cassidy's fingers sketched out an area, detailing it out for her AI as she looked Art's body up and down.
The skin at the shoulder blades to neck went transparent, Cassidy reaching over the muscles and continuing to shake her head before stepping back.

"Mneme, Music. Playlist, ahhh- random."

"Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago,-"

Cassidy droned out, falling into her work. She idly hummed along once in a while.


"Hmmm-mmm, Clavicle, Scapula, cold hard ground, intact." She slowly dissected the pieces of the previous implant out, prepping for the new one and-


Knock, knock

"Intercom, on." A small 'gram would be appearing outside, complete with all the sound in the room.

"Button next to door. How can I help you?" Cassidy's face bore the same smirk it always did when focused.

"Yes. Aware. I'll be there soon." The words managed to contain both terseness and flippancy, Cassidy's movements a little quicker, although no less precise. Most of the time. "I have to talk with Mneme, so I'll see you there. Uhhh. Hm. I'll have Mneme text you the implants we'll probably use. End call."
Cassidy pulled on her gloves and goggles, settling her helmet over it. "Mneme. Sorry to wake you up. We'll need to run some tests on the way over there. I'll give you some specifics so you can simulate them. I'm thinking -"
"I apologize. I was awake after you placed the call on Speaker. I didn't interrupt. I was researching on back-processes. " Mneme popped up into the augmented display of her helmet goggles as Cassidy turned the key on her Vespa. The engine revved but didn't start, for a brief moment before purring to life. "I believe Aurora Unit Model #1127B would work as a strict replacement if the replaced nerves have not been fried themselves."

"Yes. Same conclusion, but I'm operating on the assumption the nerves are fried. Either that, or there's some kind of rupture inside the implant. It would have been a fairly routine replacement otherwise. Maybe- no, that's ridiculous."

"I think that if- Adrian Rogers Tremblay's artificial nerves are in fact malfunctioning or unsalvageable, it will require a different manufacturer, or perhaps a limb replacement entirely. If the nerves burn out entirely, it could take important muscle groups or arteries with them. I have found 13 different options that are less optimistic than this."

"My reasoning is that for anything worse, she wouldn't have called. She would have chopped off the offending pieces and done full replacements. Tom would have been operating. He got on shift-"

"It was 3 hours ago. Detour here. Right, then left."

"Reason?"

"Train accident. I have found articles that confirm that it may have been related to Adrian Rogers Tremblay's condition. 15 for, 2 undisclosed."
"Thanks. So- Anyone at Melrose Physio?"

"Not at this moment."

"Hm. How about Laplace Industries?"

"Yes."

"Call them, I want a dual-core with a backup."

"He'll need-"

"An AI to manage it. Make sure it's a cheerful one. Actually, just tell him to get the most cheerful he can get. The last guy complained about melancholy and stuff." Cassidy shrugged.

"Making call now. Surgery will take place in room 119."

"Thanks."

"Make their shit. Yeah. They're worse than Renraku."

Cassidy flexed her fingers into multiple positions then returned to her default of something somewhat akin to a conductor holding his hands before an orchestra.

"Anyway. Sounds dumb." Cassidy's response to her haggard suboordinate was about as flat as a day old glass of soda. She wrinkled her nose, getting on her feet and pulling a shirt over her camsole and pants, the necessaries for going out in the public eye. "No shielding? What about a backup or an asynchronous unit activation on trigger? You know, this reminds me of that idea for a chemically activated redundancy implant I was thinking of. I'll have to ask him when he's on his feet."

"Jesus, how long have you been on shift for?" Cassidy asked. Marissa's face was creased with stress, shoulders- oh, she was moving, offscreen, Cassidy concluded.

"Answer. Speaker."

The dulcet tones of young men long dead, singing an old- but never out of style song cut out at "Not just anybo-" as Cassidy swung her legs over the side of her bed.

"This is Cassidy, Marissa. Urgency?"

Today I bring you joyous news.

In a stunningly good decision by me, your benevolent and kind leader, we have arranged a "mutually beneficial" partnership with Suum Cuique Gaming. They have promised significant packages if uh-

Hm.

Well, I guess there's no better way to say it, and no sooner place.

RE:RN is going to go Pay 2 Play. Each post will cost 25 cents, and you can pay 25 cents for each level you'd like your post to be. We will, of course, remain competitive and there will be player skill involved in the matter. Every mod post will be $1, and you will be able to purchase chips from our cash shop.

There will be also an increase in Ads around the site, and we are glad to announce that we have managed to negotiate that none are egregious to the eyes. We even managed to negotiate that we only have 20 Ads on screen at any one time.

All-in-all, we think, here at RE:RN inc, subsidiary of Suum Cuique Gaming, that you will enjoy the newest patch to the game!

Harbin, Co-CEO

Vehicle Data Sheet

AI Character Sheet

Name: Mneme
Element: Null
Subtype: Bug

Gender: Female
Faction: n/a

Physical Description:
As a vague call-back to a Greek Muse, Mneme's physical appearance represents a modernized stylistic muse that Cassidy designed herself. She wears a flowing waist-length Cerulean toga, that is coated and trimmed with moving golden data streams. Under the toga, she is lightly armored with compact pieces of defense data, such as bronze greaves and bracers, that are similarly engraved with cerulean and trimmed with golden data streams. Under this, she wears the skinsuit most navis have under that. Her emblem, used as a clip for her toga, is a slate-grey with a sprig of rosemary and its flowers.

Mneme is not a very pretty navi, hawk-nosed and a face that looks like it's vaguely irritated. Her eyes are indigo, and her hair is black with an oxford blue sheen. Any whiter, and her skin would be resemble the parian marble that it is supposed to.

There is an ordinary leather scabbard strapped to her side, with a kopis roughly 32 centimeters long within it.

Background:
If asked, Cassidy would call Mneme her ultimate creation, and best work as a neurosurgeon. Mneme is an experiment in the human brain, creating a fully working and functioning representation of it in virtual form. This allows for both manipulation and alteration of a brain on the virtual scale, allowing for testing that could never be done in real life, thanks to issues related to ethics/time.

As a result, Mneme is just that, the closest simulation of Cassidy's brain that she could create, without any of the knowledge/experience behind it. As a result, Mneme's "memories" are limited, and feel like things she has not experienced, or are things from other perspectives. It makes for a very interesting relationship. Currently a year old, she values all of her memories very highly.

The research that went into Mneme was partially provided for by the Department of Defense, and as a result, she is affiliated and does occasional work for the Authorities, and records of her brain-wave patterns are submitted on a semi-random basis for examination.


Personality:
Mneme is Cassidy, except more curious and inquisitive. She a childlike naïveté that belies her appearance, and wants to constantly enlarge her sphere of experience. She can download all of the information she needs, and has a flawless memory, but the issue is not having actually experienced these things. As a result, she is constantly operating at a level where she is both multiprocessing with her human brain as well as on a normal level, to gain as much experience as possible. This can make her seem slightly out of it at times, as she takes in the experience, then answers, or a jolting quick response.

Custom Weapon:

Melee (Uncharged): Quip: A quick slash with Retort, Mneme's Kopis.
Melee (Charged): Rejoinder: A stab with Retort, that carries a jolt of disruptive data.
Ranged (Uncharged): Parthian Shot: A quick toss of a generated light data-spear named Apology.
Ranged (Charged): Apology: Apology wrapped in what appears to be disruptive data skinned as ethereal hemlock leaves.


Current Level: 5

HP: 100
Speed: 3
Buster: 1/1/1

NC: (60/60)
----------
Undershirt
EJO
Beat Support
Floatshoes