shitposting rave 2, electric boogaloo

Downsides of compact frametype =[[ Internals are all jumbled together, blah blah neural plexuses blah blah too dangerous.

Apologies for interjecting, then.

 

Cordelia hasn't been living with people very long. I just rescued her from a planet that was literally about to be rendered uninhabitable. At the moment, I'm happy that she appears to have mastered the tricks "go outdoors when you need to pee" and "don't bite people unless they are bothering you and they don't stop when you show them your teeth".

 

No apologies needed. I was thinking that instead of just taking out the interface array, you could put something else in its place to hold all of the jumbly bits in their proper places. Something inert that would occupy the space. Obviously you couldn't just open up a delicate area like that; it'd be a long and technically arduous process and you might have to remove the array piece by piece, but unlike living flesh which develops adhesions, you ought to be able to separate the parts that you don't want from the ones that you do. Might have to use some kind of foam-injectable substance around the areas with lots of tiny wires and cables intermingled, but something firm enough to hold things apart from each other and resilient and plastic enough to tolerate impact and motion should do the trick. And there's probably a lot of neural wiring but you might be able to connect it to something you'd personally find more useful.

...you sure that they're not just willing to help you because they think they know what's best for you better than you do?

I mean, it's a technical problem. Technology should be able to solve technical problems.

 

I know I've said this before, but it's so weird that those are my distant relations.

But you can totally see it when we're kits. And in the way that families, especially under stress, will sometimes lie in a pile.

 

Depends on if the mech in question wants to transform again. S'not just a matter of makin' sure the base mode is functional, it's a matter of makin' sure the alt-mode is functional too, there's no complications flipping between, and the routed charge is safely dispersed without overloading anything else. Doable, sure, but probably dangerous.

Might be worth fiddling with. Not many corpses on this ship though, so no real test subjects for the base mode operation, and you'd need somethin' live to make sure the flip worked.

Have to make sure the self-repair doesn't frag with the wires or welds neither. Interesting logistical issue, actually. Huh.

 

Could probably use a surgery along the same lines as cog surgery. Use medical overrides to make sure the error messages and charge reroute, maybe fiddle with the pain sensors as well as the sensory array. The joints make it harder though, cog surgery usually negates the need to consider alt-mode, unless you're doin' that sick spike slag like the reports from Grindcore.

Got a couple friends in the triple-M. Could ask 'em if they've got any tips for that sort of thing, since I know at least one's a backalley cog thief.

Least an interface array ain't anything vital, so if you frag it up it's just another round of surgeries..

 

...I'm not sure I agree with your experimental methods (unless the people inhabiting the corpses consented while they were living), but that does sound like a problem that could be worked out, given time. I wouldn't mind making that my next long-term project.

 

...not a medic, so unsure of whatever Triage just spewed all over the thread. But specifically--

Previous situations very much not suitable for extensive unnecessary surgery. Either in... equivalent of active war zone with little to spare in the way of parts and materials; or alone. And... see also: not a medic, can patch myself up but I'm not risking breaking my own internals for something that's only a problem every few thousand years.

Currently.... mm. Triage, whoever he is, is obviously willing to consider the challenge, but I'm not letting a stranger at my internals >=[ Thus request for Life Support to be the one contacted with theories/ideas/etc. He's at least... I think the phrase in here is quadrant-corners? Clade? Beloved of my most trusted. Not someone who came onboard two cycles ago on a shuttle named for an interface joke.

 

Corpses is corpses. Don't matter what they cared about before, they're dead now.

 

But the people who cared about them possibly aren't.

If they are though who cares. I don't care. Caring ran out.

 

Most of the time.

 

-he sputters, grinning-
While I'm flattered by your... not quite trust, but getting closer than it was... does Licentian have a term for that? Neocybex doesnt, as far as I'm aware - anyway. While I'm flattered, I have to assure you that the interface joke was all Cloudcrusher. Triage had nothing to do with it.

 

Why not use corpses for experiments?? They can't hurt anymore, good way to teach how parts interact... Lack of chemical and neural activity a bit of a hurdle, but on a purely anatomical scale it's useful??

Not quite, I think? "[Crewmate]'s courted" is usually good enough descriptor if name can't be used for whatever reason. Crew-courtship maybe? But I'm not actively courting Life Support and unless enforced medical exams are a slag-awful attempt mostly sure the reverse is also true.
(...also, Licentan, not Licentian. Realize correcting spelling is rude but standardized translation isn't even done yet, we don't need word drift!!)

And don't care who named it, still don't trust stranger. Life Support is at least familiar. Better the threat you know how to handle, if that makes sense?

 

That's a valid point; I freely admit that I wasn't thinking in terms of transformation. But if you're like me, that just makes it a more interesting problem.

 

I'm not saying not to use corpses - we used plenty in the Academy to learn on. (I have my doubts about the ethical sourcing of the bodies, but... that was millions of years ago, nothing I can do about it now.) I'm saying that, while the frame is in the literal sense a shell for the spark, the spark still influences the frame, and many bots - including myself - feel that some part of the person is left behind because of that. Therefore, though they are no longer living, their wishes before death are still important. Not as important as the health and survival of those still living - if it's necessary for the living to sustain themselves in some way with the dead, then it's necessary, last wishes notwithstanding - but something to be considered.

 

...appreciate the attempt to explain, even if that sounds completely aft-backwards.

 

Nothing is left of the dead in their shells.

I used to think traces remained until the burn, but...

No. I can't accept that.

 

The spark is released to the Fallen-- Lost, Warden, whatever you want to call him-- specifically by dismantling the frame??? Is why you open the chest cavity before anything else?? Cybertronians are confusing =/

 

Look. Gess came from resource-poor area. Using the dead only way to sustain living, also probably in-line with wishes of the dead. Weren't you in a war, Life Support. Why is this hard.

 

...right. Forgot the whole "just make a new limb even though there's a perfectly serviceable one in that rubblefall over there" thing.