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Post by Victoria Raines on Apr 11, 2012 11:30:48 GMT -5
Victoria reclaims her purse and makes sure nothing is missing from it. Taking out a small silver business card case, she opens it and removes one of the cards.
"Monday morning, you will report to this address. Your body will be clean, your clothes likewise- and pressed- and provided you do not do anything particularly stupid between now and then, you will be given your own lab space."
"That lab space will include top of the line equipment, so you will no longer need to work with such primitive materials. As for test subjects, well. Let us just say that provisions are being made at the moment."
She looks toward the stairs, "I assume there is more comfortable seating above. Shall we adjourn, and you may tell me what progress or not you have made with your experiments."
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Apr 12, 2012 12:39:04 GMT -5
Tarantulas's eyes narrow. He kidnapped Victoria, and attempted to perform inhumane experiments on her, and now she wants to set him up with better lab space? That's very odd. He suspects a trap.
"This isn't my body," he snaps, taking the proffered business card and tucking it into a pocket. This is all going so terribly wrong. But she wants to talk about his work, which is . . . acceptable.
"Fine," the ex-spider says sulkily. He'll lead her into the living room where they can sit and talk. It's more or less the nicest room in the house. His human memories didn't include how to get bloodstains out of carpet, and he didn't care enough to look it up. He thinks he did pretty well, considering. There's just a few dark patches left now. They could be anything. Red wine, maybe. Or water damage.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Apr 18, 2012 12:00:25 GMT -5
The trap is that you have to work for Victoria, Terrance.
"It is your body at the moment, Tarantulas, and you should keep up proper maintenance. Repairs are not so simple in these forms."
She arches an eyebrow at the stains and then the chair. Obviously, the place is not up to her standards, but she still sits.
"So tell me about your research. How much information have you garnered from your failures?"
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Apr 21, 2012 14:05:23 GMT -5
Yes, human bodies are fragile and hard to fix. That's why Tarantulas is trying to upgrade his.
"Nothing terribly useful," he responds to the question, sinking into a chair and leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees. He has horrible posture. "Mostly I've learned that the human mind makes the human body even more fragile than it would otherwise be. I've had a few test subjects panic themselves to death. Prosthetics are useful, but graft rejection makes them problematic in the long term. The immune system needs to supressed, or preferably, replaced. Nanites are easier to make non-antigenic, but orders of magnitude more expensive to create. I've had some extremely promising results with semi-artificial synapses, that is, making a prosthetic such that the end that interfaces with the subject is sensitive to the body's own chemical neurotransmitters and can be triggered just like a neuron. Unfortunately, it's prohibitively expensive to build the technological components, and time-consuming to grow the organic ones. I've only been able to do a single trial."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Apr 22, 2012 15:01:24 GMT -5
"Expense and time are no longer factors to be considered as problems," Victoria says with a wave of one hand. She pulls her tablet out of her purse and begins to make notes.
"I have another employee working on a similar project. I shall introduce you. Perhaps the two of you might create a workable trial together." She smirks and adds, "Raymond is quite skilled. I think the two of you might find some things in common."
"We are exploring several avenues for regaining our proper form. Cybernetics is a possible vehicle, as is transplanting of consciousness but both options still leave one with some human element." Her tone indicates that she does not find this acceptable.
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Apr 22, 2012 19:50:05 GMT -5
Tarantulas scowls. He works best alone. But if it means having proper equipment, he can put up with anything.
"You're trying to cure this 'condition.' For the moment, I'm simply trying to treat the symptoms. It's entirely possible this is irreversible, you know," he says.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Apr 26, 2012 16:38:56 GMT -5
Terrance's new lab space will be set up like a terrarium, with several rocks under which he may hide. After all, Victoria has always believe one produces one's best work when in their natural habitat.
"It is curable." Victoria's tone brooks no argument. She simply will not accept that she may end her days in this form. She cannot accept it.
"Treating the symptoms as you call it, will gain you nothing but tear and damage to your current form, and to your frail human psyche. One cannot simply piecemeal oneself out of flesh and expect to remain wholly oneself. What works for one person- or even several- in a clinical trial may not work for another. For all we know, the very quirk in our DNA which marks us a transformed will inhibit such an attempt."
She shakes her head. "No, we must look at this from the point of view of a reversal, not a rebuilding. Else we may truly lose ourselves."
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on May 3, 2012 20:47:57 GMT -5
Tarantulas might or might not appreciate the joke if Victoria actually stuck him in a terrarium. He has a weird sense of humor.
He doesn't respond to her absolute certainty that the human condition is curable, listening impassively as she speaks. For someone who claims to operate solely on reason and logic, that sounded an awful lot like blind faith there, Victoria. Next thing you know, she'll be talking about lighting our darkest hour.
"As you wish," he replies, bowing his head slightly. "I'll be there on Monday."
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Post by Victoria Raines on May 3, 2012 22:43:25 GMT -5
Desperate times, Terrance. Desperate times and thirty years of experiencing the human condition of dying a second at a time can cause shifts in even a Lord of Order's programming.
"Of course you will," Victoria says.
"Now, shall I set your wrist for you, or would you prefer a visit to the emergency room?"
OOC: Looks like we're getting to a wrap point? Fade on snarky sciencey talk, maybe?
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on May 11, 2012 19:27:39 GMT -5
"I can set my own horrible carbon-based wrist, thank you!" Tarantulas is not about to consent to another 'Con performing even a basic medical procedure on him if he can help it. He's been on the other end of the scalpel enough times to know better.
OOC: Fade works!
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