1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/26(Wed)06:52 No. 818548 ID: b27cac
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>Ok, good news bad news good news time.
>The first good news is, yes you do get better armor, and (sort of) a special gun maybe, that's still in development, but you'll definitely have very good weapons of some sort!
: "I am sort of glad to hear that."

>Also, you strike me as a female who prefers being alive!
: "Very perceptive, sir!"

>Well lucky you, then, because after this procedure your body will be capable of surviving extreme environments that any unprotected space pirate would find very briefly agonizing before being reduced to a lump of blackened carbon. They'll even be comfortable! Have you ever imagined taking a bath in some molten metals? As a bonus, you will also become capable of travelling through federation space without automatically attracting violent attention!
: "Afraid I don't have Science Team's imagination."

>The bad news is, in order to achieve this, your new body will not resemble a space pirate very much. Ooooooooor at all, really. But it is theoretically possible that we would eventually be able to restore you to a space pirate body. If we have the resources. Which will mean you'll need to do your job very well.
: "I'm sure a job done well is its own reward."

>The second good news is that we're going to test the procedure on other subjects before you. That's the five-star experimental subject treatment, CH-10-255. Do you mind "Chio"?
: "Glad to hear it sir! You can call me whatever you want."

>Here, ask the computer for information on the "Ignole" species and their culture. Unit-02 could you give her information which emphasizes Ignole capability as survivors and warriors? We want them to appeal to her.
Does this biocomputer look like an entertainment unit? ... Understood, compiling information.

: "I will familiarise myself with this material, Science Team!"

>>ALERT
>Oh entities misidentified as divine by superstitious primitives! It's Project Metroid Hands again!! Flashbacks!!
>No, no, keep it together. Cooling! We have hot stuff here! We must have a cooling system in place to keep the heat our clone needs from cooking the rest of us by convection. Do we have any spare liquid nitrogen to disable metroid biology with? Only if we have any spare, our clone comes first. In fact only if we have a lot of spare, we need to save some backup. We could give them a little spray can, maybe?
Since that time it has been standard policy to install quench systems in all bio-research laboratories which are intended for Metroid experimentation.

>Chio's too important to send over there! Let someone else handle it, in case there's another explosion! That way we don't lose CH-10-255 in an explosion!
>Agreed. We should keep Chio here where it is (relatively) safe.
: "Maintaining a state of readiness."

>No, drag out the Amplification Beam prototype, the one that induces temporary reduction instead of embiggening! This should let us restrain the specimen long enough to get another tube.
This Frigate is not equipped with any surviving Amplification Beam prototypes and the energy required is not available even if it was.

>Haha, had a feeling jamming still greatly unknown metroid physiology into a project like garden team did without extra caution would result in something like this. Betting the Volviti has become gigantic, predatory, and feral and is eating all sources of electrical or "life" energy it can find. Wouldn't be surprised if the "life" energy results in anomalous effects on the volviti. I vote for maximum caution, lets assume the giant plant monster is going to wreck this facility so we should lure it into the least valuable portions first then grab and dash everything valuable we can while its busy and shove it all into some shuttles and get everything non-expendable a safe distance into space.
Evacuation of Research Frigate Cacophane is not practical under the current circumstances.

>You're just jealous she's smarter and has more initiative than your pot roast
No bickering, Science Team. You will be bugs of science or you will be bugs with ration cuts.

>I've heard how Garden was calling us inferior compared to them. So if they've got a problem, then they should be more than capable of fixing their own fuck ups!
Excellent deduction, Boiler Team. Garden Team has already resolved the incident.

>Have Chio run an obstacle course so we can see how well she preforms both before and after the transfer to the clone. If nothing else should keep her busy.
Marking obstacle course layout in empty shuttle bay. Setup will be complete shortly. Diverting test subject to shuttle bay.

>For the brain case, I would suggest that instead of making it withstand heat, we make it repel heat. Specifically, some sort of heat transfer system that funnels any heat trying to get into the brain case to the heat dispersal weapon system instead. Reuse recycle reduce.
Maintaining a stable internal environment is essential to a standard brain case. However, the Ignole's natural propensity for absorbing heat and the heat purge system to be installed mean there can be rapid temperature shifts of several hundred degrees. It is already difficult to construct a compact heat pump that can operate under such high temperatures. One that can rapidly scale its capacity to deal with such sudden changes is even more difficult and, due to the Ignole's relatively small skull, simply adding a large thermal mass to smooth out such oscillations is not an ideal solution.

Due to these reasons, the approach of transplanting the test subject's unmodified brain into an environmental support capsule may exhibit undesirable side effects in the event of rapid temperature shifts and it would be fairly obvious that the Ignole clone has extensive brain implants.

Does Boiler Team wish to propose any modifications to the test subject's physical brain, the support structure or alternative formats for imprinting brain data to better suit the Ignole body it is to be implanted into?

Secondly, are there any other features that are desired to be integrated into the brain case? The ability to connect to and coordinate with the Project Garden trooper will be one feature. An early proposal called for a small drone body, such that the brain case would be able to survive outside of its host body if required. A more extreme proposal requested the ability to eject and then attempt to hijack other bodies. However this last option is high risk and would leave no time to research any other features.

Would it be possible to genetically engineer an ignole brain that we could imprint Chio's neural patterning onto? It would have to exhibit features of the ingole that make it able to work with the ingole body and resist heat, but also be close enough to a space pirate brain that our subject's cognitive patterns could be effectively copied over.

I'm afraid the idea for a "drone" brain that can be moved/move itself and hijack other bodies is beyond the reasonable limits of our available time and resources, now. We have too much else that needs work, so we would do better to focus on efficient and effective integration with the Ignole body.

Now, having decided that, we can make things simpler by leaving as much of the original Ignole brain in place as we can and using as little of the space pirate brain as we can, making the mass we have to protect smaller and easier to manage. We only need our trooper's personality, memories and skills, after all. When it comes to lower brain functions, which mostly have to do with the body, the Ignole brain will be better equipped to deal with those functions than a space pirates' brain is. Of course, brains are messy things... leaving the lower functions native will likely mean that our trooper will experience some of the Ignole's instinctual drives and baser emotional responses. However, the superior space pirate discipline that all our troopers possess is sure to be easily capable of overriding a primitive species' urges. We have put rehabilitation at a decent priority, so we might as well put it to use.

Speaking of being primitive, perhaps there are some inefficiencies in the Ignole brain that we can tidy up, to make space? We're already giving them cybernetic eyes - perhaps replacing the visual processing centers with cybernetics will save some room. We'd have to make sure not to interfere with the Ignole's thermal sense, of course. Though, if we're giving them cybernetic eyes that can manage thermal vision anyway, we could remove the part of the brain responsible for organic heat sensing?

And... hmmm. The Ignole's head seems to be the part that changes size the least, and that large shell/plate on top of their head is quite distinctive. If we replaced it with one that has a little more of a pronounced upper curve, it would add space inside the skull. Our Ignole would then maybe look slightly malformed to other Ignole, but we picked this species for its relative rarity in federation space and non-Ignole should hardly notice - they may even think it an improvement, aesthetically, if we make sure it fits well with the general curves of the clone's head and facial features, since flatter heads are considered more "brutish" in many cultures. We would need to make sure to maintain the structural integrity of the skull, of course, build the replacement part out of something sturdy, but it should be a decent way to add space.

Ignole are a recently intelligent species, after all. Enlargement of the space for the brain is a probable next stage in their evolution, as it was for many intelligent species in the transition from their antecedent species. If we bump our clone's evolution along a little, they'll just look like they're ahead of their time.

>>818548
The other suggestions about using ignole brains seem like a good idea. If neither of them work, we could try hybridizing the trooper's brain.

Alternative solution: Fully cybernetic brain, connected to the trooper's brain for remote control. Using quantum computing, we should be able to remove any 'lag' time. Or we could simply place the trooper's brain somewhere on the shuttle to reduce the distance between them - maybe even with the ability to control the shuttle! Good if our trooper needs emergency evac.

>>818548
>due to the Ignole's relatively small skull, simply adding a large thermal mass to smooth out such oscillations is not an ideal solution
Would it be useful to add a thermal mass outside the actual skull? Along the spine, say.

For that matter, given that ignoles are considered "relatively primitive," would extensive brain implants really be regarded as suspicious in their own right, in the context of an ignole piloting a single-seat interstellar craft and seeking employment as a bounty hunter? This would clearly be an anomalous individual.

>Does Boiler Team wish to propose any modifications to the test subject's physical brain, the support structure or alternative formats for imprinting brain data to better suit the Ignole body it is to be implanted into?
Well is their any way to either alter Chio brain to either be more resilient to heat as well or perhaps even find a way to transfer her personality/memories/skills/entire brain onto a Cloned ignole brain?

>Secondly, are there any other features that are desired to be integrated into the brain case?
Although I would prefer it if we could find a way to still use the brain case in some way as I was hoping with all the insulation we'd need to put in to make sure Chio's brain doesn't fry we could also use that insulation for the other extreme and counteract the negative Ignole trait of having their mental functions slow down while in incredibly cold environments. This way, should the subject ever find themselves in a cold environment without protection they'd still be able to think with 100% efficiency.

Hey, how does an Ignole brain handle large temperatures?

A headmaster unit is too complex.

Perhaps the brain's functions can be distributed to an external unit on the Ignole's back?

The proposal to make the Ignole a remote drone or hybridize an Ignole brain with Chio's are also intriguing.

Hey, did anyone check to see if Ignoles can speak? It'd suck if we successfully got Chio's brain the body only to find out that the Ignole's mouth/tongue prevents her from speaking.

Also, I thought we were low on resources? How can we have enough to support Garden basically redoing their clone from scratch? Do we even have enough to support a failed clone being rebuilt and Glasshouse?

Wouldn't it be better to just focus all remaining resources on the one project that hasn't fucked up yet? .....emphasis on the word "yet".

>Chio

God, I never thought I'd see my nickname on somewhere like here. It's bizzare.

Onto modifications... could we perhaps shorten synpatic response time, for faster reaction time? Some upgrades to the tissue of the Cerebral Cortex and the Cerebellum shouldn't be amiss either, allowing for Eidetic Memory as well as increased logical and decision-making capabilities.

>>818548
>Cooling the case
No.

Cooling the case means moving heat from inside the case to outside the case and A: that gets harder when the temp is significantly higher outside the case as it is fighting equilibrium in the dumbrst way, and B: it means we've already fucked up by letting heat into the case.

Insulation is the key here. We line the braincase with the same shit we put on landing craft to prevent burnup on re-entry. The shit that can be thousands of degrees hot and cool to the touch because it insulates so well it won't cunduct the heat to your hand.

And no, no fuckin' brain modification. Brain damage is the last thing we need. We take our fucking time, treat the brain extra carefully, and end up with a hunter that isnt retarded.

Garden got over-ambitious and it literally blew up in their face. Boiler won't make the same mistake.

>>818756
Oh, and the brain case is a hard shell. We can cut out and shave down parts of the ignole skull because we'll be replacing what we remove with artificial skull.

Hell, we could model the braincase after an ignole skull and just replace the original with a superior artificial one.

Actually, I do have a question for our incredibly advanced bio-computer: Why don't we just clone YOU and stick a smaller, dumber version of you in the clone body? Would it not be far more effective than using 'volunteers'? Not to mention it would probably decrease the risk of our bounty hunter going native and slaughtering us. Like the other times.

>>818756
>Insulation is the key here. We line the braincase with the same shit we put on landing craft to prevent burnup on re-entry.
That stuff is also functionally opaque to every wavelength from microwaves to vacuum UV, soundproof, and virtually impervious to electricity. Even assuming an incredibly compact self-contained life support system, how are you proposing to get sensory data in, motor commands out, and deal with the waste heat produced by whatever cogitation happens in between?

>>818548
We still have some successful research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit dont we? Maybe we can Apply that to the Braincase issue, Make a miniature suit for the brain and fill it with heat equalizing biogel. If we can mitigate to worst heat spikes, our normal procedures ought to be able to keep up with any other issues, correct?

>>818840
>research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit
>Apply that to the Braincase
That's an excellent idea! We've seen the Hunter's Varia Suit exposed to extreme temperatures, both hot and cold, and she isn't affected at all!

In fact, not only will the brain be protected from the Ignole's extreme body heat, the brain will also be protected from getting sluggish when the Ignole body is exposed to extreme cold!

>>818842
Wait, we have Varia Suit data? Man, we really need to paint our entire ship with that stuff. I burned my blades on a coffeemug just the other day.

>>818842
Of course we have Varia suit data. The hunter keeps getting it back from our associates. Do you think Kraid was just standing in front of the thing waiting for the hunter to show up and take it from him?

>>818877
>I burned my blades on a coffeemug just the other day.
Was it the "#1 Space Dragon" coffee mug? Ridley's been looking for that for a while and he really wants it back.

>>818937
Naw, it's the #1 Brain Mom cup we got IMO 02 for its birthday.

>>818813
You extend that insulation down the spinal cord out to a point where it fuses with the more robust Ignole nervous system. Perhaps add an additional tube in for the piping of coolant, to an unobtrusive implant in the back of the neck. Or that forehead ridge that was mentioned!

>>818969
>a point where it fuses with the more robust Ignole nervous system
A point where heat will get in, and need to be transferred back out by some sort of active cooling system. Also, what about the eyes? Trying to reroute optic nerves through the spine would introduce significant lag.

>>819050
>>818969
What are you two on about? We just need a synaptic connector to connect to the ignoles natural spine, theres no need to refit a new one. The creatures already built to withstand the temeperature on its own, otherwise none of this would have been necessary in the first place. And they Cyber eyes will be artificial anyway, we can just route them straight into the braincase.

>>819088
Honestly? I wish I knew.

1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/07/29(Sat)20:19 No. 819420 ID: b27cac
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>Given that Ignoles are considered "relatively primitive," would extensive brain implants really be regarded as suspicious in their own right, in the context of an ignole piloting a single-seat interstellar craft and seeking employment as a bounty hunter? This would clearly be an anomalous individual.
This is true. A standard braincase will be included in the final selection.

>We still have some successful research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit don't we? Maybe we can apply that to the braincase issue.
Yes, of course. Why don't we take a shielding system from an incompletely understood power suit made with far more advanced technology than our own and then miniaturise it?

>We can make things simpler by leaving as much of the original Ignole brain in place as we can and using as little of the space pirate brain as we can, making the mass we have to protect smaller and easier to manage. We only need our trooper's personality, memories and skills, after all. When it comes to lower brain functions, which mostly have to do with the body, the Ignole brain will be better equipped to deal with those functions than a space pirates' brain is. Of course, brains are messy things... leaving the lower functions native will likely mean that our trooper will experience some of the Ignole's instinctual drives and baser emotional responses. However, the superior space pirate discipline that all our troopers possess is sure to be easily capable of overriding a primitive species' urges.
This should be viable, allowing tighter integration with the Ignole body with the cot of being more affected by that body.

>Speaking of being primitive, perhaps there are some inefficiencies in the Ignole brain that we can tidy up, to make space?
Brain optimisation is a complex subject, it's doubtful sufficient research can be done in the time available.

>The Ignole's head seems to be the part that changes size the least, and that large shell/plate on top of their head is quite distinctive. If we replaced it with one that has a little more of a pronounced upper curve, it would add space inside the skull. Our Ignole would then maybe look slightly malformed to other Ignole, but we picked this species for its relative rarity in federation space and non-Ignole should hardly notice - they may even think it an improvement, aesthetically, if we make sure it fits well with the general curves of the clone's head and facial features, since flatter heads are considered more "brutish" in many cultures.
Adding the option for cranial enlargement.

>Would it be possible to genetically engineer an Ignole brain that we could imprint Chio's neural patterning onto? It would have to exhibit features of the ingole that make it able to work with the ingole body and resist heat, but also be close enough to a space pirate brain that our subject's cognitive patterns could be effectively copied over.
Based on previous experimentation with such techniques, this should be feasible. The primary downsides are the risk of lossy translation and this would lose the clear-headedness an insulated brain case would have in low temperatures.

>Alternative solution: Fully cybernetic brain, connected to the trooper's brain for remote control. Using quantum computing, we should be able to remove any 'lag' time. Or we could simply place the trooper's brain somewhere on the shuttle to reduce the distance between them - maybe even with the ability to control the shuttle! Good if our trooper needs emergency evac.
This would be possible however extremely low communication delay is needed. Mental stress from feeling disconnected from the body is also likely.

>Onto modifications... could we perhaps shorten synaptic response time, for faster reaction time? Some upgrades to the tissue of the Cerebral Cortex and the Cerebellum shouldn't be amiss either, allowing for Eidetic Memory as well as increased logical and decision-making capabilities.
Specified neural tweaks will be performed.

>Actually, I do have a question for our incredibly advanced bio-computer: Why don't we just clone YOU and stick a smaller, dumber version of you in the clone body?
This biocomputer is designed to be a highly interconnected computational organism for massively parallel processing and analysis of large data sets as a research assistant. It is not designed to operate a body. In addition, a scaled down version would possess several orders of magnitude less processing power.

Options for brain transplantation have been finalised. Boiler Team, select how to proceed:

Standard Braincase: A braincase modified to survive high temperatures. Obvious cybernetics and may become disorientated in rapid temperature fluctuations.
Neural Hybrid: Using most of the lower brain of the Ignole to reduce environmental system footprint. Greater familiarity with the Ignole body but risk of instinctive behaviour.
Ignole Remapping: Overwriting the test subject's neural information onto a modified Ignole brain. Possible incomplete translation and as it is an Ignole brain, slowed thinking in cold environments.
Disembodied Remote: Braincase remote controls a cybernetic stub brain in the Ignole body. Brain 'survives' otherwise fatal experiences but possible impact to reflexes and risk of alienation.

Optional:
Cranial Enlargement: Increasing the size of the skull for additional internal capacity.

>>819420
Neural hybrid!

>>819420
>Yes, of course. Why don't we take a shielding system from an incompletely understood power suit made with far more advanced technology than our own and then miniaturise it?
That doesn't answer the question. Hop to it.

Let's go with Neural Hybrid. No opinion on cranial enlargement.

Neural Hybrid.

As long as the skills transfer over and there isn't outright rebellion, I don't really care how our agent acts. Heck, instinctive behaviour should help the undercover aspect of the whole thing.

Neural hybrid. We will be able to cover some of the downside during the rehabilitation.

A bit of modest cranial enlargement shouldn't create any real problems, so long as the expansion outwardly looks natural enough. As mentioned when suggested, it would just look like the ignole body is a little ahead of the genetic curve, it evolutionary terms. A little mutation isn't terribly rare, after all, and every little helps.

>>819420
Standard Braincase.

We're not trying to make the perfect warrior, we're building a hunter to infiltrate the federation to procure resources for the repair of the Cacophane.

Mental clarity and stability are more important than raw combat ability or whatever. And we don't want Neural Hybrid sending our hunter into heat (har har).

Cranial Enlargement also sounds workable. Most people won't notice it, and if they do, we can just claim it's a weird family thing or birth defect or something.

Neural Hybrid.

Avoid fatal experiences by not reducing reaction times. Cold environment exposure is one of the primary uses for independent Ignole action. Cybernetics already obvious on Ignole: see cyber-eyes, giant powersuit. Selecting Standard Brain-case. Predict thermal disorientation to be amusing to watch.
Medium cranial enlargement approved.

I didn't want to choose neural hybrid but really does seem like the best one when compared to the other options.

I vote for neural hybrid.

>>819420
Neural Hybrid makes sense.

Cranial Enlargement and these reasons: >>819427 , as a cover story.

>>819422
>That doesn't answer the question.
Agreed, that wasn't a very good answer and didn't really answer the question.

>Standard Braincase: A braincase modified to survive high temperatures. Obvious cybernetics and may become disorientated in rapid temperature fluctuations.
I doubt we'd be in a situation where our trooper would shift quickly and repeatedly between both it's forms for this to be a real big issue.

Disembodied remote. Alienation will ultimately be beneficial to strategic morale, motivating the subject to return in hope of transfer back to a standard trooper body rather than abandoning the mission and assimilating into Federation society.

Include spare remote interface stubs with other expedition equipment and teach Project Garden's candidate how to install them in various things (including, but not limited to, a partially-regenerated ignole body) as part of training and rehabilitation. Replace the courier craft's manual controls with a direct neural interface, thus freeing up space for bulkier power armor, reducing the time lag as a factor in piloting, and incidentally improving security by making the vessel practically impossible to hijack.

I think I may have overlooked the notes on Ignole instinct and behavior, could you bring them up for review?

neural hybrid, no cranial enlargement.

>>819420
Neural hybrid, the downside of having more Ignole instincts may cause inconvenience but could help in deflecting suspicions away from the subjects truer nature.

Neural Hybrid.

Any negative instinctual behaviors that would manifest are would be countered by, or at least easily would easily be controlled by the neural tweaks and the enhanced logic suite the brain is receiving.

Oh, and cranial enlargement as well. Making it look like a natural mutation, like the Ignole is just a bit ahead of the evolutionary curve as was suggested before sounds beneficial.

Neural hybrid, slight cranial enlargement.

>>819420

>We still have some successful research data from The Hunter's Varia Suit don't we? Maybe we can apply that to the braincase issue.
>>Yes, of course. Why don't we take a shielding system from an incompletely understood power suit made with far more advanced technology than our own and then miniaturise it?

You say that like we dont attempt that on a regular basis, and what we built our empire upon. Stop avoiding the question and gimme that data!

>>819420
I move for a Neural Hybrid. I have no opinion on Cranial Enlargement.

>>819487
This as well.

Yes to cranial enlargement. Neural hybrid seems like a popular choice, but I'm not sure how we're supposed to protect the parts of the brain that came from a space pirate if they'll be integrated into an ignole brain, which is itself presumably unshielded from heat.

Neural Hybrid. I would've suggested standard brain-case but the heat purge / directed energy weapon we added means the trooper will encounter the issue with that option more often, making it less desirable.

Also, going to vote for little to no cranial expansion. Keep the brain integration relatively simple since it is critical to the project.

Neural hybrid with cranial enlargement. Using the extra space, we could possibly create some sort of gradient to keep the brain at optimum temperatures.

1/1 IMO Unit-02 2017/08/14(Mon)04:30 No. 822617 ID: b138f5
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>That doesn't answer the question. Hop to it.
Conducting self test on sarcasm module. Test successful. Testing bio-research laboratory for atmospheric contaminants...

>I think I may have overlooked the notes on Ignole instinct and behaviour, could you bring them up for review?
It is much as you would expect in a primitive species from a highly seasonal world, Boiler Team. Energy conserving behaviours at low temperatures, greatly increased aggression when at extreme temperatures and they go into heat after sustained periods at those high temperatures.

>As long as the skills transfer over and there isn't outright rebellion, I don't really care how our agent acts. Heck, instinctive behaviour should help the undercover aspect of the whole thing.
Understood. Neural hybridisation will be performed. Initial testing using personnel from the 'Most Expendable' list is already looking quite promising.

>A bit of modest cranial enlargement shouldn't create any real problems, so long as the expansion outwardly looks natural enough. As mentioned when suggested, it would just look like the Ignole body is a little ahead of the genetic curve, it evolutionary terms. A little mutation isn't terribly rare, after all, and every little helps.
Noted, cranial enlargement will be performed. The additional working space has already increased survival rates by 57%.

Preparing Subject B for operation. This concludes the last activities for Project Boiler. Power suit design and rehabilitation will be conducted as part of Project Glasshouse.

END CHAPTER 1.5