[STORY] Leaves from the Jason's Logbook

[Feinan]

Zwilniks Off the Starboard Bow!
Timewise....this probably took place a month or two before the Convention.
--------------------------------------------------
I was peering through a microscope at a sample of extremophilic bacteria that I hoped to use in my latest chimera for Mars, when Clotho's bright voice came through the lab speakers. "Hey, Kev? We've got company outside. Guy in an RV, says he needs to talk to the Jason." That got an arched eyebrow. While I did biomod work for those that wanted it, normally I picked up commissions at Convention, or through email. Having someone actually willing to travel out to my neck of the Asteroid Belt to look me up was unusual. "OK. Have Fate tell them I'll be right there." I turned off the scope and headed out through my living room, then down the small metal corridor that lead to the right-hand door of my cockpit. Flopping down in the copilot seat, I offered a greeting to Fate. "Record this, please." Fate's 'Greek chorus' voice filled the cockpit, a blend of the Sisters' voices. "Yes, Kevin." I flipped the mike on. "This is the Fateful Lightning. You've got the Jason here. What can I do for you?"
"We heard you did mod work....that you could make any kind of plants people wanted. That right?" The voice was a bit nasal, no horribly-noticeable accents or anything. "If so, me and some friends want something made."
I hmmmed softly, then shrugged and answered, "I'll need more information in order to tell whether or not it's possible. What exactly are you wanting?"
There was a moment before I got a reply, then, "My...company's found some promising new chemicals in some of the life on Venus. But the production's far too low, and we want something that'll grow in less harsh conditions. Think you could do it?"
This got a frown. The guy was being remarkably close-mouthed and that was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in my head. Most of my clients were only too happy to talk to me about what they wanted...in detail. I typed into the keyboard mounted onto the dash in front of me: 'Fate, cross-reference anything we've got on Venus and the lifeforms there. Any possible hints as to what this joker wants?' As I did so, I answered said joker, "Of course I can DO it....but I'll need to know more about the substances you want expressed. Do they need any special requirements, and what exactly do they do? If I don't have that info, I could well lose them when I make the mod." I waited for a reply to that....as well as to the question I'd given Fate.
The potential client hemmed and hawed on the other end of the link. Frankly, I doubted he'd be a client of mine; I really didn't like the feel of this. But I was willing to withhold judgement until he told me more. "Well? I'll need to know in order to do the job." Words scrolled by on the screen in front of me: 'No hints at present, Kevin. But given the man's reactions and a study of his voice inflections and choices, the greatest probability is that it's illegal or close to it, and probably big trouble.' Well, crap....not what I wanted to hear from Fate. She filled the role of Oracle all too well, at times - to the point that even I wasn't sure if she could see the future or not.
The voice on the radio spat out a curse. "You wanna know? Fine. We found some prime pharmaceuticals that'll set us up big. And if you tell anybody, it'll be the LAST thing you ever do." Well....if I DID take the job, the price just doubled.
"And....?" I kept my own voice quiet, waiting to see where this would go. "A drug, then. Something actually useful, or just recreational?"
That got a evil-sounding snigger from the radio. Apparently, not giving a reaction of immediate revulsion made the guy think I was in. Stupid bastard. "Recreational. And if a buyer tries it once, he's hooked good and proper. We'll make a killing. We can get you all the specs you need."
THAT did it. I really had no problems with drugs as such. I'm pretty much a libertarian. A person can do what he wants to with his body; as long as he doesn't hurt others, that's fine. But this sounded far too much like a permanent fate. And one which could be forced on someone at that. In fact....I growled softly, "Thionite. You want me to create a version of fucking BROADLEAF for you! Not only no, but HELL no!" That woke up the guy in the RV, and he started to offer some pretty nasty-sounding threats. Not just against me, but my friends and clients as well. He shouldn't have done that. I switched the mike off. "Fate, switch control to Atropos. Atropos...." Her voice came over the speakers, quite tart, with her Sisters' voices a faint chorus in the background. "Don't teach Grandma how to suck eggs, sonny. Scout-class drone 'Spare' has been redesignated Sword-class, and is ready to launch on your word." I nodded grimly. "Right. The word is 'Republic.' Does Spare have any favorite music?" The rough old woman's voice filled the cockpit again. "Yes - Beach Boys." That got an arched eyebrow. "All right. Pipe him 'Little Old Lady from Pasadena.' Seems appropriate." That got a snort from Atropos, and I flipped the mike back on. The would-be zwilnik was still making threats about what would happen unless I started working for them. "All right, that's enough. Tell me...did you lot give ANY thought to my ship's name before you decided to try and bring me into this scheme of yours?" That got some more cursing on the other end, and I cut him off. "Apparently not, or you'd not have tried to get me to make something that would enslave people. Get this, zwilnik. My ship's name comes from a rather famous song from the 1860s. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.'" As I finished speaking, a hatch opened in the side of the workshop trailer, and what appeared to be a small go-cart popped out. As it hit open space, every light on the cart flashed on - normal lights, brights, halogen spotlights...even the two ranks of grow lights that I'd installed to help get some mining plants established a while back. It was extremely visible for a split-second, and I heard the man on the other end of the radio link mutter the start of an exclamation as he caught sight of it. Then it flashed into a streak of light that pierced the front of the RV, which promptly exploded in molten metal and glass. Even reinforced by handwavium, things tend to break when hit by a hundred fifty pounds of material moving something on the order of a hundred miles a second. The rest of the RV began to come apart, a trail of debris and air shooting out the rear as the remains of the drone continued on their way. I swallowed hard, turning a little green. "Terrible swift Sword, indeed...."
I sighed. "Atropos? You and the others, send out all the cam-drones we have on hand, and check the wreckage? If there's anything left over there that'll identify these bastards, I want it. You might send out Spool, Spotter, and Succor as well. We can take the largest pieces of that back with us, maybe visit SSX Base and see if anything can be found out from the debris." I got an affirmative from Atropos, and my hand scrubbed down my face. "I'm going to go throw up, I think, then hide in the Garden for a bit. If anything comes up, let me know, and be prepared to take defensive measures as necessary." I considered the image of Spare flashing into a beam of light. "Fate....in the ship's log, mark that Scout-class 'Spare' was designated Sword-class today, renamed 'Saber.' Destroyed in defense of the ship." I sighed, and started for the walkway to my living quarters. "Keep your eyes peeled, ladies. This has a bad feel, and I'm not sure it's over yet." Fate had to chime in. "It will be over when it's over." I sighed again, and headed back. Throwing up, rinsing out my mouth, and a large glass of Johnnie Walker Black in the Garden sounded good right now. I also pondered what I should do about my newfound popularity. Would it help matters if I started some rumors that I had weapons-grade handwavium like the Professor was supposed to, or would that just make me more of a target? Of course, we ALL had weapons-grade handwavium; most people just didn't seem to realize it...at least, not unless they were VERY desperate. I'd have to run the idea past Fate, see what she thought. With that, I entered my living quarters and headed for the kitchen. Right. Alcohol.

[Sirrocco]

Nifty, but in ref to an issue brough up a while ago - could you have your character *not* know the thionite/broadleaf connection at the beginning of the conversation? He can certainly know the user-end details about Thionite (heck, at this point, there are a fair numebr of 'Dane police forces that know the user-end details of Thionite - it's not a secret), and the fact that they want him to make it easier to produce would certainly set him off, so it's not like it'll take a major rewrite, but I just don't see any decent justification for him knowing its origin prior to this. After all, as was pointed out earlier, Mr Morden (who is pretty much a Contacts-and-social-monkey type) was surprised as hell to find out *at* the con, and *he* found out from a 'Dane government offical who was still keeping pretty quiet about it.
For that matter, the original information that "Thionite comes from Venus" might have *come* from this interaction, if the likely info distribution channels were slow enough and at least one of them pointed dirtside.

[Feinan]

Actually, I worked this out with them when I originally posted this snippet. For the Venus connection, the zwilnik was the one who mentioned it, which was the first I'D heard of it. As the other....I'd be considered a Generalist in the Non-Aligneds, and I'd consider the Lensmen one of my groups. Given the hints as to the properties he was describing, I'd call the stuff that WITHOUT other people naming it as such. Broadleaf, thionite, and zwilnik all come from Doc Smith fandom, and I'd automatically call the source of thionite broadleaf. I actually have no idea what the actual lifeform is that produces the stuff. All I know at the end of this snippet is that it's an organism on Venus, with no details about it. And even that much depends on whether or not the zwilnik was telling the truth.
And it's possible that this WAS the source of the information. I have a brother-in-law that's in law enforcement, and thionite offends my sensibilities the way that other drugs don't. I could have passed the word on through him, if that's how the others want to work it?

[Sirrocco]

*blinks*
I'd had utterly failed to parse that the thionite/broadleaf connection was direct from the original source. Right, then. My error. Thank you for the correction.
In that case, Thionite probably has a different name down among the 'Danes, but that's really not a big deal one way or the other.

[Feinan]

Biomod Parameters, as promised
Ok, here are the parameters I've been working on for my character's biomod. For people who don't recognize the template used, the handwavium apparently decided that Son Goku from the start of the Dragonball stories was perfect for me. That's still under debate.
Advantages:
1) Altered bone and muscle density - in appearance, I'm a short twelve year old, and maybe 75-80 pounds if that. My actual weight is closer to 220 pounds, with density being altered 2.5-3 times human normal. Denser, thicker bones, more compact muscle mass. I'd figure this might help a bit against blunt force trauma - blunt instruments, fists, and the like - but sharp weapons, bullets and so on are still fair game. No matter how much the manga showed Goku getting hit with a bullet and only feeling a hard sting, my character has NO intention of testing this of his own volition any time soon.
2) Enhanced strength - one of the reasons for the first alteration. Strength would be on the high end of adult normal, but not the highest. As I put it to Fred's character - I won't be winning the World's Strongest Man competition, but I might have a shot for the World's Strongest PreTeen.
3) Improved health - this is the one that my character is happiest about. He was a mess, health-wise, and the mod FIXED it. Diabetes, congestive heart failure, bad eyesight, extremely overweight - as far as he can determine, the mod did a complete overhaul of everything.
Mixed Blessings:
1) Rejuvenation - Well, my character WAS feeling old. But he was thinking more of being 18 to 20 again. Not 12. Pros - more energy than he's had in DECADES. Cons - 12, and a short twelve at that. And facing the prospect of puberty for a SECOND time....something nobody in their right mind would want. Not to mention that he's going to have to scramble to get a wardrobe that will FIT him.
2) Monkey tail - It IS useful. Prehensile, it can serve as a third hand at need, which is nice, especially in a space environment. Plus, it just looks neat. Problem is, it's a major Achilles' heel as well. Loaded with nerve endings, squeezing it causes extreme pain, at least initially. It also causes some sort of neural short-circuit that makes him weaker than a baby, leaving him vulnerable.
3) Enhanced sense of smell (might affect taste to some degree as well) - sharp as a dog's. This is useful in some situations, and might even allow him to recognize people's scents on things, and other things a dog could do. A major downside is that it IS as sharp as a dog's, and that a ton of smells could be painful or very confusing/disorienting, depending on the types, length of exposure, and so on. A lot of smells - such as at Con, for instance - will probably be disorienting for at least a few minutes until he gets used to the new environment. This might become less of a problem as he gets used to the enhanced sense, but it won't go away completely.
4) Feeding frenzy - With training and all (see below), my character is finding himself eating two to three times what he was before the biomod, and not gaining any weight. And he wasn't a small eater BEFORE the mod. That's a plus, but the downside is that he NEEDS to eat that much, or his energy/strength starts to suffer. If he goes too long without food, he gets weak, and will need to eat to recharge.
Disadvantages:
1) Orazu form - In the Dragonball stories, Goku would shift into a giant weremonkey if he saw the full moon, and would go on in that form until morning (moonset) or until his tail was cut off. Now, a giant monkey isn't doable, not with conservation of mass. However, with the increased muscle and bone density, there is a bit of leeway for the handwavium to play. If he sees a full moon (has to be a round, full moon based on the stories), then he does shift into a large weremonkey. It comes to about six feet tall, and strength and weight are the same as my own untransformed level - high human normal and 220 pounds.
2) Mindless rage - the second problem associated with the full moon, and the bigger one in my character's mind. While transformed, my character's conscious mind is out to lunch, and the id reigns as a raging beast. Theoretically, this one CAN be conquered with a LOT of work and training, but it won't be happening anytime soon. Since my character is also pagan and the Moon happens to be one of his favorite aspects of the Lady, he's not exactly happy with the situation. He could have dealt with the weremonkey, but not the mindless rage. He's probably going to be doing a lot of experimenting trying to find ways around this one, since he won't accept not being able to look at the Moon. It's supposed to be light in the green radiation spectrum that's the trigger for the transformation, so he'll probably try polarized lenses first. But that still leaves him vulnerable to losing them, at the worst times.
3) Training? Damn it - I'm a couch potato, not a jock. - This is another side-effect of the mod that has my character worried. He's finding himself working out/training to keep fit, especially if he's just woken up and not paying too much attention to what he's doing. Which is all well and good, but it's a definite departure from his usual behavior patterns. He even caught himself looking at the grav controls for the ship and thinking about turning the gravity UP, over 1G. He's most worried about this because, if it's altered his behavior THIS much, what ELSE might the mod have done to his mind? Things that he hasn't spotted yet....and might not, depending on what was done.
Well, there you have it. Yes, it looks like a lot of stuff, but it's all based around a single concept, that of Son Goku, one of my favorite anime/manga characters. As a single package, I think it works fairly well. Opinions, as always, are welcome.

[Feinan]

Wherein you get to see a pagan technomancer in full Overkill! mode...
Presents for my girls...
I watched on camera as Atropos maneuvered Sumpter out of the garage, and into space. A sealed transparent tank filled with water rested on the drone's back, and silver foil covered half of the tank along its length. Everything was looking good so far; Spare was already out there, outfitted with an array of lenses and mirrors that I'd rigged up, and in position. Soon....even as I thought that, Sumpter hit its target point, and the tank lit up as the focused moonlight hit it. I grinned. "Right. That's that. Can you keep it there all night, Atropos?"
That got a snort from the speaker. "Of course I can, sonny. It's not like you're asking me to asteroid race."
I grinned. "Of course not." I looked through the windows of the cab, and smiled at the sight of the Lady in the guise I enjoy most, the full moon. Admittedly, she was looking particularly stunning tonight, since we were no more than a couple thousand miles away, between her and the Earth. I stared for a few minutes, then shook my head and got up. "I'm going to go catch some Zs, Atropos. Once this is done, I'm going to be really busy with this project, and I'll want to be fresh for it."
"Are we ever going to find out what you're making? You've been collecting things for months, and to be honest, a lot of them are strange." Atropos' tone was filled with curiosity - not surprising, all of my girls were wondering exactly what I was making.
"You'll see. I can't hide the making from you, but I want the product to be at least a bit of a surprise, if it works. Night, dear." That got an amused snort as I headed out to bed. Tomorrow was the day that I could actually start putting things together. It would be interesting to see what happened, finally. But...there was still a long way to go.
------------------------------------------------------------
Everything was in place in the Garden, arranged before my altar. Pride of place was held by a large empty growth tank, of the sort that I used to culture handwavium. That was what I hoped to do tonight as well, though with a growth medium that was...unusual, to say the least. I was dressed in comfortable clothing - a good thing, because this would probably take a while. I could have gone skyclad, I suppose, but I actually felt more relaxed this way, and that was important. Taking a deep breath, I took a couple moments to center myself, and then started in. Taking up my sword from the altar, I started to walk in a circle around the area, casting the circle. "I consecrate this circle to the ancient gods. Here may they manifest, and give their blessings to their child." When the circle was complete, I moved back to my altar, and asked the Lady's blessing on the water and salt. The water was some of the moon-charged water I'd prepared, and the salt was sea-salt from Greece. I'd need all the connections to Greece that I could get for this, since so little was known about one of the Powers that I really wanted invoked. After combining the two in my chalice, I cast the circle again in salt-water, then returned to ask the blessing of the Lord. I had a small incense burner already going and asked the Lord for the blessing of Fire, then for the blessing of Air over the incense I'd prepared. Dropping a little of the incense on the burning charcoal, the scent of rosemary and sage rose up, and I picked up the burner by its chains and walked the circle the third time. Replacing the burner on the altar, I went to each of the four quarters of circle, lighting the candles there and calling on the protections of the Powers of Air and Fire, Water and Earth. When done, I moved back to my altar, and raised my hands. "This circle is bound, with power all around. Between the worlds, I stand with protection at hand." I closed my eyes to rest for a second, taking a long, slow breath. OK, the circle was cast. Time for the main event.
Opening my eyes, I looked up at the Garden's sky, where an image of the full moon still shone. "Lady....I am come here tonight to create, to make a gift of love for those I call my daughters. Grant your blessing on this endeavor, and grant whatever power you will to its outcome. So mote it be." I bowed my head a moment, and then reached for the first offering. Taking a jug, I poured water into the tank, following it with several more. As I worked, I chanted quietly. "Water from Greece...from Boeotia, where once the spring of Mnemosyne was known, and from Mount Helicon and Mount Parnassus, beloved of the Muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne." With the tank filled halfway, I took the next offering - individual paper pages of a Greek dictionary, and scattered them one at a time on the surface of the water. "Mnemosyne, Titan, Goddess of Memory, Creator of Words, I invoke thee and ask thy aid in this task. Lend the power of Memory to this creation."
From a bag, I took forth black feathers and let them drift onto the water. "Raven feathers, from Norway. Muninn, Memory, Companion to Odin and brother to Huginn, I invoke thee and ask thy aid. Lend your power of Memory to this task as well, to make it doubly strong."
Next came Egypt - ibis feathers, papyrus scrolls, and papyrus leaves joined the rest of the material in the tank. "Ibis feathers from Egypt, as well as papyrus from that land. Djehuti, known to the Greeks as Thoth and associated with their god Hermes, Inventor of Alphabets and Writing, God of the Sciences and Scribe of the Gods...I invoke thee and ask thy aid. Lend the power of writing, of scribing to this task, so that Memory might be preserved."
Silver-white pieces of birch bark joined the mixture. "Birch, on which the first letters were laid. Oghma, called the Honeymouthed, God of Communication, and Creator of the Ogham Alphabet...I invoke thee and ask thy aid. Lend the power of writing to this task, so that Memory might be preserved."
Finally, I added more raven feathers. "Raven feathers from the Isles. Bran the Blessed, God of Writing, whose name means Raven, I invoke thee and ask thy aid. Lend the power of writing to this task, so that Memory might be preserved, three times over."
Taking up a stick of hazelwood, I carefully stirred the mixture three times deosil, then reached for more. First, several large bags of hazelnuts were added. "Hazel, the tree of Wisdom, whose nuts contain all knowledge. Lend thy power to this task, so that this might create containers for knowledge." I followed that with a large container of elderberries. "Lady Elder, protector, sacred to Bran and tree of ravens, add thy strength to this task to aid in the preserving of Memory." Then came a bucket filled with small twigs. "Alder, protector, preserver of ideas, and beloved of Bran, add they strength to this task, for the preservation of Memory." Finally, I added several large handfuls of leaves. "Ash, protector, relative to Yggdrasil the World Ash, beneath whose roots the Norns dwell...add thy strength to this task to aid in the preserving of Memory." I took up my hazel rod, and stirred the tank three more times.
Picking up a box, I started to drop more leaves into the tank. "Parsley, aid to communing with the Lady in her Aspect as Mother, lend thy power to this task, and bring balance to this mix. Alder for the Maiden, Elder for the Crone, bring completion to the trinity and add the Mother's power to what must be done." I continued my soft chanting as I added the next item - numerous handfuls of needled sprigs that gave off an aromatic, almost pine-like tang. "Rosemary, used by the Greeks to sharpen their memories for study, add thy strength to this task and enhance Memory. Rosemary...for Remembrance." After that, came four or five large handfuls of grey-green leaves. I smiled, reminded of breakfast as I took in their spicy scent. "Sage...aiding intelligence, sharpening wits. Add thy strength to this task , that Memory shall be clear and sharp." A song drifted through my head, and I smiled again. Done one way, these were the ingredients for a love spell. But they had their memory aspects as well, and remembering was what the song always brought to my mind. To complete the quartet, I picked up a large jar and poured a stream of thick, dark-gold liquid into the tank. "Honey from Greece, thyme honey that is beloved there. Honey, that preserves and prevents corruption, add thy power to this task, to preserve Memory and prevent its corruption." When the honey finished pouring, I put the jar aside and reached for the lancet I'd prepared earlier. Pricking my index finger, I carefully dripped three drops of blood into the tank. "Blood, a sacrifice to help power what I wish done. As this is for my daughters, let my blood guide this working, to grant them the gift I would see them have." Pressing my fingertip for a second to stop the bleeding, I then picked up my rod again, stirring three times to finish the task.
Putting the hazel stick aside, I reached for the final item for the tank. As I poured the handwavium into the mixture to inoculate it, I closed my eyes, and tried to draw on the power of the Earth. It was a lot harder to get the feeling that I usually did, of energy flowing up through my feet...not surprising, since I wasn't actually on the planet. But our orbit was close to Earth, and I'd arranged the ship so that the planet was at least beneath me. As the last of the handwavium went into the tank, I tried to direct what feeling of energy I'd managed to call into the tank. Opening my eyes, I put the handwavium jar aside, and then closed and sealed the culture tank. Going over to the altar, I took up my dagger, and held it out as I chanted, "Lady and Lord, bless this task, that it might come to a successful end. In the names of your Aspects invoked tonight, and by the powers of the ancient gods, I bind all power within this circle into this spell. So mote it be." I felt the prickling of the hairs on the back of my neck, the feeling I always got when I drew a strong ritual to its end, and I smiled.
I started around the circle one last time, extinguishing the candles and telling the Elemental Powers to depart, with my thanks. Back at the altar, I spoke quietly, "To all beings and powers of the visible and invisible, depart in peace. May there always be harmony between us. My thanks and blessings." Taking up my sword once more, I cut the circle as I chanted, "The circle is open, yet ever it remains a circle. Around and through me always flows its magical power."
With that last bit done, I started to clean up...glancing over at the tank and wondering what the handwavium would make of the growth medium I had set for it. At any rate, I had time now to put together the actual physical items for this project, since I knew it would be a while before the mix in the tank was ready.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I smiled a little as I rubbed the extra-fine sandpaper over the surface of the case in front of me, then ran a fingertip over the area. Silky-smooth....just the way I wanted it. I put the sandpaper aside, and then looked at the case. It was one of four, the largest of the set....and the building of them had started many months before. I couldn't just go to a lumberyard for my materials...even if all I'd wanted was the oak or the ash that I used. Given that I'd wanted alder, elder and hazel as well, I'd needed to go looking for the trees myself - especially since I'd needed to ask the trees for the use of their wood in order to do this properly. After that, my dad was able to help - thank the gods he did carpentry. He'd helped me get them rough-sawn and drying to season properly, then later got them cut up into the pieces that I'd needed for this. But it'd taken time. At least I'd been able to use that time to gather all of the other items I needed for this. My cousin was a metalworker and amateur blacksmith....and was more than happy to make all of the various fittings I needed for the cases and their contents. He was also happy to have the chunks of nickel-iron asteroid that I'd given him, both as raw material and payment, since he wanted to try making a few swords of 'starmetal' for some fans he knew. He thought they'd sell rather well, and I didn't mind supplying him.
Leaning back and looking over the cases, I shook my head. The last month or so had gone by quickly as I'd worked to assemble things - and there'd been so much to assemble. Alder frames, with thin planks of hazel forming the interior walls except for one plank of ash on each side to serve as protection on those quarters. Oil infused with rosemary that I'd asked Mnemosyne to bless, rubbed into the interior wood. The 'ventilation screen' woven of narrow, thin strips of oak and elder set in a frame of the same woods and then embedded in the rear wall. Very thin strips of cedar attached along the tops and bottoms of the sides, to make the cases into cedar chests, a traditional image of storage and preservation. The outer facing of thin oak panels put into place, then came the fun part - the innards. Just preparing all of the quartz had taken forever; all of the crystals inscribed on their bases with the names of the five powers that I'd invoked for their aid, arranged in a circle that would form a pentacle if lines were drawn between the names. I'd prepared mugwort and rosemary in more of the water I'd gotten from Greece, and used that to clean the crystals afterwards. Rosemary for memory, and mugwort because one of its traditional uses had been to clean crystals and mirrors for divination, and it seemed to fit in my mind. Gold leaf rubbed into the inscriptions to make them visible. Brackets from my cousin were next, installed along the length of the two long sides. The motorized track that ran along that length in the middle, with the five laser pointers (each with a different wavelength) set on a small motorized arm, so that they could be aimed at the crystals. A small cooling unit in each case, just to make sure things didn't run hot...besides, you could argue that it made each case a mild coldbox, which was another symbol of something that preserved. Piezoelectric sensors attached to the brackets, then the crystals set into place...with each crystal arranged so that the side inscribed with Mnemosyne's name was against the sensor before the brackets were tightened to secure everything properly. And that was just the three smaller cases. The one I'd just put aside was for Fate, since the three Sisters could access it as well through her...and it was larger, with more crystals, and a double set of laser pointer arrays. I was thinking each color and combinations of colors might encode and read data....and a double set would allow intensity to encode as well, which....well, if each possible combination was a memory 'layer' in a crystal, then the smaller cases would be able to do 31 layers for each crystal. But the big case....well, there were 1023 unique combinations with two pointer arrays. I had a feeling the small cases - each the size of a cooler - would be impressive. But the big one, closer to the size of a large trunk - if it worked like I wanted...that should be something else again.
I shook my head. Time to get back to work - there was still more to do before things were finished. The holes for the data and power cables were already in place, but I couldn't add those until after I stained the wood.
---------------------------
The cases were almost done now....gleaming a rich brown, with each of my daughters' names inscribed on her own case in Greek. A simple line drawing of a raven was inscribed on the front of each case as well, and they shone gold against the brown wood, where I'd taken gold foil and crushed it into the lines. The last step for this portion was the clear-coat resin I was putting on to protect everything. I opened the container of resin, stirring it up with a hazel stick, and then took out the small container I'd prepared ahead of time. Opening it up, I poured a pale whitish-yellow dust into the resin, stirring it slowly. "Amber, that which preserves what it contains, one of the oldest preservers...add thy strength to this resin. Like calls to like...so let this resin draw upon thy nature to preserve what is contained within." Once it was mixed in well, I took out a small little pillbox, and carefully poured another bit of dust into the mix, stirring it in. This had been expensive, though not as bad as it would have been if what I'd ground up had been gem quality. "Emerald, enhancer of intellect, add thy strength to this working. As my birthstone, the planetary stone for Taurus as amber is the sun sign....tie me once more into this endeavor, to help create these gifts to my children." When done, I loaded a sprayer, put on a mask, and started to coat the cases with the resin.
-------------------------------------------
The cases were curing; I wanted to let the resin dry for a few days before I added the handwavium. Now, it was time to check and see what had come of that portion of this project. I sat before the container, taking a deep breath. If this hadn't worked, I'd have to start this portion over, though at least I'd have the cases ready. Reaching out, I snapped the locks open, and lifted the lid. And blinked. Okay...this was different. Putting the lid back all the way, I stared down at the handwavium in the tank. It was a color I hadn't seen before - a rich red-gold, leaning almost towards brown-gold...like one of the darker honeys, or ambers. Taking up a hazel stirring rod, I stirred the contents slowly, drawing the rod up to watch the liquid slowly drip back into the tank. It was about the consistency of a thin honey, as well. Using the rod, I stirred a bit more; as far as I could tell, everything had been consumed, transformed into this new strain. Nodding to myself, I got up just long enough to get a large sample jar, and I ladled some of the new strain into it. If this worked, I'd want to try to preserve this strain. It would have...possibilities. Sealing the jar and putting it aside, I set about the main work - transferring the handwavium into four different containers, each clearly labeled with one of my daughters' names. Once that was done, I set the main culture container aside to be cleaned later, and turned my attention to the portions I'd divvied up. I'd had to use one of those little rotary tools to get this next bit, with the sanding wheel handwaved. And it had been the part that had worried me the most, since I didn't know if it would hurt the girls. Fortunately, it hadn't seemed to cause any problems. Into each of the portions, I added the tiniest bit of dust. "By the law of contagion, let this dust allow ye to connect to my daughters. Removed from their cases...once connected, always connected. " I stirred the portions of handwavium up well, then sealed them and set them aside. Once the wood cases were cured, I'd apply the handwavium, and we'd see what we got.
---------------------------------------------------------
The big day had arrived. I'd applied the handwavium the day before, with...appropriate music playing while I worked: Please, Mr Compatibility; I Built A Better Model Than The One At Data General; Do It Yourself (You Can Build A Mainframe From The Things You Have At Home); The World Inside The Crystal; Deep Space, Cyberspace. Every positive computer song I could find, put on repeat play while I was finishing up. Then I let it cure overnight. Now I'd get to see the results...whatever they were. Entering the workshop, I blinked. "Ok....that's different." Going over, I regarded them with an arched eyebrow. They hadn't changed in appearance too much. Well...except for the trees. From the top of each case, near the back, a miniature tree had sprung forth. Peering at them, I hmmed. Oh, I recognized them. How could I not, after having looked for their counterparts when I was searching for wood? Clotho's case had a small alder rising from the top, and Atropos' case had an elder. That made sense to me - maiden and crone. Lachesis had a small grove on her case - hazels from the look of them. And was that...? I blinked, and looked closer. A dark spot on the case....water? I reached out a fingertip and touched it. Hard, smooth...no, it just felt like the resin coating the cases. But it LOOKED like a pool of water. There was a small flash of movement deep within the pool. I closed my eyes, and nodded. "Ok....salmon to go with the hazels." Fate's case had a larger tree on it. While the others had trees around six inches tall or so, the one on her case came to nearly a foot - a tall ash, three big roots disappearing into the lid of the container....and what appeared to be a small pool of water under the hollow of the roots. I hrmed softly. Fate was always the one I associated more with the Norns. It wasn't surprising she'd get a representation of THAT particular tree on her case. I shook my head, then shrugged, calling out. "OK, girls! Ready to try your presents and see if this worked?" All four of them answered, fairly close to as one, and definitely in the affirmative. "Let's see how good I am at this crafting business when it's not alive, shall we?" With that, I started to crate the cases off to hook up, to see what we'd gotten.
----------------------------------------------------
Jason's Logbook
Wow. That's pretty much all I have to say. Once we'd gotten everything hooked up, the cases DID show up as available memory to the girls, so I'd managed that much as least. Fate had tested the transfer rate, and copied a hundred gig of files to her case in about thirty seconds, which had both of us happy. But they've been playing with the things for weeks now, and even the Sisters haven't gotten the percentage of used memory to change. That was almost scary...if THEY had that much, the amount of data that Fate's might be able to hold... They originally started out joking about downloading the internet. Now, I think Fate was actually considering doing it. Or at least trying to see how much she could get. And I'd found another side-effect of the handwavium, besides the trees. Most of the time, it wasn't too distracting...well, except for Fate's. Her case....worried me, a tiny bit. When Clotho used her case, we'd sometimes hear what sounded like a raven's caw coming from inside. Lachesis...well, hers was quieter. You'd sometimes hear a scratching...like a pen on rough paper. When Atropos was accessing hers, we'd usually hear what sounded like another bird call. Checking, we'd confirmed it was that of an ibis. Of course, that wasn't the only sound from her case; sometimes we'd get what sounded like the cries of a primate - a baboon in this instance. She didn't seem surprised - she even said once it started happening that she liked Djehuti, so I guess it made sense. That worried me a little, too. But Fate's case....well, whenever she was writing anything to it, there was always the faintest murmur of sound - someone talking. Her voice is rather distinctive, so I could tell it was hers, but the words were too faint to make out. I was pretty sure it wasn't English, and from little I could hear, I was willing to bet it was Greek. The bit that always spooked me was when she accessed the case. I could hear her ask questions...and another female voice, still too soft to understand but clearly in the same language, would answer back. Yes, it's probably just a quirk of the handwavium, but I AM a pagan, and some small part of me keeps insisting that Mnemosyne - and possibly some of the others that I had invoked - had taken up residence in the containers. Needless to say, I'm very polite and respectful around all of them...just in case.
I've tested the new handwavium strain as well. I dipped my old MP3 player in it; the thing was only a 1 GB player, and I was curious as to what would happen. It didn't appear to change much, though the handwavium did appear to change the battery into something that didn't need recharging - some sort of power cell? The menu was now in Greek as well, which took a bit of time with the girls to translate everything for me, so I could figure out what I was seeing. When I connected it up to check the memory size, however....well, if I wanted to, I could EASILY put my music collection on it - ALL of it - because the thing now registered as one PETAbyte. Up six orders of magnitude....I'm going to have to keep this new strain growing, and experiment a bit more. It definitely looks interesting. Fred might like some, too. I know he can't keep David supplied in enough memory, and it would be fun to see what he could come up with using it. I'll have to talk to him about it, see if he wants some to play with.
------------------------------------
So - this is me in full overkill mode. I figure the handwavium strain is mostly centered around creating/enhancing memory devices. At this point, I don't think it would do much else. But if you want that, it does it very well indeed. I'm not even sure at what amount of memory I'd put the cases. I figure the three smaller ones are above the petabyte level, though I'm not sure by how much (since at least part of the handwavium's effect would have had to have been directed towards making the cases WORK), but Fate's case...well, no matter how you look at it, it's probably scary. Anybody have any thoughts on this? Things you'd do differently, things you hate, or like? Or suggestions for the amount of memory? I'm curious as to what you think. Let me know.

[Duane Peters]

All I can say is: wow. Just wow.

[Bob Schroeck]

Likewise. Wow.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[CattyNebulart]

As a man of Science I would have to express doubts about such primitive methods, but on seeing their efectivness this would obviosly warant further testing.
In other words you probably want to keep it away from the Professor.
OOC: I like the effect you got out of all your work, a specialized form of handwavium.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[robkelk]

Nifty!
If (or when) Noah finds out about this stuff, he's going to be making Kev a substantial offer for a set of four near-identical system upgrades...

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Feinan]

*grin* Thanks, guys. I'm glad you liked it. One or two notes:
The new Memory-handwavium - it doesn't culture well on most media. Minimum medium requirement is one of hazelnuts, and you only get a growth rate about half of normal on that. Minimum effective requirement is a medium of hazelnuts and rosemary, which will yield a normal growth rate.
*grin* Alternate culture medium - one of parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Yields a growth rate of about 75-80% of normal, but you have to play Simon and Garfunkel tunes during the growth cycle. 'Scarborough Fair' is preferred, of course, and it will take some covers of that tune as well as the one by S&G.
I've been trying to work out memory levels for the cases. I keep looking at some range in the petabytes for the small cases - 20, 50, maybe 100 petabytes. It might have been even more, but the handwavium had to spare attention to making the cases WORK. Fate's case, though, the big one....I have no clue. The mischievous side of me is tempted to set it to 1 yottabyte, and ask you all if you think that's too small...just to see the reactions. We'd be able to make money in data storage, too. It's not as if we'd run out of room. The serious side of me is almost wondering if that's reasonable, given nearly a year of effort and the amount of work in the project. Though I probably should shave it down a level or so. Still, it tempts me. Thoughts?
And just so you don't have to look up that particular prefix if you've not run into it before, it's 10^24. Or 1 quadrillion gigabytes.

[M Fnord]

...holy shit, that's computronium. I didn't even realize it until you started throwing numbers around but... holy shit.
That's... wow. That's enough horsepower for Fate to bootstrap herself into a (weakly/strongly) godlike AI given enough clock time and the impetus. I have no words.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Sirrocco]

Personally, my thought would be more along the lines of "unfathomably large." Just set it to unfathomably large and run with it. It's not giving particularly good feedback on how large it is, after all. The only way to find out how big it *really* was would be to try to fill it. Figure that everything you and yours can think of to fill it comes up with a "nope. try again" until you give up. After that, you just #define "do I need more storage now?" to "no", and react accordingly. There's a point after which adding another order of magnitude just doesn't *help* all that much.
Also, I'd bet that this stuff would have a strong tendency towards the mythical - particularly in quirks. That's going to be interesting for the people who just want it for its "hold a lot of data" nature - particularly since... We already have what looks like the beginnings of a unique mythical AI/Voice Of The Goddess springing spontaneously from this stuff

[Feinan]

---

...holy shit, that's computronium. I didn't even realize it until you started throwing numbers around but... holy shit.

---

*laughs* Yeah, I know. I didn't realize quite how big that was, either, until I started looking at some numbers. Estimated size of the Internet in 2002 - 500,000+ terabytes. 1 yottabyte = 1 trillion terabytes = 2 million copies of the Internet. Nothing like enough backups, right? Well, the girls DID want to download the Internet. Of course, now the bottleneck isn't available memory - it's connection speed. I don't suppose the Professor has created an FTL modem yet?
Now, mind you...this is simply memory storage, like a hard drive. I don't think it would allow Fate to become anything resembling a god (though I'm not a computer expert - COULD it?). On the other hand...it MIGHT let her accumulate enough data on the world, people, and such that it could explain why she's so good in the role of 'mysterious Oracle.' Perhaps she's pulling a Mycroft - HE was rather good with predicting things too, given enough data.
I'm not strongly wedded to that figure, by the way. I could easily shave it down by orders of magnitude, if people think I should. It just seemed that with all the concentrated effort put into the cases, especially the big one, that the amount of data storage SHOULD be something totally outrageous.
Sirrocco - that might be better. Unfathomably large is good.

---

Also, I'd bet that this stuff would have a strong tendency towards the mythical - particularly in quirks. That's going to be interesting for the people who just want it for its "hold a lot of data" nature - particularly since... We already have what looks like the beginnings of a unique mythical AI/Voice Of The Goddess springing spontaneously from this stuff

---

*grins* Considering I invoked five different powers, from four different mythologies, I'd say that was a given. Mnemosyne's voice isn't the only one, after all. The raven from Clotho's case could be Muninn, and the ibis from Atropos is a representation of Djehuti. Even the trees that sprang from the cases have their mystical significance. Now mind you, the cases were made to resonate to those particular influences. It's why they interacted so well. Applied to a regular MP3 player, it upped the power by several orders of magnitude, but considering that the cases were non-functioning and THOSE were given huge amounts of storage...well, applied to regular computer memory chips/devices, you'll see a big boost, but nothing on the order of what happened in the cases. You probably WILL see related quirks to the mythical, as you said - the MP3 player's menus went to Greek instead of English, a fairly straightforward tie to Mnemosyne - but they might not be as clearly mythical as the ones that the cases show.

[Sirrocco]

assuming that storage space is not a bottleneck (let's just set it to "arbitrary" at the moment) then the following things quite possibly still are.
- Access speed. This one has actually been defined as "pretty darn quick" as well, so it's probably not *much* of a restriction in this case, but you still do have to pull the data *out* of storage before you can use it.
- RAM: assuming access speed is high enough, then The Boxes would actually be able to function as RAM as well, making them a double boost. If the access speed is not so fast, though, you still have to filter things through RAM in order to treat them as anything other than undifferentiated blocks of raw data.
- Processing speed: there's nothing you can do anout this one. You're short -term and long-term memory have both been upped arbitrarily, but the girls still have a limit on how fast they can flip bits. Mind you, as AIs, this speed will already be significantly higher than most computers, but it's still a limitation.
- OS-equivalents and basic algorithms: essentially, aspects of personality, and how competent the girls are at doing various tasks. The bit in the program where it says "access this bit of information and get back to me" will speed up, and overall processing will note some speed improvements with it, but the likelihood of coming up with more correct answers given the same data will be unchanged.
- Input streams: everything that goes into the box has to come through them. You have privelidged data transfer internally, but the input feeds are still the same. Also, adding truly large amounts of data in is probably really boring.
- Organization and sorting: You can download the internet if you want to, but you still have to search through the thing in order to get anything from it - and searching still has to be done with CPU cycles. You can sort it into more efficient formats if you like, but then the sorting has to be done with CPU cycles - and most of it is probably *also* really boring.
- Psychology: Having an arbitrarily large long-term-memory equivalent issn't a big deal. It doesn't matter until you think about it. If you're using it for short-term memory, though (RAM, in this case) that means that you're pretty much constantly aware of the contents of your in-box RAM partition. Assuming that there isn't a problem with distraction, it may still feel Really Strange, and, for some folks, a bit on the uncomfortable side.

[M Fnord]

---

Now, mind you...this is simply memory storage, like a hard drive. I don't think it would allow Fate to become anything resembling a god (though I'm not a computer expert - COULD it?).

---

It's an open question. If it's all nothing but dead storage, then probably not. But even if the tiniest fraction of the cabinet's storage space was processor computronium - a couple of ounces - then the cabinet would have roughly the same amount of computing power as the entire Internet ca. 2002.
That, as they say, is some heavy shit.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[Feinan]

Those sound like reasonable limitations to me, Sirrocco, especially things such as processor speeds and the like. Yes, the systems Fred set up for me were top of the line when they were put in, but even handwaved, I don't think that would be improved enough to worry about the godlike bit.
*grin* Of course, I'm not a computer expert. It might be interesting to see a system specifically designed for extreme power by Fred or the Professor, using this stuff on key memory parts. *chuckles* Could be scarier - could be a collaborative effort. Me, I'd like to see it. From a safe distance. Barnard's Star sounds about right....
*snickers* And, M Fnord? Remember when I said part of me was hoping to see people's reactions? Yours was everything I could've hoped for. Thank you.

[Sirrocco]

consider this as being appropriately inspired.

I took the package with shaking hands - shaking more than normal. I finished signing off on the delivery, wished a nice day... evening, I mean. Was it evening already? ...a nice evening on the young man who'd brought it. He smiled and left, and I carefully closed the door. This deserved some care. Martha was sleeping already, bless her. That would make this easier. I took it into the kitchen, and laid it on the table.
I stared at it, then, stared for a long minute as I thought about what I was about to do. Then I went to fetch the herbs.
The busywork was over too soon. Time to do what had to be done. I opened the cardboard boz, and pulled the small glass jar out from inside - the small glass jar filled with a liquid like dark honey. Even had a picture of a bee on the label. No turning back now. I opened the lid and spoke to it. They said that talking to it helped.
"Listen, I need help. They say that you can help with memory. I..." my voice cracked. I hoped it would be enough. I picked up the long, uncut sprigs of parsely, sage, rosemary and thyme off of the table and pushed them into the stuff, and then I sang.
Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsely Sage Rosemary and Thyme.
My voice is old now, and weaker than once it was, but, it will be enough.
Remember me to one who lives there.
For she once was a true love of mine."
Memory, that's the first mark. I let it take me away into the song.
Tell her to make me a cambric shirt,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Without any seam nor needlework,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
I could have gotten a tape player for this, but it wouldn't have been right. This has to be right. Has to *make* it right.
Tell her to wash it in yonder dry well,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never sprung water nor rain ever fell,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
It hurts to sing. I remember too many things. I remember how she used to look at me, up on the stage.
Tell her to dry it on yonder thorn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Which never bore blossom since Adam was born,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
I remember the lights and heat of the lamps, and the roar of the crowds, and her face outshining them all. I remember how she'd sing my songs back to me, note-perfect, just from hearing them once.
Ask her to do me this courtesy,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And ask for a like favour from me,
And then she'll be a true love of mine.
I remember it all... and she doesn't remember any of it.
Have you been to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Remember me from one who lives there,
For he once was a true love of mine.
My voice almost fails me as I reach the solo that should have been a duet, but I keep going. Fresh tears spring from my eyes, and I let them fall into the jar. They say it likes symbols.
Ask him to find me an acre of land,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Between the salt water and the sea-sand,
For then he'll be a true love of mine.
...and now I have to sing her part for her, because she can't sing for herself. I've been doing a lot of that, lately. I do it because I have to.
Ask him to plough it with a lamb's horn,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And sow it all over with one peppercorn,
For then he'll be a true love of mine.
I've done impossible things - mad things. Just here in front of me, I have enough of the "demon goo" to get me shot - but love asks for impossible things, sometimes.
Ask him to reap it with a sickle of leather,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
And gather it up with a rope made of heather,
For then he'll be a true love of mine.
Just getting in touch in the first place wasn't the hard part. I just walked into the local gaming store and asked. That wasn't the hard part.
When he has done and finished his work,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Ask him to come for his cambric shirt,
For then he'll be a true love of mine.
The hard part was going through with it. The hard part was standing up, however hidden, and saying that I was willing to break the law and pay the price for it if I was caught. I've never... except now I have.
If you say that you can't, then I shall reply,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
Oh, Let me know that at least you will try,
Or you'll never be a true love of mine.
Love imposes impossible tasks,
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme,
But none more than any heart would ask,
I must know you're a true love of mine.
Love asks the impossible, and love does its best to answer. The song ends, just one old man's reedy voice, and then I start it up again. They say that it needs the song to do right. I'll keep singing until dawn, if I have to. I don't really know what will happen to her. I don't know what she'll think about it - about *me*, but I have to. The Alzheimers has taken my baby away, and I need her back. Please bring her back.
...then She'll be a true love of mine...

[Feinan]

Gods...you've got me in tears, Sirrocco. I can relate far too well to this - I loved both of my grandmothers very dearly, and in the end, neither one recognized me. And my mom's mother, who practically helped raise me....it was a long process. For a purpose like this...for THIS...I'd move heaven and earth to deliver samples of the stuff. Beautiful.
Edit - It's...also appropriate that it arrived disguised as honey. My mom's dad was a beekeeper, and I have some fond memories of helping Grandma prepare comb honey to be sold in the summer. In remembrance of her, I probably would send it disguised like that.

[CattyNebulart]

Nice one Sirricco. A good use of the handwavium strain.

---

*grin* Of course, I'm not a computer expert. It might be interesting to see a system specifically designed for extreme power by Fred or the Professor, using this stuff on key memory parts. *chuckles* Could be scarier - could be a collaborative effort. Me, I'd like to see it. From a safe distance. Barnard's Star sounds about right....

---

Well to get the best effect you probably want to build custom hardware, treat the L1 cache with this stuff, and after you figure out how big it has gotten desing a custom caching algorithm to take advantage of it. (or just adjust a caching algoritm to deal with multi terabyte sizes)
Depending on the size you probably want to throw out the other cache levels, since they do add overhead.
If the stuff does increase memory throughput caut the bus liberaly with the stuff, and of course main memory needs to be treated as well.
Then you'll probably want to treat the rest of the chip and most of the other hardware with a strain of handwavium that is good at speeding up things.
Now you just need to software that can use all this computing power, but the biggest bottleneck, waiting for memory accsess should be pretty much gone with the handwaved L1 cache, which alone should account for a dramatic speedup.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Bob Schroeck]

I agree with Feinan. Tears. My grandmother went the same way, and my father's going down the same road now -- not Alzheimer's in his case, but Parkinson's that's doing more to his mind than his body.
Oh, and Feinan? The coven on the GC are going to want to work with you when they find out about your methods -- and your results. Trust me on this.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Feinan]

---

Oh, and Feinan? The coven on the GC are going to want to work with you when they find out about your methods -- and your results. Trust me on this.

---

*grin* Sounds like fun, Bob. I've always been more a solitary than a member of a coven, but it might be fun to do some group work. And talking shop is always nice. *chuckle* Mind you, the overkill mode I was demonstrating is for important things. Most of the time for simple stuff, I probably do like a lot of people, and just put something together quickly and slap some goo on it. It's when I want the really COOL results that I pull out all the stops.
*chuckles* At some point, I might put together a little snippet on how I made the Sunbeam tool I mentioned elsewhere. More technomancy - fun stuff.

[Feinan]

---

Then you'll probably want to treat the rest of the chip and most of the other hardware with a strain of handwavium that is good at speeding up things.

---

You just had to say this, didn't you...It took me probably an extra hour to get to sleep last night, because my brain refused to let up on the idea of how to create such a strain. Currently, it's leaning towards a culture medium of coffee beans, coca leaves and sugar, and probably an invocation of Hermes/Mercury for the main deity involved...I'll get back to you on this.
Does anybody have a problem with the Jason experimenting with strain creation? Biomodding is his best ability, he is a biologist and does well with all sorts of living organisms...and in a way, this is biomodding handwavium. I've even got an idea or two in my head where, in response to the Con, he tries for an actual weapons-grade handwavium strain. Nothing that would really break what we've already established; it would be more a refinement. It might help hand-to-hand weapons a bit (swords, anyone?), definitely help in shielding of all types, and for those people who have already figured out how to make improvised weapons with regular handwavium, allow them to strip their improvised weapons down to the bare basics. It's just...I have this scene in my head. Something that to me feels as powerful as the one ritual I did for the memory strain. And one that I can see what the result might look like. Let me know what you all think?

[Sirrocco]

I dunno. The being able to do it itself isn't a problem, but I personally would tend to class "specialized strain of handwavium" as a Really Cool Thing - one for each strain. It's a particularly effective form of controlled handwavium effect. I do feel that the memory strain was well enough written, and showed enough in-character investment (both of resources and emotionally) to justify itself. It also strikes me as entirely plausible that the character would then turn around and decide to start growing more of the things. I just think that maybe you should have something that would limit his *success* in the area, or otherwise he's going to wind up with a library of "pick one" handwavium strains that will let him pretty much give upgrade-of-choice on demand.

[Feinan]

Believe it or not, I've been thinking about that as well. The major limit on what he can do is time. Most of the ideas that he has for creating strains tend to fall under the heading of 'major rituals' and he needs to gather quite a few odds and ends in order to focus well enough. You saw some of the effort he went through for the memory strain. And that's probably been a year or two in the past, with no new strains since then. When he saw that he HAD created a new strain and played with it a bit, he considered what else he might want to make. The idea of the 'speed' strain is one such, and the 'weapons' strain - that one as something he didn't really even WANT to make, unless circumstances forced his hand - and I figure he has gathered the ingredients he needs for both. But he's got a lot on his plate. Mods for the Martian terraformers, asteroid farming, his Golden Apples....If he thought he had a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding, what he'd REALLY like to try to make is a Time Turner, from Harry Potter. He could really use one. And if he does go ahead and make the 'weapons' strain and get involved in the Boskone fight through that, then he won't be making the speed strain, quite possibly for months.
Trying to force the handwavium into a strain isn't something that he's going to be doing once or week, or anything like that. You're looking at months of effort in just getting what he views as the necessary ingredients for one of them...and even once he has them, he might not get around to doing a ritual until he has the time and/or inclination. *chuckle* Also - testing. Once he has a strain, he'll want to test it some, which means more experiments, which means even more delays. He likes to know what he's dealing with. If you see one new strain a year, he'll be pushing himself a lot. And that's if he even gets an idea he likes for one. The speed one is a logical followup after seeing the success of memory, and the weapons strain is his defender nature acting up. But since collecting the stuff for those two, he's not really been inspired for anything else, at least not yet. He probably will be getting an idea for an opposite to the weapon strain centered on creating healing items, but at the time he's making the weapons strain, that will just be the start of an idea. You've still got the planning, and the months of collecting, then. Does this seem a reasonable limit to you?
And I think I will write up the weapons ritual, then see what people think of it before deciding on the results. Work for you guys?