[Story][Season 0] Retrospectroscope

[Ace Dreamer]

Retrospectroscope - 20/Jul/2012
Start July 2010, Dublin.
It'd been a busy six months.  Arthur was amazed he was still sane.  Assuming he was.  Janet was OK, and Alice had become a not-quite member of the family.
He was now a tens-of millionaire.  The Tax Man had taken a good chunk, of course.  But, after Eire's recent financial problems, Arthur liked to think he was doing his small bit to help.
They'd diversified, a bit, and become a small telecom provider, even though they hadn't got a spectrum license; their competitors were still complaining about that.  Volume was still limited by Alice providing mind phones - she had to wave each one herself, using one of her humanoid bodies.  The base stations were less of a problem.
He'd attended his first Fen convention.  KandorCon.  Amazing.  In many respects he was still a 'Dane, but his friends said there was still time for hope.  He'd taken his aunt along, and Janet, of course.  Alice attended by teleconference; they still hadn't solved her tie to Earth, and she was a lot bigger, these days.
The company was running smoothly.  Kevin Wright was still Managing Director, but he'd let the Sales Director role slip to a new hire; he still kept Personnel Director for himself.  Arthur remained Technical Director, Janet was Head of Engineering, and Alice was Production Director.  Arthur's aunt recommended someone who became Financial Director.
Arthur had changed his name by deed poll - he was now "Arthur Arthurkin".  People accused him of being a bit recursive, but he refused to discuss the matter.  Some were amazed to find his previous name had been "Arthur J. Arthur"; no he would tell them what the 'J' stood for and claimed it was 'Just'.
He'd found time to get his pilots license, and personally flew the team, plus aunt, to Luna, for the con.  They took a pass near some of the finished and still on-going construction works.  Fenspace never ceased to amaze him.  One of Alice's mind phones was wired-in as an emergency pilot, she'd got her license about the same time he did, but they weren't planning on admitting its presence.
Civil rights for AIs was his main reason to attend.  He spoke briefly, himself, but was mainly there to introduce Alice.  She spoke passionately, about being a person with no rights at all, less than a wild animal.  The light-speed delay wasn't too much problem and she was well received.  The mind phones in Arthur and Janet's pockets gave Alice an interesting perspective.
Australia fell into line shortly after KandorCon.  They probably had the most to lose.  AIs were now persons with full rights, but details were still being thrashed out, like competency, and age of majority.  Turing Tests looked likely, but understandably "Voight-Kampff" tests had been voted-down.  Particularly when it was pointed out quite a few Homo Sapiens would fail one.  Organised religion was, predictably, up in arms.
Arthur had attended quite a few con items, and toured the various presentation and dealers rooms.  He headed straight for the second-hand books and media, but suddenly realised he could afford to buy new.  Then, he went back to the second-hand stuff.  He came away with several armfuls.
Just listening to talk in the bars was interesting.  Nearly as good as the technical presentations.  SMOF (Secret Masters?) doing this, First Fen doing that - Stellvia got quite a few mentions, but not, he noticed, O'Neill Station. Once he thought he saw one of the Angels, in the distance, but it was difficult to be sure.  He avoided the more raucous stuff.
They say the retrospectroscope is the only 100% reliable scientific instrument. But, he still felt he should have worked it out.  After they came back from KandorCon he took Bea into the lab, and went over her minutely, component by component.  It was tedious, but the only thing he could think of that they hadn't tested.
All the components matched the parts list he'd used for the ten O'Neill Station AI crew, Nurse Blake, and Janet.  No, he wasn't going to wave-up an AI based on exactly one of those frames, just to test a theory.  Even though it was possible the Hollywood Machine made all the difference.
Then, he double-checked.  There were some PIC micro-controllers used in a number of places that he always programmed himself; Kevin Wright had bought-in pre-programmed ones for production.  On a hunch, he checked his version against downloads extracted from the externally-sourced ones.
All the code and data matched.  But, what was unused space in his, contained text.  Their terms and conditions.  Which included Kevin Wright's:
'Not licensed for off-planet use'.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

META "Retrospectroscope"

Bit of a retrospective, 'time passes' thing; KandorCon attended, in a quietish way. Engineering detective work.

This follows "Collaborative Working" and is the final story in this Chapter; it's the final (planned) 'Arthur' story.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Dartz]

It occurs to me that, if Arthur's active throughout 2010, and given the difficulty of getting 'wavium in ROI at the time, he'd know of the SS Ciara and the people behind her.

Also, I laughed thoroughly. Because that is just such a handwavium thing to do. A sort of HRM...
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

Since Arthur was both instrumental in the AI-rights cause at KandorCon and wealthy in his own right, it's likely that Noah would've invited him to a private meeting sometime after Alice's presentation... just to get to know him better.

Edit: Oh, and to mention this new cross-Fenspace venture called the "Bank of Sol", and ask whether Arthur had any ideas on how to run it. (Or how to not run it, considering what was happening to banks in Eire at the time.)
--
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

[Ace Dreamer]

It occurs to me that, if Arthur's active throughout 2010, and given the difficulty of getting 'wavium in ROI at the time, he'd know of the SS Ciara and the people behind her.

Took me a moment, but I figured out ROI was "Republic of Ireland" and not "Return On Investment". [grin]
I'm currently assuming that Arthur got in early, and has a 'grandfathered' research and development license, for handwavium, under verified safe conditions, as long as he doesn't sell products with detectable levels of handwavium in them.  Incidentally, his "Wright Phones" aren't sold, they're leased.  He does pay his tax bill without complaint, and if they shut him down he can point to all the revenue they'd loose, and it's still going up.  It's likely that he is a consultant to the government on handwavium, though he has to be careful what he says.
There is a good chance he knows at least some of the crew of the SS Ciara, and may have bought them a few drinks.  Whether he pointed them at sources for the various strains of handwavium they needed is another matter, but, if all they wanted was the information to do it for themselves I'm guessing he could avoid breaking any laws.
I suspect that he'd watch the launch of the SS Ciara with considerable interest.

Also, I laughed thoroughly. Because that is just such a handwavium thing to do. A sort of HRM...

Thanks.  Glad to entertain!
They are "Wright Frames" so anything Kevin Wright says should go!
Sorry, I don't know "HRM" except for "Human Resource Management"...
My TLA-fu isn't that good...
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

Since Arthur was both instrumental in the AI-rights cause at KandorCon and wealthy in his own right, it's likely that Noah would've invited him to a private meeting sometime after Alice's presentation... just to get to know him better.

Arthur would certainly be interested in talking to Noah, and attentive people might suspect him of holding him in some awe, though he tries to hide this.
He will make it clear, up front, that he isn't willing to talk about the work he's done on O'Neill Station.
Arthur said at KandorCon that one of his motivations was realising he had a sister, Janet, who was an AI, and that was one selfish reason he was fighting for AI-rights.
He will be interested in knowing what Noah thinks of "Wright Frames", assuming that he's even seen one, seeing as they are a completely hard tech product, which sell for $50k each.

Edit: Oh, and to mention this new cross-Fenspace venture called the "Bank of Sol", and ask whether Arthur had any ideas on how to run it. (Or how to not run it, considering what was happening to banks in Eire at the time.)

Arthur will make it quite clear he is a technologist, not a financier.  Keeping that in mind...
He'd recommend the basic principle "Keep It Simple".  Keep the bankers on a tight leash.
Also, separate any investment arm from the customer accounts side.  Make business loans to small businesses, not big ones, and expect them not to pay for 5+yrs.  Having a micro-loans side might be a good idea.  Helps discourage the loan shark industry.  (Why might Noah suspect Arthur's been on the wrong side of loan sharks? [grin])
He thinks making it a cooperative, member-owned, like the UK Cooperative Bank, might be worth looking at.  "The Co" is well-loved, more accountable, and did quite well in the financial crisis.
But, what would he know? [grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Star Ranger4]

They are "Wright Frames" so anything Kevin Wright says should go!

So, one could say they are, in fact, the Wright stuff?
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Dartz]

They're sure not wrong....

Although, Ciara's crew probably embarrassed the government into a crackdown. And Jet Jaguar sure didn't make it better, antagonising them into chasing him down..... (Still believing Jet was an 'Iron Man' in a suit and not the whole aircraft). It was my intention that the government used the handwavium crisis as smoke and mirrors to take the edge off the economic crisis and push it off the front page of the news, and SS Ciara and Jet Jaguar played right into that. Especially the Ciara, being a former Navy ship bought and handwaved. Jet being a bit 'with great power comes great fun and to hell with your responsibility' didn't make their position better.

Once it's been demonstrated to them that there's money in them thar fen, or the government changes over, or both, they'll sign Kandor just to get in on the cash. It won't be a boom, but it'll be better than a bust, and being an EU market helps.

Oh, and HRM = Handwavium Rights Management. Although it's quite likely that handwavium will also take into account the rights of the user...
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Ace Dreamer]

They are "Wright Frames" so anything Kevin Wright says should go!

So, one could say they are, in fact, the Wright stuff?

And all the other right-on puns...  After all, it is the Wright Brothers everyone remembers...
META: Something weird happen the first time I tried to reply to this.  I ended up on another site, and the SR4 post had disappeared from the thread, and didn't reappear for more than 6hrs.  Weird...
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Ace Dreamer]

They're sure not wrong....

Although, Ciara's crew probably embarrassed the government into a crackdown. And Jet Jaguar sure didn't make it better, antagonising them into chasing him down..... (Still believing Jet was an 'Iron Man' in a suit and not the whole aircraft). It was my intention that the government used the handwavium crisis as smoke and mirrors to take the edge off the economic crisis and push it off the front page of the news, and SS Ciara and Jet Jaguar played right into that. Especially the Ciara, being a former Navy ship bought and handwaved. Jet being a bit 'with great power comes great fun and to hell with your responsibility' didn't make their position better.

Once it's been demonstrated to them that there's money in them thar fen, or the government changes over, or both, they'll sign Kandor just to get in on the cash. It won't be a boom, but it'll be better than a bust, and being an EU market helps.

Oh, and HRM = Handwavium Rights Management. Although it's quite likely that handwavium will also take into account the rights of the user...

OK.  That makes sense.
When do you think they were willing to sign Kandor?  In particular the AI-rights stuff that will really upset the Church?  Did Arthur have to threaten to take his whole business out of Eire?
I ask because its the sort of thing that might be commented on, in the next Arthur stories that I seem to have ended-up writing. [grin]
I'd have never guessed 'rights management'!  I thought 'HR' might be 'His Royal' something.
I think it's likely some poor robot, waved-up from a "Wright Frame", by Fen, ended up confined to Earth, and the story of this got around.
Hopefully it was just an AI remote, not a stand-alone AI.  If it was a stand-alone, and Arthur got to hear, he'd do his best to help with any problems.
Thoughts?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Dartz]

The Irish Government of the 21st century is significantly less worried about bothering the church. Fortunately.

They probably were encouraged to sign it to facilitate The Great Land sale. Or whatever it ended up being called. It got rid of old Ghost estates lying un-lived in for years, while at the same time opening up the economy to knew investment. The Garda Unit for the Bizarre and Unprecedented (GUBU) generally handles most wavium related details, from criminal investigations, to licensing and safety courses. There is a lot of regulation and hoops to jump through, but at the same time it's legal to make and sell hardware. There's bound to be some lobbying going on inside the government from those with a stake in improving relations with space.

And quite a few developers might fund the reelection campaigns of County Councillors to ensure their dying estates are rezoned for 'Removal in Situ', along with the ones that have fallen into State ownership through NAMA.

Also the tax regime here has a wonderful little quirk that allows you to remove your profits tax free through the use of transfer pricing, as there is no tax on sales within a business. So Arther could have a fenspace based corporation that charges licensing fees to his Ireland based corporation that just happen to eat up all of the year's operating profits. It's a little more complicated than that, or course, but that's the basic jist. The reasoning behind it is, that the tax is recouped from employees and from any additional economic activity generated by having work, or from the company buying from local suppliers.

It has the benefit of bloody annoying the Americans. And is about the only thing that makes the economy competitive which is why the corporate tax-regime is defended to the death by our politicians in Europe.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Ace Dreamer]

Also the tax regime here has a wonderful little quirk that allows you to remove your profits tax free through the use of transfer pricing, as there is no tax on sales within a business. So Arther could have a fenspace based corporation that charges licensing fees to his Ireland based corporation that just happen to eat up all of the year's operating profits. It's a little more complicated than that, or course, but that's the basic jist. The reasoning behind it is, that the tax is recouped from employees and from any additional economic activity generated by having work, or from the company buying from local suppliers.

Thanks.  Info greatly appreciated.
Arthur knows he is paying more tax than he needs to.  But, he will probably make use of transfer pricing, at least partially, when he can figure out a good place to set-up a company in Fenspace.
Suggestions?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Rakhasa]

I'd go for Kandor.

As an owner for a big robotics industry, mostly based Eartside, he would want something populated, cosmopolitan and with good comunications with Europe. At this date, the stations of Cislunar Space are mostly private (plus, he'd want to be further form O'Neill)-, the big ones like Genaros or Central should still be under construction. Port Luna is for all purposes an American city, wich sort of beats the purpose of movind away form the Dane authorities. Moonbase Alpha is the place for heavy industry, but it is also, not to put too fine a point, ugly as sin.

He may get a bigger bargain in Marduk, which would be loooking for big business to move in, but it will not even start contruction until mid-2010, and wont' be domed until 2012, so it may be too soon. Likewise with Bristol and the Takeuchi Shipyard; it began in late 2009-early 2010 and was mainly a place to build Cristal cities and senshi ships.

Talking of bargains, let's go back to the L5 stations. A rich man which wants to move outside may be exactly the sort of person to invest in big station projects meant for commerce: Genaros and Central, but also John Henry and Meetpoint; he couls own a sizeabel percentage of space in one of these stations.

Outside Luna, everything may be too far away for Arthur's tastes and needs. Venus, once again, is too early. Mars is a good posibility, Port Phobos and Port Lowell both generalist cities and interesting places for a robotics intdustry, while Helium adds the exotic touch.

[Ace Dreamer]

I'd go for Kandor.

As an owner for a big robotics industry, mostly based Eartside, he would want something populated, cosmopolitan and with good comunications with Europe. At this date, the stations of Cislunar Space are mostly private (plus, he'd want to be further form O'Neill)-, the big ones like Genaros or Central should still be under construction. Port Luna is for all purposes an American city, wich sort of beats the purpose of movind away form the Dane authorities. Moonbase Alpha is the place for heavy industry, but it is also, not to put too fine a point, ugly as sin.

After a careful inspection of the wiki - Kandor looks to be the most sensible choice.
I suspect as he arrives quite early, he'd at least start in Old Kandor.
Maybe he will get a chance to know Vulpine Fury?

Talking of bargains, let's go back to the L5 stations. A rich man which
wants to move outside may be exactly the sort of person to invest in big
station projects meant for commerce: Genaros and Central, but also John
Henry and Meetpoint; he couls own a sizeabel percentage of space in one
of these stations.

Quite a few of the smaller (political) stations might be looking for investment, as well.  Sounds like the sort of thing Arthur might cautiously get involved in.
Genaros is not somewhere Arthur would want to live, and he wouldn't inflict living there on any of his employees.  Though, I think Arthur would be enthusiastic about getting regular updates of the 'Metaverse' VR system.
Central sounds more his sort of place - he's been called a 'Euro Socialist'.

As for Arthur being 'big business', he'd be starting small, but he's considering a number of new ventures which could be quite lucrative.  I wonder how an 'off-Earth' rated version of the "Wright Frame" would do?  Would people pay $50k for a working hard tech robot frame?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[robkelk]

I wonder how an 'off-Earth' rated version of the "Wright Frame" would do?  Would people pay $50k for a working hard tech robot frame?

There aren't that many people who can afford $50k at once, and both Chris Marsden and Noah Scott make their own robot frames... You might need to come up with some sort of financing option.
--
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

[Ace Dreamer]

I wonder how an 'off-Earth' rated version of the "Wright Frame" would do?  Would people pay $50k for a working hard tech robot frame?

There aren't that many people who can afford $50k at once, and both Chris Marsden and Noah Scott make their own robot frames... You might need to come up with some sort of financing option.

I'm pretty sure something could be arranged. [grin]
I guess one interesting question is what happens when you need to maintain damaged stuff (that was made using handwavium) - splash on handwavium and pray?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[robkelk]

That one's more Cobalt's province than mine...
--
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

[Ace Dreamer]

Would people buy a $2k spacesuit, that was comfortable enough to wear as normal clothes?
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Cobalt Greywalker]

something[/i] that works in roughly the right way, but any bonuses will have new quirks to go with them. And if you don't fill the holes with something, it'll be noticably smaller. (The 'Wave needs something to work on, after all).

[quote=']Would people buy a $2k spacesuit, that was comfortable enough to wear as normal clothes?

The Fen already have those, cheaper than that. If you're selling down The Well, maybe if they're desperate and can't wait for delivery.

As an additional question, has Arthur had any contact with Helios Holdings (Galactic)? Being run by a Blue Blazer, I can see Fred (via Buckaroo possibly) making contact.

[Ace Dreamer]

I guess one interesting question is what happens when you need to maintain damaged stuff (that was made using handwavium) - splash on handwavium and pray?

This is a complicated question. The short answer is: It Depends.

I am going to assume you're talking tech here. The best way is to fix it like any other peice of equipment by replacing the fauly parts if they can't be repaired. In jury-rigging situations, Universal Adaptor (a.k.a. 'Waved Duct Tape) can cover a multitude of sins.

In the situation where you don't have spares, but do have all the bits, I can see putting all the bits in roughly the right places in a tub, covering it in goop (I recommend the same strain as used to create it for preference, or the plainest, most generic variety you can get), and putting it out of sight for a few hours. You'll have an intact part, if a bit quirkier than usual, and a bit less goop that you can reuse.

If you don't have all the bits, well you'd probably need some junk that the 'Wave can canibalise. You'll end up with less goop, it'll take longer, and be quirkier, but it'd work.

For delicate work, I'd use a mix of 'Wave and glue and a detail brush (this is probably good for broken pottery as well).

The splash and pray method is pretty much the last resort. You'll have something that works in roughly the right way, but any bonuses will have new quirks to go with them. And if you don't fill the holes with something, it'll be noticably smaller. (The 'Wave needs something to work on, after all).

Thanks for the info.  That makes a lot of sense.  Gives some intermediary stages between repairing the odd crack or surface scrape, and junking and replacing whole sub-modules of something.

Cobalt Greywalker wrote:

---

Would people buy a $2k spacesuit, that was comfortable enough to wear as normal clothes?

The Fen already have those, cheaper than that. If you're selling down
The Well, maybe if they're desperate and can't wait for delivery.

The idea was to sell both on Earth and in Fenspace.
I guess it might depend on what people would pay for a really good suit.  Though, some might think they're a bit 'uniform'.  I'll put a spec up for the 'Wright Suit'.

As an additional question, has Arthur had any contact with Helios
Holdings (Galactic)? Being run by a Blue Blazer, I can see Fred (via
Buckaroo possibly) making contact.

Until very recently (mid 2009) Arthur wasn't much known outside Eire, Dublin in fact.  Then the article 'Waving The Future' appeared in the Irish and UK media (mainly press).  This put him forward as a 'young turk' in the field of safe use of handwavium, describing him among other things as a 'medical researcher' and a generalist, trumpetting the safe use of handwavium for all sorts of purposes.  The article was second-rank, without any specific product releases or anything, but attracted some attention.
Those who poked around found Arthur had originally run a small TV and electronics repair shop, in Dublin, but got sucked-in to doing work for Mr O'Niell (almost certainly on O'Neill Station).  Then, for a short while, ran a recruititing company called "Lagrange Recruitment", which only seemed interested in young women, before returning to contract work.
In the second half of 2009 "Wright Stuff Mechatronics" started, and Arthur would appear to be the technical brains behind this.
They were a single-product company, selling the "Wright Frame", a fully functional hard tech humanoid robot frame with no handwavium content at all, for $50k each.  These had consistently high build quality, implementing all 640+ muscles in the human body, human-grade sense of touch, hearing and eyesight - no sense of smell or taste.  Wright Frames would run on waved Li-on batteries for a few tens of hours, far less using conventional batteries.  No on-board AI, still well in the Uncanny Valley, but pretty credible.  They were selling at least hundreds per year, and all their (credible) potential competitors had detectable levels of handwavium.
The terms and conditions said "not licensed for off-planet use".  At least one Fen got their fingers burned by waving-up a Frame, either as a remote or with a resident AI, the story isn't clear, and finding out it didn't work off-Earth; everything was perfectly OK on return to Earth.  This would seem to be a consistent handwavium quirk, and considering the price tag on the Frames, no Fen bothered to look into it further.
Arthur appears to be working with someone described as his 'sister', Janet, (previous records don't show he has one) and several people who looked to be waved Wright Frames, most notable 'Alice' who spoke to KandorCon.  He's also had contact with what are believed to be senior staff from O'Neill Station.  His nominal boss is Kevin Wright, who incidentally is rarely seen without a companion, referred to as 'Nurse Blake'.
This was all on-Earth stuff, and didn't appear to involve handwavium.  Where things got more interesting was from early 2010 when they got involved in telecommunications.  Initially they issued special phones to all production staff, then started small-scale leasing more widely.  These phones were definately waved, and seemed to side-step them needing to get a spectrum license, i.e. they didn't use radio frequencies, and had cheaper than normal call costs.  The public called them "Wright Phones", or, 'magic phones', because they worked places normal phones didn't.
Arthur had been talking for a while to fen about AI rights, then he spoke at KandorCon, introducing an AI on Earth who'd had major rights problems.  And, implied Boskone issues.  He looks to have appeared on Noah's radar.

Arthur would be quite happy to talk to Fen, like Fred.  He seems to consider himself to be only a minor businessman, and really a technologist, at that.  I'm sure he would be fascinated to talk to Buckaroo.  Seeing as he's expanding into Fenspace, I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to talk to "Helios
Holdings".
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Dartz]

As I glance at my folder of unanswered job applications, I suddenly realise that, should Wright Stuff have advertised any vacant positions, especially those with no experience required (Yeah, out of college)..... I would've happily applied. It's what I studied in, and would've been picked up on by any quick search (Provided experience wasn't an issue). Of course, that's just a random thought. It does make for some interesting implications..... especially since Jet Jaguar is something of an author avatar.

And likely it would've gone unanswered....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Ace Dreamer]

As I glance at my folder of unanswered job applications, I suddenly realise that, should Wright Stuff have advertised any vacant positions, especially those with no experience required (Yeah, out of college)..... I would've happily applied. It's what I studied in, and would've been picked up on by any quick search (Provided experience wasn't an issue). Of course, that's just a random thought. It does make for some interesting implications..... especially since Jet Jaguar is something of an author avatar.

And likely it would've gone unanswered....

Maybe not...  They were advertising for production staff, to work on the Wright Frame production line.  These would have had to work with the automated production system (an AI) using the assigned "Wright Phones" carried everywhere at work.  Jobs in supply, QA, packing, general testing, some customer-facing engineering work, etc.
If Arthur found Jet Jaguar had worked "for him", in later years, he might be quite tickled. [grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Dartz]

Jet, at the time obviously not going by Jet....

Emails in sick one day, then for a few days before finally handing in notice, then apparently dropping off the face of the planet. The armoured menance starts flying over the city soon after.... the resulting phone call might be rather difficult.

"Okay, I modded myself, but that's not me...."

"Then what's that noise in the background...?"

"Uh..... I'm driving with the windows open."
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Ace Dreamer]

Jet, at the time obviously not going by Jet....

Emails in sick one day, then for a few days before finally handing in notice, then apparently dropping off the face of the planet. The armoured menance starts flying over the city soon after.... the resulting phone call might be rather difficult.

"Okay, I modded myself, but that's not me...."

"Then what's that noise in the background...?"

"Uh..... I'm driving with the windows open."

The "Wright Frames" use 'Air Muscles' (640+ of them per frame), and scaled-up these might be a good start on building a power suit.  If nothing else you could get the names of suitable suppliers from work.
While press articles might suggest that Arthur is a 'medical researcher' I'm afraid he has no practical experience in helping people with biomods.  If you've got a socially unacceptable biomod, then his best suggestion is likely acquiring a human-looking alter to puppet - in theory you could make one by waving a Wright Frame.
The company will certainly want to know if you modded yourself on their premises, using company-supplied handwavium - if you're prepared to sign documents to the effect that its all your own work then life will get a lot easier, all round.  I suspect the handwavium licencing authorities will be all over this case.
You might even get a loan to tide you over, and some contract work for the company - anyone who can manage to mod themselves like that must have some interesting tech skills.  Fancy designing some power lifters for them?  How about space suit accessories, like an extended life support booster?
Is 'Jet' going to hang on to the work-supplied "Wright Phone", as a private subscriber?  They are quite inexpensive and handy, and, you could always keep on chatting to the company AI, if you need any help with anything.  You might even get some technical support!  For example, any mantenance work you want done that you can't do for yourself.  Bea Melbourne would be quite willing to come over and assist you.
If you need to slip-off planet quietly, then it's quite likely you would get help.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

[Dartz]

The long story short about what happened to Jet....

Jet started as part of the same society that built the SS Ciara, but didn't like the idea of being cooped up inside Jet used the remaining Ciara stocks, heavily modified, to build the first hardsuit. It quirked to take on a female appearance. Jet stored it, and built a second one which quirked even worse and had to be junked. Jet got back to job work, because actually eating was important.... in between arsing around with electromagnetic things, like a homemade coilgun (Which I did build and which blew up) and a home made railgun....

Jet would not have intentionally done anything to jeopardize his employment, given the economy, so probably wasn't mucking with the company stocks. Jet may have borrowed ideas, and the 'lost' Wright Phone may have ended up as the core of Jet's second suit but that's about it.

The original hardsuit, used an electromagnetic flat-actuating linear motor, as air-muscles would be too large for anywhere but the wings. On top of that, a fiberglass mold was used to cast the armour from a heavy-set mix of handwavium (Over 200kg wet, drying to about 100), metals and ceramics and so much bubblegum crisis. When finished, the iPhone 5 at the core showed signs of awakening, but never made the breakthrough. (It might've been Sylia Stingray, given a wearer). Jet bonded with the suit after consuming the remaining handwavium, which had been stored in a mislabelled container.... though exactly how Jet and the suit came together is a mystery. There might be more Wright Stuff technology and ideas folded in throughout the system.

The mod itself was an accident. Jet was partly embarrassed about it, and extremely worried about the consequences, and about harming someone. Jet's home was quickly torn apart inside from the complete lack of control Jet had over the actuators. He had Go to open a locked door and rip the handle off without even trying sort of strength.

Arthur was probably shown the original, along with the railgun. It's probably how he figures out who the flying cyborg is that's bothering the authorities.

Jet however, is terrified of being arrested and incarcerated, especially after learning to be free and how to fly freely..... and showing up for work would merely confirm who 'Jet' is, while at the same time putting Jet's family under suspicion. Jet was interrogated pretty thoroughly after Ciara's launch, and was threatened with and probably facing (whenever the DPP figured the mess out) some handwavium related charges because of it. Jet's half panicked request to Arthur iwhen he figures it our is that he please not tell anyone. Jet would rather dissappear than have to explain what happened and deal with the personal consequences.

Some contract work.... or even just some under the table nixxers.... would be welcomed. Youtube's revenue sharing alone won't bring in enough money to eat and keep the power on. That definitely fills a gap an explains how Jet made rent for the few months between mod and launch. Jet would also happily take on a powerlifter project, and trade details of the hardsuit, provided payment was cash in hand. Puppet-wise however... I have a story on the boil where Jet gets the puppet being used on the 2020's era story. At this stage, Jet's mindset is still very-much 'human stuck in suit' rather than full blown cybernetic organism.... Jet has no idea what really happened and doesn't learn until after making it to orbit.



Although, Jet left in a desperate state and didn't have time to plan a quiet escape. Jet specifically antagonised the authorities into chasing him down by being pretty reckless while flying, and advertising it.... and had Jet not been out of the home when the police came calling, the resulting struggle might've been nasty. (Some memeticists might argue that, following comic-book conventions, Jet should've become a 'villain' and avoided the fate only by sheer luck.). Arthur may have given quiet warnings beforehand so Jet wasn't at home.

As it is, Jet leaves for orbit wanted for possession of an unlicensed firearm (The railgun), and 'wavium offences with most of the reckless flying charges going away when it becomes clear Jet wasn't operating an aircraft. When the ROI government signs kandor, the 'wavium offences go away... but the firearm charge keeps Jet from returning home.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?