05-23-2016, 10:33 AM
Over the next few days, Carmelita got Chip situated in terms of housing and a small workshop. An inn had an abandoned blacksmith’s available for use, and the same building Carmelita had been staying in was perfectly happy to accept a paying resident in addition to the one sequestered there by Roland’s request. The two of them talked shop for designs and plans for everything from manufacturing shock batons to salvaging old Imperial walkers to turn into riot control mechs. The first physical items to be constructed, though, were communicators. Carmelita had mentioned the lack of a phone network and the uselessness of radios between dimensions, and Chip had been quick to reveal another facet of Omniphysics that the vixen had yet to grasp. The two quickly went to town reconfiguring some of Carmelita’s old sting operations communicator gear into proper communicators.
“...and now we add some holographic tech and the glasses will also function as a heads-up display for future features we add.”
“Okay, you want some more copper for that then?”
“Yes please, and another one of those micro-projectors I showed you. Oh, and a socket while we’re at it, so we can use them in conjunction with Dataverse access.”
“Would it not be better to combine them into a single device?”
“Not if we want redundancy. All sorts of nasty things can be transmitted through the Dataverse, and routing all that through a separate, replaceable unit avoids risk of contamination of the communication hardware. I’d need a proper software engineer to handle proper anti-virus code, and you’d be trusting them with a potential backdoor to your communications.”
“Right…” Carmelita nodded, not quite understanding Chip’s words but taking what she did as fact. The girl had a natural instinct when it came to constructing the items, her three eyes giving her unparalleled perception of the configuration of the space she was working in, and her hands were nimble and steady.
Taking a soldering iron, Chip made the additions and smoothed it over, reassembling the smooth plastic covering and checking it over once more. She smiled and handed it to Carmelita, who quickly adapted her omnilium and produced another from a rainbow bubble. The two aligned their comms, and Carmelita spoke into the small black mike that sat by her muzzle.
“Testing, testing, Chip is a genius.”
Chip blushed red through her purple fur, giving a thumbs up. Carmelita smiled and looked at the next set of schematics, summoning the pieces needed for Chip to construct the Dataverse connection. The girl got to work, putting together a small black cuboid with an extendable socket lead. Carmelita slotted the device onto her belt, trailing the wire up beneath her jacket and slotting it into the socket in the head piece.
The next few hours were spent testing the two devices. The nondescript black box easily connected to the headset, two small, adjustable earpieces that were connected to an orange eyepiece apiece.The eyepieces were usually folded away behind the ears, but when a digit was pressed to a button the two orange lenses descended in front of the eyes and connected firmly, holographic tech allowing for overlays and a virtual keyboard.
Chip gave a small grin as the two packed up that evening, ready to go get something to drink.
“What’s next?” she asked as they strolled from the workshop down to one of the saloons. “I assume you’ve been giving it thought?”
Carmelita nodded.
“If I were to try recruiting right now, there’s not much to offer in terms of support. I was thinking we could go out and find one of the abandoned facilities left out in the Dunes, one suited for turning into a base of operations in this verse. It’d need to have the stuff you need, some defensibility and plenty of space, but I’m sure we can find something.”
Chip frowned momentarily, before nodding her assent.
“...and now we add some holographic tech and the glasses will also function as a heads-up display for future features we add.”
“Okay, you want some more copper for that then?”
“Yes please, and another one of those micro-projectors I showed you. Oh, and a socket while we’re at it, so we can use them in conjunction with Dataverse access.”
“Would it not be better to combine them into a single device?”
“Not if we want redundancy. All sorts of nasty things can be transmitted through the Dataverse, and routing all that through a separate, replaceable unit avoids risk of contamination of the communication hardware. I’d need a proper software engineer to handle proper anti-virus code, and you’d be trusting them with a potential backdoor to your communications.”
“Right…” Carmelita nodded, not quite understanding Chip’s words but taking what she did as fact. The girl had a natural instinct when it came to constructing the items, her three eyes giving her unparalleled perception of the configuration of the space she was working in, and her hands were nimble and steady.
Taking a soldering iron, Chip made the additions and smoothed it over, reassembling the smooth plastic covering and checking it over once more. She smiled and handed it to Carmelita, who quickly adapted her omnilium and produced another from a rainbow bubble. The two aligned their comms, and Carmelita spoke into the small black mike that sat by her muzzle.
“Testing, testing, Chip is a genius.”
Chip blushed red through her purple fur, giving a thumbs up. Carmelita smiled and looked at the next set of schematics, summoning the pieces needed for Chip to construct the Dataverse connection. The girl got to work, putting together a small black cuboid with an extendable socket lead. Carmelita slotted the device onto her belt, trailing the wire up beneath her jacket and slotting it into the socket in the head piece.
The next few hours were spent testing the two devices. The nondescript black box easily connected to the headset, two small, adjustable earpieces that were connected to an orange eyepiece apiece.The eyepieces were usually folded away behind the ears, but when a digit was pressed to a button the two orange lenses descended in front of the eyes and connected firmly, holographic tech allowing for overlays and a virtual keyboard.
Chip gave a small grin as the two packed up that evening, ready to go get something to drink.
“What’s next?” she asked as they strolled from the workshop down to one of the saloons. “I assume you’ve been giving it thought?”
Carmelita nodded.
“If I were to try recruiting right now, there’s not much to offer in terms of support. I was thinking we could go out and find one of the abandoned facilities left out in the Dunes, one suited for turning into a base of operations in this verse. It’d need to have the stuff you need, some defensibility and plenty of space, but I’m sure we can find something.”
Chip frowned momentarily, before nodding her assent.