Video, Llama 19, Afternoon

[piercinggaze]

[Auditi fusses for a moment, trying to find a flattering camera angle - not unaware that she's being filmed already, but apparently not particularly concerned about starting promptly. She's humanoid but visibly nonhuman, with grey skin and heavily scrimshawed orange horns.]

Ah, hey, I mentioned this the other day to someone but I figured I might as well get it right out here for everyone -

My name's Auditi Blyght, I guess I'm ugh orange team? I'm also mostly trained as a physindustrialist back home - I build and install automated prostheses. Mostly trained means I'm not signed off on sensory apparata or spinal-crainial interfaces yet, but I'm good on most limb replacements! Been doing 'em for a couple of sweeps now actually.

Anyway! Obviously I'm not set up for new projects just now - and hopefully no one's in dire need of a new limb - but! [She jabs a finger in the air for emphasis.] If anyone's got existing prosthetic limbs and needs some technical support I'd be happy to lend a graspprong. Can't promise I'll be familiar with everyone's tech, obvs, but I'm pretty good at fixing things and I promise I won't take anything apart that I'm not really confident I can put back together. [A short pause, considering.] I mean, not unless it's like actively electrocuting you or something.

Also I do piercings if you've got jewelry to put in 'em.

Comments

[subcircuits]

[Gasp! No, seriously, he gasps, the sound audible before the man comes into camera view.]

You do augments? [He scoots up real close to the screen.] Integrated or modular? You say 'spinal/cranial interface'; do you mean an Interface interface-- [He taps the gadget he's wearing on his eye.] --you know, a peripheral, or-- you can't be talking about Implants, right?

Have your people crossed the cytokinetic barrier?

[piercinggaze]

[The troll grins. She's a little uncertain of some of the jargon he's using, but the excitement is infectious. Not that it takes a lot to get Auditi excited, really.]

Mostly what I do is integrated prostheses for amputees, I can do enough neurointerfacing to get adequate coordination for most tasks and some rudimentary pressure and temperature feedback, but I haven't got the training for the really complicated biointegration work you'd need for like, visual or aural processing. [She waves a hand in a slightly dismissive gesture.] And the kind of biopsionic engineering you need for helm builds is a whole different specialization, I don't work with psionics.

I'm not sure quite what you mean by cytokinetic barrier? Like, direct tech to neural tissue connections, or something more?

[subcircuits]

[That jargon thing is mutual, but they're both smart, technical minded people, aren't they? They can figure this out! Devero, in fact, is visibly thinking as she speaks, breaking apart her jargon to read between the lines.]

No, no, that's exactly what I mean. And your people did it, didn't they? Direct tech to neural interfacing, direct biointegration? [His eyes are alight.] We've never quite gotten there. We can't get the inflammatory and infectious response stuff under control without immunosuppressing to dangerous levels.

[piercinggaze]

Oh! Oh, yes, direct integration is tricky if you don't have the right materials. Do your people only work with inorganic materials? We find it's easier to establish and maintain the connection with a biological scaffolding element to bridge between the patient and the mechanical parts.

[subcircuits]

[He rubs his chin, expression going distant and thoughtful.] I honestly don't know how extensively we've looked into that. On my world, there are-- [He grimaces.] Immunological concerns. We have to be very careful about anything that could introduce pathogens into the body.

[piercinggaze]

Mmm. [She considers for a moment. That seems like a pretty dire shortcoming, but then, it's a known fact that trolls tended to be physically hardier than most of the alien species the empire had encountered. Something about having a homeworld that was constantly trying very hard to kill everyone on it, probably.] Maybe trolls handle infection a bit better than you folks, then. I mean! We do get infections, but mostly not through the physindustrial work itself? Most of the real bad cases of sepsis I've had to deal with, the contamination happened through the initial injury.

The bioelectronic tissue grafts really do help, though, most people can't take a neurointegration with biologically inert materials. And if the interface site is too extensive it gets nasty when it starts rejecting.

[subcircuits]

Could be. There was a bad plague on my version of Earth, though, one that no other version seems to have endured-- you'll find there's a lot of alternate Earths represented here, if you haven't already, by the way. Where I come from, we... play it safe. No one wants to risk a re-emergence of the Pathogen.

[Plus, there are several humans on the train with augments that have crossed the cytokinetic barrier. He knows it's not a human thing, it's a Devero's-reality thing.]

That's probably why we haven't been doing too much experimenting with-- how did you phrase it? Bioelectronic tissue grafts? Much less risk of infection to pair internal Implants with external Interfaces, but it does limit us in some ways.