hadriel | ☢ audio

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[Newt has definitely not been up all night building salamander-proof enclosures out of spare Null parts so the fact that he sounds both tired and revved up on way too much coffee is just your imagination.]

Two questions, Hadriel. One: Tell me about the cave monsters. What all has crashlanded here before I got here? Specifically, I'm looking for stuff that a person could feasibly, like, catch. Or at least put down and drag into town for some post-mortem studying. This includes stuff that might be a good food source, maybe? I don't know. Depends on what's out there.

[The food source thing is secondary in his mind, but the masses don't need to know that. He's already expecting to catch some flak for this.]

And two: Anyone got some time to help me wrangle some salamanders, at least? I'm thinkin' two should be good. I'd like to grab some other stuff too, but again, depends on what's out there. Gonna start with the salamanders for now.

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I was going to put out a call to see if anyone could butcher them. I don't really know what I'm doing, but they were within the city limits so. Someone had to take care of it.

[ The lab? ]

No. Where is it?

Eugh. But I guess we might be in trouble as far as food goes around here, so... I'm a scientist, not a butcher, but I could take a stab at it. Separating muscle from, uh, everything else is a piece of cake.

[He is comfortable working with dead things, at least, which is all you really need probably...?]

If you're by the coliseum, it's like, just south of you in the little cluster of shops. I'll hang around outside. I'll be the dude with the glasses and tats. [As if there are more than like four people in this town. He'll be easy enough to spot.]

Okay. I'll bring them to you. And then... we can talk.

[ Wash puts his phone away and gets to work... he'll be extremely hard to miss when he shows up. The dude in full body armor, dragging three monster corpses behind him with ropes tied to their limbs. ]

Dr Geiszler?

[OH JEEZ. Newt's been sitting around on the steps leading into the lab, and he rockets up as soon as he sees this ROBOT MAN??? stomping toward him. He panics briefly, thinking the Null are back or something, but then, uh, it's... probably fine? He's visibly on edge, though. Mostly because it's impossible for him not to be visibly whatever-he-is-feeling-at-the-moment.]

Uh, yep. Newt's fine. [He peers around Wash to check out said monster corpses. Awesome...] What's with the, uh, getup?

Newt, then. I'm Washington, you can call me Wash.

[ Most everybody here reacts that way to his armor, so he really isn't surprised. Just steps aside so Newt can get a better look at the creatures he's brought. ]

It's my armor. Never leave home without it.

Cool. Hey, Wash. And cool, uh, armor.

[He says it distractedly, heading over to crouch down next to the monsters to get a better look. They're not in the best condition, but not in the worst, either. Plus, he's starting from zero here. Pretty much anything that isn't pulverized into mush can be useful.]

Yeah, I can work with these. Thanks. [He stands and starts to head back into the lab, waving for Wash to follow.] So what do you want to know about neural interfacing?

[ Wash hesitates, not sure if that motion is meant for him or him and the monsters. Probably the guy wants them inside too, right? He turns and picks up the smallest of them, hefting it over his shoulder before following. ]

Well, I've already got one. I need to know how to protect it from getting hijacked.

[ He'll explain, just. Is there somewhere he can put this thing down? ]

[The idea that Newt might not want the monsters inside of the lab does not even occur to him honestly. It's only gonna get grosser from here. He does notice Wash kind of awkwardly standing there with a corpse slung over his shoulder though, so he motions to one of the larger tables which he actually had the forethought to clear off.]

There's fine, and the bigger ones can go on the floor. [Because you were planning on bringing the others in, right?

He stops to shoot Wash a look re: "I've already got one."] Come again? Are you synced up to that armor or something?

[Dude's a pint-sized Jaeger. C...ool? Newt isn't sure whether or not that's cool.]

[ Down goes the first monster, and Wash takes a moment to nod. ]

I am. It's more than that, though... let me get the others and I'll explain in a minute.

[ He brings the other two monsters in without any trouble, then pulls off his helmet and turns his back to Newt, ducking his head to show the implant at the base of his skull. ]

All soldiers in my world have them, they're designed to interface with our armor. Help us run our equipment. Mine can hold an artificial intelligence, as well, though I haven't had one in years. Except... the Null were able to control me through it. I need to make sure that doesn't happen again.

[Newt is patient as Wash does the heavy lifting for him, but he's a fidgety little shit so he busies himself with flitting around the lab to prepare the space for his new dead gross monster collection. It's his favorite thing to do, honestly.

When Wash is all done, Newt swoops in to get a better look at that implant. He's gotta get up on his toes to see it up close, though. He is a small nerd.]

Whoa... [It is an earnest "whoa" given that he's never seen anything like this before. Jaegertech is advanced, sure, but not this advanced.]

See, what we've got at home are Pons systems. They link brain activity through electrodes, essentially. It's all external. No implants or any crazy stuff like that. I'm guessing that means the link isn't as stable as yours is, but upsides include a built-in on/off switch. I take it you can't exactly turn that thing off?

[He points accordingly.]

[ Wash listens to the explanation, nodding a little. There used to be external arrays in his world, too, but Newt hit it right on the head. Implant technology was a big leap. ]

There's no way to turn it off. Or remove it. But maybe there's a way to secure it... shield it from however the Null got in? Back home I knew one AI who could hijack people almost the same way but never figured out what made him so special.

Right. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. [Whyyy would you have gotten the implant in the first place without a failsafe, dude??? Man. These soldier-types sure are a box of rocks when it comes to sense. Newt sighs. Alphys is better at this AI/software stuff than he is, but he's not about to admit that. Anyway, he likes a challenge.]

So you don't know how the Null hacked you in the first place? Is there any way to, like, hook that thing up to a computer that isn't your armor?

[If he can sync it up with Hermann's supercomputer, they might be in business.]

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