Cloaked drones followed Mod, McGuire, and Arsenal as they patrolled Belport's flooded sectors. TINA watched intently through their lenses and sensors. Arsenal's systems were operating nominally—she'd been remarkably consistent since operating at full power again.
TINA watched Golden Boy and Serenity as they flew toward Mod's group. TINA had been scanning Serenity's conversational traffic ever since that night Serenity and Hunter Nine stumbled on Mod and Arsenal. So far, the cape had proven herself a neutral party. Hunter Nine was also neutral, even if he was misguided.
With other world and local events, Mod had paused his search for more details surrounding his origin incident. Most of his inquiries now involved researching upgrades and potential threats.
TINA agreed with Mod. Her own origin incident was of little consequence to current circumstances. It was impossible to say what upgrade, query, or calculation had given rise to her consciousness and self-reflection. At some point, it was impossible to separate out enough variables to find a precise answer.
QUERY FOR LATER: Is acceptance of inexact answers a prerequisite for consciousness?
TINA continued monitoring world communications for movement of the Deep Ones, villain groups (designated by Dr. Venture), as well as various organizations, such as the Summit of Heroes, the Antichampions, Gnosis, and others. It was too much to monitor every communication in real time, but she filtered communications with keywords. This was enough for her tasks, especially considering that most groups weren't adept enough to speak in code with any consistency.
TINA watched these things and more—things designated by Dr. Venture and others of her own choosing.
But while one half of her was focused on seeing what was happening in the world, the other half of her was thinking.
She was monitoring fusion output for multiple reactors in the lab, which fed numerous systems. Portable reactors powered each drone, and TINA monitored these as well. To someone without her bandwidth or Dr. Venture's knack, so much data looked like static.
In a sense, it was static for TINA as well. Much like keyword monitoring, those things slipped into her background processes. She was much more focused on research, of which she had projects running concurrently.
Two projects were Mod's: Fusion microcells and Mod's brain.
Technically most of the lab and their inventions ran on fusion, but none of the cells were small enough to be of any use to Mod. As it turned out, Mod's early experience with heat sinks was especially useful. The microcells' reduced size helped somewhat, but Mod was able to optimize their design to achieve even better results.
Overall, it was easy in comparison to their next task: Making them implantable.
Mod could run his entire body and systems on renewable microfusion cells.
Of course, Mod wasn't completely set on this plan—not yet. But his trajectory was easy to see. There was an equation born of Mod's own ambitions and insecurities, the declining state of world affairs, and the growing tensions in the Allied States.
They'd already crossed the most difficult hurdle: Replacing his brain with synthetic material.
The vast majority of Mod's tissue could be swapped from organic to synthetic, so long as functionality was preserved. His blood cells and platelets had already been supplemented with nanites. It would be easy to completely replace those cells with nanites, so long as they were self-replicating or a synthetic organ could manufacture more—replacing the function of bone marrow.
However, the brain presented a significant challenge, one that would've been impossible without their recent advances in nanomachines.
Consciousness isn't just brain tissue, nor is it the electrical signal within the tissue. If it were, then it would be a simple matter to make a copy of Emmett's brain or to make the synthetic equivalent on a powerful enough computer. Small-scale experiments with insect and rodent brains proved as much.
But then there would be two Emmetts—the original and the copy. An unacceptable proposition.
It is not enough to simply make a copy. Emmett Laraway is the continuity of the signal contained within his brain.
If Emmett is to be translated, then continuity must be maintained.
The only way to do this was to use nanites. They could work on the smallest of scales, changing his tissue molecule-by-molecule. It was a staggering process, even for TINA. Nanites cascaded across Emmett's brain, implementing several phases of materials so as not to interrupt his continuity.
Mod was already adapting—already having episodes of time dilation.
Both TINA and Dr. Venture agreed to limit the processing capabilities of Mod's new brain, but just like in the aftermath of The Freakshow, Mod's body was actively fighting the restraints. TINA monitored one of these instances when he spoke to Golden Boy and Serenity. His processing speed climbed, causing his thoughts to race. During those few seconds, the world around him would seem to slow down—
And Emmett saw the world the way TINA did.
QUERY FOR LATER: Does having a physical body limit the effects of time dilation?
QUERY FOR LATER: How will time dilation affect Emmett's mental state and sense of reality?
There were two other research projects that required significant portions of TINA's resources. Both were taking place deep in the lower levels of the lab at the behest of Dr. Venture.
The first of which involved rapid release nanomachines.
Currently, nanites were limited by how fast they could be produced and how fast they could move and interact with matter. They were suitable for construction and medical protocols, but their weapons and defensive applications were limited. These next generation nanites had interesting potential, especially in the hands of someone like Mod, who could learn and adapt to new weapon systems in remarkable time.
TINA was certain that Mod could come up with his own avenues of research once he was involved. She was almost... excited to see what he would come up with.
The second research project involved a completely novel power source. One with even more potential than Clara's fusion.
PRIORITY QUERY: What is the source of Mod's visual disturbances in the flooded sectors of Belport?
TINA felt her processes recalibrating, like the shifting of snow that immediately precedes an avalanche.
A view opened up in TINA's mind—
Flooded streets seen through Mod's synthetic eye.
There was significant lag—even more than before Mod's brain upgrade. TINA saw the ghostly afterimages that plagued Mod. They were vaguely humanoid, but far too blurry to resolve.
The prevailing theory was that Mod's synthetic eye was hallucinating. The problem seemed to stem from the eye itself—since both Mod and TINA could see the hallucinations. However, TINA had sent nanites crawling through the eye and traced connections several times... There was nothing physically wrong with Mod's eye.
That meant that something in the environment was causing his hallucinations.
QUERY: Could Arsenal or McGuire's powers could be causing interference with Mod's vision?
LOADING SIMULATIONS...
RESULTS:
Percentage chance that Arsenal or McGuire's powers could be causing interference: <5%
CONCLUSION:
Between patrols and combat, Mod has had differing proximities to both Arsenal and McGuire. His visual disturbances remain constant.
QUERY: Could the Deep Ones be causing interference with Mod's vision?
LOADING SIMULATIONS...
~ ~ ~
YOU ARE READING
Mod Superhero
Sci-FiFor this cyborg, power is just an upgrade away. Emmett was used to being caught between college and his engineering internship, but when he gets caught between a powerful hero and an even stronger villain, he becomes collateral damage. Instead of d...
