Comic 1222 - Terminate With Extremely Justified Prejudice
Author Notes:
A "technopath" is someone who can control machines and bend them to the user's will, either through a physical or mental interface link. In some cases, this power also allows them to "hear" what a machine is "thinking" and establish a direct line of communication with the machine. Might be referred to as "Technomancy".
It's not rare to see technopaths bringing formerly inanimate objects to life (i.e., toasters moving around and firing Projectile Toast at disgruntled users), which is much easier to do if Everything Is Online.
Closely related to Magic from Technology. Not to be confused with a character who's pathologically bad with technology, or made a psycho/sociopath by technology.
In modern-day settings that have many people with superpowers walking around, this is frequently the power given to children, as a magical metaphor for the way that people who grew up around technology are generally more comfortable with it.
Compare with Walking Techfix, which is usually not deliberate. Contrast with Machine Empathy, where a character is closely attuned to a machine's behavior simply due to prolonged experience, and Techno Wizard for people capable of only metaphorical wizardry. Not to be confused with Walking Techbane, which is when a person is destructive to technology just by being near it.
Hollywood Hacking is also similar, since while it is less overt, it has similar results, and is also likely to annoy Real Life technical experts to the same extent, due to the near-complete absence of logic.
In Datachasers A Cyberpath is someone who can by force of will ( and a mutation ) Link and control machines and computers distance varies by individual. and that individuals skill .. In this case Silver is using her side as a "focus" to extend her range to the other computer and this ability allows her to "jump" the distance.
This is one of the rarest abilitys in Datachasers. and one of the most feared in some citys.
This is Classed as a "Psionic" or "telepathic" ability and NOT magical.
Also this scene was planned almost a year ago.
Comments:
And Noctis is TERRIFIED of the possibility of a Cyberpath being loose in Nova Roma.
Doc. I got bad news for you.
ETA: And noooo I'm not sitting here at the keyboard hitting F5 over and over again until the new page loads. every night at exactly 10:58 pm Central. I'm not. Honestly.
Ohhh who am I kidding.....
Dr Silver is always ranting about how she's better, yet Calliope gets all the fame. So Calliope must be at, at least, a level similar to Dr Silver to be any sort of adversary at all, and Dr Silver seems to recognize it too.
I can just imagine what a city with TWO "warring" technomancers would be considered like by technophobic ol' Roma? Sounds like a nightmare made real.
Silver although she is brilliant .. she "cheats" and does rely on her ability's a bit much. so shes great at "one off " inventions and mods.
But Calliope makes repeatable and solid technology's .. and knows her way around things by sheer determination and logic.
People *should* be a bit scared of her.
Especially since they pissed on her parade and kidnapped her daughter. Momma Bear mode Mad Scientist : ACTIVATE Y/N ?
I'm guessing Ms. Taylor, personally :D
Dolly's body was a close to human as Callie could make because Dolly IS family, and she's 60 years old. Callie is TERRIFIED that when Dolly reaches 100, they will be forced to terminate her. Hence the new special body.
I rather suspect those limitations have been dropped, as all pretences of being human falls away and she goes into HARDCORE MAMA BEAR MODE ! <RAWR>
Edit: well, this was supposed to be a reply to velvetsanity mentionning Heterodynes...
Othar, of course, would run around freeing slaves, android and human alike. Because he's heroic like that.
Ofcourse, she would probably have used a high res widescreen version of it, like so, just to waste that extra bandwidth. >_<
At least it wasn't the badger song.
Among the Cassians, this will forever be known as the Dance Dance Revolution.
So Doc's a Cyberpath is she? That's a handy talent to have. Astraea better not cut loose at anyone or anything, or some verrry nasty drones are gonna be on her like a duck on a Junebug.
"We're gonna fight to the last man!"
"You are the last man."
"I surrender." :D
So, do we get details of what exactly a cyberpath is and can do, if not completely how the ability works? ^_~
edit .. actually I threw a explanation up in the authors notes.
Not sure what the other blue screen with the white skull represents. But I suspect it's the symptom of a famous virus.
Don't know what a Cyberpath is. But it reminds me of the Telemechanic in Palladium's Rifts roleplaying system. Those are psychics with an innate ability to basically mind-meld with machines.
I doubt Noctis or the Cassians have much to fear from Dr. Silver taking over their minds, though. Even if Silver had that ability, she thinks so highly of androids and their rights that to do so would probably be against her principles.
Besides Synth-brains are different from standard positronic brains used in bots.
And yes, that other screen is a famous virus. I don't remember which one. I was probably still on Amiga at the time...
...and I thought my office's 2,200 days since last update on NOD32 was bad when I saw it.
She's like a necromancer, isn't she?
I'd agree her morals wouldn't have her forcing them to do anything against their will. However I could certainly see her having no problem removing an artificially imposed block.
But didn't Silver hear everything she's been saying?
Isn't that what an inhibitor collar would be good for?
I know, I know, Dr Silver despises them, but it would be a useful use of one.
Maybe in the aftermath she will have the time to hunt down every collar she can find.
It's just the kind of thing that I suspect both Dr Silver and Calloipe could agree on. Medical collars ONLY !
wait, I already said that, didn't I!!!!
New Troy doesn't just have ONE Mad Scientist monster, they have TWO!
And they're fighting with one another! Straight up high octane nightmare fuel for a cassian, if anything ever was.
...or is she not currently in the madness place? (Also, Teedee needs to claim a hat from one of her opponents...the tougher the opponent the better :D )
Say, didn't Decimus have a crown on his head?
:D
That way you could be wearing TWO hats!
You gotta admit that is pretty awesome. :)
I can see TeeDee wearing the SKULLS of those that opposed her. All the other hats would be too wimpy for her.
"What are you talking about Ada? This is PRICELESS! When am I going to get the chance to make some guy make THIS face again? It's once in a life time and OF COURSE it belongs on the wall in the living room."
"Dammit I'm a guardian not a milliner!"
With that said, shouldn't a city's reaction to her powers pretty much mirror Noctis' stance? When you're an AIS having Silver walking around your streets would be like inviting a Goua'uld in to your skull in the hope they remain polite. Or is there some kind of balance of power in play here? Androids should fear her taking them over, an AIS will giggle as Silver's head pops from the sheer magnitude of data?
Granted, that isn't fair to the person. It's an x-men style situation (except under no circumstances deploy sentinels). She isn't a bad person: Hates inhibitor collars, works to save androids (hi Teedee!), and heal mentally damaged ones (Kelly) without just rewriting them. Still, most threats have to act and use resources to cause damage. Doc Silver needs to think.
but she can affect a lot with her ability and yes .. it makes her very terrifying to those that do not know her. and Centcomm is well aware of her abilitys and monitors her.
If a series of odd system glitches start cropping up in her area, Cent will send a strongly worded letter, and then a MOAB.
As in Roman citizens look under their bed before sleeping to see if there's a Cassian hiding underneath.
Cassians look under their bed before sleeping to see if someone like Silver is hiding underneath.
Also I'm sure child-regressed Noctis would have a very interesting teddy bear to cling to in fear.
well also this is "soft sci-fi" along the lines of Star trek and such .. not diamond hard Sci fi like Clarke wrote.
Marcus and Doctor Silver were both Characters in that game. Who have allowed them to be adapted for the comic
we used the Spacemaster system for the rules.
Secondary question: suppose someone had a power similar to Doc Silver's and WAS able to control the MACC system on a nearby android. Would this person be able to initiate the sort of destructive shutdown used to transfer an android's brain to a Q-drive ("Flash-Stick")? Tertiary question: Does Noctis believe the above is possible?
Someone with a power similar to, but with a wider scope than, Dr. Silver's could indeed try to initiate such a sequence, though it would be difficult to do so; the android could fight back against what is essentially a "suicide" command. And Noctis KNOWS the above is possible, because the Cassians have encountered people with such abilities before. That's why there's now a kill-on-sight order going to the Cassians' best sniper.
Noctis (sprinting down a corridor): +Any cassians in the area, I am armed and ready.. ready to join you now.. ♫hands in the air, we will show you how/ Come and try/ Caramell will be your guide/ So come on, move your feet, say oa ha haaa/ Come on, shake your hips, sing la la la/ You and me, to this our melody! So- Come- On- dance it with us/ Clap your hands together/ Do as we do/ Take one step to the left, there/ Listen and learn/ Time to take your chance now/ Join up with us in Caramell's dance, now! Oo oo oo oa! Oo oo oo oa oa...♫+
>:=)>
And Noctis looks awfully cute doing it. XD
And she would probably have a dead-pan face while doing it.
Either that, or a "kill me, kill me NOW!" kind of face. :D
Thank the First Circuit, 3C was able to lock out his weapons.
All the paperwork after that though. I was supposed to be off the next two days.
I can just imagine what that lady is going through though.
It is kinda funny, that song.
AAAaaghh!!
Now it's stuck in my head.
Make it go away!!!
There was this guy in the next cube who was very very annoying.... who had just gotten back from lunch so he couldn't leave....
No foreshadowing there, nope, nope...
As for foreshadowing, whatever could you mean? :-)
Sniper : "Oh shit!"
Once Kyle get Aeneas back up and running enough for someone to kill Decimus without the failsafe's being a problem, I'm sure Acantha will countermand a lot of those orders and use the palace PA system to announce Decimus is dead and that Lynn is free to go with any New Troy forces in residence that she recognizes/chooses to accompany and for everyone to stop the fighting and let her start cleaning up the damage. Also Aeneas may be able to step in at that point (or he may have too many other things to get back online and be busy for non-emergency matters).
Depends on the history of Nova Roma with Cyberpaths, of course. But I'm guessing it isn't a particularily good one.
Oh. My.
Yep, that's what she did all right. "Better that Roma burn to the ground than harbor such a monster."
I hope all the inconveniently flammable people hear her say that....
I know you are freaked out, but committing yourself to absolute policies without knowing what you are up against has a way of backfiring. Have you ever heard of a man named Jephthah?
He was good enough that the computers did in fact work much better after ice cream was spooned into the drives/exhaust ports. Of course after he left the machines would "inexplicably" stop working.