Herald of the Stars: Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Eight

Thank you, Hans Vandamme, Jeff James,  and Jon for donating your time and money to Herald of the Stars. It makes a world of difference to my life and I am most grateful. 

Within my thoughts, I continue the review of my implants.

I have two Potentia Coils, each the size of an average human forearm. They’re not that powerful and I’d really like a better micro-generator to help power my implants but E-SIM doesn’t have one as everything is supposed to be powered by Warp energy only. A rather silly oversight, I think, though it was likely by design as everything for an E-SIM user is set up to make killing Warp entities the most efficient use of time and power.

I could use the micro-fusion generator used in power armour, but it kicks out a lot of heat and just isn’t practical. I can use the micro-fusion generator in my power armour as a backup for my implants and vice versa though.

Radio-isotope thermal generators (RTGs) are an option, but they’re even more low powered compared to a potentia coil. They do, depending on the isotope, provide a much more steady and longer lasting source of power though.

The Mechanicus can be rather unhelpful with its terminology, as they often refer to any cybernetic power source as a ‘Potentia Coil’. Some can be rather bulky and crude, burning promethium for energy. These low quality ‘Potentia Coils’ are the main cause of the hunched figure that many Tech-Priests have, even with a Cyber Mantle to support their bodies. In the Stellar Fleet though, Potentia Coil refers to a coil of contained plasma. The plama’s constant movement through the coiled loop, and gradual cooling, generates power.

A Potentia Coil’s power output is exceptionally flexible and requires no rare isotopes or moving parts. It makes them ideal for charging weapons and powering exoskeletons, like the Mawolv lasgun and MOA void armour. With a Potentia Coil, one can avoid the high cost of micro-fusion generators or the risk of radiation exposure from RTGs in combat.

Heavy use will drain a Potentia Coil rather fast though, as in you need to replace them after twenty hours of constantly charging high power infantry weaponry. When used for their original purpose, like powering implants, they can last multiple decades.

I finish my cocktail and place my hands behind my head. I’ve come a long way, in both time and space. My body is a marvel of a millennia of engineering. I have a growing fleet of void ships, the respect of my crew, I hope, new friends, and new family. Not bad, for a fat old plumber.

Wiggling my toes, I look down at my body. To a normal Human eye it looks entirely normal, well, if you call two and a half metre, gym-rat body normal. If I was wearing it, my power armour would add an extra half metre.

To my new senses, my body is composed of trillions of tiny machines, acting like the cells of a flesh and blood Human. They flow, multiply, and recycle themselves constantly. My new ‘cells’ last much longer than my old ones though. The artificial organs and muscles are vastly more efficient too, so I have a lot of extra space in my body for further upgrades that I did before my conversion and my strength is absurd. Right now that space is used for resource bladders.

Even without power armour I can hurl a tank across a room or toss an Imperial knight over my shoulder. I’m not even that heavy, weighing four hundred kilograms, or twice that in power armour. I am a lot heavier than a standard Space Marine though.

I might tell people that I’ve completed my transition or conversion, but there’s one part of Full Bionic Conversion I haven’t taken yet though, Polymer Tissue Replacement. It is an artificial neural substrate, or bioplastic, that perfectly mimics the Human brain, but is highly resistant to heavy shocks, ageing, and other failings of the flesh. Unfortunately, it isn’t compatible with large amounts of Warp Energy. Moderate use of Warp energy is fine, it’s even how the substrate is powered. Polymer Tissue Replacement can’t deal with a ‘higher voltage’ though, for lack of a better term.

If I were to use any of my psyker powers from Navigator Conversion, the substrate would melt. While I can almost run my ego on my nanites and implants alone, like when the Eldar shot me in the head, that’s an emergency measure and is likely to render me unconscious.

I still need some functioning organic neural tissue to avoid soul death. Polymer Tissue Replacement would solve that and entirely remove the need for all my remaining organic parts, should I be willing to give up my genitalia as well. The Mechanicus might approve but I certainly will not! I would also be rather useless and vulnerable if I had to spend most of my time unconscious to repair the neural substrate and I would die if the substrate was damaged enough for my soul to become unmoored.

Between the natural resilience of flesh to Warp energy, Life Support, and Regenerative Hormones, that just isn’t a problem for my original brain. I can still hurt myself if I overdo it, but it’s almost impossible to cause permanent damage as E-SIM retains a perfect copy of my mind and can restore lost memories.

I have had some success with creating a secondary brain that I use to interface with my third eye, while my real brain is well armoured within my chest. That only works for navigator based powers though, not standard psyker skills, nor does it prevent the intense saturation of my brain with Warp energy when actually navigating. I might be able to get a combination of additional brains working, and have one that uses Polymer Tissue Replacement, but all Mechanicus research involving additional brains has eventually resulted in some form of insanity. Multiplicity should have a way around this, but I don’t know what that is and it might not help my specific scenario.

One day, I hope to solve this. Until then, my last two modules, Navigator Conversion and Full Bionic Conversion will remain somewhat incompatible. That isn’t going to stop me from choosing something new to work on though.

Time to spend those kills!

Multiplicity is still too expensive for me both now and long term. I had hoped to avoid the extra cost by taking Full Bionic Conversion first, but my logic was flawed. It requires enough soul capacity to have double the implants. Now that I have more implants, it’s even more expensive than it was the first time I looked at it. A rather foolish mistake on my part. It won’t let me not create a copy with fewer implants either, so being absolutely identical is likely important in some way.

External Core would be useful, but I really don’t need more multitasking at the moment. If I was running a Forge World, it would be ideal, but I can put it off for now, no matter how useful the boost in cogitator capacity would be for my Research Module.

Hyper Intelligence, an upgrade I haven’t looked at for a long time, has become more urgent. I discarded it before as it wouldn’t have been necessary if I could take Polymer Tissue Replacement. Now though, if I want to understand the most advanced upgrades I can take, like Internal Weavefield Projector, the next step in becoming a cyber angel knock off, I’m going to need it. Replicant, Glitterworld Injector and other high level technologies will also benefit from Hyper Intelligence.

Like Multiplicity, External Core could somewhat substitute for Hyper Intelligence, but it might be possible for me to use Hyper Intelligence to enhance my crew, whereas External Core only works for me.

The Mechanicus already has access to some genetic treatments to enhance intelligence and many of my crew do use them; without some sort of enhancement, the most advanced technologies of the Mechanicus are entirely incomprehensible. A person literally cannot hold enough information in their head to put all the pieces together without assistance. I’m hoping that the version E-SIM has will be superior.

Previously, I’ve been sidestepping the issue by using my Concurrent Conscious Cascade, Savant Learning Module, and Research Module to take up the slack. It does make everything far more complicated that it needs to though and I am rather fed up of feeling like an idiot.

There is a rather sarcastic note for the upgrade that says intelligence does not equal common sense. This does not surprise me as Intelligence boosters are like a memory, RAM, and CPU clock speed increase. Making oneself smarter is subjective and says a lot about a stereotypical Tech-Priest.

My most urgent need is power. I have to underclock all but my most essential implants, like E-SIMs advanced routines and nanites, and use stored power for short boosts of performance. The rest of the time I run my non-essential upgrades using my jury rigged electricity version, rather than Warp energy. I am proud of figuring out how to do that. Sure, it’s not like I’m in constant combat, but that doesn’t make underclocking a good option. I just know that if I take too long to fix it my limit of thirty minutes at maximum output will bite me in my shiny metal ass.

The additional protective runes I recently acquired from the Eldar Ghost Helm will help me hide the power my Warp Tap draws if I buy the original and the upgrade power output improvement, but I’ve no way of knowing if my obscurification will be sufficient. That means I need to purchase a module under Defensive Structures, like Immaterium Bastion. Immaterium Bastion is a series of data structures that will, with enough resources and time, create a shell around E-SIM to contain its ridiculous, fifty kilometre long frame.

Imagine fighting to the centre of the Death Star, only rather than a vulnerable reactor, one encounters a monstrous void ship that can pulp anything that actually survives to get that far. The demons would likely be bunched up too, as they seep through the cracks, rather than swarming from every direction. Such defences might even make a demon think twice, especially as they’d all get turned into fuel and suffer a final death.

I’m sure E-SIM would be willing to take a few pictures of their faces for me.

After that, there’s a whole series of automata and data structure based void ships that I can purchase to build up E-SIMs protection. Between the Eldar runes and the Immaterium Bastion, I should be safe enough to purchase and use Warp Tap Ⅰ and Warp Tap Ⅱ.

There are other modules that appeal to me, like External Battery and Powerfield Extension, but they aren’t vital. External Resource Silo would also be helpful, especially in smoothing out the production of any data structures, or helping me if I get stranded somewhere in a teleportation accident.

The last upgrade I’m actually considering though is the Environmental Suit from External Tools. It isn’t urgent or vital like Immaterium Bastion. However, now is a really good time to buy it as I can say I found it hidden among the loot from Ardent Bane or the Drukhari vessels.

I make my decision, then take a nap. When I wake, my choices have not changed so I purchase Life Support, Warp Tap Ⅰ, Hyper Intelligence, and Environmental Suit, leaving me with enough souls for a dozen minor miracles. First, this completes the prerequisites I need for Multiplicity and Warp Tap Ⅱ. Second, it also improves my chances of fixing the Polymer Tissue Replacement issue and places the greatest upgrades within my grasp.

Once I have mastered these I will work on External Resource Silo and Immaterium Bastion, then finally Warp Tap Ⅱ. Planning beyond that though would be a waste of time as I have no idea how or when my situation might change drastically.

Third and last, I need to actually review the Environmental Suit design to see what if my gamble paid off. There isn’t time to do it right now though as I have a rare chance for a family evening. I want to give it my full attention, not spend the entire time fidgeting, resisting the urge off and build my new toys because I stuck my nose into a new STC.

When I arrive at the navigator spire, still dressed in my beachwear, I immediately notice that Brigid has redecorated. The security corridor that leads to the main entrance of our quarters has paintings hanging from the wall and archeotech trinkets in armourglass display cases. I laugh when I see the paintings because Brigid clearly doesn’t think much of them. She has used them to further disguise the hidden weapon placements, so if an attack comes down this corridor the paintings will be destroyed.

The armourglass cases have also been rigged, so if a hostile tries to take cover behind them, they will explode. The archeotech trinkets are rather nice though. A quick scan and appraisal informs me that they are cultural relics, valuable because of the history they represent, as opposed to a unique and revolutionary material matrix or hidden data.

I sigh. Yes, it is practical, but I do think it is rather sad to see items like this used in such a way. It really fits the image of a Rogue Trader though and demonstrating casual wealth benefits our family. I do hope that showing off doesn’t overfeed my ego though. My kids are pretty level headed and Brigid is vicious in her area of expertise. I’m not worried, merely acknowledging that it is an issue I must account for.

The inside of our quarters haven’t changed much. Quaani still has his own apartment, but Brigid has given over her apartment to our four kids. Three of their old rooms have been converted into a vault filled with exotic artefacts, precious metals, and rare plants. I can tell from the selection of items that Brigid and all four kids worked on this. The last old room is Brigid’s new private space.

While the behaviour of the little loot goblins amuses me, the repurposing of the children’s rooms is quite telling. Brigid wouldn’t have done that if she was hoping for more kids any time soon. I don’t disagree with the choice, but I would have liked to discuss it and feel a bit put out that the issue was not raised in advance. Just because my wife can guess my opinion before I state it, doesn’t mean we should skip the discussion. It’s always possible she hasn’t even realised herself and has done this subconsciously so I am withholding my judgement until we can talk about it.

Following the laughter, I enter the dining room. It’s a big space, with enough seats for twelve people. This room has not been altered. The table and chairs are made from the metallic wood of Marwolv. The walls, floor and ceiling are pict panels that can display different environments, usually Marwolv’s mountains, lakes, and bioluminescent forests. They’re currently set up so it appears as if the table is in a small pavilion, floating in the middle of a lake, teeming with glittering fish.

I think it’s rather cool.