May 11th - Overseeing the Cerebro refitting

[Samantha McManus]

Ms. McManus had allowed a few last uses of Cerebro in the latest investigations before allowing the refit crew in to work their magic. Among the crew were not only those performing the physical upgrades, but a team of telepaths specializing in nullification, employed to safely scrub the psi-residue from the chamber. At present, Ms. McManus was double-checking their reports to verify if they could be dismissed. In the center of the chamber, a tank of sorts was being constructed, tubing leading to it presumably to pump fluid into it.

[Miles Cross]

Miles whistled, slowly.

"Pretty fancy."

[Samantha McManus]

"And necessary. The power of the unit Charles installed here was without question, but the utility of it was rather dubious."

[Miles Cross]

"Dubious? In what way?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Charles had intended to make the interface more intuitive by allowing it to imprint the mind of the user. However, that meant an uphill climb any time you switched users."

[Miles Cross]

"Well, with our rate of turnover, that can't be good."

[Samantha McManus]

"Even without that, it's not inconceivable we might need more than one telepath able to use it."

[Miles Cross]

Miles shrugged. "We've always gotten by until now."

[Samantha McManus]

"We've been lucky. Asters was the one attuned to it. What if we'd needed it while he was in Genosha?"

[Miles Cross]

"Indeed. A poor system.

So, how does the new one work?"

[Samantha McManus]

"The fluid medium will act as an interface between the telepath and the dome. As a result, the fluid will experience some imprinting, but nothing quite so lasting as what the dome did."

[Miles Cross]

"And only telepaths can use it, yes?"

[Samantha McManus]

"To its fullest potential, at least."

[Miles Cross]

"Oh? So we could stick, say, Ryan Gabriel in the tank and have it work?" Miles asked, interested.

[Samantha McManus]

"With greatly reduced range, and none of the capabilities related to augmenting telepathy."

[Miles Cross]

"Very interesting," Miles nodded. "I don't believe the old one did that."

[Samantha McManus]

"This particular one didn't, but it's a feature we've had before."

[Miles Cross]

"Well, true," he mused.

[Samantha McManus]

"We'll be retaining the helmet interface for non-telepaths, though."

[Miles Cross]

"That makes sense, yes."

[Samantha McManus]

"Best not force oxygenated liquid into someone's lungs if we don't have to, aye?"

[Miles Cross]

"I dunno, sounds like a fun afternoon."

[Samantha McManus]

"Weird fellow, Miles."

[Miles Cross]

"Fairly certain that's why Dom hired me."

[Samantha McManus]

"Fairly certain I don't want to hear about any arrangements between you and Dom involving watersports."

[Miles Cross]

"Fairly certain that wasn't what I was implying."