Re: [HoE] Brainburner Question

[SteveL1979@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/21/99 5:48:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ecyoung@mediaone.net writes:

<< Constantly sticking a sharp prong into your temple has got to be really bad
 for you, not to mention the serious risk of infection since it's going
 right through to the brain. I would think that in order for this to be
 practical you'd need some type of socket or jack. Otherwise there's just
 too many dangers and reliability problems. While from a mad scientist point
 of view this may not be much of a problem, we are talking about a piece of
 state of the art military equipment. I would think they'd have something
 more than just stick this pointy thing in your temple and put this
 band-aid over the hole when you pull it out...
 
 And isn't machine-head just a jack so you can plug things in? That's what
 it sounds like from the description in the book... >>

	Unless the text from my manuscript has been altered in editing (which is
entirely possible), there's no jack involved at all.  You have to shove the
plug, which is sharp, right in through your temple.
	Impractical?  Maybe.  Risk of infection?  Maybe.  I dunno.  I wasn't going
for practical or safe, I was going for creepy. :)  We are, after all, talking
about a game with mental powers, magic, and radiation-spawned mutant powers --
so I'm not overly concerned about the practical/realistic aspects of the
process. :)
	Though, in truth, I can't claim complete credit for this idea.  The basic
idea of the TSAR -- an assault rifle which the syker is mentally connected to
-- was all mine.  When I ran it by Shane last GenCon, he suggested the "plug-
in" aspect, which was too cool an idea to pass up. :)

Steve Long