Thanks for 200 powestones, we're falling down the rankings!
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Inside the wasteland workshop, environment constant and sealed.
Energy core provided steady low hum. Air purification systems worked continuously, completely isolating interior from the corrosive desert environment outside.
Space filled with that unique mixed scent of machine oil, coolant, and faint ozone.
Cairo's dark-red mechanical frame was this space's activity hub.
He juggled multiple tasks, but news Maine's crew fed back about certain Night City factions growing curious didn't warrant much attention.
These trivial stirrings triggered by speculation and greed ranked low priority against his technical blueprints—not worth allocating processing resources yet.
His work focus centered on more fundamental construction and distant exploration.
Currently, his primary attention split between two parallel projects: deep analysis of data obtained from the first dimensional transport experiment, and advancing/completing Sasha Yakovleva's treatment, ensuring her vital signs fully stabilized while executing subsequent therapy and customized cyberware modification plans.
Undoubtedly, the former claimed absolute priority of his computing resources and logic core.
Beside the specialized medical bed, Sasha remained in deep cryogenic suspension, life activity reduced to minimum levels maintaining basic functions.
Most of her body was sustained by bioactive gel and precision mechanical support structures. Face peaceful.
Various tubes and implanted interfaces connected to her spine and major neural clusters, continuously delivering nutrients, stabilizers, and nano-units executing microscopic repair missions.
Cairo periodically ran comprehensive system scans, updating data records.
Holographic interface information showed Sasha's vital signs completely stable. Most critical brain tissue damage fully repaired. Neural activity baseline steady.
"Major organ functions stable. Central nervous system repairs complete. Current life support protocols can sustain operation to next phase." His synthesized voice reported status evenly, optical lenses scanning constantly refreshing parameters. "Basic physiological treatment concluded. Now entering somatic functional reconstruction phase."
Currently, Cairo was deeply modifying and precisely calibrating commercial cyberware components collected by Maine's crew as base materials for Sasha's somatic reconstruction.
These Night City market products—their original designs filled with crude compromise in his eyes: interface protocols bloated and inefficient, material biocompatibility poor, energy transmission pathways with excessive redundancy.
He deployed mechanical tentacles and specialized tools like a restoration master handling shoddy imitations, systematically disassembling, purifying, rewriting internal firmware, optimizing physical structures, applying self-developed dielectric coatings and neural waveguide materials to critical contact surfaces.
In this world with its wonky tech tree, mature cyberware technology could indeed replace most native human tissue.
However, this replacement was far from perfect. Its technical flaws—especially roots causing accumulated neural load and severe rejection reactions—were subjects of Cairo's cold observation.
While precisely implanting modified components, he recorded all data from a researcher's perspective.
In the Warhammer universe he came from—with far stricter standards and deeper foundations for "human-machine fusion"—this "cyberpsychosis" phenomenon of mental collapse from underlying technical defects was itself an extremely valuable research sample.
He hoped through Sasha's case to deeply parse its triggering mechanisms.
Of course, this research ran parallel to his treatment promise.
He integrated Mechanicum's unique technologies into modifications—like more precise neural mesh interfaces and sensor algorithms simulating near-native tactile feedback—significantly improving Sasha's new body's performance and adaptability.
To him, treating Sasha was simultaneously an excellent opportunity to deeply understand local technological limits and collect full-body modification experimental data.
After confirming Sasha's stable condition, Cairo shifted primary processing threads toward the laboratory's core zone.
Quieter here. Only necessary equipment operation sounds.
Servo-skull projected complex data visualization interfaces nearby, displaying detailed information captured during last transport experiment: energy release trajectories, brief spacetime structure distortions, plus various readings from transport units during transit moments.
Cairo's mechanical tentacles interacted with data streams—filtering, comparing, calculating.
His processing capacity fully parsed information touching fundamental physical rule operations.
"Note this energy attenuation pattern." Cairo pointed to a curve set. "When dimensional channel reached maximum opening and began closing, energy dissipation didn't show expected sharp drop but maintained extremely brief steady state.
During this period, energy fluctuations restricted to very narrow range, exhibiting resonance characteristics."
He invoked multiple analysis models for verification.
"Our initial conception may have been too direct—viewing transport as forceful breakthrough with high energy costs and risks. But this resonance phenomenon suggests another approach..." He pulled up detailed spectrograms from that phase for simulation. "Perhaps more efficient methods exist. If we could actively trigger and control this resonance state rather than endlessly pursuing expanded channel aperture... it might maintain an extremely weak yet stable cross-dimensional link.
Like cracking a door open just a sliver—can't pass objects through but sufficient for information flow."
This was among the first experiment's key purposes.
That custom servo-skull's core directives included one critical task: after confirming arrival at target coordinates (the ruin Cairo left from in the Warhammer universe) and safe environment, send an encrypted confirmation signal toward departure coordinates at scheduled time.
The signal itself carried simple information, but successful reception meant everything.
"Adjust dimensional transport device energy output parameters." Cairo issued commands to servo-skull. "Shift focus from pursuing peak output to controlling frequency precision. Attempt replicating and maintaining that resonance state.
Simultaneously, maximize our signal reception system sensitivity. Continuously monitor preset frequency bands attempting to capture specific encrypted signals from 'Coordinate Beta.'"
He knew clearly universe background interference and dimensional barriers themselves brought massive noise. Identifying that weak signal would be extremely difficult.
But this remained currently lowest-risk, potentially highest-value approach.
Once successfully receiving confirmation signals, it wouldn't just prove transport pathways basically viable and messenger survived—it meant establishing bidirectional low-bandwidth communication possibilities.
This would provide critical basis for subsequent decisions.
As a cautious researcher, he naturally prepared backup plans too.
If prolonged monitoring yielded nothing, or returned information showed critical conditions on the Warhammer world side, he'd have to consider higher-risk options—conducting brief, heavily armed return operations.
But that required more preparation, including accumulating additional energy and possibly equipping locally manufactured combat units as escorts.
To improve this "monitoring" experiment's success probability, Cairo had already upgraded the workshop's energy and computational systems using newly arrived high-purity energy crystals and precision components.
Fusion reactor output smoother. Server arrays enhanced signal processing capabilities to better extract potentially valid signals from noise.
The entire workshop remained in coiled-spring readiness. All preparations aimed at capturing that possible faint echo from another universe.
This attempt's results would directly influence his next direction—continue safe remote detection, or must personally venture into that dangerous, dark world again.