Metalface are on the street, in the office, fighting in the profile wars or just working along side humans. Wherever you find them, metalface are a growing trend that has yet to see it’s potential. The new and advanced transference technology and techniques give human subjects even more hope of living a normal life after transference, therefore, transference is gaining more ground and attention.
Despite this fact, the line between metal and man remains thick and dangerous and those who transfer must understand what lies ahead of them. Recorded transference cases, both successful and unsuccessful, have provided a wealth of information regarding the metalface condition that will help possible candidates understand the ups and downs of metallic life.
The Process
The process of becoming a metalface involves the moving of one’s soul from one body (your naturally born body) into another (your new cyberneural body). This new body is really nothing more than a cyberneural heart kept alive with energy and cyberneural fluid, which synthesizes brain fluid. This is the heart, brain and nervous system of the new cyberneural body. Life could continue to survive in nothing more than a cyberneural heart... but such life would be as empty and wasted as a human trapped in a dark room.
The metalface life exists by way of interacting with the outside world through various complex connections to a robotic or computerized device. It is the establishment of these connections that is the key to creating cyberneural life and birthing a new metalface person. But establishing these connections can be tricky depending on what model of metalface is being generated.
There are three base models that can currently be generated. Each process requires a metalface generator. Metalface generators are model specific and may be difficult to access.
The Bodies
Once a person transfers into a metalface, the world becomes a totally different realm. Smells are no longer smells but chemically registered compounds, sight is augmented beyond all boundaries and the fact that a metalface (even the smallest) can punch through a steel door sets them apart from their flesh and blood family. Although the frame of a metalface is as human as possible it will never again compare to the old organic system and senses.
Weight
Although great effort was made to ensure metalface bodies were as light as possible, the metallic and fluid components of a metalface are slightly heavier than a human body of equal size. This only serves to complicate matters in situations where body weight is a hindrance. Swimming and treading water are very difficult for metalface.
Touch
The sense of touch is broken down into the following base elements; Pounds per Square Inch being applied to the object, a graphic enhancement of the texture of the object, stress level measurement on the surface of the object, weight, density, surface temperature, moisture content plus countless other minor computations. These numbers literally flash across the visual scope faster than a human eye could follow. After the millisecond of computational information has passed through the visuals, the soul is given an interpretation for the information. All this just to tell a person that he is holding a greasy tool.
Sound
The sense of hearing hasn’t been changed much from normal humans with the audible frequencies ranging form 10Hz to 20,000KHz in most cases. These can change depending on the model and duty. Some labor Tekkers working with high rise superstructures may ask for a modification that will give it access to the subsonic range of sounds allowing him to accurately gauge the stress levels on metal girders just by listening to them. Increases and decreases to the audible spectrum are usually only given to metalface which actually need them in a working capacity. But specialized equipment can always be bought.
Sight
The sense of sight was another sense that most t-bot engineers did not want to change to the extreme. The theory was that something that was as much the same as the original body would cut down on rejection and psychosis of the newly transferred soul. The main advantages where an increase in magnification over distance (up to 8x), the addition of microscopic vision (10x magnification) and passive night vision allowing vision at night with an ambient source of light such as stars or streetlights. (Passive night vision will not work in total darkness). Once again the addition of infrared, ultraviolet or any specific vision modifier must be approved for a working reason.
Smell
The sense of smell was one of the most difficult senses to duplicate with any form of exactness. A metalface “smells” by running the scent through a particle diffuser and separating it into its base components, then running the combination of the components through its memory and coming up with an adequate match. Since human memory is not based on chemical components but combined effect, the matching process never helps the subject relive their fond memories of baked apple pies or a sweet perfume.
In situations where a match is not exact, the particle diffuser will flash the scent compound onto the visuals (usually as a picture in picture display) with either a description of what it may be or an image. If it has placed the correct image or description with the compound, the metalface can add it to the list of known smells. If it is incorrect the metalface can place the smell in standby memory until it has time to sort through the compounds or assign a name or image.
A metalface has a sense of smell equal to a cat (four times as acute as normal humans) and specific smell compounds can be uploaded through a database access link with the appropriate grid access. Even with all this technological wonder, the metalface will never again smell a rose in the same way.
Taste
The sense of taste is the only sense that was deemed not needed. Because metalface don’t eat or drink (in the conventional sense) and do not have a mouth, the idea of adding a taste sensor was scrapped from the final production plans and was never reintroduced successfully to any metalface engineering programs on record.
Limitations
Although metalface are creations of metal and crystal, a self-preservation device had to be installed so that a metalface wouldn’t push their bodies beyond limits. The introduction of pain sensors was one of the hardest fought arguments during the t-bot creation agenda. Some argued that the ultimate warrior would fight on at all costs, ignoring personal damage to secure the goal of the profile or government. The rest argued that if a t-bot could accurately gauge its damage and recognize that it was being harmed it would allow the soul a greater flexibility in tactics and attack. In the end the group for pain recognition won out.
Metalface recognize pain in almost the same way as an organic body with the sensors going so far as to give the soul damaging feedback. The sensors are tweaked at initial transference to as accurately match the organic body’s original pain threshold or increase it to more common levels.
Even though the Metalface body is composed of inert metal and controlled by a crystalline energy system, cases have been reported that describe feelings and reactions that are more akin to normal humans than an armored tank.
Many studies and debates have given scientific verification to some of these psychosomatic reactions. Many metalface believe that their new metal bodies react in the same way as their old flesh and blood system. Some metalface have been known to exhibit symptoms resembling common ailments such as a fever or other highly unlikely scenarios.
The Shakes
This phenomenon is described as an intensifying vibration that resonates throughout the body. This reaction is commonly caused by a breakdown, usually in the case of some form of physical damage, in the energy distribution web that runs throughout the metalface body. Replacement or repair of the damaged area will usually fix this.
Fever
An uncontrollable heating of the inner frame can be a result of overcharging or the introduction of an incorrect energy source. A Servite using a Vectoron power source would undoubtedly suffer such a fever. This reaction causes the cyberneural heart to resonate at a frequency that starts to heat the inner frame, the external coverings of the metalface remain cool but the frame can become hot enough to cause damage. Extended fever can cause the burnout of critical components and, in the extreme cases, shatter the heart. All metalface are warned about the dangers of incorrect energy usage.
Transferred Sensory Deprivation
TSD is more a psychotic episode than a true psychosomatic reaction. It occurs when the metalface suffers some form of intense mental duress and loses touch with its metal body. In TSD the metalface can not use its electronics senses to their fullest, vision is out of focus, touch is just a meaningless scroll of words, sounds are a jumbled mess or a high pitch squeal and smell is a random assortment of figures and pictures. The only safe means of helping the subject in such trauma is intense counseling by someone trained in cyberneural understanding or biosignal translation. Clinics with such individuals exist where they help the soul get back in touch with its new metal body.
Overactive Musculature Control
OMC is a blockage in the physical feedback system of the metalface. It produces an increase in motor movement (arms, legs, torso, etc). OMC usually occurs when a metalface has had its energy reduced due to electrical damage. The metalface will suffer from exaggerated body movement, lashing out with full strength when opening a door, leaping through the roof when getting out of a chair. This is a dangerous problem more to the people around than the metalface itself and immediate attention at a clinic or transference lab is recommended.