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Remote Control Interface (RCI)
The RCI is a multipurpose software tool that looks much like a palmtop computer. It can wirelessly connect to any controlling hardware in the tower, without needing a special interface on the hardware's side. It can be used to control and modify the software run on the hardware on the fly.
Superconductor Maintenance Kit (SMK)
A large, complex tool specializing in the maintenance of the different superconducting components everywhere in the electrical systems in the Tower.
Supercoil
A superconducting coil used in many of the electrical systems. There are six models of Supercoils, Mark VI being the newest but most low-quality.
Manual Assembly
The art of building things by hand. Needed when there's no factory line for the production of a specific item.
Plasma Conduit
The main energy lines in the Tower (such as those in the hubs) use electromagnetically contained plasma to transfer the energy.
Simulators
The only systems capable of virtual-reality simulations are the simulators in Labspace. They connect to the necklinks of the users to create a virtual reality experience. The huge computing power needed is provided by the huge computing cores in the Silo area of Labspace.
Stimulants and Inhibitors
Nanobot-based injections used to counter the ill-effects of extended periods without a floatbed.
Stimulants nourish the system and makes it ignore the effects of contamination. They let you function at full strength for up to five days.
Inhibitors greatly slow down the metabolism, allowing them to live in a nigh-comatose state for several weeks.
Nanofarm
A 10x10x10 cm box used to produce nanobots. You put the needed materials into the box, enter the nanobots' blueprint and let the nanofarm churn out the bots.
Chimbot
Automatic TAU-controlled robots that perform maintenance on the Tower and repair broken machinery. The Chimbots are as broken as TAU, however, so they can't do all the needed work without the help of humans.
AI Networking Node
Each TAU controlled piece of equipment, a Chimbot for instance, is controlled by one or several AI Networking Nodes. Each node is capable of functioning on its own, but together they form the swarm intelligence known as TAU. This architecture allows TAU to function relatively well even when fragmented into several separate parts.
The AI Networking Nodes are also used to transport data throughout the Tower, and they're the things the necklinks are connected to. Human-built items, such as tools, don't have AI Networking Nodes in them, though they may still communicate with the nodes in a primitive way.
The algorithms of the swarm intelligence are not well understood, and the nodes themselves can't be produced.
Chewsticks
Even though the digestive systems of the colonists have been suppressed, they can still take in small amounts of chemicals in the form of chewsticks. Many chewsticks simply provide a little extra energy or simply a pleasant taste, but some have intoxicating qualities. An especially popular chewstick, called "Substance X", causes approximately ten minutes of intoxication in the form of relaxation and excessive hilarity. It has no long-term effects.
Power Jack
Much like the ordinary jack (the thing you lift your car with as you change your tire), but way more powerful. Built from the best alloys and using the most effective power systems, the Force Jack can lift hundreds of tons and still be carried easily in one hand.
Builder Bots
These special nanobots are mere science fiction, even in the Seed world. They create various objects out of thin air (or in some versions out of the molecules in air, water or other random material).
They do not exist.
Healskin
Patches of artificial skin that attaches to a persons skin when applied. Used for treating acute burns and minor wounds/bleeding. Heals minor wounds and burns easily, and helps stabilize a more severely wounded person to a minor degree.
Healskin is an old invention, the knowledge of it brought from Earth and not
improved much since then.
Healskin is not uncomplicated to make. The Horizon produces most of it and
supplies The Common Good with it free of charge it is said.
((By Darkhawk))
Nano Surgeons
Nanobots used for surgeries. They require human direction.
((By Dustman))
Plasma Maintenance Kit (PMK)
The equivalent of a Superconductor Maintenance Kit for Plasma conduits.
((By Mehken))
Plasma Jump Coupler (PJC)
Small piece of plasma conduit with a grip connector in each end. Meant for diverting plasma in
conduits when maintenance is required but can be used for emergency repair if you're in a hurry or don't have a PMK.
((By Mehken))
General Sampling Kit (GSK)
Basically a collection of a few sealable glass containers and tools (like a syringe and tweezers) for getting samples. Standardized to minimize contamination of the samples. Is not intended for medical purposes.
((By Mehken))
Emergency Hatch Remover (EHR)
Hydraulic device that works by forcing a probe through the hatch and then 'cutting' an opening.
Is faster than removing the hatch or panel by conventional means but obviously ruins the hatch. Nicknamed the "Can Opener".
The EHR is part of the Multiwrench functionality, but can be stand-alone as well.
((By Mehken))
Multiwrench
A basic tool for a maintenance person, about the length of a forearm. Works like a Swiss knife, with different simple tools you can move in and out as you need them. A generic Multiwrench contains at least a wrench, a crowbar, an Emergency Hatch Remover, a small laser cutter, and a smoldering iron.
Standard Gas Mask
A basic protection owned by most colonists, the Standard Gas Mask protects the wearer from a variety of toxins and biological agents in the air. It also contains a miniscule oxygen tank which has enough oxygen for 15 minutes.
Personal Environment Warning System (PEWS)
Small box with several strips coated with various reagents. Each strip reacts (changes color) to a different hazard, like high levels of CO2 or radiation. Deliberately made without any form of electronics or mechanics to keep it as sturdy as possible. Easily attached to the sleeve of most suits.
Portable Airlock Construction Kit
A suitcase-sized kit that can be turned into a quick and dirty airlock to be placed on a doorway or a narrow corridor. It's small - only one person can be processed at a time.
Tracer Goggles
Tracergoggles are cumbersome and certainly unfashionable
goggles attached to the head. They consist of a variety of lenses,
microchips and lights, powered by a hydrogene cell. Used primarily by
engineers and scientists to investigate and analyze structures, items and
liquids, they contain powerful zoom facilities, an on-board computer and a
link to the necklink (based on a single AINN), which extends their functionality.
With such goggles, it is possible to see passively in the dark, identify the
make-up of materials, scan for structural weaknesses, dim out excessive
light and view things up close or from afar, as well as other functions that
could be programmed into them.
(By Darkhawk)
Neuro-Electronic Interface (Necklink technology)
The Neuro-Electronic Interface connects a person's brain to into a computer circuit, enabling data transfer between the two. This is used mainly for the purposes of communication between people with necklinks and the download of knowledge and information from a computer system to the brain.
The interface between the necklink and the brain is a complex one, since the principles by which the brain operates are very different from those used in electronics. The necklink is only a part of the Neuro-Electronic Interface: it controls a nanoswarm spread over the celebral cortex. The individual nanobots connect to individual neurons, reading their state and stimulating them when needed. The bots communicate on a bandwidth that doesn't interfere with brain activities.
Each Neuro-Eloctronic Interfece is calibrated to the individual brain it's connected to, and this calibration must be updated regularly as the brain continuously changes its shape. This is achieved by regularly scheduled reading and analysis of the brain activity, followed by adjustments to the settings of the interface.
The User Interface
In addition to knowledge transfer, the Neuro-Electronic Interface acts as the user interface between the colonist and TAU, and by extension, other colonists. In many ways, this resembles telepathy. However, the interface is too simple and clumsy to feel like being truly connected to another mind. TAU's queries and necklink messages feel just like that: queries and messages, albeit complex and versatile in their content.
There are various alternative user interfaces geared to different people. Visual people often choose to represent the interface visually. This doesn't mean covering up their eyesight by popups and dialogs, however - the interface operates purely through the "mind's eye" - the UI components show up in the person's imagination, and they imagine the responses. One can often tell someone is using a visual interface when they close their eyes, stare intently at nothing, or look to the top right.
Most people use a combination of visual, aural, and conceptual user interfaces. Some application only allow one modality, anyway - images the in personnel database can naturally only be viewed visually. The conceptual interface is arguably the most efficient for, for example, TAU queries and necklink messaging: instead of images or sounds you cut straight to the meanings behind. This can, however, be confusing to many. Conceptual interfacing is also the only way to efficiently send feelings over the comms.
In addition to these, there are more exotic modalities: some, for example, prefer tactile elements to their interface, making them operate an imaginary interface through hand movements.
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