UO Champion Synthetic Cardial System
Written by: Null Kit
In its earliest forms, the field of medical prosthetics has centered around simply replicating the function of dysfunctional or missing bodyparts to as best as possible with the technology at hand, and only in these last decades has our knowledge of medicine and technology allowed us to shift our goals from replication to outright enhancing and surpassing our natural abilities, to the point of removing perfectly healthy and functioning pieces of our body and replacing them with cybernetic platforms that not only surpass the original in their performance, but allow us to perceive and act in ways that our all-natural ancestors couldn't even fathom. This technology has been almost perfected for our external features, such as eyes and limbs and teeth, but the deeper we go into the human body the more obstacles stand in our way of the dream of fully mechanizing ourselves. Even something simple, such as the stomach, is intergral to countless internal biological functions necesarry to our continued health that it can't simply be replaced by a flexible chamber that breaks down food. The organs constantly interact with oneanother, communicating, changing their activities and even changing the activities of other parts to adapt to everyday-life. And so for decades, most prosthetic replacements for these organs have been transient, intended to sate the short-term needs of the body until a suitable organic replacement can be transplanted from the nearest matching cadaver, while longer-lasting replacements are still in their infancy. On december 2069, after years of research and funding, the R&D division at the Universal Omnitech School of Medicine presented the prototype model for a 'Synthetic Cardial System', a fully mechanical prosthesis that fully replicated the function of the metahuman heart they claimed was completely viable for long-term use. The prototype, nicknamed the 'Tart MK-2' after a fragment of pre-crash cockney rhyming slang, was installed into the chest of local philanthropist Marvin Spencer, a regular donor to the local UO medical buildings who suffered from Situs inversus, a rare condition where the major visceral organs such as the heart are mirrored from their normal positions and made procuring replacement-organs without a clone on standbye a difficult proposition, especially for someone with multiple chronic vascular conditions such as Marvin. The Tart MK-2 was somewhat bulky as a prototype, to the point of needing parts of the sternum removed and reinforced to allow for installation of further mechanical and computing components, but nontheless it was fully functioning as a heart, and aside from the natural aftereffects of open-chest surgery, Marvin Spencer's observed health was excellent, to the point where he elected to keep the prototype in lieu of more miniaturised upgrades, after some quality-of-life tweaks were applied to allow for this.Begs the question though of why a guy like Marvin would sign up for this in the first place. Hasn't he got clones for his heart?
He does, it's just that those clones are UO property. Can't say no to being a marketable guinea-pig when they're the only ones who can replace your heart if something happens, and if he turns the proposition down, we know for a fact that something will happen.A few years later, the design-team got the OK from Universal Omnitech to start releasing the production model in limited quantities to the public, after Marvin Spencer's fourth annual clean bill of health. This version, called the Champion, was actually not that much smaller than the Tart MK-02, but the large levels of miniaturisation means that the Champoin packed far more features than its prototype: All of the primary hardware has been fitted with multiple redundancies and failsafes, including a full cardiovascular monitoring array and built-in bypass systems to handle sudden blockages, but the majority of the outer-bulk of the prosthesis, comprising most of the module built indo the back of the Sternum, was the Phoenix Re-Stabilization Unit. When the implanted monitoring array detects signs of a life-threatening injury, the dedicated hardware inside the Phoenix unit takes control of the entire prosthesis from the built-in systems and begins collecting data from the monitoring array and any connected Biomonitor, using it to tighten or losen various clamps around major blood-vessels to manipulate blood-flow as needed, while a built-in injector directly infuses the blood inside the heart with a mixture of surgery-grade stimulants and synthetic adrenaline. The intended goal of this system is to stabilise the user's cardiovascular system and force their mind into a state of consciousness and awareness, enough to escape the situation or remain alive until medical assistance can arrive.
The re-stabilization processes are remarkably potent, enough that expert fine-tuning of its dosage and regular monitoring of blood-pressure is needed to ensure they don't cause more harm than they treat. Regardless, the invigorating effects are every bit as reliable as advertised, to the point where I might derive similar techniques from it for use in trauma-management in my clinic.The unit can only safely hold one dose at a time, but the helpfulness of that one dose alone, along with the small but noticeable physical robustness granted by having a mechanical heart in the first place, is more than enough to make up for that one limitation, so long as you don't mind having a spiritually significant core of your body replaced with cold metal and plastic.
Item type
Bionic
Rarity
14R
Weight
0.51 KG
Base Price
91,500¥
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