Subject: Telesuits
From: " Henrik Larsen" <[email-masked]>

Telesuit & Telestorage (TL 18)

Prolog:
This is an idea for a very special sort of battlesuit, and further uses for the
idea.
 It uses teleport-technology in a very advanced way, which is why I gave it
this TL.
In the text, I will try to seperate the light, simple textile suit worn
constantly, and
 the actual battlesuit brought forth by the technology, by naming the first
"telesuit" and
 the latter just "suit". I might screw up here and there, though.

The Telesuit.
The telesuit is an advanced use of "delaied teleportation" or "telestorage",
which
 itself is a combination of teleportation and pocket universes. The telesuit
itself is a
 body-tight suit of a comfortable textile. Its size depends on the stored suit
(keep
 reading). At selected places on the suit, there are patches of a
designer-material, which
 acts as a conduct for the telestorage unit.  This unit is mounted on the back
(some models
 place it other places; shoulders, chest, wrists etc. It is even possible to
have it inserted
 into genetically or nano-designed body caveties. This operation costs around
$500 per cubic
 foot and takes a week (the nano version costs twice the price, but takes only
a day)).
When activated, the telestorer teleports the stored suit from a pocket universe
and
 onto the wearer, using the patches as placement points for different parts.
This process
 takes one second per part, assuming it is one- or two-staged (see below). The
onstalled suit
 ("onstalled" is a term meaning "has been put on through telestorage") now acts
as if it had
 been put on in a regular fashion.

Stages.
The basic suit is one-staged, which means, that only one layer is onstalled. It
is,
 however, possible to have an onstalled suit or part thereof include a second
telestorage
 unit. Thus, when the suit is onstalled, this unit can be used to add further
parts to the
 suit (examples include adding of weaponry, shields, tools etc. to an otherwise
merely
 protective suit).
Each stage takes .5 seconds to onstall. Thus, a suit which has a first stage of
merely
 a DR 200 armor-suit, second stage of myomuscular strength-enhancers, third
stage of double
 gravcannons and a fourth stage of high-power deflector shields, would take 1
second to
 onstall if only stage 1 or 2 was required, and 2 seconds if stage 3 or 4 was
required.
 Offstalling a stage takes the same amount of time.
When designing stages, each higher stage requires the lower to be onstalled
first, and
 a lower can only be offstalled, if no higher stages currently onstalled
depends on it. For
 example, the above suits user cannot simply onstall the high-power deflectors,
since the
 telestorage unit for these are in stage 3, and stage 3s telestorage units are
in stage 2
 etc.

Multiple Suits.
It is quite possible to have multiple suit options, or segmented suits,
installed in
 the same telesuit. However, no suit can be onstalled, if other items are
taking up its space
 (this has nothing to do with ultra-sciences; the suit simply cannot onstall
the part,
 because something is in the way). This allows switching between suits, or even
second or
 higher stage telestored parts.
Segmented suits are suits, which consist of a set of different parts, which can
be
 mixed and matched to fit the situation. For example, one situation might
require heavy
 weapons and deflector shields, while another does not require weapons, but
deflectors and
 contragrav drive system. There are endless other possibilities. Such a suit is
designed in
 its seperate parts. No part needs be fully equiped; the power for a weapon
might come from
 another part, which must be onstalled along with it (this option allows one
main power plant
 to be used with several independent segments in a multitude of combinations).
These parts
 can be brought out one at a time (requiring .5 seconds each, as in Stages,
above), or
 several can be onstalled simultaniously. The latter requires a teleporter unit
(see Suit
 Design, below) capable of bringing out a weight of the segments' total in one
turn.
A suit can be programmed to have certain telestored parts required for others
to be
 onstalled; for example, onstalling a 500 lbs disintegrator is not clever,
since any person,
 unless highly modified, would be crushed under the weight. So an exoskeleton
with the
 strength to carry it could be programmed to be a requirement, forcing the user
to onstall
 that first. The reason to do this is because some requirements can be used for
several
 added parts; the exoskeleton might be used for either the disintegrator or a
set of ST 300
 mecha arms. This basically functions as a multi-stage suit, except the
telestorage for the
 disintegrator or arms is not inserted into the exoskeleton, allowing them to
be combined
 with other parts instead of the exoskeleton (like a contragrav system). And in
zero-G, the
 requirement might be overridden, allowing the disintegrator to be onstalled
directly, since
 the user will no longer be crushed. Possibilities are endless.

Suit design.
The stored suit(s) can be designed as standard exo- or battle-suits, using
Gurps
 Vehicles or Robots (or possibly the upcoming Mecha). The storage unit consists
of two
 parts: The teleporter and the pocket universe (which is actually not that big
a place; only
 the suit can be fitted into it). The teleporter weighs 2% of the suit to be
on- or
 offstalled, and takes up 1 cf. per 50 lbs. The pocket universe module weighs
only 1% of the
 suit, and weighs 1/50 of that as well. Cost is usually $1500 per lbs. of
stored suit weight
 for the teleporter, and $750 per lbs. for the pocket universe. The pocket
universe module
 is considered changable; reduce price by 20% if it is not (weight is largely
unchanged, but
 the work required to build is less). The patches (and textile) are usually
supplied free
 with the telestorage unit. Most suits have patches arranged in a standardized
pattern, to
 allow for other suits to use the same suit (having to change suit in the
middle of a
 battlefield would be *so* embarrasing). For suits without changable pocket
universe modules
 (above), the practicality of custom patch design is included in the
price-reduction.
For the multiple suit option, the teleporter unit only has to be big enough to
onstall
 the largest suit. If segmented suits are used, the teleporter should be big
enough for the
 biggest part, though an increased size allows several segments to be onstalled
 simultaniously (legs and weaponry, for example).

Vehicular Telestorage.
Telestorage units can be built into vehicles, as well. Since vehicles have less
general
 shapes than humans (although humans can get pretty awkward in TL 18 settings,
as well), not
 all onstallable parts fit every vehicle; be sure to specify the shape and size
of patch-
points, as well as what existing systems (like computers, powerplants etc.) are
required, so
 that it can be evaluated, whether another vehicle can use the same telestored
part. This
 counts for second or higher stage items on multi-stage suits as well
(actually, a "second
 stage" part is not onstalled on a duit, but on the exo- or battlesuit
onstalled in the first
 stage).

Transfering and Switching Telestored Parts.
If a pocket universe module is removed from a telesuit, it will not affect the
suit
 which it is designed for. However, the suit, if onstalled, cannot be
offstalled until the
 pocket universe is reinserted. If it is a standard suit, another (empty)
pocket universe
 module, for an identical suit, may be inserted, onto which the suit can be
offstalled. It is
 however impossible to offstall a suit, or part, onto a pocket universe module
designed for
 another suit or part, even if it is both big enough and empty, since all suits
and parts are
 tailored soecifically for their pocket universe counterparts.
If someone wishes to insert the pocket universe module from one telesuit in
another,
 thereby allowing it to onstall that particular suit, the suit must be
offstalled first.
 Otherwise, that person will just be inserting an empty module.

Epilog:
While all this stuff might be slightly confusing, I intend to (hopefully)
clearify it
 somewhat by designing some suits as examples. Comments and ideas on this stuff
can be mailed
 to me at [email-masked].
I would also like to thank the geniuses behind the TV series Captain Power for
first
 bringing about the idea of telesuits (at least, this is were *I* first saw
it), and for a
 generally great and entertaining series.

Suggested by H S Larsen