From: " Henrik Larsen" Subject: Telesuits 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 MindBench@hotmail.com. 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