1) What exactly are cybertorsos and cyberskulls? Does the torso actually contain cybernetic life support systems which replace the patient's organs, or is it just a replacement for the spine, rib cage, muscles and so forth? Same for the cyberskull: do they just replace the actual bones of the skull with synthetic materials, or does it come with a cyberbrain into which the patient's mind is copied?

2) Are there rules for connecting an implanted commlink to a cybereye laser designator and having uninterceptable, unhackable point-to-point laser communication?

1. From what I understand, the Torso and Skull are shells that are encasing whatever remaining living tissue is underneath...

2. I really like that idea...

2) there are rules for laser communications in arsenal. i see no reason you could not use eye lasers to accomplish that effect, not sure if there are explicit rules though (and too lazy to check atm...)

Cybertorsos and cyberskulls are endoskeletal replacements, which provide additional protection of the vital organs and, in the case of the cybertorso, additional anchoring for cyberlimbs. The brain and other internal organs are not replaced; but the bones and most of the muscle and connective tissues are.


Laser designator is probably unsuitable for wireless communication (not the least because you'd have to stare unblinking at the receiver/transmitter). You can of course use a laser link (p.199, Unwired) to the same effect, connecting it to your internal commlink via fiber-optic cable from your datajack or skinlink.

Surely this could be overcome with clever use of compressed burst transmission and/or signal multiplexing?

Definitely... and don't call me Surely

*shrug* had to do it...

Depends; if you spend a good bit of time setting things up you could arrange laser links on every piece of equipment in your house and be able to turn things on and off with a blink. However, for continuous real-time communication - i.e. hacking - you're going to need something fairly close to a continuous beam between one station (your head) and the other (whatever you want to talk to). Sending a command would only take a fraction of a second, but then you have to wait for the system to process and respond, etc.

That's even assuming the laser designator is on the right wavelength to transmit and receive communications channels.

(Multiplexing, btw, is not directly applicable here because you have complete access to the entire bandwidth and frequency of the channel.)

Why would you need to blink your cybereyes ??

You might not have gone for a full cybereye conversion, and even if you did you might have a blink subroutine programmed in so they're not immediately onvious of course.

TBH, hacking over a cybereye laser link never even occurred to me. I was thinking about communication between teammates; useless over long distances, of course, because you can't rely on your teammate looking in the right direction at the right time, but if you're close enough to get their attention with a gesture, you've got secure communication that's much more useful than Morse-code eyeblinks.

I'm not an idiot, I understand that somebody that does not blink ever would instantly be obvious to anybody who's looking at him. But if you notice, I didn't say "why would you ever blink your cybereyes", but "why would you need to blink your cybereyes", which means that if you need not to blink your cybereyes, then establishing a constant link would not be a problem. When you're done hacking, then of course you turn on your "non-obvious" subroutine...

Understand ?

I was being snarky. Static electricity and dust build-up on the lens would be the most likely reason.

AH, you big grump.

Really the issues with hacking over a laser link implanted in the eye, is basically not moving a muscle or risk losing the link. In these cases it'd be best to just setup a tri-pod or something so you can relax in your lawn chair sipping margaritas. What, this is perfectly appropriate for a gun fight.

As for using it purely for communication purposes, it depends on what you want to do. Perfect speech, maybe both of you take a simple or even complex to stare at each other and communicate. Something useful but not likely in combat.

Other useful means of communication might be just a standard direct connection via fiber to each others jacks.
or skin link to skin link... eww not like that.

For some reason, the idea of young hipsters without blink routines on their cybereys amuzes me. Perhaps they have something akin to a wiper. Oh, the fun funky things that people could do to themselves once you really think about it.

I believe it was Bruce Sterling that once said: "Anything you can do to a rat, you can do to a human being. And we can do almost anything to a rat."