Project Prometheus was a secret Winslow Accord project designed to create soldiers who would be able to combat General Infantry Units and complete high-priority missions that would prove difficult or impossible for GIUs or other special forces units to accomplish. This was achieved through creating so-called "Cyber Soldiers" - humans with advanced mechanical augmentations. The combination of a human brain and the abilities of a machine ensured that these Cyber Soldiers were incredibly effective in the field. Those soldiers who completed the program were assigned to a unit within the WA Black Cyber Ops Division, like Taylor's Team.
The project was designed in collaboration with the Coalescence Corporation, under the direction of Sebastian Krueger. Information on the project can be accessed via the Data Vault.
Candidates[]
- Taylor, J - Accepted
- Hall, S - Accepted
- Kantor, D - Rejected
- Osman, P - Accepted (KIA)
- Mason, C - Rejected
- Maretti, P - Accepted
- Caracal, T - Accepted (KIA)
- Diaz, S - Accepted
Program Timeline[]
- Day 0 - Stabilization and Coma Induction
- Day 0-1 - Observation
- Day 2 - Normalization and Anchor Placement
- Day 2-3 - Observation
- Day 4 - DNI Implantation, main processor and backup rechargeable placed in abdominal cavity
- Day 4-7 - Observation
- Day 8 - Ocular resection
- Day 9 - DNI Calibration begins
- Day 9-14 - Observation
- Day 15 - DNI Calibration complete
- Day 16 - Medical System implantation
- Day 17 - Cyber Optic Implantation
- Day 18 - Computer Assisted Memory Implantation
- Day 19 - Cybernetic Limb Attachment
Program Augmentations[]
It is highly likely that successful candidates for the Prometheus Program are going to arrive at the Zürich facility suffering from recent battlefield trauma.
It is possible that the incoming candidate will have received only a minimum of triage in the field.
Reception medics will perform final induction checks to ensure that the patients' physiology and injuries are appropriate for the program, including treatment of any injuries sustained to the trunk or head.
At this point unsuitable candidates will be rejected and returned to a conventional ICU.
Given the grueling nature of the 28 day surgical program ahead of the successful candidate, it is vital to stabilize the patient as quickly as possible.
Coma Induction[]
As soon as tissue and blood match information is available, the candidate should be placed in a medically induced coma.
This will substantially reduce risks to the patient due to inflammation or swelling of their brain, either due to trauma sustained on the battlefield, or during the neurological procedures that are to follow.
In ICU, infusion pump metered propofol or thiopental at the presiding anesthetists' discretion to be given in increasing doses until EEG readings indicate burst suppression has been achieved, with bursts of neural activity occurring no more frequently than once every 8 seconds.
Once the anesthetist has verified and signed off on the stability of the coma state, the patient is to be moved through the decontamination facility before being handed off to the staff working insider our ISO 1 class cleanrooms where the remainder of the procedures will be carried out.Observation
Normalization[]
Once the patient is situated in the surgical facility and has been judged to be stable for a period of 24 hours, normalization procedures should occur.
The program calls for full limb prosthetics. All surviving limbs, including those that have sustained no battlefield trauma, should be amputated bilaterally; performing both Hip and Shoulder disarticulations.
Anchor Placement[]
Once the bilateral disarticulations are complete, pelvic and shoulder sockets should be excised and replaced with bio-compatible titanium socket, joint and post assemblies; the rear facing portions of which are doped with bone growth promoting compounds. These will rapidly integrate with the patients skeleton, providing appropriately mechanically strong mounting points for integration with cybernetic systems in about 2 weeks time.
The sciatic nerve bundles are resected and placed into a groove on the side of the leg sockets and the ulnar and median nerves to those of the shoulder. Over several days, carbon nanotubes will infiltrate the nerve bundles, providing DNI controlling pathways.Observation
The subject is rotated to expose their back and prepared for the implantation of their DNI system.
An orthopedic surgeon performs a laminectomy on the patients' neck, first exposing vertebrae C3 through 6 by making a small incision and moving the exposed muscles and ligaments to one side, before abrading the lamina bones on either side of C3-C6.
A foraminotomy is carried out, enlarging the openings on the sides of C3-C6 through which the cervical nerves emerge. Marker solutions are then injected into the intervertebral foramina, providing path hints for the 'growth' of the carbon nanotubes that will extend from the DNI system post implantation.
The DNI substrate itself is bonded directly o the anterior surfaces of the C3-C6 vertebrae. A bio-neutral cable bundle is passed laparoscopically [sic] down the length of the spine, and out towards the previously prepared anchor points at the shoulders.
The shoulders will leech primary power for the DNI systems from the systems of the cybernetic arms themselves once they are attached, while a miniature rechargeable power-system connected to the main processing unit introduced into the abdominal cavity will provide backup power as well as the power required while the system installs itself.
Over the next 4 days in response to ultra-sonic stimulation, bundles of carbon nanowires will extrude from the DNI packaging, infiltrating the hosts' ascending and descending nerve bundle, guided by the previously injected chemical markers.
DNI Subsystem Specifications[]
The DNI system being used is provided by the Coalescence Corporation with a number of modifications on their standard system designed especially for this program.
Firstly, the system is fully battlefield hardened. In addition it features 4 times the number of processing cores, allowing for simultaneous monitoring and control of many attached sub-systems in real time.Observation
Preparatory Surgery for Cyber-Optic Implants[]
The restraint frame is positioned around the patients' skull and screwed tightly into place before their upper and lower eyelids are fully retracted using a pair of clamps.
A surgical robot, controlled by an ophthalmic surgeon then begins the process of resecting the subjects' eyes.
Particular care is taken to not damage the anchor points of the 6 extraocular muscles which steer each eye, as they will serve to motivate the cyber-optic implant once it has been placed in the orbit or the lacrimal system, which will lubricate the implant in use.
Once each eyeball has been resected leaving nothing but the retina intact, the surplus elements of the ocular vascular system are carefully sutured and cauterized.
Thin wires 30 micro-meters in diameter are threaded from each eye socket in the patients' sinus cavities, and then lapriscopicaly [sic] threaded by surgical robot along the outside of the esophagus and out, under the skin towards the right shoulder, before being tied into the waiting power spur. These will serve to provide energy for the cyber-optics once they are implanted.
The surface of the retina is then abraded down to the inner plexiform layer, which is then doped with chemical markers to guide the later growth of nanowire infiltrates from the implanted cyber-optics.
Sterile plastic caps are placed over the patients' empty orbits and the securing clamps are removed allowing the eyelids to close.
The patient will be ready to receive their new cyber-optic eyes on day 18, after the completion of the calibration of their DNI system.DNI Calibration begins
Observation
DNI Calibration complete
The patients' abdomen is prepared, before a general surgeon performs a standard midline incision.
A medical-diagnostic system is placed in the abdominal cavity, where it is wired for power and data to the ready implanted DNI processor and power unit.
The medical system's sensors and drug delivery tubes are spliced into the subjects' inferior vena cava and abdominal aorta.
Fill tubes are threaded from the medical system, down towards the anchor socket placed on the left hand side of the pelvis. The fill tubes attach to the socket, allowing for the medical system's internal drug reservoirs to be easily refiled through fill ports situated in the yet-to-be-attached left cyber-leg.
The medical system will constantly monitor the vitals of the patient, dispensing numerous drugs, compounds and clotting/regenerative agents due to stresses exerted on the body, as well as in response to data provided from the DNI system itself.
It will serve numerous purposes; from basic battlefield first aid and assisted sleep on demand, to mood adjustment and interfering with short-term memory laydown in particularly stressful situations to prevent the occurrence of PTSD.
From time to time, as the project evolves, we will rebalance the program of drugs and compounds supplied by the medical subsystem, as well as adjusting its programming.
The midline incision is temporarily closed, as further access to the abdominal cavity will be required later.The patients' eyelids are once again fully retracted using clamps and the cover plates removed from each orbit, before a cyber-optic implant is carefully placed in each socket and connected to the waiting power lines.
The 6 extraocular muscles that control the orientation of each eye are temporarily stapled to pads on the outside of each implant with soluble staple. The pads are engineered from materials that the muscles will naturally reattach to in the coming days.
In response to being attached to a power source, nano-wires on the back of each implant begin infiltrating the patients abraded retinal areas and the optic nerve beyond.
The cyber-optic devices themselves offer their host a variety of advantages over their own natural sight. They feature magnification at both micro and macro scales, as well as being equipped with sensors that offer sensitivity at far greater ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.
In combination with the processor units attached to the DNI interface, edge enhancement, motion detection, informational overlays and the recording and playback of visual information are all possible.The candidates' midline incision is re-opened, and a Computer Assisted Memory (CAM) system is installed inside the abdominal cavity before being connected to the ready-placed DNI system central processor unit, from which it draws its power and data control streams.
This is a high density storage system based on low-power non-volatile spintronic RAM - individual bits are encoded in the spin states of electrons. It has a high enough capacity to contain any possible mission profile information, alongside a 72 hour buffer of everything the patient has seen, heard or experienced.
Once the candidate has mastered their DNI system, they will be able to call up or recall any of this information at will, marking sections of the bugger as 'do-not-delete' for future reference.
This information will form the backbone of most mission debrief scenarios.
It can also be shared with other DNI users as required, or routed via data-link to external equipment such as screens, speakers or recording devices.
As the bulk of information contained in the CAM system is likely to be classified as 'Above Top Secret', in the event of the death of the individual, as detected by the implanted medical system, the CAM system will automatically wipe itself.
Once the system has been implanted and tested, the midline incision is closed and treated.Now that all major surgery is complete, final mechanical force stress tests are conducted on the installed anchor points placed at each hip and shoulder.
Provided that the anchors pass their mechanical tests and the DNI data links are demonstrably live, we are finally able to give our patients their new arms and legs.
These systems are based on the Coalescence Corporations high-spec models, with a number of program-specific modifications and customizations.
Foremost, the structural endoskeleton on which are are constructed is made entirely of foamed titanium/ceramic composites offering vastly superior strength and weight advantages over anything else presently available.
The joint motivators are built around room temperature super-conducting rare-earth based magnets, which again offer the best size/strength/power usage tradeoffs currently available.
Each limb contains its own independent graphene based super-capacitor system allowing for high levels of power storage, sustained discharge and fast recharge times. In the field, the patient will be able to function at high levels of exertion for over a week, without requiring their systems to be recharged. A full recharge cycle will take under 10 minutes to complete.
The right cybernetic leg includes fill ports for the medical systems' drug dispenser system, allowing non-surgical refills of required compounds.
The cybernetic hands contain communications antenna for a wide variety of military and civilian data-communication systems, as well as the DNI systems high-bandwidth short-range communications systems which allows for DNI interface and control of a broad spectrum of electronic equipment.
The internals of the limbs are covered with armored plates constructed from advanced ceramic polymer smart materials, offering light-weight highly effective protection that is able to self-heal superficial damage over time.
At standard operational parameters, a patient equipped with this system is able to lift 1000 pounds without difficulty. When paired with custom body armour that attaches to clasps on the limbs themselves, the load is spread allowing for double that capacity without causing distress to the remaining organic systems.
At this stage attaching the limbs is a simple, tool free procedure, as is the replacement of damaged limbs in the field, although additional calibration will be required for maximal efficiency.
Once the DNI systems internal calibration is completed, the patient will be able to utilize these limbs as easily as they would have done their own.Trivia[]
- The project is named after the Greek god, Prometheus.