The Broadband of the Force

[Janick Beauchamp]

"You seem to talk about mental data transfers with various arm's length parties, and teach how to do those, but you never gave us an opportunity to learn those" Alyssa complained to Janick.

"Yes, Janick, you always seemed willing to open up your mind to mental data transfers as if it was a public library" Tamana continued.

"Here's the deal: you will teach and learn much faster after learning both aspects of mental data transfers. It will be a rather large data packet, but I'm sure your respective brains can handle it. Plus because I'm infusing it to you both simultaneously, my mental bandwidth is to be shared between the two of you, and therefore I expect it to be painless to both of you because your brains are rather fast, assuming the bandwidth allocation is equal"

By now Janick knew these two witches in the Circle well enough to know how to approach them from a mental data transfer standpoint. Even if Janick was the main intellectual thrust of the Circle, she knew the other two witches' brains worked fast enough to be smart ladies in their own right. So she infused into the two simultaneously the knowledge of how to both upload and download knowledge from somebody's mind, as well as how to make alterations in someone else's memory; that knowledge would never feel so sweet to those witches to learn through Memory Rub, especially when the caveats of having to take into account the relative mental bandwidths of both people involved. And, of course, even though their memories aren't perfect, uploading and downloading is more effective when the target's memory is better, while the reverse is true of alterations, and also the risk of someone accidentally forgetting something when a mental data transfer is done has an inverse relationship with how good its memory is. And, as usual when someome has an infusion made, both are made to feel that they have learned several months, or years even, of knowledge in a matter of minutes. Now was the time to get another cold-call made for someone else she believed would be interested in mental data transfers:

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ATTN: [member="Auspex"]

With the arcane arts of mental data transfers, you can use the Force to both teach and learn items much faster than by conventional means, in the most painless way possible. Come to the Utapau Alchemy Castle on the Fourth Moon of Utapau if you're interested. Please let me know what works for you.

Janick Beauchamp
Owner, Utai Magic Circle

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[Myra]

Auspex was reading, as he so often was. His private library was filled with an assortment of texts that he had sought after during his lifetime. Yet every time he found another original text, rare book, or stray Holocron, he always found that it was never enough and thus his library had continued to grow even after it became too much for a single man to care for. Currently, he was flipping through a copy of 'The Creation of Monsters', the unfinished last part to Palpatine's Dark Side Compendium. It mentioned Sith Alchemy, but not enough for Auspex to gain any meaningful knowledge, that must have been reserved for the final unfinished chapters. Instead, he found himself flipping through a variety of schematics, and entries regarding General Grievous. The Emperor himself was scared of what the creature could become without being properly commanded.

Yet, his peaceful reading of the texts of a mastermind was quickly interrupted by a buzzing on his terminal. Swiveling his seat and scooting it up to the console, he would let his fingers glide over the holographic keyboard to access the alert. A message, a simple one but one with incredible possibilities. His mask's eye slits glow dimly in the room which is only illuminated by a few sparse candles. Raising his index finger he'd begin to start typing but pauses.. how exactly does one respond to a Sith willing to teach him the intricacies of sith abilities? Why respond with such a trivial thing as a bunch of pixels on a screen when he could just go?

And with that he would glide to his feet, his flowing robes hiding the movement of his legs but barely restricting them as he glides across the smooth stone floors of the library out towards one of the private shuttles reserved for him. Boarding, he would give the man some simple directions and then he would lay back and enjoy the ride.

His shuttle would settle down on the moon gracefully and he would disembark much in the same way. Whether the planetoid would have the atmosphere or not wouldn't bother him, his mask doubling as a rebreather among many other things. He would approach the castle, looking up at it in a moment of quiet internal reflection about what brought him to this point and then he would calculate a few different ways this could be a trap... yet he had no idea why it would be a trap.

Either way, he would approach the gate of the castle and simply wait for some sort of sign to enter or some form of greeting party. His cloak hiding his features other than the dimly lit mask covering his face. Yet under this cloak, his hand would gently rest on the hilt of his lightsaber, should he end up having to use it.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Between NFUs wanting custom alchemical jobs for whatever reason, often suits of armor or even weapons sometimes, and alchemical drinks, Janick knew that [member="Auspex"] would arrive at some point, just that his Force-signature would, in fact, feel different from Alyssa or Tamana. She could, in fact, feel that today's visitor brought a concealed lightsaber, but hopefully she wouldn't have to force him to draw it. I may as well be the highest-profile practitioner of mental data transfers currently active, but all it takes is one Force-user that can be even better than I am at performing mental data transfers, and any MDT-based claim to fame would vanish, she thought, while pondering exactly how fast was the mind of the cloaked visitor. She knew all too well that she ought not to infuse faster than the slower of the two minds or else pain will ensue proportionally to the excess. Because she feels that the visitor is after a large data packet, she needs to ensure her mind is operating as fast as it possibly can. Maybe even alchemy; however, she has a question to ask him later regarding any previous knowledge that he might have held that could be of use. Once she opened the castle's main gate:

"Welcome to the Utapau Alchemy Castle. I trust you came to learn more about mental data transfer? Before the infusion of knowledge begins, I would like to preface by saying that few dark-siders even considered Memory Rub as a means to teach faster, nor did they consider Drain Knowledge as a means to learn faster. With that said, I'll infuse into you the knowledge to perform Memory Rub"

 

[Myra]

He would stand there silently for a few moments, either assessing the woman or simply thinking of something to say. "What will this.. memory rub entail?" he finally asks, his voice sounding almost machine-like through the mask, but not as grating as a battle droid, more like it was spoken out of a telephone or radio. His voice, although edited to some degree, was the most obviously human thing about him.

The concept of someone going and poking around his classified and incredibly secret memories disturbed him, he was debating whether to just trust her or demand for some form of guarantee she wouldn't go where she wasn't allowed. She was a dark sider, a Sith, Witch, or Dark Jedi he was unsure but all three trails led to the same end. He couldn't trust her. "And how do I know you won't be prodding into the parts of my mind that were reserved for me, and me alone?" he would ask only a few short moments after his initial question.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"As I typically perform Memory Rub, it's just about infusing knowledge into you. As such there is no need to prod into the deeper secrets"

However, [member="Auspex"] would soon learn, once the infusion is underway, that is, that Memory Rub is more than just infusing knowledge; it could also be used to alter or erase memories from someone else. Just that Janick could readily understand why the customer of the day couldn't trust her. She knew that the dark-sided world often played games of power internally, although she would need to put aside any differences for the time being. Not that she knew anything about that person beforehand. Such was the nature of cold-calling for customers. Then the infusion began in earnest: Auspex would begin to have visions flashed into his mind of how the infusions are even performed in the first place, of how the procedure was different to edit another person's memories, and, of course, the caveats: a faster mind could allow more efficiency either way but only to the extent the target's mind could handle it unless inflicting pain was a motivation. And also how the quality of the target's memory impacted the effectiveness as well as the likelihood of someone accidentally forgetting something else after being subjected to Memory Rub. She didn't even need to touch existing memories in him to make the infusion happen, only infuse new ones.

 

[Myra]

Oddly, Auspex wouldn't visibly flinch. To him, this was nothing more than an interesting experiment he got to experience first hand. He would drink up these visions like a sponge, mulling them over in his brain as his mask's microcomputers begin to rapidly store each and every vision, experience, and sensation for later review. Auspex knew he would remember this.. but it's better to be safe than sorry. The infusion of new memories most intrigued him, this was a much faster way of teaching than the normal audible ways... he would indeed need to use this.

Yet he would endure, closing his eyes and just letting the memories, experiences, and visions wash over him, trying to understand each and everyone one to the fullest extent.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

The only reason why [member="Auspex"] didn't flinch, nor feel any pain whatsoever, was because Janick had an idea of how fast she could infuse the data packet of Memory Rub into him without overloading the infusee's mind. Or hers. She knew mental overload was a thing, and she could feel that the customer is really after another data packet. It was, in her mind, more likely than not that it would be for something exotic, such as alchemy or other exotic spells, including but not limited to, Qazoi Kyantuska or Bolts of Hatred. Or even Summon Fear or Memory Walk. However, she could tell that the sheer volume of what he even wishes to download could force him to expend a significant chunk of his Force-energy and maybe cause his mind to get tired near the end. Plus with each alchemical data packet he would be downloading from her, he would also pick up some chemical knowledge as appropriate. Or genetics in the case of genetic engineering. Chemical knowledge can go a long way for alchemists. It's not enough to just infuse dark spirit ichor into something to make it do what you want, chemical knowledge can hint at subtleties one would easily miss otherwise, she thought, before infusing him instructions on how to perform Drain Knowledge. Once the infusion is complete...

"Now, I can sense that you want to download my knowledge of alchemy, but there are really four branches to download: metallurgy, potion-making, cristallography and genetic engineering, each of which can be considered a Force-ability in its own right for the purposes of Drain Knowledge. Even though one can download large data packets in a matter of seconds or minutes with Drain Knowledge, one's brain also needs time to absorb it all"

 

[Myra]

Auspex would just quietly stand there through the ordeal, the mask quietly absorbing most of the data and sipping out a tiny bit of ritual, cosmetics, and other things it deemed 'unnecessary' until Auspex had time to experiment with this new data and abilities. Yet when it is all over he stands there as curious and interested as he was when he had first arrived.

"Download-" he would mutter to himself amusedly "A term beforehand only given to computers and droids is now interchangeable with biological machines as well it appears. Perhaps we aren't as different as most think."

He was tempted to claim that the computers of the mask would be able to support his delving into this knowledge, yet he decides, in the end, to not risk it and simply nods as his hand slips from the lightsaber in his belt to a more relaxed position as both arms fold across his chest. "Is this how all Sith are taught? And aren't these abilities supposed to be a well kept Sith secret?"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"I believe it is safer to use the Force to download it from me using Drain Knowledge than to teach alchemy using any other method, at least as far as maintaining knowledge secrecy is concerned. I usually prefer to either infuse knowledge or to have the student download it from me if it is too dangerous or sensitive to teach using normal means"

And I trained several of those mental data transfer users, and most of them seem to use it on occasion at most: Kimiko, Dax, Erin, Ashelia, A'Runda, Dianah... the only ones that I didn't train that I know about are Raith and Abyss. But to think that I am a machine? Perhaps the customer is some sort of cyborg, a Shard perhaps, Janick thought, while the statement [member="Auspex"] made about the secrecy of alchemy gave her pause. However, she feels that perhaps she is going off-tangent by talking about how mental data transfer had even fewer practitioners than alchemy even had. She had that discussion with Raith, but she doesn't feel he came to have that sort of discussion. However, as to why it is safer to download knowledge, it's because it's harder to have a third party record anything without being able to use the Force. Just that she isn't worried about the security of a Force-channel which is typically akin to a Force-VPN. Then again, Force-channels such as those used for mental data transfers have very short ranges, which makes hacking into a mental data transfer much harder.

"One last remark: because there are so few dark-siders that even use the Force to infuse knowledge to begin with, there are actually few dark-siders that are taught using mental data transfers"

 

[Myra]

"Ah-" he mulls this over a second before giving a distracted nod "Makes sense I suppose."

He would take a step to the side as he begins to inspect his surroundings, the castle was quite.. different than what he was used to. Thus he was mostly taking in any artistic embellishments on the walls and surroundings before idly remarking "How did you... come across this place? Purchase it? Built it? Pray, do tell."

His masked face would turn to look at her expectantly. If they were going to have to wait for her to gain more energy, or until he gained more energy, or perhaps both, they mind as well fill the time with pleasant conversation.

He wasn't entirely sure how this woman had known about him or who she was, so he was curious. How she knew about him could be settled later. Yet as for who she was, he was curious. He was a naturally curious being and force-sensitive individuals, especially ones with ancient lore apparently forgotten by most of her kind intrigued him slightly, to say the least. If there was one thing life had taught him it was that most of the people who owned a castle had an interesting story behind them. He would begin to gently probe around the castle as he waits for her, attempting to feel out any other force energies, such as force sensitives or a force nexus.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"I call it a castle for marketing reasons, even though it's within the size of what real estate developers often call a McMansion. Typically in the 300-500 square meters range; it's still relatively... new. Because some Barkhesh refugee thought it was a great idea to just build an entire subdivision of Kessil that he called New Barkhesh, and market the project as living large on the cheap"

I was the one spending energy to make the infusion. He should still be fresh unless he was using Force-comprehension to artificially make his brain faster than would otherwise be the case, but then he'd be trading Force-energy for headaches. He shouldn't be ashamed of requiring multiple tries to download the full monty, Janick thought, while she also recalled upon the area as it was marketed at the time of purchase. When she said on the cheap, it was not a joke: for about 60,000 credits she bought a home that would cost maybe even 10 times as much on Barkhesh proper. Just that [member="Auspex"] thought that he needed to be brought back to full power before he attempts downloading alchemical knowledge from her. How many of the data packets would he even download while here, was anybody's guess, but she knew that her brain would work real hard for a few moments, while the download is underway, and the same would be true of him, too. Plus he would get a feel for Janick's brain in the meantime, either before the download gets underway or while it is underway.

"Now, you may have realized that I often seem to talk about Memory Rub or Drain Knowledge in computing-intensive terms. You may attempt downloading one of the four branches of alchemy from me. Beginners in alchemy should perhaps attempt doing metallurgy or potion-making first"

 

[Myra]

"Wouldn't it be best if you downloaded the data? I may still have the concept of how to do it but without practice, I may still damage your mind." He would point out without really any sort of emotion, mostly stating a fact. Yet he would idly look back around the room to once again take in the decoration and everything else, trying to review as much as he can in case she does decide to go through with it.

Auspex was rather interested in all the possibilities this could help with. He could instantly learn any field, any skill, simply by finding a specialist and copying their memories. Perhaps he could even find a way to do this technologically and make billions of credits. Although credits weren't any real thing to him, mostly some abstract concept that most people used, he understood they were at least important to any mission he would accomplish.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Then again, you may not have an opportunity to get any practice in otherwise. I'm not worried about mental damage to myself; I had people of various skill levels download from me so many times that my mind has gotten used to it"

[member="Auspex"] was alluding to risks of mental damage; however, she knew that such damage typically occurred to people whose memories were not nearly as good as hers. And she also knew that memory would be damaged first, with other cognitive functions being hit when people were careless. And yet, that damage was described as accidentally forgetting something, but that would only describe the memory portion of the damage. There was one documented case that was a little extreme, whereby one caused a coma, but perhaps that was a result of something else entirely. But she knew that, while her mind was both fast and solid, one could have a very fast mind but still be rather fragile mentally, and the reverse was true, too. And yet, the likelihood of different consequences correlated to different things: whereas effects on memory correlated inversely to the quality of one's memory, effects on fluid cognitive functions were to correlate to something else, more likely inversely. However, side effects seldom went that far in her experience so presumably it would be more likely to be documented if it occurred.

"The whole reason why I asked you to try to download one of the four alchemy data packets is for you to get some practice in"

 

[Myra]

Auspex would take a moment to reign in his thoughts, before gently reaching out to her with the force. His force energy was... different, not the strange cold evil feeling of the Sith, but certainly not the feeling of a Jedi. It was indifferent, it had no malice yet no good intent, simply a tool being wielded by its master. It would reach into her mind subtly, trying to probe to find the package of information he desired.

Upon locating it, Auspex would shift his stance a little and begin gently drawing these memories and skills from her mind to his own. Metallurgy was one of the primary things he was interested in, yet he would know all of it by the end of the day. So he would gently pluck those memories from [member="Janick Beauchamp"] and copy them into his own mind. It was a strange sensation, this copying of knowledge. But it was one he would have to get used to.

By the end of the whole endeavor, he would find himself lost in these new memories and experiences, letting his mask record all of them too. It would only take him a second to shake himself from this daze to inquire "You are alright.. yes?"

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

By downloading the metallurgy part of alchemy, [member="Auspex"] ended up downloading all sorts of materials science knowledge as well, such as alloys, phase transitions, mechanical and electrical properties, heat treatment of metals and, of course, the various varieties of ichor that were usable in metallurgy, what properties they grant and how to best invoke each of them. So that was a rather large data packer in its own right, but then again it was entirely possible that Auspex already knew at least part of this beforehand, and it was not just about sprayig blood and later injecting spirit ichor. Make no mistake, it only requires a little bit of blood, usually the future owner's, but ichor tends to react to contaminants and the alchemical process would then yield poisonous properties in the final product. That being said, the rapid outflow of memories wasn't fast enough to cause her pain, and yet it does feel dizzying to be downloading that large datapacket at that speed. Then again, Janick knew that performing a mental data transfer forced the user's mind to work very, very hard regardless of which direction was taken. As night was falling over Kessil...

"Do you feel you have enough of the metallurgy portion of alchemy? Or you want me to infuse the other three into you? If the latter, it may be well-advised to return here tomorrow; your brain needs some downtime from being exposed to such a large amount of new knowledge in such a short span of time"

 

[Myra]

"Then I will return tomorrow." He says, giving a small bow of appreciation. He did not bow often, but in this case, he felt that it would be appreciated in some sense. Turning around to head out, he would begin to process all this information in depth. The intricacies of the art he just absorbed would certainly help him, although he would have to tweak it here and there. Ultimately, Sith Alchemy was just another way of imbuing things with the force. He cared little for the actual Sith part of it but intended to refine the rituals, dogmas, and teachings of Sith Alchemy into some sort of feasible science. Hopefully this would be his crowning achievement.

Auspex would sit down comfortably in his shuttle, lean his head back against the panel, and begin to replay the memories allowing him to process it much more efficiently. Even if he never did find a feasible science, this certainly would help with... other things.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Good... night" Janick told Auspex, while simultaneously feeling trapped in a maelstrom of thoughts.

Oops... while I myself knew a lot about the Force in relation to memory, and also how physico-chemical knowledge could make alchemy much easier, I'm sure even my own brain has its own limits in terms of how much exposure to Drain Knowledge it can handle at a time, Janick thought, while she found herself steadily losing concentration, shortly after [member="Auspex"] left to his ship for the night. Perhaps she ought to go to sleep, too. And yet, she was discovering that short-term overexposure to Drain Knowledge can also include another side effect: it can induce information overload even when the target otherwise felt no pain whatsoever. With a few shots of Asobi 95% tihaar, she hastily went to bed, feeling that, however brilliant she was, her brain had finite capabilities and that she hit one of her mental limitations. However, she went to sleep with headaches in tow, while also ignoring whether information overload would also occur by using Memory Rub too many times, or past a certain data limit, in a short period of time. Probably a topic for future research, that she will soon find out.