At twenty three years of age Dr. PaintChips is the youngest graduate to
receive his degree in both electronics and medicine. While still in college
he was hired by Aetheon, the leading company in both self-substaining equipment
and upgrading their existing technologies for the military. Aetheon deals in
military supplies as diverse as climbing gear to jet engines.
Aetheons newest project, for which they hired Dr. PaintChips, was to
create versatile prosthetics for both the civilian and military market. Though
it was primarly intended for soldiers who lost limbs during combat. By twenty
one Dr. PaintChips had already mastered his thesis by creating functional
cybernetic limbs so he was the ideal choice for the project. Unfortunately
the military's focus shifted from repairing their own damaged soldiers to
inflicting more casualties upon their enemies and Dr. PaintChips was
reassigned to Aetheon's weapons development division.
Dr. Paintchips found the work depressing and was haunted by the thought
of people being killed by his inventions. This made him careless and one
night almost took everything from him when a high caliber flash bang
detonated and semi-blinded him.
With his vision deteriorating rapidly he quickly began working on the
CR145J Visual Break Down Goggles. The design enabled him not only to see in
complete darkess they allowed him to break down true physical composition as
well as observe altered micro cell structures and model any variable changes
made within the past twelve years. While effective and a useful medical and
engineering tool only one set of these goggles was constructed because of the
extreme cost but Aetheon felt indebted to PaintChips for his contributions to
the company and authorized him to complete construction and use them.
Despite regaining his sight and a sense of purpose he still felt depressed
by dwelling in Aetheon's remote underground desert development facility. In
time it might have destroying him a second time but he met a woman who
changed all that. However while he grew very fond of her he was too arrogant
and set in his ways to tell her he needed anyone else.
The woman in question was Natasha Faring, known to Dr. PaintChips as
"Trish". Although he wouldn't know it until later she was an industrial spy
sent to copy Dr. PaintChips research. When they first met she was twenty years
old, working on her masters and secretly working to the UX Corporation. Had
anyone at Aetheon know this they'd never have anyone working for their leading
rival within a thousand miles of the testing facility but she had an excellent
cover. Unfortunately for UX "Trish" hadn't managed to pass on any of the
technologies she had pirated before a freak accident mutilated her.
That she survived at all was miraculous, a report at the time of the
accident stated that "Natasha Faring was blended into a froth of blood and
meat and burned to ash as she was passed through the turbine blades then
vaporized by the afterburner." How enough of her brain and body survived long
to get her into a life support tank is hard to imagine but it happened though
it was barely accomplished in time. It was while trying to contact her next
of kin to tell them that the end was near that her cover identity unravelled.
After their initial urge to just shut off the life support had passed
Aetheon's security personnel realized that they suddenly had the perfect
opportunity to get an insiders viewpoint on UX's operations. So they acted as
if they sill believed her cover and announced her death in a lab accident then
informed Dr PaintChips, who had been mourning her death, that "Trish" was
still alive and that putting her back together was his job.
Dr. PaintChips worked frantically to piece her body back together using a
new technology called a ParaTube. Originally created for molding metal for
weapons via a viscous fluid it was capable of holding Natasha together without
the use of stitches. While she healed the remnants of her destroyed limbs
were amputated to keep her body from poisoning itself. Then Dr. PaintChips
came across a startling discovery. He had found a way to command chromosomes
to change via passive electric frequencies and programmed this information
into his goggles. He kept this discovery to himself and spent long sessions
working with her trying different cybernetic limbs while Aetheon security
interrogated the no longer comatose but still quadraplegic Trish. Despite her
physical handicaps and the fact she'd been spying on him it was obvious to
everyone at Aetheon's testing facility that Dr. PaintChips still had a crush
on her that he was still unwilling to acknowledge. Because of this when
Aetheon had no success in getting Trish to co-operate in betraying her
knowledge of UX they decided to try a new approach involving him.
As their military contracts started decreasing rapidly Aetheon began
out-sourcing to non-military research and development companies that could
benifit from their technologies. The Chainsman Institute was near the top of
the list as we were looking for a specialist to assist with our patients and
staff with cybernetic implants. We also had hopes that some of Aetheon's
technologies could be adapted to our own purposes. Someone at Aetheon hoping
that the atmosphere at the Institute would make Natasha "Trish" Faring more
co-operative had her fitted with Dr. PaintChips own class 1 human style limbs
and sent Trish with Dr. PaintChips as his bonded assistant and luggage carrier
Trish is not always kept under such heavy restraint but as Dr. PaintChips
has demonstrated to her escape isn't an option. Her limbs remain Aetheon
property and he has set them to shut down if she attempts to leave the
Institute's grounds. Other than that so long as she doesn't cause trouble or
try to spy she's free to roam as she pleases when not on duty. While she
initally resented this she does feel a grudging gratitude to him for saving
her life and seems to linger in his vicinity when not required to do so
perhaps she has a crush of her own. Time will tell.
As for Dr. PaintChips he seems to have embraced the Institute lifestyle
and when not working on cybernetics he tries his hand at developing new
restraints and recently pioneered the MCRS project.
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