selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos thought. “Well, say you had a network. And you had
devices attached to that network. Um… completely hypothetical, but what if
Charlie was attached? You could theoretically use the improved terminal to manage
his work and his protocols. I’m not saying hook him up, because I don’t think
he’d appreciate that, but you could.” Another idea suddenly hit Carlos. “You could
also wire it up to turrets, lights, and alarms. For security’s sake.”

“A network?” He squinted, trying to figure out exactly what that meant. “Turrets….. that’s somethin’ there. Is that something you’d be able to do? I wouldn’t mind increasing security here, it helps a hell of a lot to have something like that running when super mutants turn up and try to bust the gates down.”

“A network,” Carlos said, nodding to him. “Like, all of it
being attached with wires. Or without wires – it depends on if everything has
signal receivers.” He smiled at Hancock. “Yeah… if you managed to get and build
all that machinery and got some wire, I could hook it all up no problem. It’d be easy to program them from the terminal instead of just putting it together and hoping it doesn’t shoot you.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist:

Carlos grinned. “Well, for starters it’ll run a lot faster,”
he said. “The terminals out here are achingly slow just from the wear and tear
on their hardware. Going in and making sure everything’s connected will do
wonders on it. And with better hardware, you’ll be able to save more onto it
without gumming up the processing. And, if you had additional hardware, you
could use it to manage multiple machines at once.”

“Wait, what?” His expression was somewhere between amazed and confused as he stared at Carlos, trying to process that. “What does that mean? Managing multiple at once? Like…. that terminal could run others? Or….. how would that work, exactly?”

Carlos thought. “Well, say you had a network. And you had
devices attached to that network. Um… completely hypothetical, but what if
Charlie was attached? You could theoretically use the improved terminal to manage
his work and his protocols. I’m not saying hook him up, because I don’t think
he’d appreciate that, but you could.” Another idea suddenly hit Carlos. “You could
also wire it up to turrets, lights, and alarms. For security’s sake.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos turned to Hancock again and he smiled, nodding
eagerly as he took the rag. “This will work great,” he said. “This is fantastic
– that terminal is going to be working almost as good as it did coming off the
assembly line!” Carlos was excited. Time to do something useful!

“Wait, seriously? You can actually do that?” His brows raised, a surprised look on his face as he considered that. He’d never used a brand new terminal before, only the ones that had been affected by two hundred years of nuclear fallout that ran slow as hell, but that was how they were supposed to run…. right? “What uh…. what exactly is that gonna be like? Will it be able to do more?”

Carlos grinned. “Well, for starters it’ll run a lot faster,”
he said. “The terminals out here are achingly slow just from the wear and tear
on their hardware. Going in and making sure everything’s connected will do
wonders on it. And with better hardware, you’ll be able to save more onto it
without gumming up the processing. And, if you had additional hardware, you
could use it to manage multiple machines at once.”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos looked over at Hancock and got excited. “Ooh!” he exclaimed, with a touch of feminine-sounding excitement in his voice, and he walked over to take the bottle. “Is it really…?” He opened it and
gave it a sniff. “Oh my god, yes!
Yes, thank you so much, Hancock! This’ll do great! Now I just need a clean
cloth and we’ll be set to start!”

A light laugh escaped the ghoul at Carlos’ reaction, a wide grin on his face. He went into a drawer then for a cloth, pulling out a rag that was about as clean as anything could be in that environment and handing it to the other man. “Will this work?”

Carlos turned to Hancock again and he smiled, nodding
eagerly as he took the rag. “This will work great,” he said. “This is fantastic
– that terminal is going to be working almost as good as it did coming off the
assembly line!” Carlos was excited. Time to do something useful!

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos nodded at him. “Yeah, sure,” he said with a smile. He
quickly rinsed off his hands and wiped them dry with a towel. “Okay… I think I’m
ready. You… don’t happen to have any clean rubbing alcohol, do you?”

“I dunno, probably not, but is there any other kinda alcohol that’ll work?” As he spoke, Hancock dug around in the cabinet under his sink, looking for rubbing alcohol. “What do ya need it for? I thought it was just dusty in there or somethin’, can’t that just be wiped off with a cloth or something?”

Carlos shrugged slightly. “I could, but… rubbing alcohol
gets rid of tiny, finer bits of dirt and grime that a dry cloth can’t get.” He
frowned. “I guess we could use purified water, but then we’d have to dab everything
dry before plugging it in.” He thought a bit. “Or… I could use acetone? Like,
paint thinner? I’d have to be careful with it, but yeah…”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist :

Carlos just hummed. “Well, I can at least try,” he said. “I
like talking about my work, so… if you don’t mind it too much I’d actually like
if you did ask questions.”

“I’ll be sure to ask a few at least, heh. Feel free to explain shit as ya go too, I’m interested in anything ya got to say, I just might not always know how to ask what I wanna know, y’know?”

Carlos nodded at him. “Yeah, sure,” he said with a smile. He
quickly rinsed off his hands and wiped them dry with a towel. “Okay… I think I’m
ready. You… don’t happen to have any clean rubbing alcohol, do you?”

selfmedicatingmayor:

the-perfect-scientist:

Carlos was a little bit surprised at that confession. He
supposed he should feel touched by that. Yeah… he was touched.

“Well… thank you,” he said, offering Hancock a smile. “And
yeah, if you have any questions… don’t be afraid to ask them.”

“Careful when ya say shit like that, I’ve been known to annoy the shit outta people askin’ too many questions. It’s more the cleanin’ I’m interested in learning, I know the rest is over my head.”

Carlos just hummed. “Well, I can at least try,” he said. “I
like talking about my work, so… if you don’t mind it too much I’d actually like
if you did ask questions.”