Memory Implant Device


 * Well, my lad, it comes down to this: your morphogenic field is still fluctuating somewhat, but thanks to Nurse Robinson's ministrations, you're stable enough to have a personality. I can't give you that, but I can lay the groundwork, and that's what we're here to do today.
 * &mdash;Doctor Freedenberg, "Introducing Ilraen"

There are two versions of the Memory Implant Device, or MID: a portable version for use in the field and a larger version in the Department of Fictional Psychology.

In the Field
The hand-held is to be used in conjunction with a neuralyzer in the event that a character's entire history has been erased by the 'fic. Similar in design and operation to a View-Master®, but black and with insertable miniature data discs; instead of showing still frames, it flashes memories directly into the character's brain.

The Memory Implant Device is often used to restore the memory of kidnapped characters rescued by Despatch.

This device is based on memory implant technology from the short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (later adapted as the film Total Recall), though the version used by the PPC has been heavily modified by Makes-Things and the DoSAT crew to make it useful in the field.

In FicPsych
FicPsych's version resembles nothing so much as the conditioning room in A Clockwork Orange. However, the bonds on the chair are only used on the more uncooperative/homicidal characters. Generally, this MID is used to the same purpose as the hand-held with the exception that FicPsych patients tend to be in more severe condition, often needing full culture implants. FicPsych's MID may also be calibrated more precisely to deal with characters/species the smaller version can't handle. Once the character is hooked up, the FicPsych employee (usually Dr. Freedenberg himself) removes to a small projection booth at the back, in which is located the computer that controls the process.

The culture implants used in FicPsych have been mistakenly referred to as "personality implants." However, the Department of Fictional Psychology would like to stress that a personality is something that grows and changes with time and experience, and that no amount of work on their part can create one from scratch. For this reason, recruiting characters with absolutely no personality to speak of is not generally encouraged, barring special circumstances.