Debunking for Mech Pilots
Myths about "Neurographic Mimesis Runaway Malfunction" or "Parrot Syndrome" for Mech Pilots!
There are a lot of rumors about it but once you understand the basics of this type of rare and unlikely malfunction of your mech's neural link, detecting and preventing NMRM in your mech is easy!
Myth #1: NMRM is unpredictable and can happen at any time.
Fact! NMRM occurs due to the design of neural monads in your suit's control system, which are designed to imitate human neurons and warning signs can be seen up to 4 days before the final stage outbreak.
Myth #2: NMRM mechs sing and dance as they lose control or can fully imitate the pilot's voice and behavior.
Fact! NMRM-afflicted mechs cannot produce sounds at all, and only the pilot experiences a warning sign called "whale song" up to 4 days before an outbreak, where the natural feedback becomes rhythmic.
Myth #3: Major Parrot was the first one it happened to and his mech now leads an elite unmanned unit.
Fact! Major Parrot is an apocryphal story. And the standard procedure for a mech experiencing NMRM and failure to comply with a cease signal is immediate termination.
Myth #4: Once you "hear" the "whale songs" or your mech starts rocking back and forth it's too late!
Fact! Report any signs of NMRM to command immediately. You'll be taken off rotation and be put back to resynchronizing with a new one. Command takes NMRM and the health of its pilots seriously.
Myth #5: Once NMRM sets in, that's it, you're dead!
Fact! In 99% of cases of NMRM in the final stage, the pilot has a NON-FATAL generalized tonic–clonic seizure due to hypersynchonization with the mech. And they are ejected due to a neural safety system and are often safely recovered even in combat
Across a Dark Bar
It's easy to spot off-duty mech pilots. Clothes tight as their restraint suits, walking and sitting apart as if their bodies are 20 tons, beers on the table with long straws. They can't hold them in their hands, because they relax the grip expecting hydraulics to keep it firm. The straws are because they're use to "camel style" drink sippers.
If the bar is well lit, they'll be in the darkest corner or in sunglasses, their eyes sting from dark cockpits. Sitting too deeply, slipping off stools, or making chairs knock and squeak, anticipating the deep locks of a mech transporter railcar.
They all go the bathroom at once, on a regular schedule, unless they're first time pilots, then someone will have brought spare flight pants and underwear. The "Mech mission maximum absorbency garments" or "Triple Ms" are a bit too convenient in the steel-self.
Secrets of Eating in the Steel Self
A common question asked to every Mech pilot, how can you stand not eating solid food? That’s easy to answer, to become active, a pilot must consume the standard allotment of “popcorn” a polymeric nonreactive satiation device that expands to sit in the stomach for at least 6 weeks
Popcorn is a secret formulation that consists of a highly fluorinated polymer that expands upon contact with the acidic environment of the stomach. Each “popcorn” expands too widely to fit down into the small intestine, which is confirmed during popcorn ingestion by fluoroscopy.
While on duty, mech pilots drink "tube food", dispensed in metal tubes, they can be heated or cooled with a slot in the pilot's compartment and is drunk.
After the standard month of active duty, pilots drink “milk”, a replication-deficient recombinant enzyme activating vector and along with a fruit based fiber supplement called “orange”, the popcorn is broken down to small fragments which pass through the pilot harmlessly.
After confirmation by X-ray and weighing that all popcorn fragments have been eliminated, rotated pilots are given a week’s worth of orange and usually engage in a ritual post-tour feast. Their first solid meal in a month, restaurants near bases know to chop food up for pilots to bite-sized pieces, whose hands are not used to the coordination necessary for fork and knife.
