"The why is simple. On the Barge, there are no limits on the powers of unpaired inmates, and sometimes, they just go around killing people for the heck of it! I might be able to throw a pretty good punch, but I'm only human, and the Admiral doesn't exactly divide us into weight classes. Yes, death isn't permanent, but that doesn't mean I'm in a hurry to do it again."
The first time had been terrible enough. He'd been half-man, half-wolf, shot with a silver round that burned its way through his bloodstream. That and hearing about Callisto's murder spree had pushed Ford into designing the knife.
(Of course, that hasn't stopped him from getting killed again. He'd gone into the fight because he knew he could keep Bill distracted, and he believed Bill enjoyed playing with him enough that Bill would prolong the game, avoiding outright death. The other Bill had known death wasn't permanent. Ford hadn't -- until Bill depressurized the atmosphere around him and boiled him alive, and Ford had popped right back into shape like a rubber band. What had followed after that is something Ford isn't thinking of as torture, but kind of unquestionably was. He was eaten alive by ants. Crushed to death. Trisected. Acid-burned to a greasepile. He's been having nightmares about some of these, and has been dealing with it by sleeping even less than usual. But he's totally fine.)
"I made the shock gloves capable of delivering variable charges: they instantly test the conductivity of whatever matter they connect with and modulate the power accordingly, and in most cases should be nonlethal. But I can't account for everything. There might be times where I can't incapacitate someone with electricity. When causing a death toll is the only way to avoid one myself, or stop someone from doing real harm to someone else. I'm not looking for trouble, Dillon. I'm just being prepared."
He really isn't intending to use the knife, not unless he feels he truly has to. ....or if he has to cut something very dense. Come to think of it, with the casing Ford has in mind, the Particle Splitter would make a pretty stylish letter opener.
"As for the how, that's also straightforward. The power cell uses an Unobtainium crystal to generate a two-dimensional surface which is capable of severing matter on a subatomic level. Of course, I've put a safety catch in place so that no particles actually get split. That would be disastrous!" Disastrous is an understatement. Ford has never split a particle himself, but he's heard of dimensions where it's happened. It tends to set off very unpleasant chain reactions. Even if it weren't a particle that got split, Dillon knows perfectly well what happens when one splits an atom. "There's a low-energy electromagnetic field around the blade. It should be enough to push all of the individual atoms out of the way, leaving a razor-edge that can cut through literally anything but won't cause any unfortunate explosions."
all sorts of death cws here
The first time had been terrible enough. He'd been half-man, half-wolf, shot with a silver round that burned its way through his bloodstream. That and hearing about Callisto's murder spree had pushed Ford into designing the knife.
(Of course, that hasn't stopped him from getting killed again. He'd gone into the fight because he knew he could keep Bill distracted, and he believed Bill enjoyed playing with him enough that Bill would prolong the game, avoiding outright death. The other Bill had known death wasn't permanent. Ford hadn't -- until Bill depressurized the atmosphere around him and boiled him alive, and Ford had popped right back into shape like a rubber band. What had followed after that is something Ford isn't thinking of as torture, but kind of unquestionably was. He was eaten alive by ants. Crushed to death. Trisected. Acid-burned to a greasepile. He's been having nightmares about some of these, and has been dealing with it by sleeping even less than usual. But he's totally fine.)
"I made the shock gloves capable of delivering variable charges: they instantly test the conductivity of whatever matter they connect with and modulate the power accordingly, and in most cases should be nonlethal. But I can't account for everything. There might be times where I can't incapacitate someone with electricity. When causing a death toll is the only way to avoid one myself, or stop someone from doing real harm to someone else. I'm not looking for trouble, Dillon. I'm just being prepared."
He really isn't intending to use the knife, not unless he feels he truly has to. ....or if he has to cut something very dense. Come to think of it, with the casing Ford has in mind, the Particle Splitter would make a pretty stylish letter opener.
"As for the how, that's also straightforward. The power cell uses an Unobtainium crystal to generate a two-dimensional surface which is capable of severing matter on a subatomic level. Of course, I've put a safety catch in place so that no particles actually get split. That would be disastrous!" Disastrous is an understatement. Ford has never split a particle himself, but he's heard of dimensions where it's happened. It tends to set off very unpleasant chain reactions. Even if it weren't a particle that got split, Dillon knows perfectly well what happens when one splits an atom. "There's a low-energy electromagnetic field around the blade. It should be enough to push all of the individual atoms out of the way, leaving a razor-edge that can cut through literally anything but won't cause any unfortunate explosions."