Genetic Replicator

The Genetic Replicator is arguably the pinnacle of both personal transportation technology and genetic science, combining the two to create an efficient method of crossing great distances across often dangerous terrain.

Said to be a byproduct of the same genetic cloning research that spawned the GenTanks, the Genetic Replicators are the real world manifestation of a phenomenon only seen before in the realm of science fiction: teleportation.

As the creators of the technology learned thanks to the Ceres Project, the theories postulated by scientists of the 21st Century weren't far from the mark. While they had reached a preliminary conclusion that the only way for something to be "teleported" involved the disassembly, cloning and precise reassembly of physical matter, they were also toying with the notion that any subject that used such a system would cease to exist.

Put simply, their thoughts - and a great deal of their trepidation - decreed that the subject emerging from the process would in fact be a clone and, therefore, not actually the same person who set out on the strange journey.

With seven centuries of technological advancement to draw from, the scientists of the present day didn't see themselves burdened with these issues. Taking detailed genetic snapshots of a subject - down to a digitised facsimile of their mind - they have (ab)used mountains of scientific jargon in order to reassure the public that the Genetic Replicator network is completely safe.

Through rigourous testing, the scientists and engineers who worked on the project have managed to limit the side effects of using the Genetic Replicators. Dubbed synaptic impairment, the condition is a temporary and unavoidable affliction a user gets every time they use the network to travel.

Often manifesting as nausea, headaches and cognitive difficulties much akin to those suffering from heavy concussion, the time it takes for these symptoms to wear off vary from person to person in addition to the distance their DNA was transferred. For example, someone who had travelled from Via Rosso to the Military Base would emerge feeling a lot worse than someone who had used the network to commute to their office job in the Plaza.

Although the Genetic Replicators are all linked to a unified network spanning the entire Wasteland, users of the network are usually not able to freely travel between terminals. While there are exceptions to this rule, a user of the network - more often than not - can only travel to terminals to which they have submitted biometric identification. Without a very skilled hacker who is able to illegally copy these digitised cell samples without the fragile data degrading, the only way to safely submit this form of identification is to physically be at the terminal.