Bioscanner

Databank Text

OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS
Scan Axum technology to generate repair or fabrication blueprints. Scan living targets to unlock new biomods.

BACKGROUND
The Protean ocean contains huge amounts of dissolved metal ions and viral DNA. Protean life has evolved to use one to identify the other.

The bioscanner hosts metal-eating bacteria which produce a robust beet odor and trillions of metallic marker proteins. In the wild, these markers bind to viral DNA, allowing the bacteria to incorporate or reject it. In the bioscanner, these markers are broadcast to the target by the scan field.

—In living targets, the markers bind to Protean DNA, allowing the scanner to conduct advanced analytic biochemistry and generate new biomods
—In Axum targets, the markers bind to circuits, transistors, and bacterial fibers for functional analysis of Axum technology

The difficulty of analyzing alien biochemistries in digital simulation may have contributed to the extinction of the Architect civilization. Perhaps they lacked friendly beet-flavored bacteria.