It wouldn't have surprised Jory if the MindSim he was lugging from storage to the ATC's library was one of the machines he practiced with eleven years ago. There were enough similarities between the two for it to be feasible. Both were bulky, distressingly square and could flatten a person's head into their chest if anyone could lift it high enough without their arms buckling under it. It couldn't have all been machinery, there might have been a few superfluous weights tucked inside it. Enough to make carrying one a worthy addition to any workout. There wasn't much need to build a sleeker model for Pilots to use, it wasn't often a Pilot needed to test out a type of brain manipulation and didn't have an expendable prisoner to practice on, if the technique was potentially lethal. If a Pilot didn't want to use a living test subject or there weren't any available the MindSims were available.
There were no mages serving life sentences, or lingering on death row. Even if there were any, Jory wanted some room for error without needing to fill out the paperwork necessary for releasing a prisoner to psychic study. They got tedious after the third round.
Carrying the MindSim gave Jory a little burn across his shoulder blades that threatened to spread if he didn't take time to stretch it out. He set it down gently, nudging it toward the middle of the square table and went to find the book he needed. It was an old journal and field notebook, set to print and bound for posterity's sake. A passage here and there was part of the standard Pilot curriculum, but Jory would rather have the entire book available instead of running endless searches through the electronic library. As he settled into a chair in front of the MindSim, Jory set his PDA on the table and opened the script-to-text notepad.
Before logging into the MindSim Jory wove his fingers together and stretched them above his head, easing them as far as he could behind him, then back above him and finally out in front of him. Since his hands were above the MindSim then, he swept his chip across the scanner. The machine trilled and the dark plate above the screen, keyboard and scanner began to glow blue-grey. A line of text skittered across the screen.
Set Parameters? (Y/N)Set Parameters? (Y/N) Y
The various parameters popped up afterward, with a scrolling bar on the side of the screen to cycle down them and modify as needed. Jory adjusted them, the keyboard clicking under his fingers. All the MindSim's had noisy keyboards, either to discourage button pressers or because they only needed the most basic text entry peripheral possible.
Click-click-click-pop click-click-pop click-click-click-pop pop-pop-click-click pop-click-click-click pop-pop-pop click-click-click-pop click-click-snap
The holograms shimmered above the plate once he finished typing. The largest one and closest to him was a brain. A standard brain, pale yellow with hints of blue-grey from the light beneath it. Smallest was the image of a bald woman from the throat up, with a flat expressionless face whose simulated blood flow looked like she'd caked on a little too much blush. The last was the full body of the woman, a little less womanly and more girlish now that her entire body was visible, wearing a grey bodysuit. The simulated person was set to no-action by default, so Jory didn't need to set it manually.
Jory wrote a few quick lines in his PDA, then looked back up at the holograms. Closed his eyes and took few deep breaths. It wasn't necessary to warm his mind up, but Jory had the time. He slid a thin ribbon of power into the holographic brain's holographic medulla and the figure began to turn in a circle. Clumsy at first, but she grew a little more graceful with every spin until she was twirling fluidly on the balls of her feet. The lack of gravity making her glide through the motions like no flesh and blood person could. While she twirled, Jory flipped the book open to the index and began scanning the items listed.
