A wearable cockpit, the CT-201 Contact-Suit Pilot Interface Survival System integrates medical subsystem, space-suit, physical armor protection, neural interface and physical enhancement into a pilot-suit.

The suit has an intended lifetime of 100 years and is intended to be worn for weeks, months or even years at a time.

The CT suit is a skin-tight bodysuit with hardened areas, covering the pilot entirely except for the face and hair. Made of many layers, it is a living colony of microscopic altex/ picogel/ structol machinery and is able to grow and change as an organism does. It is designed to be worn for extended periods of time with a standard uniform with the goal of reducing scramble times and improving pilot efficiency and survival. It is compact enough that it can often be worn beneath many normal clothes or power-armor.

The suit manages bodily waste, sweat and mucus that the user does not need in order to repair itself and is powered by an integrated capacitor system and voltaic pickups in the radiowave, microwave and visible ranges, making the suit largely self-sufficient most of the time.

Modular strapping allows a user to fit most common forms of equipment such as body armor or carrying systems, as well as other specialist systems and new straps can be created to fit or the suit repaired using recovery tape, a self-replenishing graft-reel of adhesive suit.

Though optional, the CT suit standard model includes many specialist adaptations for the purpose of pilot psychological hygiene and pilot morale. The suit also supports a wide variety of color, layout and style customization for both the suit and the pilot, inspired from the the pilot suits of various teams used in frame-racing which its design is sourced from.

The suit is available to all international signees of the Defense Arrangement Treaty of the Alliance of Signatory States (DATASS).

The CT-suit features a comprehensive suite of hardware and software driving its actions and those of whatever system it is connected to.

• MICAS - A wrap-around imaging, communications and neural imaging system
• Retinal Imaging System
• Cross-Finger contact switches, enabling manual override
• Lazarus Consortium Data Slate A highly customizable portable computer
• MONOS Instruction interpretation software
• DUOS Brain feedback imaging software

Importantly, the MICAS serves as the foundation of a helmet and is able to expand and harden, forming a clear cover over the user's face and hair and ears to protect them from a vacuum, sealing any long hair out into the vacuum through a layer of picojelly and stonethread. This clear dome is able to adjust opacity and features an integrated volumestrice display as a backup.

With crash landing or vacuum escapes in mind, the contact suit acts as a space and atmospheric suit. The suit, while mostly self-sufficient is also able to recharge portable equipment such as receivers and can custom feature strapping systems such as thread-through, belt-holes, buttons and zippers. This allows the contact suit to be paired with the survival and mission equipment of a user's choice: vests, pockets, holsters, straps, backpacks, rucksacks all being compatible.

The suit also recycles water safely without electrolyte loss as well as advanced thermal management, allowing for long term survival in desert-like conditions, tundras or other adverse hostile environments if used correctly. Sleeping, the muscles can be softened and its density lowered with air-pockets, providing a natural cushion for the user's body - doubling as a flotation device if used correctly. Waste is also cycled into a solid pearl-like form which can be passed safely in a vacuum.

Functions:

• Internal & External bleeding compensation
• Sustaining a breathable atmosphere
• Recycling water, oxygen and glucose
• Neural muscle pickups
• Lungless respiration
• Storage of oxygen, glucose, water

The legs and back of the contact suit can be used to supplement the user's carrying capacity, reducing strain and fatigue while walking or lifting. This works by ghosting or mirroring the user's actions and applying lifting force directly to the ground via the suit around the user and not through the user's muscles, joints or bones.

Similar enhancements are also seen with running, jumping and landings. When the suit enters physical enhancement mode, its normally thin form becomes an exaggeration of the user's musculature, which is often popular with pilots.

Functions

• Strength multipliers
• Blunt-force traumda redirection & protection
• Shock absorbsion
• Limited Radiation protection
• Thermo/baric protection

The contact suit is able to intervene to great effect with a number of common lethal injuries to pilots. A cardiac control system for example, is able to massage, defibrilate, relax obstruction, pace-maker rhythm or alter blood chemestry. In the event of cardiac arrest, the system can also cut into the user and laminate the heart and surrounding arteries, though the user then becomes dependant on the suit. Similarly, the suit can not only act as a rebreather to filter particulates and recycle oxygen but also infuse oxygen and extract carbon dioxide directly from the user's blood-stream in the event of lung failure.

Also important is a clot control solution which is able to seal deep internal or external wounds without suffocating surrounding tissues.

Skeletal structure can also be maintained to compensate for serious spinal or nervous injuries, reset ribs and other bones and joints and also act as a cast.

The suit is designed to keep a pilot alive for an extended duration with these injuries, though pilots can become physically dependant on this 'integrated medic' function. As such, removal of the suit with known or suspected injuries should occur strictly in a medical environment with a qualified physician.

Additional special augmentations include:

Functions:

• Electrolytic nerve adjustment
• Cardiac adjustment & recussistation
• Chemical administration
• Painkillers
• Sedatives
• Stimulants
• Cognitive enhancers
• Cognitive modifiers
• Generated inoculations
• Toxin filtration

Situated in the belly of the Contact Suit, the EMS is especially designed to ensure that a user remains calm and lucid in situations when adrenaline would normally overwhelm them. It achieves this through triangulated sonic resonance which tricks the adrenal medulla of the adrenal gland into believing it is receiving no command to produce adrenaline.

Alternatively, adrenaline can be syphoned deliberately from the body for later use in storage systems. Later, it can be re-introduced during true cardiac arrest when reccusitation via defibrilation (which ceases to be effective when the heart has truly stopped and can only alter rhythm) has failed.

Historically, full-cover suits have been unpopular with pilots. Under scrutiny, many of the answers made little sense. Field research revealed something quite surprising: It wasn't that the suit wasn't in the cockpit, it was that the suit was impractical out of the cockpit.

This was especially true with what were 'minute-men' pilots, who would remain on stand-by for long hours to launch at a moment's notice out of the cockpit. These were often those with the biggest egos, due to the large responsibility on their shoulders and the high potential for death - the unusual arousal/fear patterns drastically altering behavior. Particularly, promiscuity was a major feature, with scramble times seriously bruised by how long it took for pilots to “pull their pants back up” so to speak. Early trials with rules against this behavior saw pilots either frustrated or ignoring the rules and medication to suppress these urges resulted in reduced performance caused by depression and an inability to focus which resulted in a spiral of medications which in the end were ultimately unhealthy and even dangerous.

Taking the concept back to the drawing-board, designers instead decided to appeal to the ego phenomenon of pilots by making the suit maintain their physical appearance - attractiveness and “freshness” being a major factor. To this end, the neat to undress was also removed, the suit laminating internal and external eroginous zones with lubricated artificial membranes with amplified nervous feedback to increase sensation which when not in use were packed behind zip-loc like panels - borrowing lessons from the frame-racing sport where similar mortality/risk has similar behavioral changes.

This had particular success when further drug research was made revealing the stimulants designed to keep pilots awake and responsive increased pilot libido relative to the general population. As such, these compounds were relegated strictly to front-line and interception pilots and physical enhancement added allowing pilots to prevent unwanted advances, later doubling as a marketed survival aspect of the suit itself.

Of course, versions of the contact suit are issued which do not include this functionality, known as B-Type contact suits.

While the cost of the suit seems ludicrous, investigations reveal the cost of actually training pilots from beginning to end, their health and living expenses - so on and so forth exceed the cost of modern fighter-craft by a factor of ten. Importantly, while a destroyed craft can be replaced rapidly, training new pilots takes time and often aces are irreplaceable. Given the LSDF's lower numbers, it makes more sense to have a small number of highly experienced proficient pilots rather than a large number of fairly experienced pilots on missions. As such, the seemingly frivolity or absurd expense of the contact-suit is a sound investment in the long-term, protecting a finite and potentially irreplaceable asset that will likely go on to train the next generation of pilots.

The contact suit is composed of two classes of component: Components, which are replaceable engineered components and layers which are engineered into the suit itself.

The layer system includes a roll of self-growing “tape” which is able to reform provided air, water and common biological materials are available. This tape can be used to cover damaged areas, allowing the layers beneath to heal and prevent vacuum loss. Three recovery tapes are included: One about each wrist near the wrist units and a third on tether, usually included with survival equipment. More may be optionally carried.

The plugs and socket on the suit designed to allow pilots to use the full suit as a harness functionally double as a means of attaching equipment, including one another. This was originally conceived to allow one person to carry another with ease but later use saw exploitation for recreational purposes in low gravity conditions. Further expanding on this, many of the plugs can be removed on seat-belt like strappings which can then be locked - allowing for further use while expanding on the recreational options and positioning of the system.

Providing the body of most of the suit, the contact terminal (or CT) is a multi-layer “motherboard” which allows all the other components of the suit to interface and communicate with one another while also serving as the main point of direct contact with the pilot. Primarily composed of altex, the contact terminal varies in thickness between (0.01mm, 0.05mm, 0.10mm and 0.25mm, custom assigned by the user) over various parts of the body.

Worn, the contact terminal covers the entire body of the user with the exception of the face, hair and ears, coating the jawline and even parts of the chin entirely. It has a multitude of internal elements which insert or sheath elements of the wearer's body for proper adherence. Conventionally, private areas are hidden with thickened altex, though they may be revealed as if nude while covered as if laminated.

The Contact Terminal is typically custom printed for each pilot. It consists of three self-healing layers, each serving a different purpose.

The Contact Terminal is broken up into three layers, each serving a different purpose.

The outermost layer, the epidermis is composed primarily of 'inert' or 'dead' mass. It is arranged into smooth durable patterns of altex, acting as a kinetic absorber. The epidermis' outermost layer acts as a combination of kinetic and thermal absorption layer while also acting as a very basic microscopic photovoltaic system, able to capture and convert a wide array of background electromagnetic waves to power the ultra low-voltage dermal systems of the contact terminal.

Typically for optimal capture, the suit has a glossy semi-clear reflective quality, resembling a non-sticky rubberized “glassy” gel. The appearance of the suit is to a very limited degree, programmable: able to change the colors of individual panels (colour schemes), reflectiveness and transparency - given that matte versions are often preferred for the sake of modesty. Similarly, the suit can be thickened in many areas and generally resembles attire, rather than a naked form with the exception of specialty demands from the user.

Quite importantly, the epidermis is able to reseal itself very quickly, preventing contaminants or deadly pressure changes from causing severe trauma to pilots.

The middle layer, the tactical dermis or TD is a mesh of artificial muscle, composed of graphene. While normally incredibly thin when on standby, it thickens during operation giving the impression of a well developed physique while providing additional kinetic protection in this mode. It is able to provide cardiac massage and alter blood pressure as a G-suit does. The same muscles double as a microscopic capillary network, used to warm the user or draw heat away.

The nature of the graphene construction also allows the TD to act as a farraday cage, directing high voltage electrical charges and radiation around the wearer, reducing the risk of radiation poisoning in space significantly and making taser-like devices useless. It doubles as a communications and detection antennae, as an ultra low-voltage sensor system, able to sense motion and bioelectrical charge within an appropriate atmosphere.

The final layer, the contact circuit is pressed up against the skin of the wearer. It acts as a simple monitoring system, keeping the medical computer of the connected craft up to date on the pilot's current status, able to detect hormonal changes in sweat, blood pressure, changes in blood composition and other cardiovascular properties.

Quite importantly, the contact circuit is able to issue nervous signal to the skin of the wearer.

Located around the shoulders (two each) and thighs (two each), vacuum units vacuum seal the contact terminal suit to the user's skin (similar to a vac-bed). These large thick coin like discs ensure direct interfacing of the contact suit. Importantly, they prevent bleeding, forcing pressure to be applied to a bruised area to prevent bleed-out (and by altering which layer the vacuum unit uses, may alleviate blood pressure to prevent organ damage).

Quite importantly, they also force the outermost layers of the suit to rapidly recover, sealing any gaps made. For example, even in a vacuum, a gunshot to a user will not successfully create a hole in the suit as it reseals itself behind the bullet to ensure pressurization is maintained.

Each doubles as a liquid capacitor and contains sub-computers and hard-points for mounting special equipment.

A thin layer sitting over the chest, the cardiovascular vest or CVV is able to monitor the heart and lung conditions of the user, relaying this information back to the cockpit. It is also able to use electrical signaling to speed, slow or normalize heart rhythm and alter epineprine production to force th user to stay rational rather than entering fight or flight.

In emergencies, it can use electrical signals to force the heart to continue pumping.

Covering the user's spine, the SU is a segmented exterior armour to protect the user's spine. It also serves as a major interface point for the suit locking to the pilot's couch (turning the entire suit into a harness). It contains a medical subsystem able to administer drugs into the user's blood-stream, cycle oxygen/CO2 without breathing and act as a temporary replacement for the nerves of the spine should they be compromised, ensuring the user is not paralyzed (at least until the suit is removed).

A backpack of sorts between the shoulders, the TU mounts over the spinal unit. Its purpose is to offer pressure management, temperature management and act as a backup lung or atmospheric reprocessor, filtering and collecting oxygen safely from harsh atmospheres and infusing it directly into the user's blood and extracting CO2: visible as a bag which grows and shrinks in size about the back of the neck. When not in use, this “bag” is hidden within an all metal laminate construction.

A compact hood is located within made of altex and carbyne segmented elements. While normally compact, it can easily be pulled over the user's head, joining via a chemical ziplock mechanism to the neck-piece of the suit, creating a clear dome over the user's face and a hardened protective helmet which locks over the neural bracket. It is designed to be able to take form and protect the user in under a second, ideal for explosive decompression.

Often, an armored faceplate is included which may be locked to the neural bracket for anonymity or used in conjunction with the helmet. The upper half usually sits with the hood and can cover the eyes. the lower half covers the mouth, nose and chin. Both are on a flexible cord and can be used with or without the hood in whatever required configuration is needed.

Located over the deltoid, the DSPU (resembling the vacuum units) contains four gravitational centrifuges around the torso. Quite weak and running in a very low power mode, they are designed to alter the flow of blood through the heart and can continue to beat even after the user's own heart has failed.

Doubles as a battery capacitor system.

Akin to a thick watch, the wrist-unit is a permanently bonded part of the contact suit. It monitors the motion of the tendons of the wrist and electrical impulses in order to determine the movement of the hands. The outer wrist unit itself contains a simple looped display which indicates the status of the suit should the neural bracket be malfunctioning.

Skipping a helmet mounted display, the neural bracket is composed of the jawline of the suit, as well as a head-band with several domino-piece sized blocks: One over each temple, one over each cheekbone, one along either side of the jawline and two at the base of the neck. Their purpose is to monitor the electrical impulses of the brain from several points to act as a neural interface system. Signals can also be issued in return, providing feedback.

Importantly, the set on the cheekbone double as a display system. Rather an using a helmet mounted display, they work by tracking the eye position of the user to beam an ultra low amplitude high resolution laser projection directly onto the retina. This image, which can be varied in opacity and eye is three dimensional and very convincing. It can be used to create a HUD, visualize an external or third person image or first person image of the user or platform they are currently using, displaying information such as target location, identified characteristics, statistical probabilities of events of the area and fog of war. This also allows the cockpit to know exactly what the object of attention either in or out of the cockpit is, knowing what a pilot is looking at, at all times.

An array of small and simple sensors and lenses are also located on the cheekbone units which can feed supplemental visuals to the pilot in dark conditions or act as a simple scanning system, seeing wavelengths of light conventionally not possible (important for survival).

Used properly, a neural bracket can allow limited remote control of a unit provided a quantum modem is fitted and appropriate training is available. The domino units themselves double as the mounting points for the hood/helmet system.

Waste mas re-processors allow pilots to go long durations without removing the pilot-suit. They chemically dismantle waste into inert sterile odorless forms which are then microscopically re-purposed by the suit itself, replacing lost material and repairing damaged elements.

A thin soft tube, the catheter is inserted into the urethra of the pilot and interfaces with the suit itself. Its job is to filter and distribute different products of urine and liquids from the pilot's body. In this way, water can be re-filtered into usable drinking water, waste products chemically dismantled into harmless sterile odorless compounds and re-purposed into the suit itself. Very importantly, the catheter has been designed to allow specific liquids to pass and is also soft in order to prevent urethral bruising during possible trauma of surrounding tissues consistent with intercourse.

Following the same principle, the solid waste reprocessor is a large rectally inserted suppository around length of a hotdog and the thickness of a medium sized coin. It is soft in form and breaks waste down into safe biomaterials which can be re purposed by the suit, odorless and sterile. In this way, a pilot has no need to defaecate. In addition, the re-processor is positioned within the body far enough as to not interfere with possible intercourse, with the interior of the suit (as with all concave and convex eroginous zones) extruded over interior and exterior tissues inside the user. Useless material is released periodically as a solid marble sized deposit of inert sterile materials which is described as being “very hard to distinguish from a large pearl”.

Cleaning, nourishing and presenting hair and skin, hygiene gels are simple biological self-replicating bacterium akin to foundation or conditioner which feed exclusively from dead skin, hair and bodily oils. A major part of their function is to make pilots more aesthetically appealing and therefor more emotionally relatable to one another, less insecure in themselves and more sexually active (which is conductive to long term pilot psychological stability and unit cohesion in minute-man deployment cases).

Used anticipating long term waiting periods, follicle gel is an altex/gellatine suspension acting as a kind of conditioner for hair which can be programmed to act as conditioner or hair-dye. Its primary purpose is to replace the oils in hair (eyelashes, eyebrows, beard, scalp) ensuring it is nourished, clean, healthy and looking at its best (given appearance directly affects pilot ego and therefor performance). It is able to change color, hold, thickness and position and is to a limited degree prehensile allowing hair to be kept out of a certain part of a pilot's face or to rapidly compress allowing for the hood helmet to fit freely.

Similar to follicle gel, dermal gel provides a similar function for the face of the user. It serves to cleanse and moisturize skin, also nourishing it meaning pilots who do not change out of the suit appear and smell clean. The gel itself, normally invisible is able to diffuse and soften light and alter reflected light in almost exactly the same way makeup does and to this end is able to provide shade and response similar in nature - either for purposes of confidence and as a war-paint of sorts. This ability to appear “nearly flawless” and “model-like” is again linked to pilot ego, psychological hygiene and pilot performance gains - and makes pilots ideal subjects for PR given they always appear very healthy and often attractive.