Codex Transportica

In much the same way as a periscope is able to rise above the waves and allow a submarine captain to literally “see around”, the Manzetti Periphone was designed to detect sound vibrations below human audio thresholds, literally allowing an operator to “hear around”.

The Periphone was unique in its ability to detect “subliminal level” sounds. This was found to be imperative during times of conflict, when High ranking enemy officials would often discuss strategies and tactics at the peripheries to the battlefield.

A network of AMPs formed an integral part of the Allies’ nascent “Strategic Early Warning Network – a Unified Proposal” report (literally: SEWN-UP) A report which encompassed every known method of long-range detection (see references at the end).

Built in a rather whimsical style, courtesy of the ageing and semi-senile designer (Senor Al Manzetti himself) the vehicle nonetheless performs admirably. Upon detection, signals are routed through the Ultra Low Frequency Pulse and Phase detector, which can be modulated in order to scan otherwise inaudible “imaginary sounds” to aid in the identification of the voices received.

The large “mouthpiece”, as it were, is a Digital Oscillation Ganglion (in fact a degenerate organic Quidnac, tuned to various resonant frequencies) and the “earpiece” is a Bio-Outlet Neural Emitter which allows human operators to hear the sounds detected, by scaling them into perceptible audio. Wags soon picked up on the acronym, and the phrase “Dog & Bone” was re-born centuries after the original Cockney rhyming slang, though, a common term for the vehicle and its operator was often the “Al Carphone”.

The entire unit is mounted on a mobile power-assisted gimbal mechanism which can be directed either manually (as shown in this illustration, with the operator attending the deployed Human Enhancement Aural Device) or, more usually the detection is controlled by a small portable Quidnac machine encased in the platform. In either case data are transmitted wirelessly via a large Aerial to Central HQ for fast processing on the Quidnac Detection Array (see references).

Trivia aficionados will recall Al Manzetti’s defection and the retaliatory machine he invented to thwart the AMP’s technology, though, international law now forbids the use of the “Tracheotomy Warble Necklace”.

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Nasal/Olfactory Sensing Extension
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