Ibunnuk Posted April 22, 2014 Report Share Posted April 22, 2014 Hi, I've been re-listening to steelheart and have just gotten past the chapter where they are going to kidnap Conflux when a thought occured to me. During her conversation with David Megan says that she has piloted a suit of power armour and that apart from firing the big mounted machine guns she didn't like it because it was too claustrophobic etc. Now it has been clearly stated that the Power armour suits don't have a seperate power source (fuel tank, battery etc) but are powered directly by the pilot after being gifted the ability. I also seem to remember that as an epic herself Conflux shouldn't have been able to gift his abiliies to Megan so, if we assume she isn't just straight out lying, how was this possible? Forgive me if I've missed something its been quite a while since I first listened to this book and I'm doing my re-listen whist at work so can't always give it my full attention but this just jumped out at me today and I was hoping someone here might have an explanation for me. Thanks in advance 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
name_here Posted April 24, 2014 Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 Probably hooked up one of the big power cells to a suit. There's no indication the electronics themselves are special, so it should be fairly easy to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyring Posted April 24, 2014 Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 Also, the propably got a power cell installed. Thinking only the unit leader have power gifted, but all. So for example Roy under steelheart would not have had power gifted, his suit would run of battery, recharged by hit unit leader when it runs low. so she could use it a short while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibunnuk Posted April 24, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2014 Yeah I can see how she could have gotten a power cell installed but it just seemed like a little bit of a strange then for her to put into the conversation when only a couple of chapters later its shown that she couldn't have been gifted the ability to power the suit. I had a random thought that maybe if she hasn't been using her abilities for a while something about her would change (along with her not being a homicidal maniac anymore) and allow her to receive gifted powers. almost like the powers are actually not the epics own but are channeled from Calamity and so if your using the channel that leads to you all other channels are blocked but once you stop using your powers the channel which leadcs directly to you dries up and lets secondary channels in. I'm probably just over thinking it but I hope that makes sense 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vortaan Posted April 25, 2014 Report Share Posted April 25, 2014 Yeah I can see how she could have gotten a power cell installed but it just seemed like a little bit of a strange then for her to put into the conversation when only a couple of chapters later its shown that she couldn't have been gifted the ability to power the suit. I had a random thought that maybe if she hasn't been using her abilities for a while something about her would change (along with her not being a homicidal maniac anymore) and allow her to receive gifted powers. almost like the powers are actually not the epics own but are channeled from Calamity and so if your using the channel that leads to you all other channels are blocked but once you stop using your powers the channel which leadcs directly to you dries up and lets secondary channels in. I'm probably just over thinking it but I hope that makes sense If that were the case, she should have been able to use the tensors at some point. They make a point of saying how she can't get them to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted April 27, 2014 Report Share Posted April 27, 2014 If that were the case, she should have been able to use the tensors at some point. They make a point of saying how she can't get them to work. This is admittedly conjecture on my part, but I think it works like this: Conflux's powers were energy based. He could charge/fuel/power anything electrical or energy based. He could then GIFT that ability to someone else. So theoretically Conflux could get into a suit of power armor, and use it powering it directly from himself, or power the battery, and then have the suit work on that. When he gifts his abilities, then someone else, they could then do that. Prof I think works differently. I think Prof gifts everyone a certain amount of his power, and the items are just a smoke screen. I think David could have used the tensor ability all along, even without the gloves because its not the gloves that are gifted the power, its the person. We never actually see Megan "use" the jackets (correct me if I am wrong but even on the motorcycle, she took MUCH less damage than David and that could be attributed to her being an epic). So in summation, she could use power armor with a batter that was charged by Conflux, but could not use the tensors, harmsway, and the jackets because there wasn't actually any abilities in them to begin with. The gifts were given to the people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightsworn Panda Posted April 28, 2014 Report Share Posted April 28, 2014 I've always imagined power armor were like power armor from Fallout... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 I've always imagined power armor were like power armor from Fallout... I hate to do this, because I love imagination and I feel how you see things in a book should hold true to yourself, but I found a quote that sadly refutes this interpretation: Steelheart page 292, David is speaking "Time to die," I whispered. "I think I'll do it while firing a hand-gun at a fifteen-foot-tall suit of powered armor. At least it will be dramatic" Emphasis mine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightsworn Panda Posted May 1, 2014 Report Share Posted May 1, 2014 "Time to die," I whispered. "I think I'll do it while firing a hand-gun at a fifteen-foot-tall suit of powered armor. At least it will be dramatic" Okay then. A Tiatan from Titanfall! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibunnuk Posted May 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2014 Sorry for the really late reply, I've been off-line for a few days. I think you are probably right in you summation P4thF1nd3r and I was just massivley overcomplicating things and I definately think your right that Prof's toys are all just a cover and the only reason David couldn't use the ability was because he didn't believe it would work without the tensor glove. Anyway thanks to all for the responses to this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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