Editing Crucible:Doctor Polycarp (section)

== Background ==

Dr. Barnabas Polycarp was once regarded as a gifted but deeply eccentric inventor specializing in robotics, cybernetics, and consciousness-transfer technology. Brilliant but increasingly isolated, Polycarp became obsessed with overcoming death through mechanical means. Former colleagues described him as paranoid about aging and convinced that the human mind could be preserved indefinitely if removed from the weakness of the body.

Working alone in a cluttered laboratory somewhere in New Jersey, Polycarp conducted increasingly reckless experiments involving neural transfer systems and life-support technologies. His final breakthrough—or catastrophe—came when he attempted to upload his consciousness into a machine while preserving his organic brain inside a nutrient-rich suspension chamber.

The experiment malfunctioned spectacularly.

Exactly what happened inside the laboratory remains unclear, but when the smoke cleared, Polycarp discovered that his consciousness had fused not with his machine systems, but with the only nearby living organism: his pet goldfish.