181
Read to everyone:
A strange amalgamation of cabling and discs hangs from a peg on a wall, covered in dust. Its AR overlay label reads
Hover Harness, and it has the same power adapter interface you’ve come to expect. Eight discs, each the size of a palm, are connected with woven straps. The straps have the flexibility of cloth, but the strength of metal, and are impervious to any attempts to cut, tear, or otherwise harm them.When power is applied, the discs glow faintly and crackle with static discharges. Your Focus shows the human shape, with the harness snapping into place around its waist, across its thighs, and over each shoulder. The discs line up against each shoulder blade, each pectoral, and similar places low against the pelvis in both the front and back.
Without asking, Jineko takes the harness and begins strapping it on as shown. Figuring out front from back and top from bottom takes a moment, but she gets it with help. Her eyes lose focus into the familiar distant stare of reading her Focus overlay. After a moment, she steps back from the group.
Without her touching them, the straps cinch tight against her body. The discs begin to glow a little brighter, that crackling discharge increasing. It takes a moment to understand what you’re seeing, but you realize that the discs are drawing her more upright, until they lift her onto her toes. Jineko’s eyes go wide as her toes leave the floor, leaving her floating in the air. This scares her and she kicks in the air for a moment before touching back down.
With a huge grin she turns and leaps from a standing position, easily covering more than most could from a run.
Only a single harness seems to be intact, though two more are found which seem to be damaged or incomplete. With some time and effort, they could potentially be disassembled for parts, or possibly even repaired.
The harness does not grant flight, at least for now, and is software-locked to not take its wearer more than a few inches off the ground. It does not produce directional thrust, other than lift, so a person hovering would still need some other means of propulsion. It works even when worn beneath clothing, and the static effects are only for flavor. The intent of the harness is to allow its wearer to take some of their weight off their legs, to allow for easier movement. It provides enough lift to be an alternative to a prosthetic leg, should the wearer desire.
The harness has a safety feature to “catch” the wearer if they fall, but it is not perfect — narrators and players should decide whether falls involve saving throws or similar. This would likely look quite odd to an observer.