"Oh this," he held up his prosthetic hand, "is only 'bout sixty-thousand. If you lose your body in service to the government, they pay for the bare ass minimum for replacements. This-" he moved his hand again, "I volunteered for a private study- your brain still sends signals down your nerves when you try to move your limb like you used to. This thing can read those signals and then interpret them to make the prosthetic make the same movements." There were a few more steps involved and a computer, but those were the basics.

"I was in the air force," he added, to round out the picture. "My jet crashed me. I'm lucky I still have-" he did some mental calculations. "Nine-tenths of my body." That seemed like the appropriate figure.