"Brainboosting..well, (...) but thats not real brainboosting."

"Are they really forever or is more of an overstatement made up by the people who sale the upgrades?"

=="Oh, no, its forever, or near as. I mean, eventually everyone, or I mean our descendants our going to degenerate into subhuman piles of goop as mutatations build up, so I suppose that with four to five thousand years of mutations you, I mean your descendants, might lose these abilities. Might. Might not. I think my blue eyes came from a genemod back about ten thousand years ago."

"Oh I hear you, that's why give the booze a wide berth. No sense killing braincells just to pick up fuglies. Hmmm you know, I think I should get some upgrades, but I'm not certain what and which I can get. Would you mind if I made a list from what is available and then come back for the whole makeover?"
I'll access a terminal and look up vectors/plasmids/geneboosters/whatever they call it, which are useful for people in the following occupations:
Military infantry (like the chameleon skin, ferret-gutsand bark-eating...)

==There are abilities like 'Turn off fear, and turn pain sensation into numerical data'

Vehicle operators/pilots (like enhanced reaction time, improved spacial awareness...)
Researchers/annalists (like extended memory, intuitive mathematics, 20/0X vision and, I'm guessing this is brainboosting, improved cognitive abilities)

==The last is indeed brainboosting, and your search for it brings up a rather scathing critique of this idea.

Psychologist (like enhanced empathy, although this is somewhat conditional, I don't want to become a blubbering emo because a flower died.)
==This turns up enhanced interpersonal perception (the ability to notice micro-expressions that last a fraction of a second.)


"It's not? Then what is 'real brainboosting'? Are there any brain-enhancers available, or is that all a big no-no?

==He lowers his voice. "Its a real big 'no-no'. I told you, its a big taboo in our culture. Its considered perverse and sick. I don't see it, but I think this is the result of some long ago trauma to the whole of society."

=====
"The last time I saw these cats, they threatened to kill me if I returned, but they didn't seem egging for a fight. I say we bring both food and weapons, the food to negotiate with them, the weapons to defend ourselves should they attack us. If they do attack, we'll at least have corpses for an autopsy. But with a hostile first action, we could get in over our heads; They seemed to be with at least a dozen.

(OOC: If my hunting-trip gets me killed, I would like to point out I went to the doc first, then did my gene-search and then to the Xenos, just in case my 'magical multi-position powers' cause for an epic paradox.)

=="Oh, no, its forever, or near as. I mean, eventually everyone, or I mean our descendants our going to degenerate into subhuman piles of goop as mutatations build up, so I suppose that with four to five thousand years of mutations you, I mean your descendants, might lose these abilities. Might. Might not. I think my blue eyes came from a genemod back about ten thousand years ago."

==He lowers his voice. "Its a real big 'no-no'. I told you, its a big taboo in our culture. Its considered perverse and sick. I don't see it, but I think this is the result of some long ago trauma to the whole of society."

The cats surround you, and you offer food.  They waver, and then some of them accept the food.  You realize they are testing for poison by volunteering themselves, and eating a little.

They go to sleep and wait. All of them. However, when you move, one of them sits up immediately and snarls at you.