Sam Fisher- Comms

  "Patch it through."

  "Roger. On your button five."

  Fisher's communications system was a far cry from the traditional headset he'd worn in his pre-Third Echelon days. The two-part system was comprised of a nickel-sized subdermal receiver implanted beneath the skin behind Fisher's ear. The subdermal bypassed the route normally traveled by sound waves--through the outer ear to the tympanic membrane--and sent vibrations directly into the set of tiny bones within the ear (known as the ossicles), or the hammer, anvil, and stirrup, which then transmitted the signal to the brain for decoding.

  For speaking, Fisher wore a butterfly-shaped adhesive patch known as a SVT, or Sub-Vocal Transceiver, across his throat just above his Adam's apple. Learning to use the SVT had required a skill Fisher likened to a cross between whispering and ventriloquism.

  Together, they allowed him a virtually silent communications system.

  Fisher tapped his subdermal to switch channels, then said, "Up on button five."

- Checkmate, Chapter 1