The Deconstitutor
Contents
The Deconstitutor - A User's Manual[edit]
A machine created to replace the need for cryogenic sleep on board rocketcraft by removing water from the subject(s). Another system that can mean the difference between life and death on board. It is imperative to keep the device in excellent working condition. Ecessive use of the Decon Unit can be extremely hazardous.
If by some 'random' stroke of misfortune, the level of H20 in the deconstitutor tank becomes insufficient to fully revive the entire crew, the computer may decide to reconstitute using the remaining inadequate amount of liquid. This would result in the character being reconstituted as a weaker, shrivelled version of their previous self. An alternate deconstitutor-related mishap is to have the H20 become contaminated. In this case, all characters reconstituted would be sickly.
THEORY[edit]
The project developed from the biochemical concept that any organic material can be broken down, stored, and reconstructed via the process known as deconstitution. Deconstitution primarily concerns the dehydration and compression of an organic body via a rapid but delicate process. Once deconstituted, the subject's body mass, now reduced to its base elements in a compacted form and completely devoid of fluid, can be contained in a small area: approximately 6% of it's original volume.
The essential elements of a typical organic mass of 70 kg are stored in capsule form approximately 27cm in height and 11cm in diameter, and contained in a specially formulated, highly resistant acrylic resin casing that protects the compacted material.
The material can be restored to its original, natural form at any time, provided sufficient water is available to the deconstitutor. This process is called reconstitution. The deconstitutor is usually outfitted with a water tank attachment to store extracted H20. The deconstitutor can also be adapted to admit a condenser to draw water vapor from the air, which is then filtered to reduce impurities. Water used in reconstitution must meet the purity requirements as detailed in HAZARDS AND SAFETY ISSUES.
The deconstitution process takes 10 seconds per 1 kg of mass under nominal conditions. An average human body takes 10-12 minutes to fully deconstitute. Reconstitution takes approximately half this time. The deconstitution and reconstitution process can be expedited by the computer, but this is NOT RECOMMENDED for safety reasons.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS[edit]
With the deconstitutor, it was hoped that older methods of the preservation of perishable food products would be rendered obsolete. However, by 1956 the FDA was still not satisfied with assurances from Kessler that food deconstitution presented no long term health risks, and approval was held back pending ongoing tests.
In the medical industry, the deconstitutor (or decon unit) may have been embraced by less conservative members of the establishment, to some success. Blood, donor organs, and even entire human bodies could potentially be kept in relatively small capsules and stored indefinitely. Risk of cellular deterioration and side effects proved, in practice, to be negligible enough to merit ongoing use of Kessler’s decon unit in situations where alternate methods proved costly or ineffectual. In addition, terminally ill patients, coma victims, and the elderly who were willing to risk this relatively new and experimental process have done so to prolong their life indefinitely, in all the applications previously anticipated using typical cryonics practices. Where cryonics fails due to cellular breakdown, the deconstitutor could succeed.
There is an additional, less known feature of the deconstitutor. Though insufficiently tested and still very controversial, the deconstitutor can also be used to restore lost or damaged tissue in a subject. Each time the deconstitutor is used on a subject, it stores a genetic profile of the subject in its computer memory. If a subject previously reconstituted enters the deconstitutor and his profile has changed, the computer can, to an extent, assemble the essential elements to reconstitute a second time so that the current profile fits the previous profile. For example, if the subject has lost a limb since he was reconstituted, the decon unit's computer can use the genetic profile on board to re-map the subject's biological construction. When the subject is next reconstituted, he will find that his body is whole again. This example assumes that the severed limb was brought into the decon unit with the subject. If there is not sufficient body mass available to recreate a previous profile, the computer will either not be able to perform the reconstitution, or it will scale the subject down to account for the missing mass. Suddenly, the subject may find himself a lot smaller. The disadvantages and risks of this procedure are numerous, including loss of memory. The computer recreates the existing profile of the subject's brain as it appeared at the exact moment it was previously deconstituted, be that a day or several years ago.
IMPORTANT HAZARDS AND SAFETY ISSUES[edit]
The deconstitutor can be the most valuable appliance in a person's life, but there are many extremely important safety issues which any user must familiarize himself with before using the machine.
- NON-ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS: It is imperative that all matter subjected to deconstitution be 100% organic. Any impurities may be harmful. It is recommended that all food products be inspected for artificial contaminants prior to deconstitution. The deconstitutor is fitted with an internal scanning device that detects inorganic substances present within the enclosure. The scanner activates automatically when an item is placed on the sample receptacle, and scanning typically takes 5 to 20 minutes. The scanner detects 87% of known inorganic impurities. Please consult your manual for a full list of detectable and undetectable impurities. As a guideline, do not deconstitute any subject with clothing, jewellery, pacemakers or artificial organs/limbs, inorganic-based cosmetics or hair products. Scanning can be bypassed but is not recommended.
- INDUCING SLEEP: It is not recommended that any living animals be deconstituted while conscious. Conscious deconstitution can lead to short-term and long-term mental trauma. Kessler recommends Oneirin 5. Use as directed to induce normal sleep.
- RECON SICKNESS: Dehydration and disorientation are normal side effects for reconstituted personnel. Do not operate any heavy machinery for at least one hour after reconstitution, after which symptoms should pass. If necessary, administer epephrin to resuscitate personnel suffering from recon sickness. Personnel suffering from any unusual symptoms should report immediately to their physician.
- CASING RESIN: Always be sure you have enough resin for the capsule casings. This resin is specially formulated for the decon unit. Capsule casings are custom pressed by the decon unit to perfectly encase the amount of deconstituted matter conferred to the sample receptacle. When the capsule is to be deconstituted, the resin is broken down to a liquid state and recycled by the decon unit. However, some resin is lost in the recycling process. Consult your buyer's guide for instructions on ordering more casing resin.
- ATER IMPURITIES: The decon unit is fitted with a built-in water regulator. All water stored in the tank must be pure and properly ph balanced with the exact alkaline content for the subject.
- KESSLERITIS: Deconstitution is hard on the living body, especially the elderly. It is not recommended that any living subjects undergo the decon/recon process more than once in a 48 hour period. Tolerance differs with each body, however, it is strongly advised that no subject be deconstituted more than 30 times. Failure to follow these recommendations can result in the development of Kessleritis. Kesslertitis is a degenerative disorder that affects a mammal's brain and nervous system, leading to various mental disorders, paralysis and death. Symptoms of Kessleritis include memory loss, migraines, paranoia, vision loss, and impotence.
MAINTENANCE[edit]
TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR DECON UNIT
The decon unit's many fail-safes and warning systems are not solely reliant on your interface system. Run diagnostics on all four autonomous security systems regularly.
- Casing resin should be monitored before every deconstitution. Replace or refill casing resin when CASING RESIN INDICATOR reads yellow.
- Replace your water filter every 3 months or 25 uses. Do not use the deconstitutor when WATER FILTER INDICATOR reads red.
- Clean your water tank thoroughly with a lacrimae-based cleaning product every 3 months. If the interface computer consistently reads collected water as below purity tolerance, and your filter is in good order, you probably need to clean your tank.
- The decon unit's built-in scanner is monitored by the interface system as well as an autonomous security failsafe computer located at the base of the polyaluminite enclosure. We recommend running diagnostics on the failsafe computer every 5 uses of your decon unit. Additionally, the scanner's instrument calibrations can gradually corrupt over time. Use the DECON UNIT SCANNING CALIBRATION KIT included with your decon unit to test and calibrate your scanner every 10-12 uses.
Have your scanner replaced or repaired by a professional when the SCANNER INDICATOR reads red, or if the interface system reports any error numbered 602 to 699.
MEDICAL APLICATIONS[edit]
Every time the deconstitutor is used on a subject, it commits his current biological makeup (body model) to memory. Theoretically, this technique could be used to heal any disease or injury almost instantaneously.
This is not without its dire repercussions, however. Firstly, when reverted via the deconstitutor to a previous body model, he loses any memory and thus experience that he may have gained since that previous body model was archived. Secondly, even though the deconstitutor can essentially reformat the human body, it still needs all the tissue mass to work with. Thus, if the subject is trying to reconstitute to his archived pattern, but has lost significant amounts of blood, skin, or any other tissue, there will be complications. The computer will compensate by simply using the body model given and reducing the overall size of the true subject. Thus, a subject who has lost a leg and tries to reconstitute using an archived body model may come out with both legs intact, but he will be much shorter. Lastly, constant use this technique as an instant doctor, will soon find the victims of Kessleritis, which ironically is irreversible, no matter how many times you reconstitute.
