Squish-bot

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Squish-bot is a slightly weird gadget, alternatively named bio-bot, which has gone through three stages of development. Each stage was done by a different person.

Created by Ace Dreamer.

Stage One

An unused plastic inflatable sex doll, of either gender, is taken and waved. This produces something which looks pretty human and feels like human skin to the touch, with human hair, and even breathes, but is obviously full of air rather than human flesh and organs. The body remains unconscious. When deflated by either puncture or (hidden) valve this dies and just becomes a plastic sex doll again, and dies anyway after about a week. After death re-waving does nothing except make the plastic dissolve into a rather nasty mess. If left alone then after a few months the plastic slowly decays, anyway.

Stage Two

As Stage One, but the body, after filling with air, has body-temperature water mixed with 'essential salts', which match the composition of the chemical elements in the human body, poured into the mouth. The body is then injected with "uisce beatha" (water of life) made from waved whisky in a special (creation) ritual; strangely chemical tests show the same results for this 'water' as insulin, though insulin wont do. The water gels into flesh, bones and organs. In almost all respects this acts as an (unconscious) human body, including to genetic analysis, and has unique things like finger prints. After about seven days the body dies, and you've got a salty water-filled sex doll. Killing the body (as you'd kill a human) leaves a doll. An injection of "uisce beatha" 'kills' the doll. The process cannot be repeated on the same doll, but if carefully washed-out and kept the doll does not decay, as long as the doll was 'killed' by a second injection.

Stage Three

As Stage Two, but the salts are held within a special container (inside the doll) instead of mixed with the water. Pure water (warmed UK tap water will do) of about body temperature is used, and the initial injection causes the salts to mix with the water and become flesh, the second separates the salts back into the container leaving pure water. If the paired injection process is used then the doll can be used (by the same person) repeatedly. Death of the body by other means leaves a salty water-filled sex doll. Its unclear what using the second injection on a significantly injured body would do, particularly one with a wound in the skin.

Summary

'Stage One' is quite well known in some circles, 'Stage Two' is known to a smaller group, probably no more than a dozen. These are all mystics who have created handwavium-based rituals; try (Hermatic or alchemical?) mystical circles in the UK. 'Stage Three' was developed by Brains, and he also added the belly pouch to include a half brain, as used by his design of robots to backup themselves. Brains hasn't (late 2008) informed anyone else about the 'Stage Three' process.

Brains has used 'Stage Three' squish-bots to give his design of robot temporary use of the closest thing to living human bodies as they're likely to get. He has put some effort into customising bodies to their requirements; the Kei and Yuri bots may strike terror into some hearts.


Why do the squish-bots (Uran chose this name) die? One mystic theory, not known to Brains (or associates), is it's because they have no souls. Starvation and dehydration likely don't help; smart people would treat them like the persistently unconscious. If this is true then one with a half brain in it has a soul, and might go on living indefinitely. Though, after three days half brains need resynchronising again by a backup, so that is an issue as well. But, maybe a manageable one...

Questions about Stage Two or Three:

  • What can you do with a squish-bot? (Almost) anything you could do with an unconscious normal human body which has not been biomodded.
  • Can you biomod a squish-bot? Yes, as long as the mod is principally physical, as opposed to mental, behavioural or 'spiritual'; even those might be allowed if someone was 'living' in the squish-bot – activating a squish-bot is not a biomod process, because to biomod you start with a living creature, and beforehand you've just got a plastic sex doll and some chemicals (and, of course, some handwavium).
  • Do wavium abilities and quirks carry over into a squish-bot? Yes, but only if they are principally mental, behavioural or 'spiritual' (i.e. not those rooted in the physical structure of the body); this only applies while that particular person is 'living' in the squish-bot, and they go away when they leave (they take them with them), even if the body had been made a perfect duplicate of their handwavium-created or biomodded one.
  • Where is the handwavium? There is a very small amount of highly specialised locked-purpose 'tidy-up' handwavium, tied-up in the bones, and particularly the skull; there is none anywhere else in the body; this self-destructs as the bot reverts to a doll or otherwise dies.
  • Can you use a squish-bot as a blood donor? Yes, as long as you don't take enough blood to kill them - they follow the same distribution of blood types as the general population, unless they've been carefully made to resemble a particular person, when they'll have that persons blood type (unless the blood type is something weird as a result of a biomod).
  • Can you use a squish-bot as an organ donor? Yes, as long as you don't kill them by harvesting the organ - taking one of paired organs works best; organ tissue types follow the same distribution as the general population, unless they've been carefully made to resemble a particular person, when they'll have that persons type (unless the tissue type is something weird as a result of a biomod).
  • Can you get biomodded by using donated squish-bot blood or organ? Not as long as the waving process is done rigorously enough; the risk of using excess handwavium or botching the bot creation process is probably greatest – running blood/organ past a sensitive handwavium detector before use would be wise; bone transplants should definitely be avoided, followed by connective tissue, and the liver if you're being really cautious.
  • Does anything strange happen if you keep a squish-bot alive for a long time? Yes, though even total life support in an ICU wont extend their basic seven day life span; if you somehow extracted all the handwavium tied-up in the bones (how?) then you'd have a normal human body that you could keep alive indefinitely (biomodding has this extraction effect, getting one pregnant doesn't) - if someone 'lived' in a squish-bot at least 98% of the time for at least seven months (more than half a year) then this flushes-out/destroys the handwavium, leaving only a normal human body.
  • Can you use a squish-bot for biomodding research? Yes, but seeing as the squish-bot hasn't any personal intentions (unless someone's 'living' in there) the range of biomods tends to be rather limited, and mostly related to healing any injuries - be careful as some biomodded squish-bots suddenly wake-up with full personalities (and souls?) and typically take a very dim view of being involved in medical experimentation (though one Mad supposed acquired an Igor this way; "Just put that lab coat on. Yes, you can start sweeping-up over there").
  • How do you put someone into a squish-bot? Brains obviously has this covered for his specialist use of Stage Three, for Stage Two a hard-tech brain transplant followed by biomodding to grow it all together is likely simplest, otherwise consult a Mad about something involving 1950s hair-dryer helmets and lightning, or mince the original brain and extract the 'essence' (RNA?) with handwavium to feed into the new body (this is a biomod), or spend hours in a waved 'brain programmer' based on a reversed brain scanner (immense, very noisy and needs cryogenics), or fast-forward through a full sensory recording of someone's life to date, or... (Brains doesn't know how to do this, and doesn't know how to do a non-destructive read of a human brain.)
  • Is there anything weird about the squish-bot creation process? The weirdest thing is that it's surprisingly stable and reliable, and you can dress it up with all sorts of added ritual and get the same result, something which to almost all scanning and detection resembles a non-biomodded unconscious human adult (try extracting some bone then doing a very detailed handwavium scan); note the need for a supply of unused sex dolls (and they {italic}must{/italic} be sex dolls), basic handwavium, and the ritually waved (Celtic) whisky.
  • Are there any problems with using squish-bots? There aren't any obvious ethical problems, as there is 'no one there' - but you might be wise to watch out for the lynch mobs.


Usage Note

'Stage One' and 'Stage Two' squish/bio-bots are Open Source and can be freely used by anyone for Fenspace stories, including making variations on these.

Its not recommended making the (uninhabited) lifespan of a variant squish-bot more than four weeks, and preferably no more than ten days or two weeks; ditto not less than three days. You might have fun with the drama of "I've only got three more days to live!".

Please ask about use of 'Stage Three' because this may involve Brains or associates.


Squish-bot Restrictions

The easiest thing to restrict is the special waved whisky. Brains doesn't know how to make it, and he's completely failed in his attempts to analyse it (it keeps coming up as just 'insulin'). Whoever is making it is handing out very limited supplies, and hinting that this is for both practical and 'religious' reasons. It's possible that it's very, very, difficult to copy.

Fortunately, you don't need very much. But whoever has a supply will likely hang on to it.

Getting a brain (with a mind) into a squish-bot is a risky process for all but the most expert biotech Mad, or someone who needs to be lucky to live. Biomod does give an indefinite lifespan, but is unpredicatable, and likely gives you an unconscious empty body that heals well, and can't be further biomodded to get a brain (with a mind)into it. Good for medical research, assuming handwavium contamination isn't a problem, but useless for much but brain-only cyborgs (the sort with an inorganic (upper) brain in an otherwise living body). Cyborging a biomodded squish-bot is going to require pretty good med (hard) tech.

If you want a really interesting restriction say that Stage Two squish-bots can only be activated in contact with 'living' soil (including at least a handful from the Celtic country the whisky was made in). And, for even more fun, only on Terra; there's a need for enough spare 'life force' or something. Any need for a desecrated ex-holy place for variant rituals is up to you... [grin]