New Story: A Fragile Dream

[elfs]

This is what I get for being distracted! I've been neck-deep into The Temple for so long I forgot that yesterday I was supposed to release my newest story. I'm so sorry! So let me make it official:

Journal Enty 128 / 03264, A Fragile Dream, has been released and can be found at your favorite server. The ASSD/ASSTR codes for this story are "MF scifi rom slow". Misuko & Linia (and some of their crew) have supporting parts, but this is not a robot story. In terms of quality, I'm very pleased with this story, although it's structure contains only one straightforward thread and not the intertwining of the last one.

I've noticed that Drizzle is becoming more and more overloaded, to the point where the webserver's response times are very slow. On the other hand, you guys have been wonderfully generous, enough so that I think I can afford to move later this year. I'm researching those options right now, but I just want to say thank you so much for your willingness to support my efforts. And as always, if you enjoy a story, a buck or two in the tipjar never hurts. Enjoy!

Comments

[elfs.livejournal.com]

I think you're thinking to hard about the image. The "fifth chamber" is a muscle-reinforced band over the major aorta leading down to the pelvis. Not all pendorians have the turbine installed. For those that do, the turbine is off and blood flows through it without interruption during the daytime, and at night supplements the bloodflow to let the heart rest. Sleeping Pendorians with this installation don't have a pulse-- which can be a little creepy.

[creepingcrud.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Ok. I'm still not thrilled with the terminology, but otherwise it seems fairly plausible. I can't help but think you'd want two of them, though, especially compared to having only one, and that one in the descending aorta. Pressure in the veins that return blood from the systemic circulation is so much lower than arterial pressure that I would not want to depend on it to push blood through the lungs, head and upper extremities. If you put one in the pulmonary trunk and the other on the ascending aorta (presumably before the left subclavian branches off), that'd probably assure adequate circulation.

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting. Any relation with that "turbine heart" to similar concept of Rix Cyborg "hearts" from Scott Westerfeldt's _The Risen Empire_, where it was used to stealth user from heartbeat sensors?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

There is a relation, yes. When I read that chapter of The Risen Empire my reaction was "Ha! We read the same science blogs!" There were a whole bunch of articles (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03332/244872.stm) on the subject called "Ventricular Assists" about five years ago, and I was most amused to see that Scott had come to the same reaction I had: "No heartbeat and constant blood pressure? How cool! How scifi!"