Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: kwh@cix.compulink.co.uk (Ken Haylock)
Subject: Re: TP research                         
Cc: kwh@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-To: kwh@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 08:03:00 +0000

hevans@estwm0.wm.estec.esa.nl (Hugh D.R. Evans (ESA) writes:

>In article <memo.825134@cix.compulink.co.uk>,
>tpratchett@cix.compulink.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
>|>This is a question for all you godless scientists out there:
>|>
>|>Bearing in mind the following, which has been established before or
>|>will be
>|>established in Men At Arms (first draft finished, hurray!): trolls
>|>are
>|>silicon-based and their brains remsemble computers rather more than
>|>our
>|>brains do -- THEN
>|>What is the troll equivalent of a drug?
>|>What is the troll equivalent of alcohol?
>|>
>|>I think maybe we'd be looking for some kind of chemical impurity found
>|>in
>|>silicon -- what causes a batch of silicon to be discarded?  We need
>|>something
>|>that theoretically disorientates/mildly poisons in small quantities
>|>and kills
>|>in larger amounts?  (And it needs to be a substance -- not just heat,
>|>which
>|>I'm already using in the book)  It would be NICE if its something
>|>commonplace, like the sour milk 'drug' in Alien Nation.
>|>
>|>Since I know there's experts of everything out there, let discussion
>|>commence!
>|>
>|>Terry
>|>
>
>
>As far as disorientates/mildly poisons, radiation is a good cause.  A
>proton flying through a
>chip can cause a single event upset (a state change in a transistor) as
>its path
>ionises the surrounding circuit; a problem which is not permanent (much
>like low doses of
>alcohol).
>
>Larger, more energetic doses can cause permanent effects, such as bulk
>damage -
>where an atom is displaced from the crystalline lattice.  Probably the
>equivalent of excessive
>alcohol consumption.
>
>As alpha radiation's penetration is rarely more than a millimeter, the
>emmitter substance
>would have to be placed inside the chip's epoxy black box.
>
>In the space environment the charged particles are more than competent
>at flitting through
>10cm of Aluminium.
>
>So, one such drug/poison could be an alpha particle emmitter, as it
>requires ingesting and
>has a memory loss/temporary poisoning effect.  And if the dose is large
>enough, requires
>scrapping of the item.
>
>Hope this helps,
>Hugh.

...Of course, one of the staples of the troll diet is rock (in it's various
forms); a nice bit of granite, with a savoury sedimentary such as chalk for
dessert. One of the biggest sources of background radiation is the rock we
live on, as Terry will know, because in his part of the world the background
level of ionising radiation exceeds maximum EC safety standards, and everyone
from Cornwall is theoretically obliged to:

a) Spend 3 months of each year living elsewhere,
b) Walk around in a lead suit all day,
c) Carry a geiger counter around with them.

So, we have the trendier trolls *inhaling* radium gas from the rox (or not,
depending if they ever want to become a troll chief <:-)>). My chemistry
isn't good enough to know what comes next in the drugs hierarchy, nor do I
know what radioactive elements are naturally occurring, and which ones the
trolls could easily synthesise. However, I can imagine trolls mainlining
Uranium - and the consequences of getting a bad batch...

"...so the guy who sold it swore blind it was pure U238, imported direct from
the rim.  'Course, it was U235 wasn't it... he'd only been using it for a
fortnight when he went critical and got the high of his life. Shame about the
mountain though... I liked it where it was."


..Silicon Implant!!

kwh@cix.compulink.co.uk

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