Revival machine

# Summary

A revival machine is a galactic technology that grows a new body for a legionnaire. Each legionnaire has a saved scan of their body saved in the machine, and their tapper saves the changes in their mental engrams to a network. This means that when a legionnaire dies, a new copy of the person with their memories can be grown in the machines. The new person will come back with their memories in tact, but their body will be the same as it was when they were scanned, which means they can be revived physically younger than they were when they died.

Revival machines are key to the success of earths legions because they allow the soldiers to die over and over and come back. Revival machines are the most expensive piece of galactic technology in earths possession. The only thing more expensive is a star ship.

## Appearance

The machine is about the size of a pickup truck, but weighs a lot more. It is covered in metal on the outside, but is fleshy on the inside. For transport, it can come apart into an upper and lower half, which reveals the flesh on the inside. The inside resembles a toothless mouth or stomach. It also has bones and ridges that can be grasped when moving it. It makes odd slapping sounds when operating. The machine has an oven like opening that looks like a womb inside where the new body comes out. To the side of the opening, is a mouth with chipper blades where dead bodies and raw materials can be fed into the machine and recycled into additional raw material.

## Function

The machine gives birth to new copies of legionnaires. It takes more than 10 but less than 30 minutes to create a new person. The new body exits the machine horizontally on a tray feet first, with an umbilical cord attached, a plug in their mouth, and covered in slime. Bio specialists use a device that looks like a giant spatula with a soft polymer coating to extract the new person from the machine. The machine has a touchscreen that allows a bio to select from possible people to revive, and also a priority list and a button that will cause the machine to revive the person with the greatest priority in that list.

The machine has a drain in the underbelly, and bios are supposed to drain it before pulling someone out of the machine. The machine has plasma tanks, and the fluids can't be left hot and under pressure for hours, as they will turn septic.
The machine uses a substance called protoplasm to create the new bodies.

## Quotes

(The purpose of this section is to store primary source quotes. The info will then be summarized.)

## Steel World

It didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before. It was like a big furnace, but she was shoving some kind of platter inside of it.
That furnace-like thing…it had to be the revival machine. Only, it wasn’t exactly a machine. Not in the sense that I understood machines. The inside of it was like a mouth fleshed with pink, brown and gray mottled surfaces that reflected light wetly. It resembled a big, alien mouth. Or, I thought to myself, a womb.

The surface of it was metal and the exterior had normal-looking controls. Touch screens glowed and indicator lights flickered. But that mouth-like opening showed that the interior was very different. It contained some kind of organic technology I couldn’t begin to understand.

“Another one’s coming through,” said Specialist Grant. “Did you reload the capsule? I want no rejects, we haven’t got the time.”

I recalled from the training I’d gotten that a revive often left a soldier in an altered state of mind. Sometimes, a newly revived man even had hallucinations.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 92). Kindle Edition. Steel World, Ch 9

It was strange how memories worked after they rebuilt a person. They didn’t come back with quite the same priority structure in the brain. It was very much like waking up and being uncertain if one was dreaming or fully awake.

Sometimes, when we revive someone with poor quality base materials, it doesn’t go right and we have to redo it.

“The Galactics keep tight tabs on the use of key equipment like revival units.” “Why?” “The technology would be easy to abuse, don’t you think? What if a madman bought one on the black market and proceeded to copy himself a million times?” “Oh,” I said, having never thought about that before. “Is that possible?” “No.  They keep tight controls over how often it is used and for what purpose. Your regrowth wasn’t sanctioned, so I had to pretend it was a test. We do that sometimes, as part of maintenance. We grow a random biotic construct with expired protoplasm. Then we destroy the mess that issues.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 168). Kindle Edition.

“Carlos,” I said, “what are they doing?” “Turning off our revival machines.” “They can do that?” “Yeah. My dad worked at the spaceport on Earth—the big one. The Nairbs have to have power to enforce their decisions. They can turn off any Galactic tech we bought from someone else—even our guns.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 197). Kindle Edition.

The revival unit was big, about as big as a pickup truck. It was covered in metal, but I knew from experience that it was fleshy inside. When it began rolling down toward us, I honestly calculated that it had to weigh more than a pickup. It had wheels, but they were small steel circles with a rubber coating. They reminded me of larger versions of the wheels on a shopping cart. They were inadequate when it came to traversing a steep stairway.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 229). Kindle Edition.

Next, we found out how the machine “disassembled”. Essentially, it came apart in two halves, the lower and the upper. This was not good, as it revealed some of the meaty parts in between. “What kind of sick alien dreamed this up?” Carlos asked. For once, I agreed with him. The machine was grotesque inside. It was like the inside of a giant stomach, or a toothless mouth. When we slid apart the two halves, we had to tip them onto their sides. No one wanted to touch the flesh parts, so we all tried to grip metal with our gloves.

“Yeah, there is. It has bones and ridges, kinda like shells. Stick your hands in there and find something hard. Don’t worry, you won’t damage it with your bare hands. It’s strong.” Looking like he was going to puke, the guy did as he was told. “I feel something.” “Don’t let it bite!” Harris said suddenly. The recruit jerked his hands out, and they came away slick with semi-clear liquids that dripped to the floor. Harris cuffed him, thumping a hand on the back of his helmet. “I was kidding…the teeth are in the other half.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 231). Kindle Edition.

Really, in the end, it fixed itself. They connected thick cords to the generators, and it began to make slapping sounds inside—almost like it was chewing something. They flipped some switches, and the two shell-like halves—the top and bottom jaws, they called them—rolled and shivered until they’d aligned themselves. I couldn’t help thinking that the machine resembled a person adjusting and stretching after a long sleep. The “jaws” yawned slightly at times, and the joints rasped and clicked like cracking bones. We all took a step back, except for the bios. The machine stopped clicking and began to make more of those odd, slapping sounds.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 232). Kindle Edition.

“What’s wrong, sir?” I said. “I know we’ve been hit, but it takes a while to get the revival unit operating."

“To prevent illegal duplication. Only one unit is assigned to be a legitimate revival point per file.

“Sir, I volunteer to go after the lizards,” I said. “If I can get the data chip back from that revival unit, we can make the transfer and these people will live again.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 245). Kindle Edition.

During the last of these three steps, while I was looking at a keyboard-like device on the front panel, the identification system spit out an interesting classification on my screen: data slot. The only thing it could be talking about was a rectangular section of metal in the surface of the machine under the control panel. Experimentally, I pushed my finger up to it and applied pressure. The metal folded inward, and allowed my finger to push inside. I pulled it back, and it snapped shut.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 256). Kindle Edition.

I was immediately disgusted. My lips curled away from my teeth slowly and stayed there. It was a hybrid. I could tell right away these “machines” didn’t come to Earth with a nice metal casing over them. Inside the box was a blob of flesh. It looked like a fatty ham, skinless and pink. Embedded in this wall of meat were numerous probes. These probes were connected with wires to the front panel. I ripped them out by the handful. I was horrified to see the flesh shiver as I did this. Could it be alive? Could it feel what I was doing, somehow? I tried not to think about it. I tried not to think about anything. I took the housing off completely and ripped it loose from every connection, ignoring the disturbing, shuddering reactions. Finally, I had it off. It was big, about the size of a refrigerator door torn off its hinges.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 257). Kindle Edition.

Adjunct Leeson chewed his lower lip for a second. “Sir, I know the revival units are sacred cows for you bios, but we are talking about permed legionnaires, here.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 260). Kindle Edition.

The centurion threw a rattling plastic tarp over the scrap of metal when she had it loaded and then carefully pushed the air sled away. She refused all help from the grunts around her and only allowed her orderlies to touch the wreckage. She handled the air sled personally and attentively. She guided it away as if it was carrying an injured infant.

“Sanctimonious bios,” he growled. “They’re all like that, you know. More worried about their machines and their protocols than they are about the people they’re supposed to be caring for. They think they’re some kind of lab coat-wearing priesthood.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (pp. 260-261). Kindle Edition.

Our troops return to the fight, sometimes before the battle is over. That’s how we win so often. Tech at the level of our revival units is rare in our quadrant of the galaxy. As far as I know, only the Galactics and Earth forces have it.” “Are the revival machines that expensive?” I asked. “Yes, insanely expensive. But it’s more than that. Every world in the Empire only gets so many credits to spend from their trading.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 279). Kindle Edition.

With a growl of animal intensity, I tried to get off the tray they had me on. The tray was like a tongue sticking out of the mouth-like opening of the revival unit. When I tried to get up, I bumped my head on the upper manifold.

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 319). Kindle Edition.

“Do they really stamp a number in your cells?” I asked her. “What?” “A counter—you know, to identify you and indicate how many times you’ve been regrown.” “Oh…” she said. Her face looked troubled. “How did you hear about that? We’re not supposed to talk about it.” “The Nairbs told me.”

Larson, B. V.. Steel World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 1) (p. 321). Kindle Edition.

Even when a soldier died, his tapper was faithfully reconstructed by the legion revival units because it was organic, just like any other part of the body.

## Dust World

Larson, B. V.. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2) (pp. 11-12). Kindle Edition.

I heard a whirring sound that was dying slowly, like that of a power saw when the switch was flipped off. I frowned and opened my eyes, glancing toward the sound. I didn’t see a saw blade, but I did see a stained maw nearby. It looked like a chute of some kind, one that angled away from the revival machine itself. The revival machine was behind me. Its mouth was warm and womb-like. Could that chute to one side of the chamber be where they sent the bad grows? To be recycled?

Larson, B. V.. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2) (p. 134). Kindle Edition.

Anne’s revival took many long minutes. The alien machine gurgled and hissed as it suckled on tanks of liquid and sent up odd vapors that lingered near the ceiling. When the revival machine finished its strange incubation process, the primary maw yawned open. I hunted around for the scoop you were supposed to insert to help slide the body out.

I approached with the shovel-like tool extended in front of me. It looked like one of those things they use to take pizzas out of ovens. It had a handle and a flat metal scoop in front. But this tool was longer and had a tip that was wrapped in soft polymers. I imagined this was to prevent tearing up the soft internals of the machine—or the newborn human.

The umbilical cord was pulsing, still beating with purplish blood. I had to wonder what was at the other end of that hose-thick blood vessel. Did the machine have a heart of its own beating somewhere inside? I tried not to think about that—I tried not to think about anything at all. I tilted Anne’s head to one side and fished in her mouth. “There’s like a plug in here—something rubbery.”

One of the odd things about revival technology was the fact you could often remember your own dying moments. Our neural connections were constantly recorded whenever we were in range of the legion networks. Updating a person’s mental state wasn’t as data-heavy as it sounded because the system only recorded changes to your synapses and neural pathways, not your entire mind. Like many large databases, the system saved only the parts of the mind that differed when compared to the last refresh. Most of the contents of any human brain were fairly static, such as long-term memories and basic skills. Only our most recent memories needed to be stored on a continuous basis. Our bodies were even easier to work with. Once the entire DNA sequence was input, only a few alterations had to be recorded. For example, a person might have had their wisdom teeth removed when they first joined the legion. It wouldn’t be helpful to revive such a person with a fresh toothache that would have to be surgically fixed every time, especially during a campaign. Using DNA blueprints to map out the basic design of the body, then storing changes that resulted naturally from age and artificially from repairs such as surgeries, the machine was able to reproduce a copy without the injuries that killed the person in first place.

Oh, I get it. You clowns didn’t even drain the machine’s underbelly before you pulled me out, did you?”

She walked to the machine and ran her hands over it, then reached inside and pulled something out. A gush of liquid flowed out of the maw and ran into a drain in the floor.

I need help. You know that by now. Start recharging the plasma tanks. These are no good anymore—you can’t leave the fluids hot and under pressure for hours. They turn septic.”

Larson, B. V.. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2) (p. 178). Kindle Edition.

Even a permed unit was less important than just one of those precious revival machines. We couldn’t replace equipment like that, especially now that Earth was hard-up for Galactic Credits.

Larson, B. V.. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2) (p. 182). Kindle Edition.

We were all glad to have the piggies with us even if they were kind of noisy. They carried the revival machine strung up between them like it was no big deal. The only clue they gave concerning the tremendous weight they were bearing was the depth of their footprints.

Larson, B. V.. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2) (p. 220). Kindle Edition.

“Recharge the calcium. I’m getting a one-point low read on bone-density.”

Larson, B. V.. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2) (p. 330). Kindle Edition.

## Tech World

He gave me a sour look. “They’re in the queue to be revived,” he said.

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 179). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

If she was in this revival machine right now, I’d drain the bottom pan.”

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (pp. 196-197). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Inside the room, I regarded the dormant revival machine. I hated these things. To this day, I didn’t see how bio people could handle working with them all day, every day. They were slimy, disturbing—and they smelled pretty bad, too. Due to an unusually colorful past in Legion Varus, I was able to operate this strange piece of equipment. I needed more people. I couldn’t run this ship alone. Accordingly, I tapped the priority list and stabbed the go-button. The machine would decide who I needed first, and I trusted its judgment. The revival machine gurgled and sloshed inside. The thought that it was working to grow a new human being was freaky, but I was beyond feeling such emotions. The revival unit’s maw fell open with a wet sound. I sighed and got out the spatula-like tool.

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 241). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

My mouth opened, and I almost told her I’d hit the priority-revive button.

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 243). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

I nodded, unsurprised. It was standard operating procedure after heavy losses to revive entire units together instead of spreading the service around.

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 276). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Her hair was matted with blood, sweat, and that unidentifiable goo that drips from the lower regions of revival machines.

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 279). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

“You do not understand,” Turov said. “I do not want you to queue it up. You will replace the current revival project with a new one—now.” “I—I don’t understand, sir.” “Dump whatever is in the machine, damn you. Abort it. Recycle the current grow you’re working on and start fresh. Do so now.”

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 294). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

I’m just feeling….I don’t know, different, since my revival. I haven’t felt this kind of hormonal rush in years.”

B. V. Larson. Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 3) (p. 328). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

I winced at that horrible image. The revival machines didn’t always reproduce a functional human body. Sometimes people came out wrong and had to be put down and grown again.

Larson, B. V.. Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) (p. 201). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Blue Deck was closed off to casual traffic, restricted for the lowly likes of me. Combat troops were to stay out, and techs doubly so. The bio-people operated like a priesthood, charged with maintaining their revival machines without interference from the locals. I’d never fully understood their paranoia—except for the knowledge that their machines were probably the most expensive pieces of alien hardware we had aside from the starships themselves.

Larson, B. V.. Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) (p. 203). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Using the alien revival systems, the legion rebuilt a new body and mind for me from stored data. Since they didn’t bother to do body-backups often, I usually came back physically younger than the age I’d been when I’d left Earth.

Larson, B. V.. Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) (p. 392). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

## Death World

In the very heart of Blue Deck existed the protected guts of our medical technology: The revival chambers. Inside each room was a single machine. Serviced by a gaggle of lab coat-wearing professionals, these machines were the most valuable resources our legion possessed. The revival units themselves were…well…strange. They were part electronic, part biological, and part something else I couldn’t hope to understand. These machines had the power to grow a biological entity within their guts like intelligent wombs that could control their output consciously. The priesthood of bio people existed primarily to service the machines—to charge them with protoplasm, bone meal and power.
The machines could reproduce a person by turning raw biological materials into a living being. After a period of time that varied somewhat—always more than ten minutes but never more than a half an hour—the machines could churn out a new human being that was a clone of a previously killed soldier. There were two astounding tricks to this technology as I understood it. One was their ability to restore our minds as well as our bodies to their original state. They did this by reading stored data. When I’d first joined the legions, that data had been stored on a tiny silver disk like a coin. But now, it was constantly updated on my tapper. Embedded in our bodies, tappers continuously recorded our mental engrams and the state of our synapses and neurons.

As if all that wasn’t enough, the second amazing capacity of the revival systems was the speed with which they operated. Hell, a human woman took nine months just to grow a baby, and the average infant only weighed a few kilos. How could these machines work so fast? According to the speculation of our best science people, these wondrous alien devices could accelerate time within their confines and thus gestate a full human in an unbelievably short period.

there were few devices I was aware of that cost more. Only starships, like Minotaur herself, were more expensive.

The revival machines were semi-biological, as I said, but they had an electronic data interface grafted on, so humans could work with them. Carlos breathed hard as he checked the diagnostic data. “I’ve got yellow bars on the fluid levels,” he said. “We’ll have to fix that. And the free-floating nucleotides are all bound up. We’ll have to dump this batch and do a full reset—but Vet, I think we’re in business.”

Larson, B. V.. Death World (Undying Mercenaries Book 5) (p. 102). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

The dead would be used to reprocess into the living. We recycled our own corpses to form fresh ones in the guts of our wondrous, horrific machines. Like I said, they were disgusting…and a little creepy.

Larson, B. V.. Death World (Undying Mercenaries Book 5) (p. 103). Unknown. Kindle Edition.