homeostasis

She was explaining to her grandson the components of the habitat. The computer was made for harsh environments, and it took their underwater location in stride. like underwater. She explained that it was coated with molecular components that took materials from the envrionment to effect repairs.
“Nano machines?”
“Well, half nano-machines really. You could call them nano-machines, I suppose, though they don’t have a lot of logic built in. They are simply reactive like a spring, or a rabbit trap. You could call them enzymes instead, I guess, though they are a little more tolerant of different conditions than most naturally occuring enzymes. It’s really six one half dozen the other.”
“So if the parts of the computer are so much like biology, is it alive?”
“Of course it’s alive. Who said it wasn’t? ”
“Well we don’t treat it as if it’s alive.”
“But of course we do!”
“But we don’t, I don’t know, take account of its wants, not even like we do of our pet cat.”
“Don’t we? it’s as vital to our existence as, say, the bacteria in our gut. Do I take into account the desires of those bacteria? Not individually, for sure, but if they didn’t get what they needed and started dying off I would sure do what i could to restore things to the way they like. The same with this machine. Certainly I would go to greater lengths to keep it alive than i would for the cat, because my life depends on it.”

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setting foot in deprivation

The excited, muddy soubrettes had gathered in the coach house to smoke cannabis, so they weren’t in the house when the bomb went off. They were the first to tend to the wounded and it was they who received the instructions for the disposition of the estate.

blossom again

It was only at the third or fourth re-bandaging that I began to realize what my transgression meant. I would wear the scar for ever. Or would I? I began to think of ways to disguise it: tattoos, other ornamental scarification, some ennobling effort that would impose a supervening scar. Or simply a false story to take to a new place, though I would need resources there.

keloids

He remained hopeful, even though he was always drowsy and every time he woke he found more raised scars on his skin. He left crumbs on his window for a small bird which visited him every day and stared down at him with a look of judgmental pity.

inspiration of a widow

It took a non-engineer to discover the proper preservative for the tools and samples that were being given to us. Where others had tried to analyze the new materials to deduce what would be least reactive, she simply tried nearly everything in the house. And she was smart enough to capitalize on it, founding Manna Industries.

compiled whispers

I used the equipment at work to diagnose myself. It looked like a pseudocyst. I didn’t want my credit flagged so I went first to the pharmacopoeia in the leisure center to see if I could use  anything there for treatment.

recuperation culmination

I saw a woman in line at the mandatories bureau today who was wearing a blouse like the purple one you used to have. It threw me back to that purse-proud time of ours, when fashion was a central concern.

recidivist

Despite the promise I had made myself in prison – indeed, it was key to my enduring so long – I found myself back there within a year. After I cycled through blaming everyone else I could think of, starting with my lawyer, then my friends, and moving on from there, I came to believe that I hadn’t spent long enough in prison the first time. And I began to think of ways to make sure I stayed in long enough this time.

capitulation muscle

The new bank card stored a sample of blood, septuple checked against various caches around the world. When a stall keeper discovered a counterfeit she turned it in to the authorities. It was a clumsy job, using blood of a seabird that had been chemically masked. The man who attempted to use it convinced the authorities she was trying to frame him.

regroup survey

A bush in back of his childhood house was big enough to have a little room inside it where he and the slave children gathered. They told each other it was enchanted so that it preserved the preconquest times in which they could play together. Those memories were often the basis of the advice he gave the Prime Minister.