Hey Everyone!! :-)
Here's a little bit more of the third installment in the Petri Dish Chronicles! As always, the disclaimer is that this is a draft and, as such, it's unedited and likely full of errors and is subject to revision, revamping, and being completely scrapped and rewritten. But, with that in mind, I'm reasonably satisfied with the basics of it, at least at the moment, or I wouldn't have bothered posting it. Enjoy! :-)
Excerpt from the third Petri Dish book:
Sighing, Petri closed her eyes as she laid back in the chair the Arcanum had prepared for her. Looking to either side of her, she met first Chessie’s and then Daji's worried gazes. The Paka had been surprisingly subdued during her negotiations, and hadn’t even uttered any complaints as their “hosts" had prepared them for their trip into the rainbow. She wondered if he was planning to somehow sabotage her efforts once they were in. Some sort of flashy act of self-sacrifice wouldn’t surprise her, given Daji’s extreme disapproval of her cooperation with the Arcanum.
That was actually one of the things she had extracted promises from both Vlad and the Arcanum about. If Daji did anything to hinder or disrupt her mission, they would intercept and contain him, but they would not harm him. And he would be returned to his body once she was successful.
She turned her gaze to the chair itself. It was actually more a sophisticated life-support device than a chair. It had been designed to maintain and support humanoid lifeforms for an extended period of physical inactivity. The seat and back of the chair articulated independently from each other and from the arms and attached supports for the legs. In addition, the entire surface of the structure contained a free-flowing gel-like substance that could be channeled so that no part of the body was in constant contact with the chair. Petri had been informed that all of these would be manipulated on a regular basis to avoid pressure wounds and ensure uncompromised circulation. In addition, faint electrical pulses would be sent at intervals into the voluntary muscles in their bodies to minimize atrophy and further promote blood flow.
The chairs also included monitoring equipment that would ensure the glucose and electrolyte balance in their bodies remained steady by making adjustments as necessary through intravenous feeding and hydration. Petri still wasn’t happy with the way the Arcanum were coercing her into what she regarded as an impossible mission, but she had to give them credit for having put a lot of thought into keeping her friends and her alive and healthy for as long as possible.
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