Escafil Device

[BaronConall]

At the risk of a collective groan and people crying "Another Morphing Cube thread?!" I was recently thinking about how the morphing cube actualy worked.

I checked most of the other threads on the cube and since most of them haven't been active since '09, I figured I'd start a new topic.

Ok, so we all know that K.A. likes to leave things up to our imagination, so I was just gonna throw my theory out there and y'all can add your 10 cents worth if you feel it's worth your while.

Basically, I've been thinking of the Escafil Device as using a form of nano-technology. The tingling that you feel when touching the box would be along the lines on nanites entering your body through skin cells and proceeding to replicate throughout the host body. At this point they sync with the host brain waves, which allows the host to send three simple commands: Aquire, Morph and Demorph with an extension to the first and second command lines, being where to aquire from (Aquire through hand) and which animal to morph. (Morph ________)
In that sense, with the nanites being so ridiculously small (a Helmacron would need a microscope), aquiring DNA would simply be the act of sending the Aquire command, at which point the nanites are released through the skin and gather either genetic material or samples from the subject, storing the information and transmitting the data aquired to the other nanites within the host body.

While this his happening, the nanites also broadcast on a certain neuro-wavelength, placing the subject into a dolcile, drowsy state while the host aquires genetic information.
Once aquired, the host sends the Morph _______ command and the innumerable nanites that are not only spread throughout the hosts bloodstream, but also the hosts skin cells, hair, organs and muscle tissue, immediately set to work reorganising the genetic structure of the commanding host, altering everything from skin pigmentation to bone structure. This whole time the nanites disable key points within the hosts nervous system, preventing them from experiencing the pain associated with altering the host at every level, right down to their genectic structure.
At this point, depending on the mass of the subject being morphed, the nanites either send or gather matter into or from Z-Space.

When morphing a larger subject, matter is gathered from Z-Space by the nanites and added to the mass of the host, whereas morphing a smaller subject requires the nanites to send matter, as well as a certain amount of nanites, into Z-Space until the Demorph/Return command is given, at which point the nanites within the host remotely summon the discarded nanites and matter from Z-Space, with the discarded nanites broadcasting a locator signal through Z-Space until they are called to return.

The reason behind the 2-hour morphing clock would be because, being nanites, they would have no long-term sustainable power source. While in the Escafil Device, the nanites remain in hibernation-mode until called upon, whereupon they enter a host body, using enzymes, chemicals and constantly regenerating cellular tissue within the host body in order to function, while simultaneously maintaining such a balance within the host body that they do not deprive it of chemicals/enzymes, etc.

While storing excess mass in Z-Space, the nanites are running off reserve power with nothing to fuel them and a battery life of 2 hours, after which time they lose power and are lost, hurtling through Z-Space and ending up anywhere in the universe.
When morphing a larger subject, however, the nanites, having stored the bio-data of not only the hosts form, but also the genetic data of all aquired subjects, are retaining the data of the original host form, as well as keeping Z-Space matter tethered to the host, allowing for its increased mass. Since nanite numbers cannot exceed the number of nanites that are sustainable within the original host form, the nanites are required to physically tether Z-Space matter to the host so as not to spread throughout the morphed-host body, producing more nanites to cater to the hosts now-enlarged form. During this time they cannot collect enzymes to fuel themselves and, again, switch to reserve power. After 2 hours, the nanites shut down from lack of power and the excess Z-Space matter is permanently anchored to the host in the process as a final fail-safe command to prevent the host from dying due to the sudden loss of large quantaties of matter.

This would also explain why a nothlit cannot recieve the morphing ability from another Escafil Device, as the nanites would recognise the presence of other nanites and consider the nothlit to already be morph-capable.



Oookaaayyy... That was a lot longer than I though it would be.
Despite what y'all may think, I haven't actually spent that much time thinking about this I was mostly typing it as it came to me, so I'm sorry in advance if it doesn't make much sense.

What do y'all think? Sounds good? Or do y'all think I'm just talkin' crap?

[Phoenix004]

No idea if this is how it might work in the series, but this is a fascinating theory, very interesting. My only thought against this theory is that the Yeerks would either have known about the nanites or at least been able to figure it out, which would likely have lead to them developing an EMP weapon to disable the nanites. Although it's possible the Anti-Morphing Ray was able to "hack" the nanites and force a demorph.

If you wrote a fic using this idea I'd definitely give it a read.

[Terenia]

This is an excellent theory. I love it, and I find nano-tech extremely interesting.

One question, though: how do the nanites communicate with Z-Space?

[BaronConall]

One question, though: how do the nanites communicate with Z-Space?

The nanites in Z-Space essentially use a minute form of the Z-Space transponder[spoiler] that Marco's dad helps build and Ax uses to contact the Andalite fleet.[/spoiler]

It would mostly be the reason that the nanites burn through the same amount of power in a smaller morph as a larger one. In the larger form, they're using a Z-Space tether, whereas in the smaller, they're using a transponder. They basically would have the same functions, just inverted.

Z-Space Tethering would be calling to Z-Space to gather the required matter, while Z-Space Transponders would be calling from Z-Space to keep track of stored matter.

While the nanites don't actually communicate with Z-Space, they essentially open a small doorway into Z-Space in much the same way as an Andalite ship does. Since they are already perfoming such monumental tasks already, it would be a bit much to expect them to be able to choose where in Z-Space they store/borrow matter.
Because of this, they would gather matter from a random point in Z-Space , temporarily storing the matters location/origin so that everything can be returned to it's original place once the host demorphs.


Gah, I think this is one of those explanations that gets less believable and more fantastic with each successive explanation.

Although it's possible the Anti-Morphing Ray was able to "hack" the nanites and force a demorph.

I was thinking that the AMR would broadcast on a broad neuro-wavelength, forcing the target involuntarily produce the Demorph command. Then, depending on if there is the presence on nanites and the target is morphed, demorphing is induced. Almost like inducing a seizure.

[goom]

fascinating. i think you've thought this through more than KA did.

[BaronConall]

Haha not really
As I say, I kinda had the idea of nano-technology just as a basic idea. I never really thought about how it would work in-depth until now.
80% of everything in this thread was typed as it came to me, especially my response to Terenia

I have an active imagination

[Terenia]

I'm going to force your active imagination to get to work again. The nanotechnology theory works pretty well for organic matter, but hat about clothing, piercings and tattoos? I'll admit that your theory does take care of the ever present weight and hair length issues, but what of that which is on the body? And why can the nanites work with spandex but not, say, jeans?

Sorry if I'm making you think too hard.

I also apologiz for any typos. Using my phone.

[BaronConall]

Haha, that's okay.

The only way I can think to explain that (without a cop out Legendary Frog-esque "Plot device, Mr. Frodo") is host synchronisation.

Andalites aren't as self-conscious as humans and don't need clothing to cover-up, whereas humans do. Despite this, Andalites also saw the potential for the Escafil Device to be used as an infiltration device and recognised that other species use certain materials and brandings to represent rank or station. So, instead of forcing Andalite Spies to perform a little on-site uniform gathering, they allowed the nanites to have a small side function. Namely, being able to manipulate skin cells, enzymes, etc on an atomic level (think of it as fashion alchemy) to create basic materials and colour pigments not originally present on the host body.

As Elfangor shows in the Andalite Chronicles, upon viewing Lauren's "loose skin" (shirt), Andalites have never encountered such heavily clothed species before. Because of this (and the fact that most human clothing has little contact with the skin), the nanites were designed to make more form-fitting material (such as the tight blue bands on the blue band Hork-Bajir).
This means that, initially, the Animorphs can only morph form-fitting spandex and why their attempts at shoes result in something similar to a puppy tug-of-war.

Clothing isn't entirely beyond the nanites means, however. In much later books it is stated that the Animorphs are able to demorph into slightly looser apparel. Once again, this is down to host sync. The Animorphs have been morphing a long time, and as time has passed they have learned to morph faster by becoming more adept at sending the required mental commands to their specific nanites, much in the same way that recent technology allows quadraplegics (and even gamers) to use wheelchairs and computers with neuro-impulse translators. Basically, practice makes perfect.

Because of this ability to decide on morph clothing and colour, it should be possible to demorph and keep tattoos, by concentrating on key points in the body and specific skin pigmentation. But once again, this would come down to synchronisation.
Basically, you'd be trying to form a clear picture of the tattoo and its location on your body, which would require a lot of mental concentration. The matter of piercings would be another thing altogether (turning skin cells into surgical steel [an alloy, no less] requires a lot more skill than spandex and cotton. It would be like turning skin into gold).



Phew

Hope I'm not getting too far-fetched here

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Haha... you're awesome. This theory is actually pretty solid, but not perfect. I'm especially into the idea of the nanites tunneling into Z-space on the micro-scale in order to exchange mass- that actually makes a lot of sense with what we know of Andalite technology. I do see a bit of an issue with information storage; even a compressed "file" of an animal is going to take up a ton of space, and even quantum-storage nanites, I think, would run out of space fairly quickly.

I'd say that, with this theory, and the number of animals the Animorphs acquired, the nanites may actually have a way of storing the information in the apparent inherent mass in Z-space. Each nanite would be tethered to a given bit of Z-space mass, and would use that both as the information storage and as extra mass to call on for large morphs.

Also, I'm not crazy about having different standards for large and small morphs for the 2-hour timer, and from book 18 I got the impression that typically, time does not pass for the Z-space mass of a morphed body while the user is in morph, so I've got a different proposal there- see if it sounds reasonable. My thought is that it's this time-differential that causes the trapping in morph. When you morph an animal, some (probably most) of the nanites are sent into Z-space, since they are not present in the acquired animal, with only enough nanites retained in the morphed body to be able to make contact with the bulk of them in Z-space. After 2 hours, it becomes too difficult to bridge the temporal gap back to the moment you morphed, and the majority of the nanites are lost forever, along with any ability to return to your original form.

I really dig your thinking on this one. Very cool, and you're not getting hung up on the whole "DNA" thing that they always mention in the books, which seems to kill more theories than it helps.

[Shock]

now if only Z-space actually existed...

[Phoenix004]

How do we know it doesn't?

[BaronConall]

Each nanite would be tethered to a given bit of Z-space mass, and would use that both as the information storage and as extra mass to call on for large morphs.

This actually sounds pretty plausable to me, converting mass into a sort of quantum-computer. But it would kind of clash with your second theory, implying that the nanites are indefinately tethered to Z-Space mass via the temporal gap that you mentioned.

Maybe the nanites (being as numerous as blood or skin cells throughout the body, essentially) are each assigned specific morph data individually? One nanite processes only one set of genetic data. That way, when the Morph ________ command is given, that individual nanite is triggered, transmitting the desired genetic data to the rest of the nanites within the host for tempporary use/storage.

It could also be possible that individual genetic data is assigned to a small cluster of nanites, for the sake of processing and storage. This way, with the innumerable nanites within the bloodstream, skin cells and muscle tissue, the host would have near limitless genetic data storage capacity.

That way, it also doesn't conflict with your idea of Temporal Z-Space Tethering, which I actually quite like the sound of.
It does cause me to think though... If Andalites are capable of Temporal Tethering through Z-Space... does that mean they're on their way to building a Time Matrix? Or maybe they do build the Time Matrix and that's the one Elfangor found...

I think that one will need a seperate topic... And I can already see it getting very 12 Monkeys on us, with a lot of mention of Self-healing Paradoxes and the Grandparent Paradox... -_-'
("Doc, Doc!" ... "GIGAWATTS!!!")

[INH]

About storing information about the morphs:

We know that the acquired DNA is somehow stored in the blood of the morpher.  When they morph, their original DNA is also stored in the morph's blood.  In whatever form it is stored, it's possible to extract this DNA and analyze it.  In #49, the yeerks found out the identities of the animorphs by doing this.

Going with the nanites idea, maybe they have little nano-capsules containing a morph's DNA (and/or other information) floating around in the bloodstream, which they access whenever they morph.

[BaronConall]

We know that the acquired DNA is somehow stored in the blood of the morpher.  When they morph, their original DNA is also stored in the morph's blood.  In whatever form it is stored, it's possible to extract this DNA and analyze it.  In #49, the yeerks found out the identities of the animorphs by doing this.

This is along the lines of what Phoenix004 was saying about being able to hack the nanites with the anti-morphing ray.
Instead of hacking the nanites with the ray and forcing a Demorph command, the Yeerks would have been hacking the nanites found within blood samples in order to access the host bio-data contained within the nanites.

Accessing the bio-data would give the Yeerks all they would need to run a genetic comparrison with other human blood samples gathered in the Sharing blood drive that occurs during that book. Depending on their computers, they may have even been able to produce a visual image of the nanites host form.

[ThinkAgain]

I have a question. You stated that maintaining things like piercings and clothes are all based on concentration and practice. So then, is it possible, with immense focus, to create mass that was not there? Like picturing a person as being fatter, or wearing a different color shirt and then morphing them? If that would work, what's to stop a person from picturing the person being morphed wearing gold rings and such, and repeating the process to create and essentially drag matter out of z-space in the form of usable materials?