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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

CTD - Alien Nutrients


coolp

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Here it is...

 

ALIEN FOOD

 

After detailed analysis of the food pods found within captured UFOs we found out much more about the alien diet. We had all expected in our minds the aliens, though savage, to have a fairly normal (by earth standards) diet, but the truth was more disturbing then we had ever thought.

 

"Whoa! The aliens have steak too?! Cool!?" ~Rookie X-corp scientist on the human meat, promptly setting off projectile vomiting in the room.

 

From studying the food pods on the alien ships, we found out something very surprising. In some of the pods were broken down human flesh mixed with an enzyme that makes it more easily digestible, in an almost liquid form. In another were slabs of precooked human meat, in a form not unlike steak, [a finding backed up by the trace amounts of human flesh found in the bloodstream of certain aliens]. We also found cow organs in some pods. Our scientists theorize that the aliens mutilate the cows for specific tasty morsels, and leave the rest to rot, not unlike elephant poachers taking the ivory tusks and leaving the rest of the elephant to decompose. Another theory suggests that the aliens are doing this research on the cow's 3 stomach digestive tract in an attempt to find a way to digest tough plant foods, which in the long run it would make the aliens less dependent on humans for food on earth, and would enable them to eat the plentiful grasses and various grains found all over the earth.

 

[Different aliens all get the food through different methods. The sectoid, for example, gets all of the food intraveneously, while the Reapers have a feeding frenzy not unlike the raptors in the movie Jurrassic Park. The basis of the food is always the same though]

 

These findings of the cow organs in the containers bring us one step closer to finally solving the mystery of the cow mutilations. All of this shows that the aliens are trying to turn Earth into a slaughter house for meat... this new data will only harden X-corp's resolve, and us scientists have already thought up a few ways we can use this to our advantage...

 

I'm not sure if its okay for the aliens to eat humans... I think that it would have more of an effect on the player, but on the other hand it mgith not work into the story. Should I change the words human to cow?

 

EDIT: Updated with the latest version

EDIT: Fixed a typo

EDIT: Added a new section

Edited by coolp
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Thanks for the positive responses! But you would find out about their diet from dissections, since you would find traces of other animals and people inside their digestive system, or in the case of the sectoids, their bloodstream.

 

If I've left something out from the information about different alien races tell me, since I just skimmed them before throwing this together before school.

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Intresting. You may want to make it longer, and add some fluff text.

 

For instance: "That is just disgusting, I wonder if thats anyone I know?" - X-Corps Biologist.

 

Mutons eat raw meat, sectoids and etherials get it intrevenously, snakemen and floaters probably get it by eating cooked meat. At least that is my take on the alien eating habits. :)

Edited by Cpl. Facehugger
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Okay... heres the new version...

*

After dissecting many aliens, we were able to find out more about thier diet. We had all in our minds expected the aliens, though savage, to have a fairly normal (by earth standards) diet, but the truth was more disturbing then we had ever thought.

 

From dissecting the different aliens we found out that all eat humans in one form or another. Even in the oral eating Sectoid we found bits in their blood stream that were genetically established to having come from human tissue. There were also trace amounts of cow flesh and meat in the bloodstream, which explains the cow mutilations. Obviously the cows are not as disturbing but nontheless... it appears that the aliens are trying to turn Earth into a slaughter house for meat... this new data will only harden X-corp's resolve, and us scientists have already thought up a few ways we can use this to ouradvantage...*

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Nice, but the sectoids don't eat through their mouths (orally), their internal digestive organs are atrophied, so they need their nutrients intreveinously. Same with etherials. At least that is how it was in the original game. (Lets face it, how could a humanoid that small eat properly anyway? :))
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oops! Phrased the thing about the sectoids *completely* wrong. Meant to say intraveneously... here's the new draft...

 

After dissecting many aliens, we were able to find out more about thier diet. We had all in our minds expected the aliens, though savage, to have a fairly normal (by earth standards) diet, but the truth was more disturbing then we had ever thought.

 

From dissecting the different aliens we found out that all eat humans in one form or another. Even in the intraveneously eating Sectoid we found bits in their blood stream that were genetically established to having come from human tissue. There were also trace amounts of cow flesh and meat in the bloodstream, which explains the cow mutilations. Obviously the cows are not as disturbing but nontheless... it appears that the aliens are trying to turn Earth into a slaughter house for meat... this new data will only harden X-corp's resolve, and us scientists have already thought up a few ways we can use this to ouradvantage...*

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Since the alien food is actually found in containers on ships and in bases, you might want to concetrate on that. That being said, I like the idea of getting info from the autopsies. Problem is, what if they haven't done any alien autopsies yet?

 

Maybe just something about containers that pre-digest abduction victims for IV feedings and cooking (or whatever).

 

-The Captain

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Would it be feasible to have the research on Alien Food be faster if you had an autopsy on an alien already, and then it would show the above text, and if you haven't done an autopsy then you get a slower research and a different text? Or would that be a major pain?
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It would be great if we could do that (it's been discussed, having older entries update as you learn new things, and new entries differ depending on what you've already researched). However, it's all v1+...for now it has to be static, generic entries

 

I like all the ideas you've come up with recently, btw...it's obvious you've put some thought into it. I'm not being a pain in the buttocks just to be a pain. :devillaugh:

 

-The Captain

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Thanks Boxershorts =) Heres the last draft before I go to bed...

 

After dissecting many aliens, we were able to find out more about their diet. We had all in our minds expected the aliens, though savage, to have a fairly normal (by earth standards) diet, but the truth was more disturbing then we had ever thought.

 

”Whoa! The aliens have steak too?! Cool!” ~Rookie X-corp scientist on the human meat, promptly setting off projectile vomiting in the room.

 

From studying the containers on the alien ships, we found out something very disturbing. In all the containers was some kind of human flesh in one form in another. It was found in liquid form, and in a precooked meat form, not unlike our steak. One scientist was found staring blankly at her screen, with the words Zak Poluse flashing on her screen, with address, phone number, place of work, and family numbers. She said that that was the alien’s steak. She had found out from doing a DNA analysis. We also found cow meat and liquid in the containers, which, while not disturbing, at least explains the cow mutilations. All of this shows that the aliens are trying to turn Earth into a slaughter house for meat... this new data will only harden X-corp's resolve, and us scientists have already thought up a few ways we can use this to our advantage...*

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But you would find out about their diet from dissections, since you would find traces of other animals and people inside their digestive system, or in the case of the sectoids, their bloodstream.

correct, but you got to reseach alien food from captured food containers in big ufos and alien bases.

 

but that could be changed of cause!

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I think initial autopsies of aliens would not include dna testing on their bloodstream, but after you find the alien food stuff in a supply ship or alien base, and it's determined that there is human flesh there, you could also say scientists went back and verified that human dna was found in most aliens' digestive tracts.

 

As to cows and their mutilations, I doubt they eat cows. After all, why kill a cow for food, and leave most of it there? It's not like a cow puts up a fight when you try to move them onto the ship... perhaps the aliens are doing research on the cow's 3 stomach digestive tract, trying to find a way to digest tough plant foods, as in the long run it would be easier to harvest grasses and various grains than to maintain a large human flock. So most mutilations result in organs being taken, as the aliens only need them and not the whole animal-easier to transport. The aliens hope to develop a digestive system that allows them to eat most plants, then they can just wipe out the human race altogether.

 

Or the idea posted a long time back, they chop up animals because they're evil and sadistic. They're a little rough when they go cow tipping...

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I'm not saying you have to use this, it's just a thought to explain why there's cow mutilation instead of cow abductions. Cows have 3 stomachs, allowing them to digest plants that we can't with a single stomach. Perhaps the aliens are looking at Earth as a colony, and with their extensive ability to manipulate genetic code, they could adapt themselves to best live here. They could be doing research on the cow's digestive tract to determine if it's a viable option for their larger units like reapers, who eat way to much meat.

 

You could just as easily say certain cow organs are extra tasty to aliens, so they carve out what they need and leave the rest. Like poachers who kill elephants for the ivory tusks, or hunt sharks for the fins only and leave the rest to rot.

 

Perhaps the alien food containers have an enzyme that helps break down human flesh into a easily digestable solution? Just some thoughts to toss out there.

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one thing.

 

"We also in some pods cow organs"

 

We also found cow organs in some pods

 

but i like it :) though i do not understand wy the rot some meat when they are assambling an attack on earth. they would need all the supply they could get.

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I received your PM with the text, I've attached it here in rtf format for others to review as they can. I'll update the CT list with this entry, let's give everyone some more time to read it and offer suggestions. Some of our members only make it here once a week or so, we have plenty of time to let it sit for a while.

 

After reading the second paragraph a few times, it didn't seem to flow just right. I tried to reword it to say the same thing, but I don't know if it sounds much better. The attached file includes both versions, there's a 2. in front of each version. Here's the version of that paragraph:

 

Some of the pods contained human flesh broken down into an almost liquid form. It appears some type of enzyme is used to make solid foods more easily digestible. Solid slabs of uncooked human flesh, not unlike steaks, were also found, and DNA tests on alien blood samples did find traces of human DNA, confirming that the aliens do indeed consider us a food source. The digestive organs of cows were also found, causing us to theorize two different reasons. Either these organs are delicacies to the aliens, and they only take the specific parts they need, or they are studying these organs to learn a way to digest the tough plant matter that the three stomachs of a bovine digestive tract can handle. These are the leading theories as to why there are so many cow mutilations. If the aliens plan to use Earth as a slaughterhouse or feeding grounds, it will certainly harden our resolve to wipe out this alien threat.

ALIEN_FOOD.rtf

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Oops, you are correct, cows like all ruminants have a 4 chambered stomach. I'll update that as soon as I get to my ftp app. ^_^
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  • 3 months later...

Uhhh just reading over lots of the CTs for the fun off it, you seem to want scientific accuracy as much as possible (ive seen the arguments :LOL: ) in which case you want to change the detection of human DNA in alien blood.

 

There is no way that human DNA would remain in its native state in any sort of abnormal biological system of any complexity as far as i know. And seeing as to get there the DNA would have to survive ingestion by an alien or the enzymatic breakdown of tissue and injection, neither of which would be possible, it would be more accurate to change the DNA to something else.

 

A few suggestions would be

A amino acid, it is quite possible that humans could have a specific amino acid that aliens do not and so detection of this would imply ingestion of human tissue. (Or indeed the bovine tissue)

 

A pyrimidine or purine base (aka a base from DNA), it is also possible that alien DNA is formed from something other than our ATGC setup (there are many homologues that would achieve the same thing) so detction of this would effectively detect DNA that is specific to earth and with the canister imply ingestion of either human and bovine tissue or both.

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Its nice to see people doing the work on the detail. Its looking good to me.

 

Whats with the numbered paragraphs though?

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Well seeing as most of the CTs are done, and i cant actually work out which ones arent coupled with the fact that i can no longer play UFO EU and my memory is rusty i thought i would go through read all the CTs and try to pick up any problems and try to make sure that they all work together as a big group.

That and i though i would apply my biological understandings to anything that could have relevance to try and bump up the realism.

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Sounds good, once all the texts have first drafts hammered out we can all go through them and make sure references are correct and there aren't contradictions to other texts or reality.
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possible typo here; don't cows have 4 stomachs?

Yes they do. Each stomach works on breaking down all the grass cows eat in a different way. The cow even regurgitates(:puke:) to move its food to another stomach. (I don't know how many times. I think it's two groups of two stomachs... :huh?:)

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If you're going to reference Jurassic Park (which I think you ought to avoid) you need to be a little bit more removed from it. Remember, X-Corp exists in a time long, long after Jurassic Park was released. Consider referencing it as "The popular twentieth-century action movie, Jurassic Park". Still, I think you'd be better off referring to the feeding frenzies of sharks or hyenas.
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I strongly agree with not referring to specific movies, as this is a scientific report, they would refer to sharks and the like rather than a fictional movie's presentation of something. Also right on ruminants having 4 stomachs, that was addressed earlier though and the current text has it. Good points regarding some of the scientific aspects, can we get an updated text that's more accurate regarding realism, but without becoming overly scientific? If coolp's not available someone else can continue with this, but lets give coolp a few days to respond first.
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It shouldnt be hard to make the changes i pointed out and to dumb them down a bit.

 

Just use, a constituent of DNA instead of a base and link that to the DNA being from terrestrial origins, maybe evenlink it to alien DNA research if that is around. Say that at first you just research the food and it tells you what it is but you are unsure of its function, maybe research based.

 

IF you have done alien DNA research you can show the second part of the research which is the realisation that this stuff is indeed being used for food and not for research

 

If you have done food and then do alien DNA research you could have something pop up that says it has implications for this reasearch, you look at ti and you can then see the added bit about the realisation that it is food.

 

Dont know if that would be possible coding wise but would be a nice addition IMO, if it is possible then it would take a little more work with the CT on research but we have plenty of time right :)

 

Edit: Hehe something similar mentioned in this thread anyway, that was a complete coincidence :)

Edited by Otterboy
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  • 1 year later...

I thought this could use a rewrite... :)

ALIEN FOOD

X-Net://Pegasus.Net/Alien/Research/Alien Food

 

The nutritive logistics of the Alien Forces always were a mystery to us, however, after detailed analysis of the food pods found within captured UFOs, we think we might have an idea of the Alien diet. Until now,  expectations were that the aliens, although savage, would have a fairly normal diet by earth standards. The collected data now seems to draw another picture.

 

Studying the food pods on alien crafts, we discovered something we can only describe as bio-engineered digestive system - allowing a very sophisticated refining of “standard” food components to a parenteral administrable nutritive.

It seems that the Aliens put high effort in designing a system which is easily operated – even for a non scientific user. The system consists of several tanks connected by a complicated net of tubes and  wires, but is working pretty comparable to our own digestive System.

 

In the first tank any digestible or non digestible material can be inserted, regardless of its state, and is mechanically broke down and lubricated to form a mash which is then pumped to the next container. In here, the pulp is sterilized and predigested by a strong acid – this is not unlike the human stomach.

The next step is a re-neutralization of the mass, after which  number of different enzymes – we found peptidases, saccharidases, nucleases and lipases – begins the actual digesting process resulting in single amino acids, monosaccharides, nucleotides and nucleosides as well as free fatty acids and glycerine.

These components are then adsorbed by specialized proteines, which are placed in a tissue-like matrix, and released in a sterilized fluid which is on the one hand the energy supplier for the matrix proteins and on the other hand the base for the Alien nutrient.

Interestingly enough we found that several of the used proteins are pretty similar to those found in earth life - human as well as animal. We suspect that the Aliens used their research on earth life to design a digestive system which is adapted to the earth flora and fauna in a high level.

 

The major advantage of this system despite his easy and safe operation is, that only needed food compounds are resorbed – and found in the nutrient in a standardized concentration; any not-usable or dangerous molecules remain in the supernatant and are pumped out of the system.

 

The design of the system allows various inputs, an analysis of the food mash showed traces of human flesh,  animal flesh, various cropses as well as green plants.

 

"Whoa! Alien steak? Cool!"

Dr. Andrews - X-Corps Scientist and hobby cook.

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ALIEN FOOD

X-Net://Pegasus.Net/Alien/Research/Alien Food

 

The nutritive logistics of the Alien Forces always were a mystery to us. However, after detailed analysis of the food pods found within captured UFOs, we think we might have probably have? an idea of the Alien diet. Until now, expectations were that the aliens, although savage, would have a fairly normal diet by earth standards. The collected data now seems to draw another picture.

 

After studying the food pods on alien crafts, we discovered something we can only describe as bio-engineered digestive system - allowing a very sophisticated refining of “standard” is it needed? food components to a parenteral administrable nutritive that was a nice phrase :D. It seems that the Aliens put high effort in designing a system that is easily operated - even for a non-scientific user even by non-technicians?. The system consists of several tanks connected by a complicated net of tubes and wires, but is yet it is? working comparable to our own digestive system.

 

In the first tank any digestible or non-digestible IMO it doesn't read well, what do you think? material can be inserted, regardless of its state, and is to be? mechanically broken down and lubricated to form a mash, which is then pumped to the next container. In there, the pulp is sterilized and predigested by a strong acid – this is not unlike the human stomach strongly resembling a human stomach?.

 

The next step is a re-neutralization of the mass, after which followed by the administration of? a number of different enzymes – we found peptidases, saccharidases, nucleases and lipases 100% greek words ^_^– begins the actual digesting process resulting in single amino acids, monosaccharides, nucleotides and nucleosides as well as free fatty acids and glycerin.

 

Polymers and monomers could work better? By the way, are these the right words?

 

These components are then adsorbed by specialized proteins, which are placed in a tissue-like matrix, and released in a sterilized fluid which is on the one hand the energy supplier for the matrix proteins and on the other hand the base for the Alien nutrient. This really needs some re-writting...

 

These components are then adsorbed by special proteins "ribozymes" is also cool which form a tissue-like matrix after being lubricated by a sterilized fluid. That liquid works both as an energy supplier for the proteins and as the base of the Alien nutrient.

 

Interestingly enough, we found that several of the used proteins are similar to those found in earth life - human and animal alike. We suspect that the Aliens used their research on earth life to design that digestive system, which is adapted to the earth flora and fauna in a high level.

 

The major advantage of this system, despite his its easy and safe operation, is that only usable food compounds are resorbed and found in the nutrient in a standardized concentration; any not-usable or dangerous molecules remain in the supernatant and are pumped out of the system.

 

The design of the system allows various inputs, as an analysis of the food mash showed traces of human flesh, animal flesh, various corpses as well as green plants. maybe put it in a paragraph above?

 

"Whoa! Alien steak? Cool!"

Dr. Andrews - X-Corps Scientist and hobby cook.

 

 

----

Neat draft =b

 

I made some spelling corrections, you used many british words. I also tried to provide some re-phrasings. I hope I provide some food for... thought :P

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You had some good points there. =b

 

[...]allowing a very sophisticated refining of “standard” is it needed?

Hmm... I think so... otherwise it sounds bad. At least that's what I think.

 

Polymers and monomers could work better? By the way, are these the right words?

No, just monomers, and I'm pretty sure these are the right words... :)

 

These components are then adsorbed by special proteins "ribozymes" is also cool which form a tissue-like matrix after being lubricated by a sterilized fluid. That liquid works both as an energy supplier for the proteins and as the base of the Alien nutrient.

No, this will give it another meaning. I tried another version, maybe have a look.

 

The design of the system allows various inputs, as an analysis of the food mash showed traces of human flesh, animal flesh, various corpses as well as green plants. maybe put it in a paragraph above?

I don't know. I thought about it, but it's a nice short paragraph to finish the text. Like a short conclusion.

 

So, please have a look at my next draft :)

 

ALIEN FOOD

X-Net://Pegasus.Net/Alien/Research/Alien Food

 

The nutritive logistics of the Alien Forces always were a mystery to us, however, after detailed analysis of the food pods found within captured UFOs, we do have an idea of the Alien diet. Until now,  expectations were that the aliens, although savage, would have a fairly normal diet by earth standards. The collected data now seems to draw another picture.

 

Studying the food pods on alien crafts, we discovered something we can only describe as bio-engineered digestive system - allowing a very sophisticated refining of “standard” food components to a parenteral administrable nutritive.

It seems that the Aliens put high effort in designing a system which is easily operated – even by non technical personel. The system consists of several tanks connected by a complicated net of tubes and  wires, yet it is working pretty comparable to our own digestive System.

 

In the first tank any – preferential digestible - material can be inserted, regardless of its state, to then be broke down mechanically and lubricated to form a mash which is then pumped to the next container. In here, the pulp is sterilized and predigested by a strong acid strongly resembling a human stomach.

The next step is a re-neutralization of the mass, followed by the administration of a  number of different enzymes – we found peptidases, saccharidases, nucleases and lipases – begins the actual digesting process resulting in single amino acids, monosaccharides, nucleotides and nucleosides as well as free fatty acids and glycerine.

These components are then adsorbed by specialized proteins and released in a sterilized fluid which is on the one hand the energy supplier for the proteins and on the other hand the base for the Alien nutrient. The transport proteins themselves are placed in a tissue-like matrix which is effectively separating the digestion area from the sterile nutritive area.

Interestingly enough we found that several of the used proteins are pretty similar to those found in earth life - human and animal alike. We suspect that the Aliens used their research on earth life to design a digestive system which is adapted to the earth flora and fauna in a high level.

 

The major advantage of this system despite its easy and safe operation is, that only usable food compounds are resorbed – and found in the nutrient in a standardized concentration; any not-usable or dangerous molecules remain in the supernatant and are pumped out of the system.

 

The design of the system allows various inputs; an analysis of the food mash showed traces of human flesh,  animal flesh, various grains as well as green plants.

 

"Whoa! Alien steak? Cool!"

Dr. Andrews - X-Corps Scientist and hobby cook.

Edited by Mad
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  • 3 weeks later...

now that Mad has managed to awaken me from my slumber, I thought I might as well give this one a look... tell me what you think of my suggestions:

 

 

ALIEN FOOD

X-Net://Pegasus.Net/Alien/Research/Alien Food

 

The nutritive "nutritional"? logistics of the Alien Forces always were a mystery to us, however, after detailed analysis of the food pods found within captured UFOs, we do have an idea of the Alien diet. Until now, expectations were that the aliens, although savage, would have a fairly normal diet by earth standards. The collected data now seems to draw another picture.

 

Studying the food pods on alien crafts, we discovered something we can only describe as bio-engineered digestive system - allowing a very sophisticated refining of “standard” food components to a parenteral administrable nutritive.

It seems that the Aliens put high effort in designing a system which is easily operated – even by non technical personnel. It consists of several tanks that, although connected by a sophisticated net of tubes and wires, work very much like our own digestive system.

 

In the first tank any – preferably digestible - material can be inserted. It is then, regardless of its previous state, broken down mechanically and lubricated to form a mash which is then pumped to the next container. In here, the pulp is sterilized and predigested by a strong acid strongly resembling the content of a human stomach.(funny, actually, this sounds sooo complicated, when the human stomach acid is plain and simple HCl - hydrochloric acid...)

The next step is a re-neutralization of the mass, followed by the administration of a  number of different enzymes – we found peptidases, saccharidases, nucleases and lipases – which begins the actual digesting process resulting in single amino acids, monosaccharides, nucleotides and nucleosides as well as free fatty acids and glycerine.

These components are then adsorbed by specialized proteins and released in a sterilized fluid which is on the one hand the energy supplier for the proteins and on the other hand the base for the Alien nutrient. The transport proteins themselves are placed in a tissue-like matrix which is effectively separating the digestion area from the sterile nutritive area. (could you explain what you mean by this paragraph? sounds like some kind of heterogeneous dialysis system, but I'm not quite sure)

Interestingly enough we found that several of the used proteins are pretty similar to those found in earth life - human and animal alike. We suspect that the Aliens used their research on earth life to design a digestive system which is highly adapted to the earth flora and fauna.

 

The major advantage of this system despite its easy and safe operation is that only usable food compounds are resorbed and later released into the nutrient in a standardized concentration; any non-usable or dangerous molecules remain in the supernatant and are pumped out of the system.

 

The design of the system allows various inputs; an analysis of the food mash showed traces of human flesh, animal flesh, various grains as well as green plants.

 

"Whoa! Alien steak? Cool!"

Dr. Andrews - X-Corps Scientist and hobby cook.

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now that Mad has managed to awaken me from my slumber, I thought I might as well give this one a look... tell me what you think of my suggestions

I think I'll go with all of them. Just 2ct: Yes, the acid in a human stomach is just plain HCL, but there still is other stuff around (Trypsin etc...). Plus, you know how I love to explain simple facts with extra complex sentences, so noone will observe the simpleness... :)

These components are then adsorbed by specialized proteins and released in a sterilized fluid which is on the one hand the energy supplier for the proteins and on the other hand the base for the Alien nutrient. The transport proteins themselves are placed in a tissue-like matrix which is effectively separating the digestion area from the sterile nutritive area. (could you explain what you mean by this paragraph? sounds like some kind of heterogeneous dialysis system, but I'm not quite sure)

it's more then a dialysis system, because it is actively transporting the needed substances. Think of it as an artificial small intestine. I actually have no idea how to explain it better then ths way I did... :(

 

Oh, and before anyone gets bad ideas, NO I didn't KISS him awake. Did I make myself clear? :P

Edited by Mad
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sooo... "The system uses carrier proteins to bind the needed compounds in the digestion product and transport them across a membrane into the final nutrient solution. The transport process is facilitated by dielectric attraction and repulsion between membrane and carrier protein. This is facilitated by a change of surface charge of the carrier protein brought on by binding its respective compound."

 

 

...that sound complicated enough?

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sooo... "The system uses carrier proteins to bind the needed compounds in the digestion product and transport them across a membrane into the final nutrient solution. The transport process is facilitated by dielectric attraction and repulsion between membrane and carrier protein. This is facilitated by a change of surface charge of the carrier protein brought on by binding its respective compound."

 

 

...that sound complicated enough?

:D That's definetly better than mine. Although I think, this is a little too complicated for most readers. I think I only understood it because I know what you're speaking of... :)

Ok, so give me a few minutes...

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ALIEN FOOD

X-Net://Pegasus.Net/Alien/Research/Alien Food

 

The nutritional logistics of the Alien Forces always were a mystery to us, however, after detailed analysis of the food pods found within captured UFOs, we do have an idea of the Alien diet. Until now, expectations were that the aliens, although savage, would have a fairly normal diet by earth standards. The collected data now seems to draw another picture.

 

Studying the food pods on alien crafts, we discovered something we can only describe as bio-engineered digestive system - allowing a very sophisticated refining of “standard” food components to a parenteral administrable nutritive.

It seems that the Aliens put high effort in designing a system which is easily operated – even by non technical personnel. It consists of several tanks that, although connected by a sophisticated net of tubes and wires, work very much like our own digestive system.

 

In the first tank any – preferably digestible - material can be inserted. It is then, regardless of its previous state, broken down mechanically and lubricated to form a mash which is pumped to the next container. In here, the pulp is sterilized and predigested by a strong acid strongly resembling the content of a human stomach.

The next step is a re-neutralization of the mass, followed by the administration of a  number of different enzymes – we found peptidases, saccharidases, nucleases and lipases – which begins the actual digesting process resulting in single amino acids, monosaccharides, nucleotides and nucleosides as well as free fatty acids and glycerine.

The system uses carrier proteins to bind the needed compounds in the digestion product and transport them across an artificial membrane into the final sterilized nutrient solution. The transport process itself is facilitated by dielectric attraction and repulsion between membrane and carrier protein.

 

Interestingly enough we found that several of the used proteins are pretty similar to those found in earth life - human and animal alike. We suspect that the Aliens used their research on earth life to design a digestive system which is highly adapted to the earth flora and fauna.

 

The major advantage of this system despite its easy and safe operation is that only usable food compounds are resorbed and later released into the nutrient in a standardized concentration; any non-usable or dangerous molecules remain in the supernatant and are pumped out of the system.

 

The design of the system allows various inputs; an analysis of the food mash showed traces of human flesh, animal flesh, various grains as well as green plants.

 

"Whoa! Alien steak? Cool!"

Dr. Andrews - X-Corps Scientist and hobby cook.

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Apart from capitalizing "Aliens" and "Earth," it looks pretty good.

 

If you feel like writing more (*gasp*), I was sort of thinking that paragraph 2 could use a sentence or two of commentary about how "the majority of digestion takes place outside of the Alien, perhaps so that more biological resources can me allocated to physical growth and development." It's kind of wordy, but basically, they save the energy that they would spend on digestion into becoming stronger, faster, and/or smarter. Also, food preparation can be standardized (they don't have to stock food for x different Alien races) and the procedure can be streamlined? It'd be a neat touch, imho, but definitely not required.

Edited by Astyanax
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If you feel like writing more (*gasp*), I was sort of thinking that paragraph 2 could use a sentence or two of commentary about how "the majority of digestion takes place outside of the Alien, perhaps so that more biological resources can me allocated to physical growth and development."  It's kind of wordy, but basically, they save the energy that they would spend on digestion into becoming stronger, faster, and/or smarter.  Also, food preparation can be standardized (they don't have to stock food for x different Alien races) and the procedure can be streamlined?  It'd be a neat touch, imho, but definitely not required.

Hmm. I thought about that, but then I though that this would be something for an autopsy CT, and the player might not have done this. So that's why I sticked to the "pure techical" side of it. Any thoughts about this?

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Hmm. I thought about that, but then I though that this would be something for an autopsy CT, and the player might not have done this. So that's why I sticked to the "pure techical" side of it. Any thoughts about this?

Well, maybe you could phrase it as a theory or hypothesis by X-Corps researchers trying to explain why Alien Nutrients exist and are needed. Still, it's not really necessary... but if someone has an urge to write a little more... :)

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