The Sarcophagus

The Ark program, the frozen colonists and the sarcophagi they were carried in represents the bedrock of Rome's Revolution. In numerous previous posts I mentioned that the Ark was not much more than a "flying tin can" and all the money was sunk into the design of the sarcophagus itself. The idea being the ship was going to get damaged, this is just an actuarial hazard of being in space, but by sending the frozen colonists in armored sarcophagi, most would survive.

Here is a horrible image which is supposed to be a hint as to what it looked like:



This symbolic representation represents the two main elements of the chamber. The top part is just a very high-tech coffin with pumps for the cryo-hibernation fluid, oxygen generators, heater/blower combination and a control panel. The lower section contains the power rods, the electronics, storage chambers for clothing and a few day's worth of rations.

At the very bottom were superconducting magnets which allowed the sarcophagus to be clamped on the fairly cheap shelving to pack the bodies in.


Here is how it was supposed to work:
1. The command crew is reanimated
2. The Ark lands
3. Somebody turns the power rods 180 degrees so that the nuclear reaction begins
4. The mechanism is activated, the cryo-hibernation fluid is melted and pumped away
5. The auto-defibrillator restarts the colonist's heart
6. The heater/blower warms them up
7. They arise
8. They hop out, pull out a drawer, get dressed
9. They drink some water, eat some rations and move on to the next colonist so that everyone is reanimated.

Sounds simple, huh? Turns out, sometimes it goes smooth, sometimes it doesn't.