Conception: Starship Reproduction, part 2

Yesterday, I started the discussion on how MINIMCOM reproduced or produced a child. I mentioned parthenogenesis where an actual egg develops into a living being without being fertilized. The second method I mentioned was cloning where a cell from an adult animal is coaxed into developing into a full-grown organism. However, neither of these really relates to how MINIMCOM begat Junior and later Fury.

To understand the actual mechanism used, it is closer to one borrowed from planarians, which are tiny freshwater flatworms. Everyone has heard this story. You cut a flatworm in half (actually as much as 1/300th of its original mass) and it will grow back into two functional animals. This is because this animal has a boatload of stem cells called cNeoblasts floating around so it can rebuild any part of its body it required.



Some animals use this ability to actually reproduce, not just heal. This method called budding. Budding is seen in some multi-cellular animals such as corals, some sponges, some acoel flatworms and echinoderm larvae, according to Wikipedia.

So, in the end, the way that MINIMCOM gives "birth" is more like a coral than a flatworm. He buds. He actually apportions a ratio of each element, roughly a 3:1 ratio until the resulting bud is a miniature replica of himself. Most of his memories and all of his capabilities are built into the bud so that when it is "born" it is fully functional.

At that point, his child (think Junior) begins to develop their own personality. They can acquire more mass (like Junior did in The Milk Run) and eventually become their own, unique, adult starship.

Incidentally, this budding method of reproduction is exactly the same as used by the Stareaters first introduced in Rome's Revolution.