Hinn Ch. 47-50

"Finally, number five -- Stasis. Affix a coin to the base of the skull and within seconds the body will be wrapped in a high-durability covering and pause biological functions while maintaining the patient's life. Once fully wrapped and the effects in place, changes to the subject would be greatly slowed, roughly by a factor of a thousand or so. Another way to think of it is that the subject will experience one second every half hour or so. This will give you time to prepare and handle issues that are not addressed by the other devices. Breaching the covering and removing the coin from the skin will cause the subject to return to normal in less than ten seconds.

"I would strongly recommend that any of these devices only be used for emergency medical situations. Each individual capability as well as any combination could cause problems if left in contact with humans over any significant period of time, and we will not have time to fully troubleshoot all the issues. Additionally, these would be configured for the human body, other forms of life may or may not have additional problems incurred from the coins' use.

"Do these capabilities seem like a reasonable first approximation?"

"That much would be amazing! With that set, we could eventually reduce the medical supplies we'd typically carry dramatically. How large would these coins need to be?"

"I would recommend they be made of a nonporous precious material such as diamond or gold. Diamond is what I would think might be the best material to start with, as it is highly durable and reasonably light while also maintaining a large magical capability. Other more durable materials typically are denser and thus heavier for a similar size, while few materials match the magical capacity of a pure diamond crystal.

"As such, I would suggest they be about two inches in diameter, perhaps a half inch thick. These would weigh about an ounce each, making them easily portable. I do believe most medically approved adhesives should also work with diamond. Does that sound reasonable?"

"Certainly, but may raise questions if used outside our control."

"As would the effects -- something we shall need to prevent as much as possible while maximizing the health of our team."

"How long would these coins need to operate?"

"The first one would handle most injuries within minutes. A minor wound like light frostbite or minor blood loss would heal within seconds, but serious and continuing blood loss such as multiple major blood vessels opened would prevent full recovery until other relevant capabilities are applied. I believe it would still prevent the patient's death, even in those worst case scenarios.

"The required time for the second and third coin would vary depending on the degree of incursions or wounds, respectively. Minor splinters and paper cuts would heal almost immediately, but major problems like multiple dense objects impaling the body or multiple amputations could take multiple hours.

"The fourth coin would start taking effect within moments after being applied.

"I will insist that the fifth coin have at the least a thirty second delay before activating to prevent accidentally putting a medic with a torn glove into stasis. Once activated, the last coin's wrapping would take less than thirty seconds, and once fully wrapped the stasis effect would be instantly in effect. After removing the coin, it will take roughly ten seconds for the wrapping to evaporate. If there are further injuries to a victim in stasis, the effect will continue as long as the coin remains in contact with the skin at the base of the skull and the wrapping will immediately start to repair itself if there are any openings. You will need to remove the coin within fifteen seconds after slitting the wrappings to prevent them from closing off the opening you will need.

"Now, then, duration. With the exception of the fourth, pain-reduction coin, which will run for a very long time on a single charge, these coins will only work for a limited time, largely depending on the complexity of the work they will need to do. Simply bringing someone back from heatstroke could be done hundreds of times for the first coin, but it would probably work for only a few hours if it is trying to stabilize someone who was constantly bleeding out. The extracting and filtering coin would normally be able to operate for days. Most simple wounds -- stabs to muscle, simple broken bones, that kind of thing -- could be healed a few hundred times by the third coin, but major damage like regenerating two limbs or rebuilding a digestive tract would likely drain the coin. Finally, the stasis coin if applied and not damaged further could likely maintain the situation for a couple days from the external point of view. If heavily damaged while active that duration would likely drop fairly quickly.

"While I am thinking about it, the only coin that could have multiple copies applied to the same victim without issue would be the filtration coin. Multiple copies of each of the others would fight each others' effects, potentially damaging the victim further.

"Additionally I can create a device you can slot a coin into and get a reading on the relative power left in the device. Note that I'm not currently planning on having the device provide any indication if it is working or not. That would reduce the operational time to some degree, depending on how comprehensively I design the detection's operation. A simple 'I am expending power' indication would have little cost, but something that verifies the effect of the coin would likely greatly reduce each coin's duration."

Kat asked, "The device used to check the power level in a coin would be able to run for an extended time?"

"Yes, especially if you simply slot a coin, note the reading, then remove it from the device. If you left a coin in the device it would drain significantly faster, possibly within a day."

"So as I understand it," Tony said, "if we each had eight copies of each of the coins and, perhaps, two dozen of the filtration coin, we should be able to handle a full squad worth of serious injuries. Our normal squad size is six people."

"That seems to be a reasonable goal. I shall make fifteen of each plus another dozen of the filtration for the moment. What percentage reduction should I set the fourth coin at?"

"Given we're talking about potentially massively painful injuries, perhaps a ninety percent reduction?" Jessica suggested.

"Any disagreement? No? OK, I shall set it at one tenth of the actual pain perceived. I would suggest that extreme injuries should have the stasis coin affixed as soon as possible, as human pain perception is quite acute."

"Would a greater reduction be appropriate?"

"Perhaps after some experience using them you will be able to tell me a better range. I will be making the coins with an embossed Roman numeral on both sides, if that is acceptable?"

"Can you show us an example?"

"Certainly." With that, Tauriz created a gleaming diamond coin in her palm, two inches in diameter and a half inch thick, taking about fifteen seconds. The Roman numeral 'I' was sharply carved into each of the flats. After another minute of concentration, she placed the coin on the table. "It is active, so please do not pick it up with bare skin."

Tony was the closest to the coin. Pulling a pair of thin green gloves out of a belt pouch, he donned the protective gear before picking up the coin. "It's very light. Would there be a problem if it were damaged?"

"If the coins are damaged, the magic embedded within them will cease to operate, so there will be no unexpected explosions or the like. On top of that, I would be fairly hard pressed to damage that coin barehanded. Please, throw it at a wall or other hard object."

Raising an eyebrow, Tony turned and threw the coin hard. It bounced off the concrete wall and skittered around on the floor briefly before coming to a halt near Len's feet. Pulling on his own gloves, Len picked it up. "I don't see any problems."

Tauriz tugged it out of Len's hands, popping it across the table and into her hand. "It is fully functional." She slid it across the table towards Kat.

Len, nonplussed at the display of magic, asked, "What normal weapons might damage these coins?"

"The coins themselves? Perhaps a large amount of explosives, or an ideally placed shape charge? I am uncertain. However lesser amounts of damage may well knock them off of a patient, which would prevent their functioning."

"Good point."

"Please, pass it around -- does that seem like a reasonable size and marking scheme?"

"I think it should be quite adequate for a first approach, personally," Len contributed. As the coin passed between gloved hands, the other medics agreed.

"Very well. If you will pardon me lack of attention, I shall start creating them now."

The others nodded and started quietly discussing the coins as she worked. A stiff breeze started blowing towards her as coin after coin appeared in her hands. As each glittering disk appeared, she concentrated on it, imbuing them with power, sensitive perceptions, and appropriate manipulative effects.

After forty five minutes of crafting the coins, her phone buzzed. Checking the message, she nodded and briefly replied before returning to work. Another hour later, Tauriz was done, leaving four stacks of fifteen coins on the table and a single stack of thirty coins. Another minute of her concentration produced two white ceramic devices large enough to cover one of the coins. "And there we go."

Picking up one coin and one of the white devices, she slotted the coin home. The white device glowed a bright green. "The color will shift through yellow at a half charge and red at a tenth of a charge. If the white device does not light at all, the coin you slotted is unpowered."

"Unfortunately, I'm red-green color blind," Len said.

"I see," Tauriz replied. "One second, then." Picking up the two white devices, she concentrated for a couple moments.

"Alright, then. The device will still shift from green through yellow to red, but as the power level drops the amount of the device that glows will also be reduced." She concentrated for a moment, creating an unmarked coin in her hand. "This coin is made with about a quarter of the power in each of the others," she told the medics. Slotting it into the device caused one corner of the square device to glow orange. "Will that help?" she asked Len.

"Very much so -- thank you for that."

"I appreciate the feedback, I had not considered the problem. I will note that the glow will be as visible as any light of its intensity. Trying to use it subtly in a dim or dark setting may be difficult." As she spoke, she caused the test coin to dissipate back into the air as carbon dioxide. Ousha was quite right, she noted -- human science greatly reduced the samum required for a task, if properly used.

"For now, these are significant improvements to our usual methods of healing," Tomaz chipped in. "I assume you will be willing to work with us to improve them over time?"

"Of course, I shall be glad to do so."

"Then I believe these should be quite wonderful for now. Thank you, we appreciate your consideration."

"Tomaz, it is simple sense. If we wish to rely on your assistance, we shall need you to be as functional as possible. Once we have more time, we can probably provide greater assistance to you, but I am glad this will be a useful start at the least."

"Now if you will excuse me, I will need to address the next issue. One final note -- if one or more coins go missing, or the reader device, please let Ray or I know. We should be able to remotely destroy the missing ones if needed."

"Thanks again, Tauriz. We'll keep close count of these ones, and once all this immediate craziness is over we'll do the same for any others you create for us."

Smiling and nodding, Tauriz stood and left the room, working through the construction back to the elevator, heading up to Jessica's office.