Chapter 14

It's hard to breathe in a vacuum. They were unconscious before either could operate a watch.

While they were out ... that sounds like a post it note stuck on a computer screen in the bosses office while he was taking a long lunch...

While they were out, the disk analyzed the outside air, the new inside vacuum, the necessity for the girls to breathe. Unconscious, breathing is controlled by specialized centers in the brainstem, which automatically regulate the rate and depth of breathing depending on the body's needs at any time.

It is not possible for a healthy person to voluntarily stop breathing indefinitely. If one does not inhale, the level of carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, and one experiences overwhelming air hunger. This irrepressible reflex is not surprising given that without breathing, the body's internal oxygen levels drop dangerously low within minutes, leading to permanent brain damage followed eventually by death.

However, there have been instances where people have survived for as long as two hours without air; this is only possible when submerged in cold water, as this triggers the mammalian diving reflex as well as putting the subject into a state of suspended animation. (Hacked from Wiki to suit the premise)

In milliseconds the ship recognized the brain-state of the new occupants, the need for alterations to the brain-state to communicate in a manner most convenient to the disk. Since it's impossible to breathe in the vacuum extant in the ship ... the ship altered it's condition to suit the new occupants.

While they were out, though, the ship made the necessary 'adjustments' to the brain-state to accommodate the needs of the ship. Amazed that so little of the brain was used and so much inactive space was present the ship invaded and performed ... microsurgery ... but much more that that ... it was mental reshaping of neural pathways and blood flow to increase argon, ozone and helium to the brain. This made alterations to the lungs an absolute.

If an entity can chuckle ... the ship chuckled when it recognized the over abundance of 03 in the atmosphere Alterations both cerebral and pneumatic completed, tested and approved, the girls were revived, revitalized ... unspoken to.

The unspoken to resulted in utmost freak!

No lips were moved. No tympanic membrane was vibrated. No malleus, incus or stapes moved. No sound waves transmitted to the inner ear through the oval window. The round window, another flexible membrane, allows for the smooth displacement of the inner ear fluid caused by the entering sound waves. Most importantly, the brainstem was NOT involved. They felt the announcement as variegating pressures to the cognitive areas of the brain ... stereo in color if you will.