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An Introduction to Dah'Screwe Science and Technology

As every alien race was at one time or another, isolated from influences from other races, all have developed according to their own unique paths. And so have the Dah'Screwe. The Dah'Screwe are not very secretive about their technologies, so, much is known. In this section, we hope to be able to present a basic understanding on their current state of their technology.

The first thing noticeable about Dah'Screwe technology is that there are two main streams. The extreme weather conditions forced scientists and engineers to design and build constructions that were able to withstand the hard winds. Therefore, all buildings look solid and massive, almost like bomb-shelters. Yet still, the latest innovations allow buildings to be more and more pleasing to the senses than they used to be. This is mainly because of the imports of construction goods from other worlds.

The second thing is that they have used their technologies mainly for improving life. That may seem natural. However, many races at one time or another had conflicts and developed weaponry for protection or offensive. The Dah'Screwe have always worked together to fight the elements and that is one of the most basic foundations of their society, as can be witnessed by looking at the Wetj'Ah, family groups working together to reach a predefined goal. So, conflict was not a primary drive to develop new technologies. As a result, technology reflects this in the way machines are built and used. Machines are made to be used by one individual but are always operatable by more by adding interfaces or consoles and machines and they that link them together, with all the advantages of that.

Examples of Technology

Let us give some examples of typical Dah'Screwe technology. This will enhance the readers' idea of it and perhaps through it, a better appreciation of the race itself.

The Dah'Screwe found an interesting way of storing information. It is a variety on the use of crystals for data storage by manipulating its molecular structure. A typical Data Storage Unit, or 'DSU', consists of a crystal cylinder on both ends closed. The cylinder is made of a rock hard crystal that has been molten and shaped into the cylinder to contain the liquid inside; this liquid is used to store data. The liquid is made of a solid crystalline element found on Dah'Scrawa and in itself is not very special. It is found in large quantities but has two special characteristics: it liquefies in a vacuum and it solidifies when connected to a low electrical current. In nature, this element can be formed as quickly as salt pillars in drying sea. But it deteriorates as fast. In a vacuum however, the material is much more stable. Data is stored by applying a negative charge from inside the cylinder. This is achieved by a crystal rod in the center of the cylinder containing billions of nodes along its length which send the charges at the exact desired height along the length of the cylinder. The current acts as a carrier for electrical data pulses. These pulses form the crystalline liquid into a molecular unique solid shape. When data has been stored, the current is interrupted and at that moment the liquid becomes solid. Data can be removed by applying a positive charge. The solid material liquefies. Data is read by using a resonance at the appropriate node. The solid crystal starts to resonate thereby revealing its molecular shape to the node, that sends this information to the user through an interface that reads the resonance (or the shape of the crystal) and translates it for the user in an understandable format.

The cylinders are rock hard and will not damage easily. Still, they are not used widely by other alien races as the units are quite large. Certainly larger than e.g. Earth's data storage devices. DSU's come in different sizes, ranging from small tubes with a diameter of one standard Earth centimeter and a length of 5 centimeters to huge industrial or scientific units as large as 45 centimeters in diameter with a length of 100 centimeters.

Early in Dah'Screwe history, a central heating system for buildings was invented. During winters long ago, houses would be warmed to a more comfortable level. This lead to the invention of another liquid system. Though its primary functions were to heat the building, the liquid used could as well be used for cooling.

The basics are again fairly simple. At first it was not really understood why the liquid behaved like it did, But it worked and that was enough for the common individual. Only when molecular science developed to a certain level was it discovered how the liquid works. It is a bi-directional fluid called 'Mershanta'. (Turning Breeze) The first thing one sees when looking at a drop is that it looks like a drop of mercury and it behaves similarly. The fluid is found under water near geysers. Under the pressure of water and heat from the geysers, a number of chemicals and elements including various metals mix together to form the fluid. The fluid breaks down under low pressures but it is used in high pressure conduits, running through rooms in buildings where necessary. On both ends of the conduits we find pressure kettles. Increasing pressure at one side results in the liquid warming up and applying pressure on the other side results in the liquid cooling down. The liquid can heat up to about three times the pressure it endures in its natural state and that is about 300 degrees centigrade using Earth standards. It can cool down to about -20 degrees centigrade. Pressure valves in each room allow separate rooms to be either heated or cooled.

Today, more and more outworldish machines are used, sometimes this raises questions about whether or not it is desirable to let go of traditional Dah'Screwe systems.

The Dah'Screwe are a furry race and that means they have more trouble cleaning their bodies. It took quite some time in their history before they developed decent hygiene facilities.

A few hundred Dah'Scrawa years ago, a brilliant musician entertained the idea to use the wind to blow away dirt from their bodies. The trick was to channel the winds through caves or self-made narrows to focus the wind into a draft that whirled through their fur. But these circumstances were quite rare. And still an individual would not be totally clean of mud and more important, micro organisms.

About 34 moons later, the musician, now and old man, was singing before a small crowd near his village when an idea hit him. Legend says he was performing a song about a 'Dirty Old Man'. He stopped singing immediately, ran out the cave in the midst of a small storm to return a year later with a prototype he had built himself. The machine was dragged by 10 individuals and its weight was 6000 standard earth kilogrammes. From then on, many scientist built on the idea and the musician died a clean and happy Dah'Screwe. A statue of him can be found near hotsprings and public bathing facilities.

Today's Sonic Showers, unlike the huge prototype that used leather sacks to blow air through pipes to create a resonance which was aimed at the body to 'shake' dirt off, use ultra high frequencies in harmonic and disharmonic waves. This will effectively remove extremely small particles and untangle hair (when using a comb or brush). It will also kill most micro organisms.

There is an innovative system in use on Dah' Scrawa for displaying information on a computer screen. While other races have light emitting screens, the Dah'Screwe approached the problem from the exact opposite side. Their screens do not emit energy. They use energy from an outside source to show information. This source is usually normal sunlight or an artificial lighting source. Screens will work under all types of energy as long as the appropriate corresponding module is available to the screen. These modules act as translators.

The screen is made of carbon polymer and as black as the night. When energy hits the screen, parts will light up. These parts are the information the computer puts on screen. The information is transferred to a screen by charging the material with a low electrical current. This allows the material to be sensitive to energy falling on the screen. Then, an electrical modular field which holds the information is laid over the carbon polymer. When energy falls on the screen, the places in the field light up. The fields contain colour information; colours are displayed as the carbon polymer reacts differently to the combination of the data-field and its molecular structure.

But there is more to the system. The latest innovations include multiple data-fields, effectively allowing many simultaneous layers of information. Technologies invented by other races usually have the processing unit send new information to a screen. Combine multiple data-fields with the ability to manipulate the electrical base charge, so that it becomes possible to shut down parts of the screen, and you have a versatile displaying device. Therefore, computer display devices are an integral part of a computer.

The newest theories involve extremely thin layers of carbon polymers, held in isolated magnetic fields. One can see through these layers, of which there are millions. An image can be shown three-dimensionally by having each data field layer display a slice of the image.

Innovation

The Dah'Screwe have an institution dedicated to innovation. This institute acts as a gathering point for all new ideas. It is controlled by a number of the smaller Wetj'Ah. A few decades (periods of 10 year) ago, a well-known Metj'Am and a Ha'Wetj'Ah or researcher as well, decided to have a more coordinated approach towards science. So he founded the 'Shila Aswerto', or 'Innovation Institute. At first it was some sort of library for ideas and theories. Later, when larger family groups saw the idea was sound, they grew into what the institute is today. It supports innovators by giving them funds. For a large part their daily business involves assisting human researchers who live on the planet. It makes information available to alien races as it is usually difficult for another culture to seek out the information they need.

The Future of Dah'Screwe Science

Examining Dah'Screwe history reveals a slow but steady scientific progress. Historians theorise that if there would have been conflicts in the past, their progress would have been faster and they might have had the opportunity to spread out across a larger section of space. However, their homeworlds' weather situation has put its stamp on Dah'Screwe psychology. Always fighting difficult circumstances and adapting to them, working around them or in other words, existing in them has chained their thinking patterns and it inhibits breaking free outward to space. They certainly have the technology! But it will take them some time to realise they no longer have to fear the winds.

The future shines bright for the Dah'Screwe despite the negative pattern of thinking. Colonising and Terra-forming other bodies in their system has taught them a great deal. New ideas and theories develop fast, under guidance of the Shila Aswerto and from the impact alien technology has on their culture. The Dah'Screwe are an intelligent race and it may be that they find themselves among the most influential of races one day.