Membrane (parasite)
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The membrane is the gel coating that covers the bodies of most parasite organisms. It is a non-Newtonian material: under low force it behaves as a liquid, and under sudden high force it becomes rigid almost instantly, spreading the force of the impact across the surface. Conventional bullets and shrapnel are largely ineffective against fully membraned organisms. Heat does not trigger the hardening, which is the basis of RTG ammunition.
Properties
The membrane is a dense suspension of microscopic silica spheres in a syrup of sugars and glycerol-like alcohols. Spheres and syrup have the same refractive index, and the gel is transparent. At rest it is a soft, wet layer a few millimetres to several centimetres thick, depending on the organism. Under slow pressure it deforms and flows. Under an impact such as a bullet strike, it hardens across a wide area within microseconds and relaxes again within a second, spreading the energy of the round over much of the body. Repeated impacts on the same spot are resisted in the same way.
Heat passes into the membrane without causing it to harden. The spheres lock together only through friction, supplied by a protein coat on their surfaces, and heat melts the coat into a slippery film; a membrane heated at the moment of impact does not harden at all. Sustained heat breaks it down, and fire defeats it on every organism that carries it. Hydrogen fluoride, present in the smoke of burning Beckons, dissolves the silica spheres and weakens the gel of any membraned organism near the fire.
Function
Besides protection, the membrane seals wounds: where the body is punctured, the gel flows into the opening and sets, closing it in the manner of a blood clot. In Beckons, whose trunks are divided into sealed gas cells, a breach deflates only the cells it opens before the gel closes over it.
Variation
Membrane thickness varies with the organism. Small parasites such as the Rupter have a thin coating and can be killed with small arms; larger organisms such as the Mangler are fully coated. Among the regional genomes, Boreic organisms in Siberia have a denser membrane than others, and organisms of the 3rd Vagrant's Dyadic genome carry a modified membrane. In the Manducater, the membrane bends light around the body, making the animal nearly invisible; the effect fails under fire, when the membrane begins to break down.
Military significance
Conventional infantry weapons are effective against small parasites such as the Rupter, and lost most of their effectiveness against the larger, fully membraned organisms that appeared from 2022, beginning with the Mangler. A membraned organism can still be killed with small arms, but only with far more hits than a soldier can usually deliver before it reaches them.
H&A developed RTG ammunition against the membrane from 2022. Its Hyperbiology and Thermonuclear divisions have disputed the credit for the round since that year. Fire remains in wide use against stationary organisms, such as Beckons, that cannot escape a sustained burn, and magnesium incendiaries are used against Beckons from inside the trunk.
Synthetic gels of the same composition, silica spheres in a polyol syrup, have been tested by H&A as a filler for body armour since 2023. They stiffen under impact as the natural gel does.
History
The gel was first described from the trunks of Primitive Beckons in 2020. H&A Hyperbiology identified its composition in 2021 and the role of the sphere coating in 2022.