#shell person

[thriftstoreoddities]

Oddities Note: My mom had a shell band of these guys. lol. Look at their tiny feet!

[daeien]

Book of the Week

The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey

Helva was born severely deformed, but in the future on Central Worlds, this was not necessarily a death sentence. Technology had advanced to the point that, if the brain inside the poor, weak body was healthy, an alternative existence was possible. Encapsulated in a metal shell, the resulting "shell person" would be paired with the hardware and mechanisms deemed most appropriate for their abilities and personalities. After extensive testing and training, Helva was united with the most technologically advanced hardware available — a scout ship. Helva was not just the pilot or the computer system; she literally was the ship. But, it was conventional, and necessary, to pair these so-called "brains" with a mobile, human partner, known as a "brawn."

Depending on the pairing, the brain/brawn relationship could be as close as a marriage, or as sterile as a business relationship. Considering the longevity of the brains (several centuries was not unusual), they were sure to have more than one partner during their lifetime. The Ship Who Sang is a series of loosely linked vignettes, each of which could stand alone as a short story. The unifying theme is Helva’s ongoing search for the ideal brawn. As the novel progresses, the reader can see Helva’s character growing and maturing as she deals with a variety of challenging and stressful circumstances.

Book One of the Brainship series