Diaphragm



A diaphragm is a simple organic door which may be opened or closed. It is an airtight membrane, but does not allow passage between a pressurized area and a less pressurized area without affecting the pressure on the other side of the diaphragm the way an iris (organic airlock) does.

Due to the unique physiology of organic ship tissue, when a player character or clone uses a torch to remove a block of flesh from a flesh wall with both sides in a pressurized environment, a diaphragm grows automatically to fill the gap. The flesh must be supplied with oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood supplied by an artery network linking a heart, lungs, and stomach.

An iris will not form, however, when a gap in a flesh wall is created by an excessively energetic force such as a laser beam or explosion. The irregularly damaged stem cells in the flesh lining a blast hole lack the genetic coherence to produce a complex structure such as a diaphragm; instead, a blast hole will merely heal over with more flesh. It is thought that this failsafe evolved to prevent mutation that could threaten a ship's health.

Requires: Oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood