Brain

A 'brain', in the lingo of the Central Worlds, sometimes called a shellperson or shell-person, is a person who is unable to survive outside the womb or whose body is incapable of movement and sensation, but whose brain is normal or 'gifted'; they are then inserted into metal 'shells' with limited life-support capabilities.

Diagnosis
There are several ways babies or children are identified as being candidates for the brain program. Helva was born with birth complications but passed a pre-natal electro-encephalogram test to determine healthy brain activity.

Risks of encapsulation
One out of four babies died in Helva's intake. There is a pituitary treatment used to keep the person small enough to fit in the shell, to avoid repeated and dangerous transfers between shells.

The shell
has wheels, mechanical actuators and tools, assisted sight, an electronically generated voice, made of titanium

Education
The governments of the Central Worlds established Laboratory Schools to house, educate, and 'condition' shell-people from implantation to their first assignments.

Young shell-people played games such as Stall and Power-Seek; often these games were further lessons on fine motor control and proprioception.

Lessons include, but are not limited to:


 * trajectory
 * propulsion techniques
 * computation
 * logistics
 * mental hygiene
 * basic alien psychology
 * philology
 * space history
 * law
 * traffic
 * codes
 * fine arts (elective)
 * musical appreciation

Shellpeople are encouraged to develop a hobby so long as they maintain proficiency in their technical work.

Helva graduated on her 16th birthday

Installation
The shellperson is installed into their ship or station after graduation from Lab Schools. In many cases they are first anesthetized and the connections made in that state to avoid the shellperson experiencing sensory deprivation.

Shell-persons are responsible for their entire medical debt, from birth to installation, and how they repay that debt is up to them. Those who opt for brainship installation incur extra debt for the price of the ship and any optional extras that they desire, such as Singularity Drives. Some brainships choose to go rogue after extreme events, such as loss of their brawn, to avoid Central and their debts. These rogues are not spoken of in the Central Worlds.

Shells can live to extreme old age. Helva notes that she met a shellperson who was 322 years old.