Cryogenic Stasis

Cryogenic Stasis is a means of preserving organic beings by subjecting them to freezing temperatures in order to slow their vital functions. This technology has applications in keeping subjects alive for a very long time, such as long voyages, extended hibernation, or incarceration.

Overview

See also: Codex (Mass Effect: Andromeda)/Technology#Cryogenic Stasis

When a living body is exposed to low temperatures, ice crystals form which can damage its cells. Improper freezing of a subject will result in massive trauma and death. However, the application of mass effect stasis fields on and around the subject mitigates the formation of these crystals and suspends cell replication. Following revival protocols, the subject wakes up in more or less the same state regardless of the passage of time.

Subjects are usually placed in cryostasis via specially-designed cryopods. Specific procedures must be followed carefully when entering and exiting cryostasis in order to avoid damaging or killing the occupant.

No special garb is required for the procedure. The stasis works on the subject as-is: They can be preserved in uniform, full armor, or even inside enviro-suits and come out battle-ready at the other end. The subject is also unconscious for the duration. Upon revival, the subject may feel some mania or disorientation, sometimes due to stimulants pumped into their systems as part of the revival protocol, although this will soon pass once they get their bearings.

The technology can be scaled to above―or below―human-size norms. Elcor cryopods are so large they have also been termed cryo-garages. On the other end, fish can also be subjected to cryostasis, with power requirements costing less than 25% of the average.

Usage

The Protheans had the technology to place themselves in suspended animation. Their cryogenic tech proved to be highly durable, capable of operating for tens of thousands of years, but was dependent on a constant power supply. Without a power source, subjects in Prothean cryopods simply died, with no measures in place to revive them.

On Ilos, the VI Vigil was forced to allocate power to the most important Prothean scientists such that when the Reaper threat has finally passed all other Protheans in their hibernation complex died from a lack of power. The same thing happened to a bunker on Eden Prime, where hundreds of pods were sacrificed over time by its VI Victory in a last-ditch effort to preserve the commander of the facility. The Eden Prime facility had a contingency for automated revival, but the function was rendered inoperable during a Reaper attack.

Prothean cryopods relied on a command signal to start/end stasis mode. This signal must first be obtained and used before physically opening a pod. In 2186, the Prothean commander of the Eden Prime facility may be revived in this manner.

In modern times, galactic society has reinvented the tech for cryogenic stasis. An alternate means of cryostasis was used by the Manswell Expedition in 2075 to survive the long sublight flight from Earth to Alpha Centauri, which didn't involve mass effect technology as humans haven't discovered the requisite principles yet until 2148. The rachni also used cryogenic suspension to preserve their eggs, resulting in the survival of the last known Rachni Queen, although it is undetermined if it involved mass effect physics or other means. Decades after the Manswell Expedition and well after humanity's discovery of mass effect physics, the Purgatory prison subjected Jack to cryogenic imprisonment for her own safety as well as the other inmates', restraining her in a large cell that tunnels and locks to the ground.

The Andromeda Initiative employs extensive use of cryogenic tech as it is crucial to their plans in settling the Andromeda galaxy. All colonists―even long-lived ones like asari and krogan―cross the intergalactic void asleep in their cryopods via Cryo Bays on the Initiative's arks. During the Hyperion's arrival in Andromeda, however, a collision with an energy cloud disrupts the revival procedure on one of the Ryder twins' cryopods. One twin goes on to become Pathfinder while the other remains in an induced coma to allow themselves time to naturally come out of it.

One Initiative ark, the Keelah Si'yah, relies on a rotating system of multispecies Sleepwalker maintenance teams periodically going in and out of cryostasis to check on ship systems during its journey to Andromeda. However, the system is compromised by a software worm and a biological plague: the software worm was incorrectly programmed to raise cryo temperatures to levels that allowed viral replication, while the biological plague was designed to be lethal to specific races aside from its drell carriers. Decades of slow evolution and cross-contamination between Sleepwalkers eventually spread the contagion to all races in the ship, which had mutated to become lethal to everyone, culminating in a crisis that results in hundreds of casualties before being resolved.

Alec Ryder's wife, Ellen Ryder, developed an incurable condition known as AEND. Hoping that discoveries in the Heleus Cluster would lead to a cure, Alec put Ellen to stasis and placed her aboard Hyperion under a false name, keeping her continued existence a secret even from their own children.

One notable drawback of prolonged periods in cryogenic stasis is the chance for neural decay. A significant number of screened Initiative applicants ended up becoming violent and unstable after 600 years of stasis, coupled with the external pressures of their rocky arrival. The Pathfinder may scan a few scavengers on Elaaden on behalf of Dr. Lexi T'Perro, and later the doctor wants Ryder to test a serum on a scavenger to see if it staves off the effects.

The data reveals that the scavengers' neurons were firing at an abnormal rate, and Dr. T'Perro theorizes that some people are more susceptible to complications that can happen during the cryo process. Their neural paths were altered in cryosleep.