"Of course, we distribute our basic immortality systems the same way. I have a couple samples with me." She pulls out a few crystalline objects and sets them on the table. "There are a lot of names for these though I just call them resonators. They need external power to work though they can get that power in any number of ways. They'll consume electro-magnetic flux, or use up the energy in a heat or charge differential. They can also function on something a bit like the piezoelectric effect converting vibrations in their own medium into energy to power their operation."

"That's a very broad range of energy sources. Is there a principle that ties them together?"

"I'm not an expert but my understanding is that those are the forms of energy magic has been taught to absorb."

"Is magic sapient?"

"That's one of the great mysteries we don't really know the answer to. The source of our magic certainly cares about people's personalities but none of our attempts to communicate with it have succeeded. My understanding is that mages can teach magic how to do things but I don't really know the details."

"I'd be very interested to hear more about that process and your magic in general.

The captain clears her throat. "As fascinating as this conversation is, I'd like to move onto the details of this immortality system."

"Yes Captain."

"Certainly. There are two real parts to our immortality system. The first are devices like this," she indicates a hemispheric crystalline device. "It's a sensor system that records enough information about a person's mind and body to allow them to be reembodied should their current body die. As I expect you gathered, it can only restore memories that it records. The second major piece is a construction device. It creates new bodies to specification. We've successfully made it work for five different species though it does require a lot of research and analysis to add the ability to build each new species' biology."

This time it's the Vulcan doctor who speaks. "Do you reconstruct their body exactly as it was? Or are you changing it somehow?"

"My understanding is that it stores a simplified model of an individual which is then combined with the closest applicable template for their species to produce a body which is very similar to their original body on a cosmetic and structural level while being less so at a cellular level, on average someone's backup will take up about ten petabytes of data, most of that is used to ensure that hormonal and neurological characteristics match. I've worn a few biological bodies in my life and my first time switching it took me a couple days to get used to it. It takes longer to get used to wearing non-biological bodies depending on how much is manually controlled. It also takes medical research to ensure non-biological bodies adequately reflect the sensoria and neural characteristics of a new species."

"Getting used to new bodies with very different motor systems is a pain."

"Oh, we have software interlayers to manage the details when you're not able to attend to them and that helps a lot as long as you're shaped about the same. I hear it's a lot harder for people who switch into more exotic shapes."

"It doesn't seem like that should be enough information."

"I've been through it several times and I don't think I've changed much as a result, though as I shared with Andromeda I've also undergone intentional mind-alteration to make me better suited for my work."

The captain jolts in her seat and looks very intently at Siobhán. "What sort of mind-alteration?"

"Mostly changes to how I form memories, I'm less susceptible to trauma and more able to recall details of my experiences. I also have improved attentional capacity and adaptability as it applies to new bodies than baseline humans."

"You can't possibly know all the side effects of that." The captain states with certainty.

"Of course we can't. I didn't claim that we could. There are long term studies attempting to map the full side effects though and after over twenty years we've only found modest effects, mostly it makes us have a somewhat narrower emotional range. People who get the modifications today are informed ahead of time."

"That seems a logical tradeoff," agrees Doctor Fook. "Many among my people would likely seek out such changes for those effects."

"I take it your people value control over their emotions then?"

"Vulcans in general experience much more intense emotion than humans and we compensate with meditation and other mental exercises that allow us to set our emotions aside. To those unfamiliar with us we often present as emotionless."

"You do have quite the poker face."

"Does your immortality have any side effects like that?"

"The studies on that have much larger sample sizes. It seems that it makes some people more risk averse while it makes others more risk tolerant. Early non-biological bodies also failed to correctly model hormonal systems but we've since corrected that. On the whole, there aren't any known side effects that aren't attributable to the change in circumstances."

"Would we be able to access these studies?" asks the doctor. He also gives a short look with a raised eyebrow at the captain for her rather confrontational tone.

"Of course, people are entitled to see the research behind any medical procedure that they're considering. We do our best to provide summaries for those individuals without medical training but for those with expertise we go as far as we can without compromising individual's medical privacy."