Cryocopter/Profile

History
When a radical Dutch energy-absorption system was coupled with a British helicopter chassis, the one-of-a-kind cryocopter was born. The cryocopter was so one-of-a-kind, in fact, that it recently went into mass production. Though classified as a support aircraft, unsuited for conventional anti-surface combat and lacking in any weapons in the traditional sense, it is nonetheless gaining remarkable popularity among Allied forces for its ability to neutralize enemy targets in a relatively civil, if unorthodox, way.



The cryocopter is stable and dependable as helicopters go. An ancillary benefit of its sophisticated on-board systems is a surprisingly strong fuselage, proven to be able to withstand direct fire. Of course, their durability is hardly what makes them so impressive. That credit goes primarily to the aircraft's custom cryobeam, used to draw out all heat in an area while spraying it with pure water and a burst of liquid helium, causing a flash-freeze that can encase an entire enemy tank in a block of solid ice.

Frozen targets are effectively thrust into a state of suspended animation. The effects of the freezing gradually wear off and the target snaps out of the effect all at once, with no recollection of the passage of time, as though waking from slumber. In fact, a majority of test subjects reported feeling unusually relaxed after this fugue state. Although research findings concerning the long-term effects of the freezing are inconclusive as of yet, the cryobeam has provisionally been deemed "perfectly safe" by manufacturer FutureTech Corporation. However, the Amsterdam-based defense research firm has disclosed that frozen targets do tend to become extremely brittle, such that a basic concussive impact could cause them irreparable harm. One test subject unfortunately was shattered to pieces under a routine inspection, calling FutureTech's safety claims to draw some flak. Allied military command took an interest in licensing the cryocopter at around the same time.



As if the cryobeam is not remarkable enough, stranger still is the cryocopter's strong homogenous residual-interactive neutron kinetic (or "S.H.R.I.N.K.") beam. This device safely and temporarily compresses molecular bonds in an object, in essence causing a reduction in physical size despite a conservation of mass. The long-term effects of exposure to this device are still unknown, and until they are well-understood, the Allies are treating it as a weapon. Consequently, more and more cryocopters are beginning to appear among Allied air forces, though Allied command assures the military scientists running the field diagnostics that they are unlikely to come to harm and would never be used in frontline engagements against the Soviets.

Notes From the Field
Battlefield reconnaissance has revealed at least these facts about the Cryocopter:

• Cold storage -- Cryocopters can train their cryobeams on any surface target, causing it to gradually slow and become frozen. Multiple cryobeams brought to bear on an individual target cause the frozen state to set in more quickly. Frozen targets are completely disabled and extremely vulnerable to direct attack.

• S.H.R.I.N.K. them down -- The effects of the crycocopter's S.H.R.I.N.K. beam are most unusual. Targets become unusually small, and proportionally weaker. Yet their energy is conserved in such a way that they seem to increase in mobility during this state, rather than slow as might be expected.

• Just scientists -- The cryocopter has no conventional weapons and cannot directly harm any target on its own. As a result, the Allies have publicly urged the Soviet war council to treat cryocopters as non-combatants, though the Soviet Union has refused to comply with this request.

• Freezing facilities -- Even a war factory could eventually be frozen by a cryocopter. Frozen structures are completely disabled, and again, become extremely brittle such that even a single shotgun blast could potentially cause catastrophic harm to structural integrity.