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Cleansing Gel and other purification agents

Various forms of smart matter, especially utility fluid, used for cleansing surfaces and especially for maintaining biont hygiene

Cleansing Gel
Image from Steve Bowers
Two variants of cleansing gel 'blob'; on the left, a wash-and-decontamination gel, often used by new arrivals onto a habitat or spacecraft; on the right, a dust-removal gel, routinely employed on dry, dusty moons and planets where electrostatic attraction causes small dust particles to adhere to a spacesuit's outer covering.
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Many different technologies for automatic cleansing and purification are available in the Current Era; one of the most versatile is Cleansing Gel, a specialised form of utility fluid which can be deployed to remove dirt, detritus, organic waste and other biohazards from surfaces. Most forms of cleansing gel can be used safely on modosophont biont bodies, so long as the autonomous systems that control the gel are familiar with the characteristics and requirements of the biont concerned. The most advanced forms of cleansing gel will check the accessible tissues of the biont for pathogens; many gels include various levels of blue-goo capability, and are capable of applying medical treatment.

'Blobs'

In some cases, the cleansing gel is configured as a gelbot, which can envelop the subject concerned in an active 'blob' of cleansing material which slowly moves over the body, extracting dirt and detritus as it travels; sometimes the 'blob' will encompass the whole body of the sophont, and may even be large enough to engulf several sophonts at once. Like all utility fluids, the gel allows to biont to breathe normally via transported oxygen, even if it enters the respiratory system. (Of course, not all sophonts in the Terragen Sphere use oxygen, so specialised gels may be required in some cases). The extracted detritus can be removed and utilised in a bioforge if suitable. In most cases the 'blob' can soak through the fabric of the clothing the sophont may be wearing, or seep beneath them; the wearer generally feels nothing, and the gel is not wet to the touch and maintains a suitable temperature equivalent to the ambient air.

Cleansing gels are particularly useful for removing dust, minerals, frost and potentially harmful volatiles from the outer surface of a spacesuit. In the Current Era most spacesuits are cleaned on a routine basis whenever the wearer enters an airlock or airwall; in many cases the suit itself exudes the gel when required and if necessary stores the waste for later use or analysis.

Vecs and other mechanical constructs have their own range of specialised cleaning gels, designed to remove dust, lubricants and volatiles which might promote rust; many vec morphotypes use a wide range of organic materials in their construction, so the actual composition of the cleansing gel may be quite similar to that used by bionts. Many vecs incorporate an active layer of self-cleaning smart matter on or near their outer shell, which can be deployed as necessary.

If the controlling systems of a cleansing gel are not acquainted with the characteristics of an unknown sophont, damage to the external or internal tissues may inadvertently occur. For this reason most cleansing gels are failsafe and decline to function if there is any possibility of damage to the subject. However, specialised decontamination gels are able to make strategic decisions about the safety security of a new arrival, and scanning gels of this kind are often deployed when a newcomer of unknown type applies for entry into a habitat, megastructure, spacecraft or world. If any biological or infotech threats are detected the subject can be rapidly quarantined.

Other cleansing agents

Specialised small-scale cleansers may be applied by the used; active gum, for example, is a mouth-cleaning gel that cleans the teeth and buccal cavity of a biont, then can be discarded hygienically or swallowed. Many kinds of clothing worn in the Current Era are self-cleaning and often contain a thin layer of cleaning gel to keep the wearer's clothes and body clean. In particular most Envirosuits have an internal layer of gel which cushions the wearer against environmental risk, while removing sweat and waste products of all kinds, which can be processed for reuse if suitable. Microgravity toilets usually incorporate various kinds of autonomous, biosafe cleansing gel at all stages of the operation.

Layers of cleansing gel, and other kinds of smart matter are used to maintain the cleanliness of a wide range of surfaces used in construction and infrastructure. In many locations, especially in the Zoeific Biopolity, biotech cleansing gels consisting mostly or completely of geneered microorganisms are favoured; these biogels are self-replicating and use part of the collected waste in their metabolism, while storing the rest for processing elsewhere.
Self-cleaning biotech walls and floors, especially living carpets, are also capable of absorbing and sorting any waste material.

One of the most drastic forms of cleansing is that offered by the transapientech system commonly known as the Laundry. This system can disassemble a sophont or almost any other object or system, analyse it then put it back together, often in a much better state than it was before. However, many citizens of the Terragen Sphere have understandable reservations about this process.

However not all sophonts value cleanliness in the same way; some clades and morphotypes regard a certain amount of dirt as desirable, or honourable, or simply ignore the concept of dirtiness altogether. For instance the clade known as Krekvecs regard dirt as a badge of office, and only rarely submit to cleansing and only if their coat of detritus threatens to lead to dysfunction.

Indeed, among biont clades there are many different standards of cleanliness - some provolve clades utilise body odours and pheromones to communicate a wide range of vital information; instead of cleansing agents these orders may even be voluntarily enhanced.
Even among human-derived clades there are many different standards of cleanliness, with some cultures encouraging a range of different natural odours.

Purifications agents of many kinds also have a role in protecting against pathogens, both biological infections and data-based threats and malware; see the article on Hygiene here.
 
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Development Notes
Text by Steve Bowers
Extra material by Starscapion, Todd Drashner
Initially published on 23 June 2026.

 
Additional Information
CC Models used; A suit which we can for heat and pressure proof by kulinacharya123
Denim And Resolve by Restore50
 
 
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