Item from The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
Acceleration drug cocktail that keeps humans conscious under high-G burns. Auto-injected from crash couches during maneuvers. The difference between surviving a hard burn and stroking out at fifteen Gs. Side effects include bruising, petechiae, and death.
The juice is what makes high-G travel survivable. When a ship accelerates at ten, fifteen, twenty Gs, the human body wants to die — blood pools, vision tunnels, capillaries burst, and consciousness fades. The juice fights this, constricting blood vessels, forcing the heart to keep pumping, and keeping the brain oxygenated through forces that would otherwise kill. It is not safe. Every high-G burn is a calculated risk — the juice reduces lethality but doesn't eliminate it. Dosage is critical: too little and you black out, too much and your heart explodes. Old injuries, weak blood vessels, or simple bad luck can turn a routine burn into a death sentence. The juice is one of those technologies that highlights the fundamental hostility of space to human biology.
A cocktail of vasoconstrictors, stimulants, and anti-coagulants delivered through auto-injectors built into crash couch armrests. The injection sites leave characteristic bruising — tiny constellations of petechiae that mark anyone who has been through a hard burn. The drug itself is a clear liquid in disposable cartridges, unremarkable until it hits your bloodstream and your heart rate doubles.
Also known as: The Juice, Juice, Acceleration Drug, High-G Cocktail