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Externally, the bullet-shaped spacecraft is armored in starplate grade B of a gunmetal color. Twin mounted swivel laser cannons and fusion torpedo ports are visible. At the rear is the engine exhaust grid. Sensor cells dot the entire exterior. A combination cargo/docking bay door, two docking hatches and four airlocks complete the appearance.
(affectionately known as the 'Computer room' for much the same reason the bridge is called the bridge)
This is the primary nerve centre for the ship data systems, the main point for system upgrades, reconfiguration, manipulation of the components below the user level. It has a comfortable chair facing the main screen array, which consists of six datascreens capable of displaying or 3-d projecting a number of simultaneous feeds from a variety of datasources. below these is an input display panel (analogous to a modern keyboard) with a number of adjustable input receptacle plugs and recievers. One clever device is the optical manipulation tracker, which if activated follows the movements of the hand of the activator, another means of interface and control enabling the hand to 'manipulate' objects in or onscreen remotely.
Tucked away behind a sealed, secure area in here is one of the dispersed 'tell me three times' crystalline memory arrays, operating in trandem with the other two in other ship locations. There are two backup datacores, plus replacement parts, also in other locations. The 'off' switch, the emergency shutdown datacard known as the 'plug', is also in the secure area.
The user level access nodes, of which there is one in each cabin and corridor, allow easy access to data with none of the risks of access to the sensitive stuff. These consist of a voice-activated projector screen inset into the walls with an optical manipulation tracker available, no input display panel beyond that which can be manipulated onscreen.
The primary bridge of the Blood, located roughly amidships on B Deck [you did want it "buried" didn't you?] has an array of five workstations arranged in a rough horseshoe pattern.
All the workstations have holodynamic panels and displays; while "off", the surfaces are plain and grey and rather dull. When "on", holographic "screens" are presented in the air around the crewer to their personal taste, displaying information as they like to see it. 3D "controls" are displayed above the various workstation surfaces, again to individual taste, with sensors in place that can detect when the buttons are "pushed" so as to feed back the results to the 'station computer, and thence to the relevant ship systems. Each crewer has a dataslug with their preferred config for each workstation they are qualified on, and loads the panel when they sit down. Many ship commanders immediately reject crew applicants who don't start their tryout by reconfigging the board.
An emergency vacc suit is integral to the chair, with a helmet available just over and behind the head. A small locker near the commander's chair contains hand weapons for last-ditch bridge defence. The room can be sealed in the event of boarders, has its' own short-term life support, and in the event of ship breakup is sufficiently armoured and pressure tight to theoretically operate as an escape capsule.
The captain sits behind and slightly above everyone else, with an array of controls and monitors mainly concerned with internal communication, status and reporting mounted in the chair arms. Arranged in front of him are: Helm, Astrogation/Sensors, Weapons/Shields, and Aux Engineering. The last is often used as Commo instead, as most engineers prefer to work down "where the oily bits are".
A central viewscreen is mounted in front of the bridge crew; this can operate either as a flat 2D display or a holoprojection. A smaller version is mounted just in front of the astrogation console; often referred to as "the tank", this is usually set up to display a spherical display of either the current solar system, with all ships, bases, etc marked in colour and moving, or a region around 100,000 klicks around the vessel (the standard in combat situations).
Most larger ships have a "battle bridge" located elsewhere on board in case something drastic happens to the primary; the VB is quite small, but can at a pinch be operated from the main computer room forward on A Deck or the backup computer console aft in C Deck. In both these cases functions like engineering and gunnery have to be carried out from the business end (spannermen in the drive room and gunners in turrets).
Resembling nothing more than a normal locker-room, down to the non-descript doors, the armory is open 24/7. As you enter the long room from the main door, the main security weapons lockers are on your left, with the personnel crew lockers stretching down to your right towards the secondary door. The crew lockers are lined in two rows, length wise, back to back, with ten lockers in each row for a total of twenty.
Every locker has a user-level access node which controls who can and cannot access the locker's contents. The main security weapons lockers can be access by the captain, first-mate, and security chief. Individual lockers can be accessed by those three, plus the person that the locker has been assigned to. The access nodes record who opened the locker and, in the case of the security lockers, what was taken and to whom it was given.
Personnel are allowed to store any type of hand-weapon, side-arm, carbine, fully automatic, or rifle beam or slug-throwing weapon, and two clips/cells of ammunition. Armor is expected to be stored in your personnel lockers.
Each locker has an interior measurement of two cubic-meters (one meter wide, two high, one deep). The interior walls are lined with industrial-grade velcro loops. One locker is used to store the vacuum-formable plastic sheets and belt-hooks used with each. Standard practice is to take a plactic sheet or two, form it around the item to be stored (if a weapon) and then hook that into the locker. For armor and other items that can not be formed around, the belt-hooks are used.
The first main security locker (the one closest to the hall) holds the standard weaponry assigned to any sercurity detail on the ship. It is divided into three shelving sections: the top one set for pistols, the middle - snub-nosed carbines (sub-machine guns), and the lower - normal carbines.
The second security locker holds the the spare energy and slug clips for the weapons in the first locker. In this locker, also, is a regulated power tap with fast and normal clip recharge capabilities. It is the security chief's responsibility to ensure that all of the clips are fully powered and/or loaded.
The third locker holds and high-explosives, and/or gernades. These are stored in shock resistant, foam lined boxes on the off-chance that the industrial velcro lets go during flight operations. This locker is also divided into shelves, five in all.
Personal lockers are configured by the person they are assigned to.
Requirements were cryogenically manageable and replenishable from common sources with relative ease. Fuel of choice for our fusion powered stardrive is _slush deuterium, _ for a number of reasons:
The Blood has three: one primary and two secondary. The primary holds 225 cu. meters of slush deuterium (19 metric tonnes), the two secondaries hold 113 cu.meters each (9.3 metric tonnes of the SD fuel).
Fuel tanks are cryogenic, maintaining fuel supply at 13.8 degrees K, or -259 C.Tanks are composed of forced matrix cortanium and stainless steel, laid in alternating magnetodynamically supportive layers and gamma welded. The tanks are insulated with a foam of vacuum-produced silicon-copper microwhiskers, and are each interconnected with a web of heat-managed and similarly insulated conduits to allow automated loading and transfer of fuel. Downline from the PFT and the SFTs are transfer tanks equipped with specialized temperature management systems, which can warm the slush to allow smoother flow, or remove the heat energy to create the shaped pellets used by the reactors for fuel.
The MSD runs lengthwise down the center of the engineering bay, straigtht-line aligned from the fusion reactors to the accelerator module to the SDC to the VES.
Working space adequate to the job is located on either side of the MSD line, allowing access to all components for evaluation of sensor readouts, serivice, and repair. Banks of controls, sensors and readouts line each side wall for various MSD functions, and for the peripheral engine room functrions listed below.
The secondary fuel tanks protrude slightly from the upper corners of the engine bay, one on either side; the primary tank lies below the drive line.
MSD alignment (below shows bay center, back to front):
| VES | == | SDC | == | ACCELERATOR | == |FUSION REACTORS]
= = = = = = = = = =
[photosyn.process.banks] -> [particulate filters]->[temp/humidity mgmnt grids]--> -> distribution network plenums (vents, fresh & return)
Air throughout the ship is recirculated via a separate return network, through the appropriate atmospheric scrubbers before being mixed in the proper proportions with the fresh O2 generated by the photosynthetic banks.
There is an emergency backup supply of breathable atmosphere held in pressurized cryogenically sealed containers at key locations throughout the ship, offering about thirty minutes of breathable air prior to evacuation or repair. They fire off automatically upon receiving indication of loss of standard life support.
The culture-mass of biota producing the O2 is self-regenerating, so long as the conditions of the nutrient bath are properly maintained. Additional fresh plants can be added, such as vegetable gardens or the like, to add to the biomass-generated oxygen.
Anti-Spinward (the right side if you're standing at the front of engineering and looking along the drive toward the back)
Damage Control --> LS:atmosphere --> LS:water --> LS: waste
Spinward (the left side) engine control consoles --> LS: gravity control centers.
There is room at two places along the driveline of the MSD for someone as flexible and comparatively thin as Lizard the duck under the couplings and thereby move from Spinward to Antispinward sides in order to engage various console activities.
The terms "Spinward" and "Antispinward" are historical vestiges of the days when artificial gravity was generated by mass-rotation of the entire ship. The methods of generating artificial gravity improved, but the names for directions (starboard and port, respectively) if the ship were surface naval vessel) stuck in the lexicon of engineers everywhere.
The Venus' Blood medbay consists of a single 15m x 10m compartment, in which are located three biobeds and the array of peripherals which are used in the performance of ordinary medical service. The biobeds are positioned perpendicular to the long axis of the bay, with two beds slightly shifted toward the forward bulkhead of the bay, and the third shifted toward the aft bulkhead. The aft biobed can be converted to an isolation unit via the extension of a retractible seal that cuts about one third of the medbay off from the rest, and is accessible only through an integral sterilization antechamber that extends aft and forward from the retractible bulkhead used to seal the single bed unit off.
Facilities are provided for the conversion, with proper setup, of the isolation unit to a unit designed to function with specialized environmental considerations, such as high atmospheric pressure, variable atmospheric gases, low-gee, and other specialized ambient requirements.
Biobeds are orthopedically designed hospital beds incorporating a basic array of biofunctional sensors that can be tied into remote devices and the ship's computer system. Each unit has a selection of medical gas and fluid connections to allow the medical personnel access to the appropriate therapy or medical needs.
Biobeds also incorporate fittings and power/sensor connections for the surgical support units or "turtles." These are peripheral cover-units of a clamshell-like design that can be lowered and locked into place over a patient for the purpose of providing a sterile surgical environment while also incorporating an expanded array of surgical, anesthetic, and diagnostic sensors. The VB has two of these interchangeable SSU's, one in regular use and one for backup. All three biobeds are equipped to interface with them.
Power interfaces are provided on the biobeds and the SSU's for a variety of crtitical peripherals: scalpels (laser and physical), defibrillators, respirators, infusers, local sonograms, and so forth.
Overhead of each biobed unit is an OSA, or Overhead Sensor Array. This is a separate sensor cluster providing backup and additional condition tracking and other diagnostic and sensor needs (MRI, CAT, X-ray, sonographic, tagged isotope track-and-analyze, etc) of the patient and doctor.
Along the forward and aft bulkheads are two rows of cabinets, top and bottom, used for the storage of necessary medical supplies. The shelf space on the top of the lower row of cabinets serves as work space with sensor readouts, sinks, and necessary small equipment such as burners, centrifuges, immediate wound care supplies, and smaller freestanding diagnostic equipment.
The forward-outboard corner of the medbay is partly partitioned off into a small office, with a desk, ship's computer terminal, and repeaters for the biobed sensor displays. Along the back wall, centered above each of the biobeds, is the display for the sensor readings pertinent to the particular biobed to which they apply. Input and data output ports are likewise located along that wall.
Opposite the office is the lab entrance. This converted storage room measures 5m x 5m, and every square centimeter is used. The lab is clearly designed for one person, presumably with a computer assistant like a BlackBag unit plugged into the master lab control module. Two people can work in the lab together, but they'd have to be quite friendly to do so. The lab includes three culturing machines that allow pathogens to be grown in a variety of completely sealed environments. Each machine can be dumped into deep space or 'sterilized' (have all cultures destroyed) at the press of a switch. Next to the 'ovens' is a scanning neutrino microscope, which is capable of providing false-color images of specimines down to 5-angstrom diameter in real-time. This permits visualization all the way down to the so-called 'near atomic' level, and is as capable of resolving the individual molecular chains in a virus as the ancient optical microscopes were of resolving cellular activity. A pair of small synthesizers (one mechanical and one bio-medical) a kiln, an autoclave, an atomic fractionator (for performing elemental breakdowns of various substances) and a medium-sized multi-scanner (capable of performing MRI, CAT, sonographic, X-ray, and other non-invasive penetrative imaging scans) complete the equipment set.
Just afore the med-bay is the ship's gym. This room is 10m x 10m, with entrances to the main corridor and directly to the Med-bay, to simplify access for patients who require physical therapy. The gym includes an elastic-resistancs strength trainer (image: high-end Bow-flex machine), an elliptical trainer and a stair machine for aerobic training, an aquatic treadmill for swimming training, and a whirlpool for post-workout relaxation. One corner is enclosed to form a 2m x 3m wet/dry sauna. Along the out-board wall is a series of cabinets containing towels and carb-replacement 'sports drinks', and a hamper that leads directly to the ship's laundry.
The ship has two galleys, one for bow and stern. Each galley has a food preservation unit that keeps perishables always fresh in a vacuum seal it maintains when closed. Cabinets hold dry foods and nonperishable ingredients, as well as glasses, dishes and untensils. There's the usual cooking and meal preparation equipment, stove, oven, sink and counter. There are no food synthensizers, and a dining area adjoins each galley.
Transient cargo, ship's stores and dropship hold. The dropship is an aerodynamic, seven-passanger craft powered by a fuel cell that breaks up water for its energy. Capable of vertical take-off and landing, as well as docking with most spacecraft, it is armed by a single machine gun.
The captain's cabin is the largest, having a tub, shower, bar and desk. Three other rooms are also single occupancy, with water showers only. The rest are ten two-bunk affairs with sonic showers, and all cabins have closets and dressers.
Sinks and toilets are in bathrooms off the dining and medbay areas.
[The Arrhan Empire] [The Venus Blood] [Player Characters] [Character Generation] [Game Forum]
© Howard Miller, Hugh Foster, Karen Daniels, AJ Richardson, Nicki Jett, Skorpyon, Talisar, MikeD, edited by Tim Hall
