Things Fall Apart: Chapter 24, Part 1
The Tour, at last. 1 of 2
Before I begin, a quick note about a realignment I've made. I prefer not to call it a retcon, although I suppose you can if you want to!
Elyah Singer was, at one point, described as coming from Earth. This was, or rather it became, an error, once I decided that this story is set in the distant future of the Newer York stories, where I already had a timeline in my head of certain key events. Without belaboring the point and getting too spoilery, Singer cannot be from Earth.
Nobody has been from Earth in 63 gigaseconds.
Singer is, in fact, from Cherryh's World in Tau Ceti, and always has been, and there is no war in Ba Sing Se.
Aboard Zephyr
The tour of the dockworks was mercifully brief. Silverman seemed entirely aware that Singer and her crew were here to see their new ship, and had no intention of prolonging the moment. The tour was structured, in fact, to take them to the gangway across to the ship's starboard docking port when it was done.
As they approached the tube, Singer saw Alexander reach into a satchel she had not noticed zir carrying before. Alexander drew out a drone and flipped it into the air, saying, "Chef?"
"Present, XO! Castor and Pollux are monitoring as well."
The drone followed them, carefully avoiding everyone's hair.
The dockworks being older, the first contrast was stark in the tube. The gangway showed its wear and tear, but the airlock hatch that greeted them on the other side was nearly pristine. Nearly. There was a single scratch, a gouge, perhaps the result of someone misjudging their proximity and scuffing it with a tool, or an edge of a spacesuit when the lock was being constructed. If the light weren't exactly right—or wrong—to catch it, it wouldn't really be noticeable, but it was.
Singer glanced sidelong at Silverman. "Someone's already banged up my ship!"
Silverman cleared his throat and looked at Singer's new operations officer, Terranova, who contrived to look contrite. "I'm afraid that was me, Commander. If it's any consolation, I put myself on bread and water for at least three kiloseconds afterward."
Singer gave some thought to the matter, then said, "That's probably adequate. If it's a first offense, anyway."
"It's the first anyone knows about."
"Fair enough."
Without further ado, Silverman put his palm to a reader plate, and the door rolled aside.
An airlock is an airlock, but Singer was still noting differences from those she'd been in on older ships. Most of it just came down to "new", meaning no wear and tear, everything clean, signs all fresh. The control interface looked about the same. Display technology had not changed in ages, so everything looked almost as crisp as if it were printed.
While both sides had atmosphere, they all still behaved themselves and waited for the lock to cycle. They were coming in through one of two locks meant specifically for loading personnel in groups, or as another way to move cargo, while the ship was docked at a station. This meant the lock was not crowded. Honestly, with a table and some chairs, they could have had lunch.
So, the outer door closed behind them, the inner door rolled open in front of them, and at last, they properly stepped into a corridor aboard Zephyr. Down the far side of which, the second "big" airlock could be seen.
There were clear differences right at the outset. Bellerophon had been built at a time when engineers were basking in their cleverness at having invented and learned to apply gravity fields, structural fields, inertial dampeners, and so on. As a result, they had built the corridors of the ship with rectangular profiles, like they were were inside a building on a planet.
Perhaps Silverman noticed her noticing, or perhaps he'd just been anticipating a query, so he said, "The octagonal profile is new with this generation," a statement he made with no trace of irony, despite that this ship might be the only member of this generation. "Some people find it hard to get used to, but it's really very effective. It's a little more structurally sound if the ship's under stress. It also allows a bit more compactness in how the infrastructure of the ship is laid out, since we now have the spaces created by the inward slopes to put some of the cabling and piping. Supercaps all sit recessed between decks behind the tilted panels, for example.
"This corridor, leading from airlock to airlock across the width of the deck, is slightly wider, as you can see, than it is tall. The avenues, which we'll reach in a moment to get at one of the cargo lifts so we can all travel together, are a little wider still."
The corridor certainly felt adequately sized, despite the inward slopes. The drone, for example, continued to have no trouble not tangling up with anybody.
Silverman led them down the passage, past one narrower corridor, and then to one of the avenues. "This ship does not have a single central boulevard. The people who made that design decision for the era of Bellerophon and most ships since thought a single broad central corridor was a good idea, and it had its benefits, but it also created a structural void right amidships that went straight down through the centerline.
"Instead, on this ship, we have two main avenues on each deck. You might think that just recreates the problem, but those avenues are a different width apart on each deck, so they don't stack. This being a smaller ship, as well, only decks four, five, and six have additional fore-aft corridors, and those are also positioned not to stack. It complicates all the lifts and emergency ladders—they basically all have to be accessible from either side—but we thought it was worth it."
There was a throat-clearing noise from the direction of the drone, as Chef said, "Complicates the plumbing a bit, too, doesn't it?"
Silverman looked up at the drone, treating it as another face in the crowd. "It would, but as you'll see replication mass storage is also more redundant in this design. We still have to have some cross-connections to make that redundancy fully useful, but most of the time, the needs of any one deck will be served by a tank that's closer."
It occurred to Singer that Chef probably knew all that, and had asked the question to make sure other people thought about it. Chef was not above making sure people cared about his domain, if not as much as he did.
At any rate, Chef said, "That makes sense. Thank you, sir."
Silverman responded, "Certainly!" and then continued, "We're on deck four, right now. Five is the widest deck, and in keeping with tradition, where Main Rec and Main Dining can be found, amidships. That deck is also where about half of the crew barracks are, with the rest down on deck six. We'll take the cargo lift here," he indicated the broad doors up abaft and to starboard, "up to the command deck first."
The command deck, deck two, was relatively small, as expected. The starboard avenue continued forward maybe 20 meters, but Singer thought she only really noticed because she was taking in all the details she could. She realized she'd forgot to do something, and took a deep breath in. She was surprised to discover that "new ship smell" was mostly new carpet. It was almost disappointingly prosaic.
The first two doors they came to were, to starboard, a door clearly marked, "Captain", and to port, Main Briefing. Singer couldn't quite resist. She palmed the plate next to the door to her future cabin without stopping to wonder if she was already registered with the ship's systems—systems that were already autonomous to some degree, but not yet intelligent.
The door opened. Somehow that, more than anything else that had happened in the last 100 kilos, brought home to her that she was going to command this beauty.
She looked to Silverman. who quirked a smile. "I've never once met a CO who didn't want to see their cabin. I had the commodore send over everyone's biometrics last shift-day.
There wasn't that much to see, honestly. None of her personal stuff was here, yet; not that she had much. Still, she stepped inside, and sensed the others following. It wasn't often they got to see the captain's quarters once a ship was underway, after all. The space was subdivided, so that what they stepped into was a small but comfortable sitting room. The sleeping area was separated by a half-wall. The forward bulkhead had two doors on it, one which led to the head, the other to Singer's office, which of course also had a door on the avenue. They took this door back out to the hall.
"The XO's office and quarters are the mirror of these on the port side," Silverman said, looking at Alexander. "Do you want to see them?"
Alexander thought for a moment, then said, "No, I think I can trust you on that point. However, if it's not too late, I'd like to request if my upholstery could be more...purple?"
Silverman smiled. "Send me a swatch. Commander Singer, any requests while we're at it?"
"No, but thank you. I've always rather liked the standard blue."
That settled, Silverman led them to the hatch immediately across the hall from the CO's office door. "Fellow officers, I give you your command center."
He applied his palm, and the door slid aside.
For a moment, Singer was almost disappointed. Despite having pored over the schematics, she had been expecting a compartment as large as Bellerophon's main bridge had been. Instead, this room was about the same size as the auxiliary bridge she and her fellow survivors had been running the ship from.
The disappointment faded quickly, however. Here was a completely up to date facility. Flat displays may not have improved much in the last gigaseconds, but holography had come leaps and bounds. Silverman, or someone else, had thought to have the main tank running, with a view in-system the star centered, the asteroid belt around them tumbling along. Singer was fairly certain that, if they dimmed the lights, it would be impossible to tell they were not standing outside.
Even so, the lights were not bright. Singer had read that was another ergonomic change, one that, reading further, had gone back and forth over the years, like fashion. Today's fashion was a room that was mostly white surfaces, but relatively dimly lit, allowing better contrast on displays and controls. Singer felt she could get used to it.
There was a door on the aft bulkhead, center, that also led to Main Briefing. Singer took the liberty of opening it and peering in. A meeting room like she'd become used to, maybe a little larger, definitely a little more plush. She wondered if this were also a new fashion in ship decor, or if Bellerophon had just become a bit worn at the heels and she'd never noticed.
Singer actually felt a twinge of guilt, comparing the luxury she was going to be taking out into space to the disaster they were all trying to assess.
She sensed Alexander pressing in behind her, Silverman just a step behind zir. Silverman paused to look at Alexander, "Any suggestions about decor, here, XO?"
Alexander pretended to think about it a moment, then, zir eyes lit. "How about a mural or something, or models, of other ships that have carried the name? I know there were at least three..."
Wasserman was the one who corrected, "Four, Commander. A Zephyr came into service from the Copernicus Colony when the TCTF first came together."
Silverman nodded with an approving smile. "Right now, some reminder that we do actually have a history, and one to be proud of, seems like a good idea. Maybe we'll add some other touches. Old ship logos to the mess hall, that kind of thing."
Singer smiled. "I like it!"
"We'll make it happen, then!" said Silverman.
Singer returned her attention to the bridge itself. They all spent a few minutes poking and prodding, enjoying the rare joy of being the first ones to toggle that switch or sit in that chair. The drone zipped around, peering at this or that thing. Singer supposed it was probably shifting the camera's spectrum, like she knew Cadotte could do, peering into places the non-augmented humans couldn't see.
Singer carefully did not sit in her chair, yet, however. She'd decided she wouldn't until the day came to actually given the order to leave dock. If anyone found this odd, nobody said so.
The bridge completed, they stepped out through another hatch in the forward bulkhead. There, they entered a cross corridor. Directly across from them was a hatch saying "Comms Room". To either side were smaller hatches labeled "Infrastructure".
Silverman pointed directly across the hall, however, and said, "This room should be of some interest to you, Captain, and to you, Ensign Cordé!" He opened it.
Not a true "radio room" in the old sense, as it was not meant to be staffed most of the time, it was still the compartment where a lot of the ship's primary communication equipment was housed. Singer saw Cordé's eyes light up at the neat racks of entirely modern facilities arrayed before them.
They didn't linger long there, however. Instead, they continued around to the portside avenue and walked aft, past the XO's country, to the cross corridor they'd started with. "There's not much more to see on this deck right now. The Wardroom isn't furnished yet, and the spaces to either side are environmental plant, aux power, replication-and-reclamation equipment, and so on. Unless...Chef, Castor, Pollux? Did you want to see some of that?"
It was one of the twins who responded. "Thank you, Commander. We're content at this time. The commodore released the specifications to us, as well. While we understand we'll be responsible for more—just as we have been lately on Bellerophon—we're eager to see engineering!"
Silverman grinned. "I'm sure you are. We'll get there soon, I promise! Anyway, aft of the Wardroom is a small reception/staging area and a docking lock. The slope here means the dock is actually to dorsal, so any use of it requires a bit of gravity shenanigans, but it was felt important to have some kind of docking access at this level, given the lack of a dorsal boat bay."
There didn't seem to be much to say to that, and so, everyone trundled into the port-side cargo lift, which took them down to deck three. Singer wondered why they didn't go up to deck one, but decided not to spoil whatever Silverman might be holding in reserve. He clearly had a plan, and so far, he'd been an excellent tour guide.
Sure enough, they exited the opposite side of the cargo lift than they'd entered. Silverman picked up the narrative. "On this deck, the cargo lifts can actually open to either side, because the block they're part of is stowage for this deck. Commonly used spares, hull plates, that kind of thing. Aft of us is the top gallery of Engineering, which we'll see momentarily, and two machine shops to either side, neither of which is kitted out yet."
True to his word, he led them aft and around the corner to heavy doors marked "Fusion One". Silverman gestured to Espinoza, who had mostly kept to the background. He didn't really need the tour, but this compartment was going to be his domain. Still, Espinoza, looked to Singer, as if uncomfortable being put ahead of her. She just nodded.
Espinoza smiled, and palmed open the door. It slid aside much more ponderously than any of the others, as befit a door behind which a controlled simulation of a star would be kept.
Singer suspected this was pure psychology at work. If something went bad in Fusion One, that door was not going to hold it back. Not without force fields and other magic like what saved most of Bellerophon, anyway.
Once the door was open, the drone zipped into the room like an unleashed puppy, and Singer thought she heard one, or possibly both, of the twins saying, "Oooooooo" as they began to explore the multi-deck space, while the humans remained sedately on the gallery.
Like the bridge, this deck was, and was not, very like the similar gallery levels in Main Engineering aboard Bellerophon. There were fewer secondary stations, suggesting a system that had been refined to need fewer people to keep an eye on it, but the primary station facing the core—or where the core would be if the engine were up—was where Singer, in her meager experience, expected it. Espinoza took up the narrative here from Silverman. "The fusion side of Engineering is not really my forte. We're still trying to scare up a more senior fusion engineer, on a par with our Commander Alexander. In a pinch, ze will have to do double duty, and I have no doubts of zir capabilities in that regard, but I think we'd all prefer a full time XO and a full time Fusion expert and that the XO get some sleep occasionally."
Alexander did not stint from saying, "Hear, hear!"
"Anyway," Espinoza continued, "while there's not much to see, really, this is a much more efficient and effective system than the one Bellerophon sported. For simple energy generation, it uses reaction mass at a tenth the rate the older ships used; when used for thrust, it's still five times more efficient. This, combined with improvements in inertial and gravity systems, means that, even without time compression, this is the nimblest ship we know of. The top safe velocity in normal space remains about 0.23c, but we can apply more thrust, faster, and still burn less fuel, which means achieving and decelerating from that speed is much easier. In addition, the ramscoop system is also more efficient, allowing us to recover more mass, more quickly, from any given source, including interstellar medium."
One could tell, Singer thought that Espinoza had spent many years as a business man, and not just an engineer. He gave a good spiel. But she had also read the schematics, and spent a lot of time looking up what she didn't immediately have a grasp of, and if anything, he was downplaying how far this technology had advanced.
Cordé had her hand up. Singer was coming to value that about Cordé, actually. She was a bit of a skeptic. She had to ask the questions. Espinoza indicated he'd seen her and said, "Yes, Ensign?"
"Is this a breakthrough leap like what you've said about the time compressor, or...?"
Singer sensed, rather than heard, the sigh before he said, "The capability is actually an incremental step, one of many that have been made in the last 2 gigs or so, and mostly not applied to Fleet ships. Until the prospect of building a ship around an improved time compressor finally broke the logjam, the ship design bureau was pretty much asleep at the wheel."
There was a pause while he took a deep breath. "Possibly I should not have said that out loud. Either the members of the bureau are still alive, in which case they will not appreciate my opinion now any more than they did in my youth; or they are casualties of the Catastrophe, in which case, it's speaking ill of the dead. I'm afraid, however, that my frustration is very real. Even not being a fusion expert, I saw the potential in these new technologies ages ago, and they saw no urgency to apply them."
The commodore rescued him at that point. "But we did eventually break it loose, of course. The conservatives still tried to hold the project back, and got it mothballed when they weren't sure where the crew would come from, but...well, here we are. One way or the other, this ship will fly. Whether we ever build another one? Well, that's future us' problem."
Espinoza was visibly calmer. If Silverman was made uncomfortable by any of this, he didn't show it. Probably, it was a conversation he and Espinoza had had before.
As they turned to leave, Singer called out, "Kids?" She bit her lip afterward—the twins had "matured" recently, and Chef was certainly no child. But if they were offended, they made no obvious sign. The drone rose back up to their level and rejoined them. Silverman addressed them again. "Happy?"
"Yes, Commander. This will do very nicely!" Singer was suddenly missing the NDI interface, where she could actually tell them apart.
As they left the room, Terranova asked, "Is that cargo area you were mentioning pressurized at the moment? I don't want to go to trouble if it's not, but I'd like to see it if it is."
Silverman nodded. "It is. We've been putting it to use during construction." He led them across the hall. Singer had never been in one of the holds on her other ships, so she was curious. In her mind, it was really just a big empty room with piles of stuff.
In reality, it was more like a warehouse. There were shelves and bins, some in use, some empty. There were forklifts on tracks for stowing and retrieving objects. She now understood why her operations officer wanted to see it. "Magnetic drive on everything, now, right?"
Silverman nodded. "Yup. Another conservatism we managed to defeat, although that one we cracked a while back. Too many breakdowns with purely mechanical systems. We've had maglev and other similar tech since before the Dream of Spring first left Earth. Why we ever used more mechanical systems, I have no idea."
Terranova seemed satisfied, and they trooped back out again. Moving forward to the next cross corridor, they could see that, instead of one large block between the corridors as on the deck above, or even immediately aft of them, this one was cut in two, with a corridor between. "All four sections in this row contain the quarters for officers and guests of the ship. There are a total of eighteen cabins, three each in the outer blocks, six each in the inner blocks, all more or less the same, and similar to quarters you've all had on other ships."
In unison, Wasserman and Kasel cleared their throats.
"Well, most of you. Anyway, we'll step into one of them that I know is furnished so you can get a sense." He palmed open the first door to port, and indeed, quarters that were very familiar to Singer were behind the door. Again, the subtle sense of newer style and simply less worn materials was the main distinction.
Silverman continued, "There's more cabins, I know, than you currently have officers. My understanding is that you're probably not going to have the full rotation the book says you should have, unless we can scare up some more personnel. On the other hand, if you do encounter others en route who can fill your roster, you'll have somewhere for them!"
Singer liked the optimism of that, and considered it was not entirely unlikely. It wasn't impossible that there were ships with crews at shore leave in David's Star, for example, that survived even if their ships did not. She still wasn't interested in press-ganging anyone, but if anyone was willing to help fill out the watch bill, she'd take them.
After everyone had a look at the room, Silverman continued, "The nose section is taken up entirely by Fusion Two, and machine bays—not separate compartments like the aft shops, but almost as much space. Fusion Two will only require this one deck. The intention is that Fusion Two, here, and Fusion Three, on deck six, together can pick up the slack if Fusion One is offline long-term. None of this is really set up yet. Getting Fusion Two fully operational is a priority; the machine bays are less of one right now, compared to the aft shops."
There was no apology in his voice. This was just the facts. Singer supposed she could negotiate if she didn't agree with the priorities, but so far, they made sense.
They all headed back again to the lift, which let them out on deck four.
I wound up breaking the tour up. It was getting long, and frankly I need a bit more time to figure a few things out!
Also, I would like to gratefully acknowledge once again the assistance of Briar Hayes, who has been beta-reading and copy-editing as I go. I also want to acknowledge the assistance of Lewis Tanzos, who helped me talk through what sorts of things a ship really ought to have.