Metafire

page: 111 [prev] [Table of Contents] [next]


The capsule that housed George, Janet, and the other couple was a typical American capsule. It was in fact shaped just like a gelatin capsule except for a detachable supply pod affixed to the rear. They had a twelve foot diameter tube that was twenty two feet long. It was jammed with equipment and supplies. The capsule, like most others, contained four pressure doors. One on the top and bottom ends, and one on either side. With this arrangement, American capsules could join together forming colonies in different configurations. The detachable supply pod attached at a second attachment position along the side of the capsule cylinder.

American colonies were arranged in two large clusters in space. Each cluster was arranged around a dual power station with line-of-sight microwave power supplied directly from the Plutonium power plants. These power plants also served as the high bandwidth communication hubs. Space tenders would work around the outside of the spherical clusters of the colonies of capsules to replenish supplies, fuel, oxygen and the like. George had positioned his capsule in the cluster, "New Boston." Power had been established with a microwave link, and supplies had been brought to him. Supplies had to be replenished once a month, and they had to be purchased with real company dollars.

New Boston was distinguished as a special cluster, or city, of colonies because it had a large repair facility. This was the original NASA Space Shuttle, Discovery. The Discovery had finished its useful life and, in one last launch, was sent aloft, never to return. In New Boston, its cargo bay was large enough to hold two capsules end to end. Capsules were brought in for repairs and refurbishing. The shuttle team was also designing new equipment and selling it. One of the things they were designing was a retrofit of the end pressure doors to allow capsules to form circles. The idea was to spin the circle of capsules in order to gain a modicum of apparent gravity. Gravity was deeply missed in some of the colonies.


page: 111 [prev] [Table of Contents] [next]