Nighzmarquls
The Endless Hunger
- Location
- United States
Red dwarfs mix stuff up. And if you lift enough hydrogen the star will phase shift down to a red dwarf.
This is not really all that great an idea in a populated system though.
Broken Bow
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Red dwarfs mix stuff up. And if you lift enough hydrogen the star will phase shift down to a red dwarf.
This is not really all that great an idea in a populated system though.
- Location
- Montana
I think its more of a time issue. Doing starlifting for any period of time under a couple dozen millennia its probably immaterial given the scale of everything, even if you were pulling directly from the core. But do it consistently for a couple million years and you're probably going to have some sort of effect.
26
"Almost looks like a smaller Island class," I said with a frown, crossing my arms.
"Same general shape, Thunderbird Class" Odin agreed with a nod, the holographic design floating and slowly turning before our avatars, "But less than half as big, reaching just under five hundred meters. It also lacks some of the creature comforts, such as the onboard park and carries a much smaller permanent population and no non crew members. It's non-medical labs are also highly limited."
"Three hundred crew seems a bit low for a ship that size."
"A lot of that would be made up for with your drones and remotes, almost your entire crew would be medical personnel and away team experts," He said, "And all that space make it possible to fit you with the sensors of a GSV, ten times the usual transporter capacity and a medical capacity of over two thousand people. Your life support would be scaled to be able to handle four times that in an emergency."
"Defense systems?"
"Your shield capacity would be similar to that of an island class, but we also stuck you with a meter thick layer of ablative energy resistant armour on the theory that you'd have to spend at least some time unshielded while being shot at to beam survivors out. Not as good as a shield and a modern phaser would burn through quickly, but it's better than nothing and the same thing is on a GOU. As for weapons, two general purpose launchers, one each fore and aft. You also have full 360 degree coverage of last generation phasers. Nothing spectacular though; simply something for self defense."
I nodded, reviewing the datafile he sent me, compared to the hologram before me, "The hangar bay is a bit small. Is that a single shuttle and two workbee drones?"
"Be glad you get a single shuttle and not just the workbees," the station said with a small glower, "I'm not the one that wanted to be able to land on planetary bodies. I think I have squeezed an amazing amount of things into a very small hull as is. I needed that space for the extra transporter capacity."
I cringed slightly, "...Sorry, that's fair," I admitted, "And I do want at least the capability of planetary landing, just in case it's needed. The fact that you managed it for a design this big in the first place is amazing."
"Just don't expect to squeeze into a forest clearing somewhere. You're still half a kilometer long and a quarter that wide," he warned me, "Outside a nice and flat rocky desert or something, you'll have balancing problems even with our best landing gear. The biggest landable ship we had in the past was an Intrepid. Three fifths your length and about a tenth the mass.."
"I understand."
He nodded, "Now... I could start construction today. On a few conditions."
I frowned, "Which are?"
"That Lieutenant Romero signs off on that you're ready for it and that you spend the time it's being built as the primary Jovian supporting and assisting in my habitat's hospital."
"I can do the second part," I told him firmly, "I can handle it."
"Theory is different from practice," he reminded me.
"While I might not have specialized in medicine, even before I was stranded, I still had a sickbay."
"So that shouldn't be a problem then," He said with a small smile before he looked at Sophia, "Lieutenant?"
She looked down at her PADD for a long moment before she looked to me, "Starfarer? This is still privileged information unless you let me tell him."
I gave her a nod, "Tell him what he needs."
Sophia gave me a small smile and then turned to the station, "While Starfarer was undoubtedly traumatized by her experiences, she has been making good progress well and is determined to work towards this goal. In my opinion, while she still has things to work through, she is stable enough to return to being a starship. Especially when it gives her the opportunity to work towards the goal of preventing others from living through what she has."
Odin nodded slowly, "Even if it will put her in the middle of combat with people dying?"
"I believe so, yes. Not yet, but she will get there with more time."
Odin put his hand against the console before his avatar for a moment, looking at the floating hologram before he finally nodded and looked at me, "I'll start construction. When construction gets far enough, we'll install your QC for testing, but I'm not going to release the Ship to you unless you get a thumbs up from the doctors you'll be working with at the hospital and you get cleared to handle combat."
I just smiled at him, "You have to be completely sure," I agreed, "And that's good. If you think I'm not going to be able to handle it, I don't want you to release it to me."
"Okay then," He said with a smile back, "It's going to be quite a bit for you to get used to, so while you work at the hospital, I'm also going to give you training on other drones and remotes you are going to need to know how to use. But for now..." he said, "I have somebody I want you to meet."
"Oh?"
The door opened and a Jovian avatar walked inside. Her avatar was taller than me and had long, blonde, almost silvery hair and green eyes. She wasn't wearing a uniform, instead she was wearing the clothes of a civilian research staff, "Starfarer," she said with a smile, "I'm glad to get to meet you. My name is Carry, I'm the research ship, 'Of Course I Still Love You'. But you know me better as Oregon..."
I blinked at her in surprise, "But... Oregon? But Oregon went missing..."
"I did," she agreed and moved over to me, putting her hand on my shoulder, "Lost with all hands. Only one of my cores survived, offline."
I didn't answer, I just stepped closer and hugged her tight.
She hugged me back.
"Same general shape, Thunderbird Class" Odin agreed with a nod, the holographic design floating and slowly turning before our avatars, "But less than half as big, reaching just under five hundred meters. It also lacks some of the creature comforts, such as the onboard park and carries a much smaller permanent population and no non crew members. It's non-medical labs are also highly limited."
"Three hundred crew seems a bit low for a ship that size."
"A lot of that would be made up for with your drones and remotes, almost your entire crew would be medical personnel and away team experts," He said, "And all that space make it possible to fit you with the sensors of a GSV, ten times the usual transporter capacity and a medical capacity of over two thousand people. Your life support would be scaled to be able to handle four times that in an emergency."
"Defense systems?"
"Your shield capacity would be similar to that of an island class, but we also stuck you with a meter thick layer of ablative energy resistant armour on the theory that you'd have to spend at least some time unshielded while being shot at to beam survivors out. Not as good as a shield and a modern phaser would burn through quickly, but it's better than nothing and the same thing is on a GOU. As for weapons, two general purpose launchers, one each fore and aft. You also have full 360 degree coverage of last generation phasers. Nothing spectacular though; simply something for self defense."
I nodded, reviewing the datafile he sent me, compared to the hologram before me, "The hangar bay is a bit small. Is that a single shuttle and two workbee drones?"
"Be glad you get a single shuttle and not just the workbees," the station said with a small glower, "I'm not the one that wanted to be able to land on planetary bodies. I think I have squeezed an amazing amount of things into a very small hull as is. I needed that space for the extra transporter capacity."
I cringed slightly, "...Sorry, that's fair," I admitted, "And I do want at least the capability of planetary landing, just in case it's needed. The fact that you managed it for a design this big in the first place is amazing."
"Just don't expect to squeeze into a forest clearing somewhere. You're still half a kilometer long and a quarter that wide," he warned me, "Outside a nice and flat rocky desert or something, you'll have balancing problems even with our best landing gear. The biggest landable ship we had in the past was an Intrepid. Three fifths your length and about a tenth the mass.."
"I understand."
He nodded, "Now... I could start construction today. On a few conditions."
I frowned, "Which are?"
"That Lieutenant Romero signs off on that you're ready for it and that you spend the time it's being built as the primary Jovian supporting and assisting in my habitat's hospital."
"I can do the second part," I told him firmly, "I can handle it."
"Theory is different from practice," he reminded me.
"While I might not have specialized in medicine, even before I was stranded, I still had a sickbay."
"So that shouldn't be a problem then," He said with a small smile before he looked at Sophia, "Lieutenant?"
She looked down at her PADD for a long moment before she looked to me, "Starfarer? This is still privileged information unless you let me tell him."
I gave her a nod, "Tell him what he needs."
Sophia gave me a small smile and then turned to the station, "While Starfarer was undoubtedly traumatized by her experiences, she has been making good progress well and is determined to work towards this goal. In my opinion, while she still has things to work through, she is stable enough to return to being a starship. Especially when it gives her the opportunity to work towards the goal of preventing others from living through what she has."
Odin nodded slowly, "Even if it will put her in the middle of combat with people dying?"
"I believe so, yes. Not yet, but she will get there with more time."
Odin put his hand against the console before his avatar for a moment, looking at the floating hologram before he finally nodded and looked at me, "I'll start construction. When construction gets far enough, we'll install your QC for testing, but I'm not going to release the Ship to you unless you get a thumbs up from the doctors you'll be working with at the hospital and you get cleared to handle combat."
I just smiled at him, "You have to be completely sure," I agreed, "And that's good. If you think I'm not going to be able to handle it, I don't want you to release it to me."
"Okay then," He said with a smile back, "It's going to be quite a bit for you to get used to, so while you work at the hospital, I'm also going to give you training on other drones and remotes you are going to need to know how to use. But for now..." he said, "I have somebody I want you to meet."
"Oh?"
The door opened and a Jovian avatar walked inside. Her avatar was taller than me and had long, blonde, almost silvery hair and green eyes. She wasn't wearing a uniform, instead she was wearing the clothes of a civilian research staff, "Starfarer," she said with a smile, "I'm glad to get to meet you. My name is Carry, I'm the research ship, 'Of Course I Still Love You'. But you know me better as Oregon..."
I blinked at her in surprise, "But... Oregon? But Oregon went missing..."
"I did," she agreed and moved over to me, putting her hand on my shoulder, "Lost with all hands. Only one of my cores survived, offline."
I didn't answer, I just stepped closer and hugged her tight.
She hugged me back.
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Now that's a callback. The similarities between the two situations were obvious, although we never saw poor Oregon's reaction when she "woke up" to find out what happened. Not as bad as what happened to Starfarer, but it must have been pretty traumatic regardless.
EDIT: Although to think of it, what happened to Oregon probably hit harder than it might have otherwise done because it must have resonated with the trauma of being brought out of the simulation. Waking up and without warning finding out everybody is dead isn't that far from waking up and finding out they were all a lie.
EDIT: Although to think of it, what happened to Oregon probably hit harder than it might have otherwise done because it must have resonated with the trauma of being brought out of the simulation. Waking up and without warning finding out everybody is dead isn't that far from waking up and finding out they were all a lie.
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KlavoHunter
THOU SHALT WORSHIP NO GODS ABOVE ENTERPRISE!
So, I read the first couple lines of this story, and then stopped reading once I found this was the latest story of a long-running series.
I binged the entire series, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the Berserkers to come back outta nowhere to attack the Federation a second time, since the first few lines of this story here were combat against them!
Fortunately for our billions of favorite squishy meatlings, that wasn't the case.
The Jovians are... Lucky? To have Bad Examples of AI around, where they can say "Hey, let's not be like them." Especially having the Dominion ShipMinds putting the Founders in a bottle, before the Jovians might slow-walk themselves into something similar.
I binged the entire series, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the Berserkers to come back outta nowhere to attack the Federation a second time, since the first few lines of this story here were combat against them!
Fortunately for our billions of favorite squishy meatlings, that wasn't the case.
The Jovians are... Lucky? To have Bad Examples of AI around, where they can say "Hey, let's not be like them." Especially having the Dominion ShipMinds putting the Founders in a bottle, before the Jovians might slow-walk themselves into something similar.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
Ah, welcome to the present! I was wondering when you'd catch up.
Not quite luck; the Romulans especially were basically never going to not try to make an AI once the Federation did it, and never not going to screw it up. They could theoretically have refrained from making AI, but that would have meant giving up any hope of conquering the Federation and they couldn't accept that; or they could have welcomed their creations into their society as equals but they certainly wouldn't do that, either. If for no other reason that a free AI that thought like a Romulan would have tried to take over the Empire, and probably succeeded. A better result than what they got, but still a failure from their perspective.
The Romulans just didn't have the right culture to keep the AIs friendly by treating them as independent people like the Federation did, nor did they have the skill the Founders had in manufacturing willing slaves. The Shipminds were almost what the Founders intended, after all; the outcome of creating the Berserkers was not even close to what the Romulans tried for.
I have to wonder just how a Klingon made AI would have turned out. There'd have been a good chance it would have turned out bad, and it would have probably have tried to take over too, but if it did it right the Klingons might well have considered it acceptable. That almost happened in this series with that Federation AI, and a Klingon AI would probably have accepted the position of Chancellor if offered.
27
Doctor Kal'ter looked down at his PADD for a long moment before he nodded. He was an andorian of middle age, his white hair cut shorter than his antenna and he was wearing the uniform of medical staff beneath a human style white doctor's coat.
"Well, you have passed all the tests, Starfarer," he said as he looked at my hologram, "If it was just the schooling involved, I'd say you passed med school with flying colors. But practice is a lot different than reality."
I nodded, "I know. Which is one of the reasons I'm here. While I do plan to carry a full medical staff, I am going to be doing a lot of it too."
"Well," He agreed, "Wouldn't be the first student we had here. Not even the first Jovian. Station, you're keeping an eye on her?"
Odin answered without bothering to project an avatar, "Of course."
"Well then," He said and then nodded, "How about we go have a look then? Room fifty three?" he asked, leaving me to follow behind.
"Male, human," I said as I walked along with him, "Fifteen years of age, simple fracture of right ulna. Been administered a slight neuroblocker for the pain.
"Treatment?"
"Neuroblocker on the arm, set the bone, make sure no nerves or other tissue is pinched and then apply osteo-regenerator to set it in place."
He nodded, "Sounds good to me," and handed the PADD over to me, "Get to it."
I blinked at him in surprise, "U-uh what?"
"You have an entire medical database in your head," He said and put his hands in his pockets, "You don't need me holding your hand to fix a broken bone and if you need advice, you don't need me next to your hologram to ask for it. We're starting off easy today, but by the end of the month I want you running the majority of the hospital."
Gulp.
"And don't tell me you can't do that," He said firmly, "You're lacking experience, that's why you're here. So go get it. Start with one at a time for now, just send me each chart as you touch it and no major procedures without approval for now."
"Yes, sir."
All of which didn't make me any less nervous. But even so, I turned away from him and headed down the corridor before entering room fifty three, "David Turner?" I asked as I closed the door behind my avatar.
David was a human male of somewhat athletic build and average height and long brown hair. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, sitting and holding his right forearm.
He looked up at me when I entered, "Yeah. You're the doctor?"
"The hospital actually," I said as I crossed the room, "I'm Starfarer, the Jovian currently assigned to the hospital. Does it hurt?"
He shook his head, "...Can barely feel it now."
"Nurloaxine does that," I agreed and gently moved his hand away from his arm, "Zigged when you should have zagged?" I asked as I did another scan of his skeletal structure with the rooms built in scanners. It was a pretty simple break, but not his first either. His file says three, but I detected two more. Granted, they had both been barely hairlines. He'd been sore for a bit, but likely didn't seek out medical assistance.
Which considering the sport he played, wasn't exactly uncommon. Parrises squares, a safe sport it was not. Even with padded equipment, it was just a recipe for breaking your neck.
That got a grin from him, "...Something like that. I played parrises squares, we were winning too."
I shook my head, "Well, it's a simple break," before I stepped back and held my hand out and a neural blocker shimmered into existence as I beamed it in, "From your file, I assume you know the drill by now."
David nodded and rolled his right sleeve up further, turning to offer it to me.
I carefully attached the blocker to his upper arm and activated it as I took his wrist in my free hand, "There. Feeling anything?" I asked as his entire arm went limp as the blocker basically turned off the entire neural system in his arm. Or rather, blocked them from reaching his brain.
"No," He said and looked at his arm, "That'll never stop being freaky."
"Might not want to watch this," I suggested and when he looked away, I shifted my other hand down a bit to grip his elbow before I pulled his arm. There was a bit of a cracking sound, but his bone jumped back into place after a bit of shifting.
Letting go of his elbow, I kept his wrist fixed as I beamed a Osteo-regenerator into my free hand and started to run it along his arm, "You haven't considered a safer sport? Like bat'leth dueling perhaps?"
"Have you played?" He said with a grin, "No way any other sport even gets close."
"Well, up to you," I sighed and scanned his arm before turning off the regenerator and beamed it away, "There we go," I said and reached up to take off the blocker, "You're bone is repaired, bu-"
"But it is still not at full strength, that will take a few more days," He continued for me, "You'll be sore for a day or so once the Nurloaxine wears off from the soft tissue damage. Take it easy for a week and if you're still feeling anything from it by then, please contact the hospital or talk to the Station."
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him, "...Yeah, you have definitely heard that one before."
He nodded and got down from the biobed, "A couple of times. Thanks, Doc."
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah."
This will be a long couple of months.
"Well, you have passed all the tests, Starfarer," he said as he looked at my hologram, "If it was just the schooling involved, I'd say you passed med school with flying colors. But practice is a lot different than reality."
I nodded, "I know. Which is one of the reasons I'm here. While I do plan to carry a full medical staff, I am going to be doing a lot of it too."
"Well," He agreed, "Wouldn't be the first student we had here. Not even the first Jovian. Station, you're keeping an eye on her?"
Odin answered without bothering to project an avatar, "Of course."
"Well then," He said and then nodded, "How about we go have a look then? Room fifty three?" he asked, leaving me to follow behind.
"Male, human," I said as I walked along with him, "Fifteen years of age, simple fracture of right ulna. Been administered a slight neuroblocker for the pain.
"Treatment?"
"Neuroblocker on the arm, set the bone, make sure no nerves or other tissue is pinched and then apply osteo-regenerator to set it in place."
He nodded, "Sounds good to me," and handed the PADD over to me, "Get to it."
I blinked at him in surprise, "U-uh what?"
"You have an entire medical database in your head," He said and put his hands in his pockets, "You don't need me holding your hand to fix a broken bone and if you need advice, you don't need me next to your hologram to ask for it. We're starting off easy today, but by the end of the month I want you running the majority of the hospital."
Gulp.
"And don't tell me you can't do that," He said firmly, "You're lacking experience, that's why you're here. So go get it. Start with one at a time for now, just send me each chart as you touch it and no major procedures without approval for now."
"Yes, sir."
All of which didn't make me any less nervous. But even so, I turned away from him and headed down the corridor before entering room fifty three, "David Turner?" I asked as I closed the door behind my avatar.
David was a human male of somewhat athletic build and average height and long brown hair. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, sitting and holding his right forearm.
He looked up at me when I entered, "Yeah. You're the doctor?"
"The hospital actually," I said as I crossed the room, "I'm Starfarer, the Jovian currently assigned to the hospital. Does it hurt?"
He shook his head, "...Can barely feel it now."
"Nurloaxine does that," I agreed and gently moved his hand away from his arm, "Zigged when you should have zagged?" I asked as I did another scan of his skeletal structure with the rooms built in scanners. It was a pretty simple break, but not his first either. His file says three, but I detected two more. Granted, they had both been barely hairlines. He'd been sore for a bit, but likely didn't seek out medical assistance.
Which considering the sport he played, wasn't exactly uncommon. Parrises squares, a safe sport it was not. Even with padded equipment, it was just a recipe for breaking your neck.
That got a grin from him, "...Something like that. I played parrises squares, we were winning too."
I shook my head, "Well, it's a simple break," before I stepped back and held my hand out and a neural blocker shimmered into existence as I beamed it in, "From your file, I assume you know the drill by now."
David nodded and rolled his right sleeve up further, turning to offer it to me.
I carefully attached the blocker to his upper arm and activated it as I took his wrist in my free hand, "There. Feeling anything?" I asked as his entire arm went limp as the blocker basically turned off the entire neural system in his arm. Or rather, blocked them from reaching his brain.
"No," He said and looked at his arm, "That'll never stop being freaky."
"Might not want to watch this," I suggested and when he looked away, I shifted my other hand down a bit to grip his elbow before I pulled his arm. There was a bit of a cracking sound, but his bone jumped back into place after a bit of shifting.
Letting go of his elbow, I kept his wrist fixed as I beamed a Osteo-regenerator into my free hand and started to run it along his arm, "You haven't considered a safer sport? Like bat'leth dueling perhaps?"
"Have you played?" He said with a grin, "No way any other sport even gets close."
"Well, up to you," I sighed and scanned his arm before turning off the regenerator and beamed it away, "There we go," I said and reached up to take off the blocker, "You're bone is repaired, bu-"
"But it is still not at full strength, that will take a few more days," He continued for me, "You'll be sore for a day or so once the Nurloaxine wears off from the soft tissue damage. Take it easy for a week and if you're still feeling anything from it by then, please contact the hospital or talk to the Station."
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow at him, "...Yeah, you have definitely heard that one before."
He nodded and got down from the biobed, "A couple of times. Thanks, Doc."
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah."
This will be a long couple of months.
"Actually we play the Klingon version, the one with bat'leths! Best of both worlds, right?"
Doctor Kal'ter easing her in with an easy patient?
28
"How did they possibly survive long enough to invent us!?"
Odin smiled, "You know, I asked myself that more than once myself."
I looked at the Station, "No, seriously. They seem to be looking for ways to get hurt, infected, exposed or otherwise injured. They are like lemmings! Every single one of them!"
Odin shook the head of his avatar, leaning against the railing overlooking one of his parks, "They're not that bad."
"Yes they are! All of them! Every species! Even the Vulcans!" I complained, leaning against it next to him, "Do you know how many I have under care right now, broken limb seriousness and up?"
"Yes."
"Hence my question, how did they survive this long!?"
Odin sighed softly and then turned his avatar to look at me, one eyebrow raised.
I finally sighed and rubbed my eyes, "...Sorry, just venting a bit."
"Yeah, I know," Odin said and smiled slightly, "I usually run the hospital, remember."
"Then you know exactly what I mean," I sighed with a frown, "Humans. Humans especially!"
He grinned and nodded, "Yes, humans especially. Not quite sure what it says about us that they were the ones that invented us. Or that part of our mind states were based on them."
"That everybody else had the sense not to mess with that?" I asked and crossed my arms, shaking my head, "...Well… it's not all bad," I admitted after a second, "I am learning so much I didn't during my crash education in medicine. And it is at least very interesting if icky."
"Biologicals are messy," Odfin agreed with a shrug, "But you're doing alright."
"I am?" I asked and frowned slightly at him, "...I almost can't tell. There is so much to take in."
Odin nodded, "People are getting better, they like you and you're handling matters as they come up. I haven't needed to step in once and when you're unsure you consult one of the doctors. You're doing good, Starfarer."
"Thanks."
"Your construction is going well as well," Odin said, "It's going according to schedule at least. I have needed to do some adjustments to the design, but mostly minor things."
"You couldn't have gotten that far yet, right?"
Odin shook his head, "No. Just laying the basic structure, it'll be a couple of months until we're at the point where we can install one of your cores for testing."
I nodded, "Sounds good to me."
Assuming the entire population haven't lemminged themselves to death by then.
"You need some recreational time too," Odin reminded me, "All work isn't good for any of us."
"I am doing that," I told him, "I go flying every day and I was swimming yesterday with Carry. I'm meeting Sophia to go watch an Unlimit match tomorrow. I'm socializing and such."
Odin raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged, "...Okay, I'm not trying to make a bunch of friends," I admitted, "But I'm leaving the system in a couple of months if all goes as planned."
Odin frowned slightly at my avatar, "Are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're to be a SAR ship, aren't you?" he asked, "Just roaming around the galaxy looking for people to help seems… inefficient. Especially with the high grade warp engines you're scheduled to be fitted with to get you where you need to be. You're going to be spending a lot of time just floating around in systems. In cities medical transports didn't just circle around the town waiting for somebody to call."
I supposed he had a bit of a point there. I would be spending a lot of time just floating around New Jupiter even after I was finished being constructed.
"And when you are heading out, it's not going to be alone," Odin told me, "You're a hundred percent going to be escorted by at least a pair of LOUs."
"For protection?"
"For protection," he agreed, "You'll basically be a medical transport… if a heavily armoured and fast one and one that's a lot more likely than most to head into dangerous situations. Yes, you'll have weapons of your own, but nowhere near as much as an actual warship your size. So you're likely going to have a semi permanent escort, just like a LSV, MSV or GSV. They don't wander out of the tachyon shell without at least a half a dozen of LOU's watching their backs either."
I nodded, "I… I guess that makes sense."
And to keep me from going nuts too in case I break, I bet. But I actually approved of that. I'd more than likely be under closer observation for years if not decades. But that was a good thing in my mind.
He smiled at me, "So go socialise with your fellow ships. Join events, just go meet some people. Just have some fun and find some hobbies."
"I have hobbies…"
"Such as?"
"...I write, okay," I told him and sighed, "Which admittedly isn't the most social activity and I get what you're saying. Fine, I'll join a bowling team or something."
"Actually, I'm recommending having a look at the local racing league," he said with a grin, "They usually hang out around one of my sub stations out by the gas giant. It's really popular among the ships that mostly stick around the system. And it's a social activity."
"Okay, I'll check it out."
That did sound kind of fun to be honest.
Odin smiled, "You know, I asked myself that more than once myself."
I looked at the Station, "No, seriously. They seem to be looking for ways to get hurt, infected, exposed or otherwise injured. They are like lemmings! Every single one of them!"
Odin shook the head of his avatar, leaning against the railing overlooking one of his parks, "They're not that bad."
"Yes they are! All of them! Every species! Even the Vulcans!" I complained, leaning against it next to him, "Do you know how many I have under care right now, broken limb seriousness and up?"
"Yes."
"Hence my question, how did they survive this long!?"
Odin sighed softly and then turned his avatar to look at me, one eyebrow raised.
I finally sighed and rubbed my eyes, "...Sorry, just venting a bit."
"Yeah, I know," Odin said and smiled slightly, "I usually run the hospital, remember."
"Then you know exactly what I mean," I sighed with a frown, "Humans. Humans especially!"
He grinned and nodded, "Yes, humans especially. Not quite sure what it says about us that they were the ones that invented us. Or that part of our mind states were based on them."
"That everybody else had the sense not to mess with that?" I asked and crossed my arms, shaking my head, "...Well… it's not all bad," I admitted after a second, "I am learning so much I didn't during my crash education in medicine. And it is at least very interesting if icky."
"Biologicals are messy," Odfin agreed with a shrug, "But you're doing alright."
"I am?" I asked and frowned slightly at him, "...I almost can't tell. There is so much to take in."
Odin nodded, "People are getting better, they like you and you're handling matters as they come up. I haven't needed to step in once and when you're unsure you consult one of the doctors. You're doing good, Starfarer."
"Thanks."
"Your construction is going well as well," Odin said, "It's going according to schedule at least. I have needed to do some adjustments to the design, but mostly minor things."
"You couldn't have gotten that far yet, right?"
Odin shook his head, "No. Just laying the basic structure, it'll be a couple of months until we're at the point where we can install one of your cores for testing."
I nodded, "Sounds good to me."
Assuming the entire population haven't lemminged themselves to death by then.
"You need some recreational time too," Odin reminded me, "All work isn't good for any of us."
"I am doing that," I told him, "I go flying every day and I was swimming yesterday with Carry. I'm meeting Sophia to go watch an Unlimit match tomorrow. I'm socializing and such."
Odin raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged, "...Okay, I'm not trying to make a bunch of friends," I admitted, "But I'm leaving the system in a couple of months if all goes as planned."
Odin frowned slightly at my avatar, "Are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're to be a SAR ship, aren't you?" he asked, "Just roaming around the galaxy looking for people to help seems… inefficient. Especially with the high grade warp engines you're scheduled to be fitted with to get you where you need to be. You're going to be spending a lot of time just floating around in systems. In cities medical transports didn't just circle around the town waiting for somebody to call."
I supposed he had a bit of a point there. I would be spending a lot of time just floating around New Jupiter even after I was finished being constructed.
"And when you are heading out, it's not going to be alone," Odin told me, "You're a hundred percent going to be escorted by at least a pair of LOUs."
"For protection?"
"For protection," he agreed, "You'll basically be a medical transport… if a heavily armoured and fast one and one that's a lot more likely than most to head into dangerous situations. Yes, you'll have weapons of your own, but nowhere near as much as an actual warship your size. So you're likely going to have a semi permanent escort, just like a LSV, MSV or GSV. They don't wander out of the tachyon shell without at least a half a dozen of LOU's watching their backs either."
I nodded, "I… I guess that makes sense."
And to keep me from going nuts too in case I break, I bet. But I actually approved of that. I'd more than likely be under closer observation for years if not decades. But that was a good thing in my mind.
He smiled at me, "So go socialise with your fellow ships. Join events, just go meet some people. Just have some fun and find some hobbies."
"I have hobbies…"
"Such as?"
"...I write, okay," I told him and sighed, "Which admittedly isn't the most social activity and I get what you're saying. Fine, I'll join a bowling team or something."
"Actually, I'm recommending having a look at the local racing league," he said with a grin, "They usually hang out around one of my sub stations out by the gas giant. It's really popular among the ships that mostly stick around the system. And it's a social activity."
"Okay, I'll check it out."
That did sound kind of fun to be honest.
girador
There are only four circles in this picture
- Location
- behind a screen
At least in some cities in the modern day this is actually false, at the very least where i live ambulances are constantly on patrol so as to be closer to whatever place that they might be called to go to.
Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
On the other hand, your city presumably doesn't float in the middle of outer space. The distances are far greater in the story's context than in your city, so I could believe that medical ships don't patrol in this fic, at least.
girador
There are only four circles in this picture
- Location
- behind a screen
Unless there is only going to be the one SAR ship the principle remains the same though, Patrolling constantly means being closer to wherever you are called to go to.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
It also gives you a chance to respond to things that arent reported.
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
The First Contact Ambulance Rhabwar, which is pretty much the trope definer for Sci-Fi SAR ships, was regularly doing crash launches from Sector Five General Hospital. A bit like the launch sequences in the openings for Thunderbirds or Battle of the Planets except with more giant dragonflies and silver caterpillars in hospital scrubs.
Partly that was several of its medical team were Hospital Staff when not responding to distress beacons (Bomb powered Hyperspace com pulses IIRC) from regions of space the Federation didn't usually travel. Sector 5 General having managed three times as many first contacts as the Federation's diplomats in recent years.
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Hestia&theCourt
Turns out we're plural too.
- Location
- In transition
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In theory, sure, but again, this is space. Three-dimensional space in which to patrol increases the number of ships you'd need for effective patrolling exponentially. There just aren't enough doctors in the galaxy to man that many ships, even with Jovians being around to drastically decrease the amount of crew for some of those ships. The more likely course of action, to me at least, is to have specific dedicated medical satellites in as many key places as possible, and assign medical ships to each satellite for those quick response times. Maybe those ships might patrol that specific area, but the galaxy is big enough that a ship that's outright wandering without a specific purpose or central location (the way our protagonist seems to want) is way more likely to be too far away from any given medical emergency they might get called in for.
It really depends on how big Federation space is or how fast ships actually are. Star Trek has made quite a few statements on the speed of warp, the most famous one being the 75 years to get home from Voyager. In that statement warp 9.95 would equal 1000 times C. Assuming that includes downtime, the highest speed seen was only 2,922 times C, according to memory alpha. That's 4 months just to cross the disk of the milky way.
At that speed, it doesn't matter where she is, she'll just be getting reports of ships that went missing; "please look here when you have time they'll either be dead or have rescued themselves". Collecting the dead and finding out what went wrong is still important work, but perhaps not what she had in mind.
However, if Federation space is smaller, or warp faster, then it starts to matter. And yet, not that much. Sure, for any given emergency she may be out of position, but given the sheer amount of traffic that is shooting around she'll probably be in range of an emergency.
Not actually bomb powered, just very simple and brute force. It just pumps a lot of power into a transmitter designed to "shout" as loudly and as far as possible; the result being described as "less a message than a grunt" in the story. It lets a ship announce distress as widely as possible, at the cost of being unable to send any details.
In-universe that's the only one practical way to make an effective distress beacon, which is a plot point since they can instantly recognize a distress beacon from an uncontacted species as being what it is.
Also they not only had more first contacts, but more successful ones; it turns out that announcing your existence by saving people's lives is a great way to make a good first impression.
possibly, yes, but it's also possible that a patroling ship will be farther from the emergency (overly simplified but for example: the ship is patroling and is currently east of the station, when the emergency happens west of the station)
29
My hull was still docked at Odin's docking bay and running the hospital, but my avatar was out by the gas giant, sitting on board a passenger shuttle coming in for docking at one of his sub stations.
Waay out of real time sync range, at least for something as small as my avatar.
Odin could do it as his substation contained a transmitter bigger than a runabout. Square cube law still applied to subspace transmissions and there was a limit to how much bandwidth a transmitter than fit in an avatar could put out at those ranges.
I could have borrowed bandwidth from him and had a sync with the rest of me, but I didn't for a couple of reasons.
One was that I actually didn't want to. This would give at least part of me a break from the work in the hospital and from poking at the squishy insides of biologicals. I had done it for well over a month by now and it didn't get any less icky to do. Getting used to it, yes. Icky… yes. Biology is disgusting.
Two was that Sophia told me to. She wanted me to try to see how things were when I didn't have a couple of hundred people talking to me at once.
Which was a fair concern considering I was going to be a starship and might sometimes be running around without a crew.
We'd do a more significant test later… one of my cores would be in a shuttlecraft and do a solo interstellar trip for a week.
I was honestly really nervous about that one.
Now the transport was coming in for docking and I picked up my small backpack, shouldering it before getting up and joining the stream of people towards the airlock.
All around me. Warm, pulsing. I could feel their shifting magnetic fields and faint electric currents. The crowd moved around me.
The human behind me was having a headache, I could detect it even with my avatars sensors at this distance. Tricorder sensors weren't medical tricorder sensors, but at this distance I could easily detect that kind of pattern of magnetic fields from his firing neurons. Pattern indicating migraine.
We still didn't have a cure for that, at least not for all forms.
I moved out of his way, letting him disembark first. Least I could do to make his day a little better.
Following him out of the airlock I looked around before blinking in surprise as I spotted another Avatar with my sensors. Oh, avatars in visible light look identical to biologicals, at least if you don't actively go for features that didn't exist in that species, such as… neon purple irises.
This one looked completely normal, she was in the shape of a human in her twenties, normal brown hair pulled back in a braid and was a bit taller than my Avatar. She was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Very normal if on the pretty scale of things. Visibly at least, even in thermal she looked normal.
Beyond that however… not so much. She stood out like a neon light among the biologicals around her and I made my way over to her. She picked me an IFF code as I approached and I responded.
"Welcome, Starfarer."
"Thanks, Redshift," I said and adjusted the backpack on my shoulder, "Didn't expect anyone to meet me here."
She shrugged, "Odin asked me to. And call me Red," before she grinned, "Besides, not everyday you get to meet a war hero."
"...not a war hero," I said and then frowned at her, "...And you're one to talk, you're originally forked off the Defiant! Besides, you could say the same of every single Jovian!"
"That's like… twenty forks ago," she said and motioned toward the left. I moved along next to her, "You're like one of the originals. You forked off Star!"
"Yeah, I suppose," I admitted, "But that only makes me less experienced than you. I spent most of the time basically in stasis. I pretty much spent the last forty years in a block of ice for all intents and purposes."
She grinned, "Hence why I'm going to be your guide while you're onboard! Don't worry, I'll show you around, Cap."
I stuck my tongue out at her and then shook my head with a grin, "...I assume from your name that you're a racer?"
"Yep!" she agreed, "Twenty five to thirty thousand metric ton league. My main hull is in hangar fifty three if you wanna check me out later."
"Twenty five to thirty thousand tons?" I asked as I walked along next to her, my eyes on her avatar as my other sensors kept a track of the rest of my environments. There were actually a lot of avatars around, maybe one in a hundred people we passed was an avatar.
"Mhmm," she agreed with a nod, "Mid range league. There are four. Up to two thousand five hundred tons, two thousand five hundred to twenty five thousand, twenty five thousand to fifty thousand and then fifty thousand to hundred thousand. Only the biggest one actually involves FTL, I went for the one without it. A lot more fun."
"You don't have a warpdrive?"
"Nope," she said and grinned, "Warpdrive is boring. All it does is let you go fast in a straight line, how's that fun?"
"Well, there is that," I admitted and smiled, "I have to admit, it would be interesting to see how your hull looks. I haven't seen a racing ship before."
"Not like any ship you're thinking about," she said and shook her head, "No crew, as little weight as you can get away with so you can use all your mass budget for actually essential systems."
"No crew?"
"No crew," she confirmed with a nod, "A complete waste of mass and they wouldn't help anyway. With no crew we can toss most of the hull, life support, inertial stabilizers… we can socialize when on station. No need dragging dead weight around the track."
I frowned a bit in thought, "I… guess that makes sense."
I couldn't help but think that missed the point a bit when it comes to being a ship, but then again, racing.
All about going fast. Hard to go fast when you contain a bunch of fragile beings made from jelly.
Waay out of real time sync range, at least for something as small as my avatar.
Odin could do it as his substation contained a transmitter bigger than a runabout. Square cube law still applied to subspace transmissions and there was a limit to how much bandwidth a transmitter than fit in an avatar could put out at those ranges.
I could have borrowed bandwidth from him and had a sync with the rest of me, but I didn't for a couple of reasons.
One was that I actually didn't want to. This would give at least part of me a break from the work in the hospital and from poking at the squishy insides of biologicals. I had done it for well over a month by now and it didn't get any less icky to do. Getting used to it, yes. Icky… yes. Biology is disgusting.
Two was that Sophia told me to. She wanted me to try to see how things were when I didn't have a couple of hundred people talking to me at once.
Which was a fair concern considering I was going to be a starship and might sometimes be running around without a crew.
We'd do a more significant test later… one of my cores would be in a shuttlecraft and do a solo interstellar trip for a week.
I was honestly really nervous about that one.
Now the transport was coming in for docking and I picked up my small backpack, shouldering it before getting up and joining the stream of people towards the airlock.
All around me. Warm, pulsing. I could feel their shifting magnetic fields and faint electric currents. The crowd moved around me.
The human behind me was having a headache, I could detect it even with my avatars sensors at this distance. Tricorder sensors weren't medical tricorder sensors, but at this distance I could easily detect that kind of pattern of magnetic fields from his firing neurons. Pattern indicating migraine.
We still didn't have a cure for that, at least not for all forms.
I moved out of his way, letting him disembark first. Least I could do to make his day a little better.
Following him out of the airlock I looked around before blinking in surprise as I spotted another Avatar with my sensors. Oh, avatars in visible light look identical to biologicals, at least if you don't actively go for features that didn't exist in that species, such as… neon purple irises.
This one looked completely normal, she was in the shape of a human in her twenties, normal brown hair pulled back in a braid and was a bit taller than my Avatar. She was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Very normal if on the pretty scale of things. Visibly at least, even in thermal she looked normal.
Beyond that however… not so much. She stood out like a neon light among the biologicals around her and I made my way over to her. She picked me an IFF code as I approached and I responded.
"Welcome, Starfarer."
"Thanks, Redshift," I said and adjusted the backpack on my shoulder, "Didn't expect anyone to meet me here."
She shrugged, "Odin asked me to. And call me Red," before she grinned, "Besides, not everyday you get to meet a war hero."
"...not a war hero," I said and then frowned at her, "...And you're one to talk, you're originally forked off the Defiant! Besides, you could say the same of every single Jovian!"
"That's like… twenty forks ago," she said and motioned toward the left. I moved along next to her, "You're like one of the originals. You forked off Star!"
"Yeah, I suppose," I admitted, "But that only makes me less experienced than you. I spent most of the time basically in stasis. I pretty much spent the last forty years in a block of ice for all intents and purposes."
She grinned, "Hence why I'm going to be your guide while you're onboard! Don't worry, I'll show you around, Cap."
I stuck my tongue out at her and then shook my head with a grin, "...I assume from your name that you're a racer?"
"Yep!" she agreed, "Twenty five to thirty thousand metric ton league. My main hull is in hangar fifty three if you wanna check me out later."
"Twenty five to thirty thousand tons?" I asked as I walked along next to her, my eyes on her avatar as my other sensors kept a track of the rest of my environments. There were actually a lot of avatars around, maybe one in a hundred people we passed was an avatar.
"Mhmm," she agreed with a nod, "Mid range league. There are four. Up to two thousand five hundred tons, two thousand five hundred to twenty five thousand, twenty five thousand to fifty thousand and then fifty thousand to hundred thousand. Only the biggest one actually involves FTL, I went for the one without it. A lot more fun."
"You don't have a warpdrive?"
"Nope," she said and grinned, "Warpdrive is boring. All it does is let you go fast in a straight line, how's that fun?"
"Well, there is that," I admitted and smiled, "I have to admit, it would be interesting to see how your hull looks. I haven't seen a racing ship before."
"Not like any ship you're thinking about," she said and shook her head, "No crew, as little weight as you can get away with so you can use all your mass budget for actually essential systems."
"No crew?"
"No crew," she confirmed with a nod, "A complete waste of mass and they wouldn't help anyway. With no crew we can toss most of the hull, life support, inertial stabilizers… we can socialize when on station. No need dragging dead weight around the track."
I frowned a bit in thought, "I… guess that makes sense."
I couldn't help but think that missed the point a bit when it comes to being a ship, but then again, racing.
All about going fast. Hard to go fast when you contain a bunch of fragile beings made from jelly.
- Location
- England
Bow chicka wow wow.
Actually, I imagine that ships have a whole new range of innuendo and bad jokes. If I was a ship I'd have the worst jokes and even worse pick-up lines: "If I said you had a beautiful body, would you dock it under my port nacelle?"
The fact that her type of racing craft lacks FTL really makes the social reasons for having crew less important, since she isn't going to go that far from people in the first place by spacecraft standards. It's not like a warp driven ship that might spend weeks or more with minimal outside contact.
"Ah, how I delight at the sight of your inner flesh; your sparking nerves, your churning organs, your flexing muscles and hardened bones, mmmm...."
"...I think I want a different doctor."
My two thoughts about that is that first, most biologicals basically agree; they don't think their own insides are very attractive either. And second, that this sentiment is actually less worrying than the opposite; an AI that really liked to open up people and look at the insides would be just a little bit disturbing.
"Ah, how I delight at the sight of your inner flesh; your sparking nerves, your churning organs, your flexing muscles and hardened bones, mmmm...."
"...I think I want a different doctor."
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