Boundary by Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor

Author:Eric Flint & Ryk E. Spoor [Flint, Eric & Spoor, Ryk E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure, Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Space Opera, Life on Other Planets, Fossils
ISBN: 9781416509325
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2005-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

“Wow.”

A.J. was simply staring around, grinning so widely that it looked like his face might split in two. “This is so cool.”

Ken tried to look professionally proud, but that comment broke through the feeble attempt. He grinned back like a kid finding his dad had built him a three-story treehouse. “Yeah, isn’t it?”

Nike’s bridge was arranged in a manner strongly reminiscent of many a fictional space vessel’s. It was a long, egg-shaped compartment, with duty stations spaced around the perimeter, and a central dais with a command and control console and chair—a Captain’s chair, clearly—which could swivel to survey any of the duty stations.

Dominating the bridge, however, was the tremendous viewport, covering most of the “ceiling” area. A span of pure velvet blackness showed through in the dimmed interior lighting, sprinkled with stars and crisscrossed with the argent webwork of the dry-dock facilities around Nike.

“That’s… a hell of a window,” Helen said finally. She realized she wasn’t as familiar with this part of the ship’s design. “Isn’t that a weak point in the structure? At least for radiation shielding?”

“Not really. It looks like clear glass, but that’s actually transparent composite. It’s coated with artificial diamond, and insulated with a foot and a half of optical aerogel with a high radiation shielding coefficient. The back section is similar but coated with an active-crystal matrix which can black it out—makes it reflective on the outside. And of course can be used to enhance anything you see through the port, or override it as a display, like a viewscreen. You actually have similar windows in your cabins; they just aren’t open right now, so to speak. Because of the heating effects and the potential danger of people blinding themselves looking at the sun, we’re keeping the window controls mostly to ourselves. We’ll leave them open in the cabins whenever it’s safe, once we’re underway. You can always shut them off, though.”

Helen waved her hand around the spacious bridge. “Let me guess. More political and publicity design compromises.”

Hathaway nodded. “Not so much compromises as just overkill again. You could really run Nike from a single enclosed room, if you had to, with nobody at the controls. We don’t really need a crew to fly this ship, although having one certainly acts as a failsafe. But… well, it just looks better this way. The public feels like they’re getting their money’s worth, and they ponied up a lot of it.

“The design is completely functional, too. You could in fact fly this ship on manual from the bridge, not that I’d ever want to see anyone try it. A.J., your station is right there.” He pointed to a console area in the front and to the right.

As A.J. floated himself over to the indicated area, Hathaway added: “The equipment isn’t a waste, either. Like almost everything else in the ship, it can either be used right where it sits or unshipped and brought down to Phobos.”

“Hey, this thing already ties right in with my VRD!”

“Of course it does, A.

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