There are enough of these life-pods (3 passengers) and life-boats (4-12 passengers) for everyone onboard –even at full capacity.
–
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Far More than Cruise Ships
- Concept
- Locations
- Access
- Capacity
- Tracking
- Inside
- Normal Landings
- Buoyancy
- Endless Air & Water
- Flight Controls and Limitations
- Using the Facilities
- Calling for Help
- Entertainment
- Repair
- Duration/Lifespan
- Planned Obsolescence
- Special Features
–
Introduction:
Capable of ferrying the entire occupancy of any spaceship many light-years away to safety and recovery, ejection modules, often called “life rafts” or “escape pods”, are the emergency evacuation option required by federal law. All sea-faring and space-faring vessels must have up-to-date ejection modules sufficient to comfortably expel their maximum allowable population. (That figure is usually double the given vessel’s standard crew and compliment, taking into consideration contractors, passengers, visitors, prisoners of war, and refugees.)
They (these escape-vessels) are there in case all ICVs are (for whatever reason, in some potential situations) not; when portal-ing to the escort/support ships is not available.
–
Far More than Cruise Ships:
Cruise ships (on Earth in the 20th century) were notorious for having substandard amounts and types of lifeboats. TNH is nothing like them; this starship has the best, they are inspected regularly, and each one has room and power to ferry and hibernate at least a few people. Because of TNH’s crew numbering in the thousands, and because of its capacity to take on at least ten thousand more, TNH’s outermost sections are lined with thousands of these pod-like lifeboats.
–
Concept:
The idea is simple; in an emergency, there often isn’t time to take roll-call, wait for larger Spacecraft (such as shuttles and DropShips) to fill up to ideal capacity, and then carefully maneuver them out of a hangar. In an emergency, people are panicked, scrambling for their lives, and will want to leave and get to a safe distance immediately. That means many of them will make tough or hasty decisions, sometimes ejecting the pod they make it to the moment they are in it, even if they are the only one there. Knowing that is a statistical probability and historical fact, the designers of TNH ensured there was room for enough of its lifeboats so that incidents like that would not leave anyone stranded on the main vessel, should it be in a failing state.
–
Locations:
The height of TNH is up to ~500′ (50 internal floors/levels/stories, though far-fewer floors where the multi-story hangars are), and
there are escape pods and boats on the top and bottom of TNH along its whole depth (“length”),
thus the longest distance anyone would likely have to travel, if they were in the 2 middle decks, is ~240′ up or down; ~24 floors.
- Arranging TNH’s lifeboats and pods around 4 of its 6 ‘faces’/sides (top, sides, and bottom, not its front or back ‘face’), we have fewer on the bottom (due to bomb-bay hatches already taking up much of the bottom surface) and sides (due the hangar hatches taking up much of the sides), so maybe 1/2 on top, and 1/6 on the 3 other available faces;
- 2,500 boats = 1,250 on top,
416 on each side,
and 418 on the bottom - 10,000 pods = 5,000 on top,
1,666 on each side,
and 1,668 on the bottom
To prevent pedestrian congestion (foot-traffic jams) toward those closest locations of these boats/pods, ICVs make sure they are directing everyone in the most-efficient way; the nearest ICV will always alert and guide the human TNH passengers/crewmates within hearing-range / arm’s-reach of her, their (the ICVs’) shared-consciousness ensuring only 3 of those people head to each vacant/unclaimed pod, and 4-12 (based on how many bags they are trying to bring with them) head to each vacant/unclaimed lifeboat.
–
Access:
Every lifeboat and life-pod (used interchangeably in this section) on TNH is behind an airlock that has three doors, all of which capable of being manually opened with a little effort; the first door is to/from the nearest TNH hallway, the second is designed to unlock and open once that first/inner door closes (and seals), and the third is up against the second, it being to/into the lifeboat itself. It is possible to override this system of sequenced doors so that all three will stay open until the lifeboat fills up with its intended number of users; this allows people to run straight into the lifeboat, saving precious seconds. The moment someone in the lifeboat pushes the eject button (located under a safety cover), all those doors will close (unless damaged, of course). *If a person or other object is in the way, preventing one of the doors from safely closing, the inner doors (of TNH) will not close/crush them, but will start blowing jets of annoying air out to encourage them to move out of the way, and very loud alarms with brightly-flashing lights will turn on, but the outer door (of the lifeboat) WILL CLOSE RAPIDLY AND NO MATTER WHAT.
Anyone can board a lifeboat and eject it.
–
Capacity:
Pods hold 3 human-sized passengers/evacuees.
vs.
Boats hold 12 without gear, or 8 with a (just 1 per person) “bugout bag”, and/but/or only 4 ppl if each has multiple items of luggage.
…
Calculated Minimum/Need:
- Dropships, shuttles, fighters, etc., can all be used to escape; room for some thousands
- Up to 64K ppl in TNH
- “thousands of lifeboats and pods” = >1,999
- 64,000/3 (i.e. 3 people per) would mean 21,334 3-person pods needed for that many TNH passengers
- 64,000/12 would mean 5,334 boats
- Since at least a few thousand can use other ships to escape, 60,000/12 = 5,000 boats
- If 30,000 ppl are meant to use the boats, that means 2,500 boats would be needed in TNH,
and the other 30,000 ppl then need 10,000 3-person pods.
–
Tracking:
All lifeboats/pods in TNH are monitored from the Bridge and CDC (and this includes their statuses; structural integrity, ability to undock/eject, food package reserves/supplies, etc.). Anytime one is boarded, one of the TNH crew members in those two areas of the ship are alerted. An intercom system allows crew members in either of those areas to speak directly with whomever is aboard any/all of the lifeboats.
Once outside TNH, they can be tracked by RADAR, LIDAR, transponders, and other means. Their trajectories can be plotted, determining where they will drift with the solar wind/s and potential gravity-wells. Depending on the local Space environment/conditions, tracking usually becomes less reliable when a lifeboat travels farther than several thousand kilometers away from TNH. (It can still be detected after that, but detection and trajectory-plotting is not as accurate; lifeboats can get mixed in with asteroid fields, for example, resulting in a lot of intermittent viewing/contact/tracking.)
–
Inside:
Once inside, users will find three seats with pull-down “cages” that protect them like those on roller-coasters, all three of those seats with their backs against the walls (arranged that way for speediest entry from the airlock, no one having to walk around a central pole to get to one of the seats). They are able to stand all the way up (provided they are not 8′ tall), and stretch their arms and legs all the way out. There is no privacy, though; even using the toilet requires staying on one of those three seats (designed that way so that users can stay safely in their pull-down cages the whole time, never having to risk getting bounced off the walls just to make it to where they can relieve themselves).
Lighting is non-fluorescent, and can be adjusted in multiple ways; there are four different control-panels for the different light-fixtures, one being at/for each seat, and the fourth being for the rest/overhead. Lights can be dimmed, set to indirect-lights only, or even turned off for napping/sleep. The lights are silent and will not heat up the interior/air of the lifeboat/pod.
Everything inside the lifeboat is nonflammable, including the seat cushions. Fire-suppression systems are based on sound, not sprinkler-heads or air-binding foam. Any Inisfreean (ICV) can also manually put out any sparks or flames.
–
Normal Landings:
This model is meant more for drifting in Space, and recovery out there, but it can still make a crude landing similar to that of the Earth humans’ Lunar Module/Lander; it can extend basic landing gear, and use its retro-rockets to perfect a controlled descent. A triple-parachute, followed by airbag-like inflatable exterior cushions/balloons, can also be deployed. This will help it slow down, aim for a level landing spot, and bounce a little if needed.
While the inflatable balloons, triple-parachute, and landing gear can all be recalled/retracted, a perfect second/successive deployment is not guaranteed (because they may bring in pebbles or other debris with them). Reuse these features/devices at your own risk. It is highly recommended that they be inspected and repacked by certified lifeboat technicians after every use, whenever possible.
–
Buoyancy:
In the event of a water-landing (and what an odd term that is; there is no literal land-ing when on water), these lifeboats/pods float and keep themselves upright. Even if their hatch is opened, and even if the lifeboat takes on water from a wave or other splashing, it is likely it will stay afloat. This is because it has several sealed compartments with contents lighter than water; they won’t flood, so it will continue to sit on the surface of a normal body of water.
–
Endless Air & Water:
TNH lifeboats/pods have air and water recycling systems, as well as life-support systems, allowing any number of their users to stay awake or asleep (hibernating; deepest sleep, without aging), as needed/desired. Users won’t run out of breathable air or drinkable water on them, but they will surely grow tired/disgusted of not having the ideal fresh stuff, and “cabin fever” always eventually sets in. It is best to put two humans and one Inisfreean in each lifeboat, whenever possible, as the Inisfreeans are incapable of losing their tempers, and are perfect at comforting everyone around them. (Their presence also keeps the people somewhat immortal and invincible, due to a highly classified technology perfected by their maker, meaning they won’t need to worry about hunger or radiation exposure.)
–
Flight Controls and Limitations:
These small vessels can be steered based on both retro-rockets and small Repulsines (though no one is told about the Repulsines being in them, and the Repulsines will self-disassemble/dissolve if the lifeboat/pod is captured, ensuring this technology cannot be noticed or reverse/back-engineered). Normally they are just allowed to drift until detected and pulled into a docking bay/hangar, saving their maneuvering fuel/energy as a last-resort. They are not fast enough to fly like fighter-jets or other Spacecraft.
–
Using the Facilities:
Human waste goes into suction toilets, and can either be sent to tiny ejection airlocks, or into conversion systems which will use it as fertilizer once it has been sterilized. Nobody wants to eat food grown out of their own excrement, though, so air-tight food-rations (similar to MREs) are stocked in the wall compartments. The ration ingredients are specifically chosen to provide just the right kind of nutrients and calories for prolonged and sedentary journeys in Space lifeboats/pods.
–
Calling for Help:
Multiple location beacons provide a steady and silent (to lifeboat/pod users) “ping” that all allied powers’ Spacecraft will detect. Interference from Space weather, nebulae, or other things are usually negligible –due to how one of these beacons is designed to function like an Ansible (meaning it does not need line-of-sight, and that its signal strength does not degrade over great distances). All beacons will stay on unless manually overridden from within the lifeboat.
Users can also speak into a microphone-and-transmitter system, selecting any or all frequencies to broadcast on. Multiple antennae are built into the lifeboat, so if one becomes inoperable/damaged then there is redundancy and spare parts. This system is intended more for communicating with approaching rescuers once they are within RADAR/visual range, though.
–
Entertainment:
There are no speakers to play music while in one of these lifeboats/pods, so anything like that is up to the users to have on them when they make their way here. Inisfreeans, however, can mimic any song perfectly –both the vocals and instrumentals, due to their special vocal-chords. They’ll know any song you want to sing/hear, and can teach you how to tap your hands on the various surfaces of the lifeboat to keep time with the beat –and they will always sense when someone in the lifeboat isn’t in the mood for any music or fun, in which case they’ll ask you to wait a bit.
–
Repair:
Damage to the lifeboats/pods can always be repaired by an Inisfreean (ICV), even if it is on the outside. Inisfreeans can teleport themselves anywhere, including in and out of these lifeboats, and they don’t require Spacesuits, but can always summon the one assigned to them. They can also teleport lifeboat users with them anywhere, teleport people from TNH directly into a lifeboat (and are perfectly coordinated with all other Inisfreeans, ensuring no one ends up teleporting into them or overfilling a lifeboat), and can even teleport the lifeboat along with them (which might be necessary to move it out of harm’s way, should it not be fast enough to avoid incoming fire, the tail of a comet, chaotic Spaceship debris, etc.). Inisfreeans are programmed not to do any of that, though, except in absolutely necessary/dire situations; part of their Prime Directive is to conceal all the advanced technology and capabilities of their kind, using standard human ones (low-tech’) whenever possible.
–
Duration/Lifespan:
Depending on the exertion/needs within it, a TNH lifeboat/pod can/will last (and keep its users/occupants) alive (and usually hibernating) for many years. This is rarely necessary, though, as
- an Inisfreean is almost always going to be onboard, and
- with the overlapping Space territories of Inisfree’s many alliances, rescue is practically guaranteed within days, at most, anywhere in known Space.
The time it takes to get to one of these lifeboats is usually only dependent upon how long it takes a humanoid, such as a Kryptonian, to disguise his/herself as a normal rescue worker (again, so that the humans out where TNH operates continue to self-isolate, thinking themselves to be the only ones/tech’).
Without rescue, one of these lifeboats can drift for multiple light-years under normal Space conditions (excepting solar-flares, worm-holes, etc.).
–
Planned Obsolescence:
The maker of TNH understood more about how humans (namely via their minds/thoughts/auras) cause “planned obsolescence” even when they aren’t consciously engineering it into their machines and other creations. He knew that once the Inisfreeans complete the social experiment of serving with the select humans from 34 Tauri aboard TNH, that the ship (and all its lifeboats/pods and other docked vessels) would eventually start to deteriorate. Humans are also much more prone to manifesting and over-complicating tense and combat situations, so, even though Inisfreeans can easily teleport everyone onboard any ship they are on… out in any direction to total safety, it made sense to include thousands of these lifeboats for the inevitable later-future moments when the humans who inherit TNH will undoubtedly end up needing them. (Inisfreeans will only be onboard for a decade or two, and then they will visit TNH no more… except once it becomes a derelict.)
–
Special Features:
Some escape-pods are not on the TNH schematics in any database, and some pods pass through hidden portals back to star-bases (military facilities, planet-side), while others are disguised as trash.
–
–