Boggle Arts Plays - Dangerous Insight

Artificial Intelligence Based Motion Tracking Aboard The Cormorant

2009-01-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

The Cormorant is equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Motion Tracking logic and sensors in every corridor and room of the Command Module and Propulsion Module. Even the private, living area cabins are so equipped. All Goliath and Goliath 2 Class, Super-Heavy Freight Trains are so equipped and it is mandated by the Columbus Moon Base Treaty of 2108. The reason for such surveillance is to provide for legal documentation in the event of Class A criminal acts (e.g. murder, man-slaughter, rape, and similar acts doing major bodily harm). Since the crews aboard these Goliath Class freight trains traverse the solar system for years at a time, without significant time-off, there have been several incidents of crew members severely fighting, resulting in deaths from injuries sustained during these fights. There is no law mandating that the captain hire private security officers for police protection. And, as a result of cursory psychiatric exams when hiring crew members, some violent personalities are hired on some vessels. So, all the space faring nations on Earth and all the colonies on the Earth's Moon and Mars gathered together on the Earth's Moon Base Columbus in 2108 to formulate and ratify this treaty mandating such intrusive surveillance. But, the only person who has the passcodes and authorizations to view these surveillance videos is the captain, by law.

Joi Lewis, aboard the Cormorant, is way too smart for her own good, though. The surveillance system is self-contained and operated by its own quantum computer system, which is completely isolated from any other system aboard ship, with its own highly encrypted security system protecting its data. But, Joi found a way to trick the system in believing she is a surrogate for the captain, one day, and thus, was allowed access. She used her strong, short-range telekinetic power to manipulate selective quantum states of the logic of the computer into accepting her voice command as being a surrogate for Nate's voice (her dad), the real captain! This was an amazing feat! She was simply bored one day and decided to play with the quantum logic circuits, telekinetically. She was just randomly manipulating it and confusing it with her telekinetic power, in Engineering. The reason why Nate did not notice this is because this was during the normal sleep period for the crew. Joi's metabolism is higher than normal. She doesn't need 8 hours of sleep each day. She finds 5 to 6 hours sufficient, to be fully rested. So, she often sits at her main command console in Engineering, by herself, during the normal sleep period, thinking about enhancing the ship's systems and playing telekinetic games.

Biometric Keys Aboard The Cormorant

2009-01-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

All the compartment hatches and all the computer controlled systems are activated and locked using biometric signatures, aboard the Cormorant and all other outer-space freight trains. Since the first Goliath Class of freight train (i.e. The class to which the Cormorant belongs.), manual key cards and combination codes were eliminated as a verification to unlock and lock doors and systems. These cards and memorized combination codes were too easily stolen or forgotten. So, unique physical attributes, or biometrics, are now employed in all the super heavy, Goliath Class freight train systems. The most popular of biometric signature is the retinal and full hand scan. In addition to mapping the construction of the retina and the hand skin texture lines, the temperature of the eye or hand is determined (using radiative heat) to verify that these objects are still alive! Thus, the actual construction characteristics of the eye or hand, along with, verifying that these objects are still producing enough heat to assure that they are still living organisms provides for an almost fool-proof mechanism of verification.

Joi Lewis loves to use biometric verification for her systems. Some time ago, she programmed her engineering systems to recognize her voice, as well. But, this often proved to be inaccurate. The human voice varies quite a lot with health of the person. For example, when one has a viral or bacterial infection, the voice can change radically, temporarily. Trying to map all these variations of one's voice proved to severely weaken the security. But, Joi left this voice recognition system in-place for her non-critical, routinely controlled engineering systems. She loves to just talk to the computer to initiate changes, instead of having to type these commands. Using her new Apple ElectroStorm PDA, she now can control all non-critical engineering systems remotely, as well. Since John and Joi share a strong telepathic link with each other, when Joi uses her ElectroStorm to control any engineering system, John immediately knows about it. Joi added a rudimentary AI system to the their ElectroStorm PDAs. This amplifies and re-transmits the electromagnetic telepathic signals from both of them so that they can telepathically communicate with each other anywhere in the ship, at long distances, even engulfed in all the EMI from the various ship's systems. For privacy, she tuned this to respond only to their unique patterns. Joi spent 14 weeks perfecting this AI logic, long before she bought the Apple ElectroStorm PDAs (which was recently). She used the main Engineering computer, along with, the numerous EM transmitters and receivers in Engineering to develop and qualify the code. Every time John enters Engineering, he gets a strong rush of thoughts from Joi. Joi left this test system in-place in Engineering. John finds this form of communication highly erotic and intimate.

Kilimanjaro Class and Vesuvius Class Outer-Space Tugs

2008-12-27T10:08:00.015-07:00

There are two classes of outer-space tugs in common use, the Kilimanjaro and Vesuvius classes. The Kilimanjaro Class can push up to 100,000 tonnes and the Vesuvius Class can push up to 30,000 tonnes. The Vesuvius Class tug is, by far, the most prevalent. Most of the space freighters are single hull vessels. So, their fully loaded mass is limited to 80,000 tonnes. The Cormorant, however, is the first generation of Goliath Class (i.e. super-heavy) space freight trains which have a fully loaded, upper limit mass of 300,000 tonnes! The propulsion system of the Vesuvius Class tug is a combination of chemical hydrazine and ion. Ion thrust is too weak for starting and stopping a towed vessel, because the Vesuvius Class tug is too small to house a large enough Ion engine. Ion thrust is used for the long duration movement, once the speed of the vessel is 70% of the maximum cruising speed. Because the Vesuvius Class relies on chemical, hydrazine thrust, its range is limited to the maximum orbital distance of the moons of a planet. The Kilimanjaro Class, however, has Anti-Matter engines. Again, ion thrust is too weak to get the towed vessel started and stopped efficiently. So, the anti-matter thrust is used to get the towed vessel up to 70% of the maximum cruising speed, where the ion thrust takes-over for the long duration trip between planets and/or moons.

Nathan Lewis usually pushes five cargo/passenger modules, which includes the Permanent Passenger Module, which is where the crew members live, and where all of the life-support ecosystems are housed, such as, the hydroponic garden. The Cormorant is capable of pushing up to eight cargo/passenger modules, though. The Cormorant originally had an upper limit, fully loaded mass of 280,000 tonnes. But, since Joi Lewis installed the new PPA960 fusion reactors (The Cormorant uses four reactors.), the maximum fully loaded mass went up to the legal limit of 300,000 tonnes. The legal limit is set based upon the maximum attainable acceleration for the installed engines. The Goliath II Class of space freight train has a maximum fully loaded mass of 370,000 tonnes! But, this behemoth of super classes uses an entirely different Propulsion Module and the Cormorant is not rated for such. So, the power output of the PPA960 fusion reactors brought the Cormorant up to the maximum payload level that it will ever attain.

To push a Goliath Class freight train, at least three Kilimanjaro Class tugs are required. Two tugs push at the Propulsion Module and one pushes at the Command Module. Never does any tug push from one of the cargo/passenger modules. The module couplings are way too weak to support that kind of stress. The law requires that at least two tugs be used at all times, one at the stern and one at the bow. In the case of a multi-module freight train, the stern is where the Propulsion Module is and the bow is where the Command Module is. There has been situations where a large number of Vesuvius Class tugs were employed, instead of only three Kilimanjaro Class tugs, for pushing a Goliath Class freight train. But, this is highly inefficient, because of the enormous amount of hydrazine fuel required and the coordination of 7 to 10 Vesuvius Class tugs. The AI logic aboard these tugs are simplistic. They are usually manually piloted, because of this.

The Cost Of Fuel And Maintenance To Operate The Cormorant

2008-11-29T09:35:00.003-07:00

Since the Cormorant is the first generation of heavy class (203,000 tonnes) interplanetary outer-space freight trains, the cost of the hydrogen, with some helium, to fuel it is tremendous! The fuel amounts to about 60% of the operating cost. And routine maintenance amounts to about 10%. So, there is about 70% of the operating cost that Nate cannot reduce in any way! This imposes a crushing burden on Nate. He has little, and often no, flexibility to upgrade and modernize the systems on the Cormorant. The ship is 12 years old. That may not sound old. But, the propulsion engines and fusion power reactors have a useful life of less than 20 years. The engines and power reactors are original equipment. So, Nate is tremendously worried about this. His profit margin for each cargo run is thin. At this rate, he won't be able to replace the fusion power reactors with new ones in 6 years, as will be required. After numerous discussions with Carrie about this dilemma, he wants to solicit more military and scientific expeditions, instead of just hauling common cargo. The military pays a high premium for their precious cargo and personnel and government funded scientific expeditions also pay extraordinarily high. The reason is because their cargo is usually dangerous and/or they want to go beyond Jupiter, out to the moons of Saturn, where there are no facilities stationed to service commercial traffic. Carrie is worried about these ultra high risks. But, her objections are waning in the face of extreme poverty.

Cuisine Aboard The Cormorant

2008-11-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

The cuisine aboard the Cormorant, as with all long-haul space freighters, is mostly nourishing. But, since the Cormorant is a heavy class space freight train (not just a single hull freighter), there is an enormous amount of power available from its four 3100 MW fusion reactors (two reactors are sufficient to operate all the vital systems) and gobs of space! Because of these rich resources, Nate installed, early-on, a huge hydroponic garden in the Permanent Passenger Module, where they live. Nate hates to routinely eat reconstituted food from freeze dried components. That's what he ate when he was in the Space Command military when he was young and despised it! So, directly after he took possession of the Cormorant (from Carrie's father) and before he left Earth's orbit on his first cargo run, he converted two of the passenger cabins into a state-of-the-art hydroponic garden. He knocked-out the dividing wall between the two cabins, ripped-out all the standard lighting and covered the ceiling with grow-lights, ripped-out all the furniture and cabinets and had installed raised growing beds, and had the space re-plumbed, extensively, with water piping to service the grow beds. He also had to have a separate dehumidifying system installed to service just the hydroponic compartment. The excessive humidity from all that water would overwhelm the standard life-support system.

Because they grow copious amounts of vegetables and some fruits, the cuisine is actually extensively varied and quite tasty. Nate's late wife (Joi's mother) was a wonderful cook. Nate keeps being reminded of her every time he eats supper. But, Nate doesn't get maudlin about it, any more, that is. So, Joi picked-up that cooking torch and ran with it. Joi enjoys cooking special meals. Since Joi is a genius, she loves to prepare somewhat complex dishes. She finds it a challenge. Now, Nate does have his priorities in-tact, as a man. That is, he makes sure that there are enough cherries set aside for his hard cider! Nate purposely chose the two largest cabins to convert into the hydroponic garden. These two cabins (suites, actually) were meant to accommodate a family of four persons, each. So, this space is huge! Also, the standard ceiling height in most passenger compartments is four meters. So, Nate bought numerous dwarf cherry trees. He's come to appreciate that this was one of the best purchases he has every made! Having fresh, hard cherry cider aboard makes the recreation time that much more special!

The Cormorant does have numerous walk-in food freezers (since power consumption is not restricted). But, the price of meat is extremely high. Most of the butchered meat is transported from Earth or Mars. Some food animals are raised and butchered on Romer Space-Dock (orbiting Io), though. But, the selection is limited to pork, duck, goose (some other hens), and turkey. Beef cattle, sheep, and goats are exorbitantly expensive because they require a huge amount of grazing land, which is definitely not available aboard a space station or a ship. So, Joi stocks the freezers with mostly pork, duck, and turkey. Even though meat is expensive, eating a consist vegetarian diet is not acceptable to Nate. Nate, as with most men, love Italian pasta dishes and roasted duck. So, Joi (Carrie helps with the cooking, as well.) often includes duck meat in many of her Italian sauces, just to please her dad. But, there's no free ride for Nate, Ringy, and John. That is, if they don't cook, they have to clean! But, fortunately for them, cleaning is almost trivial. That is, the Cormorant is equipped with restaurant class, automated dish washing machines. So, they just throw all the cooking and eating implements into the many huge dish washing machines and leave the rest to technology!

Just Imagine

2008-11-15T10:14:00.003-07:00

Personal Digital Assistant Devices Aboard The Cormorant

2008-11-09T19:57:00.022-07:00

All crew members and guests aboard the Cormorant carry Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices for remote communication and control of common ship functions. The highly stretchable and snug fitting jumpsuit that each crew member wears incorporates a waist utility belt. So, the PDA is clipped onto that. Joi, the Engineer, and Ringy and John, the Cargo Specialists carry numerous tools hanging from it, as well. The standard PDA, that is supplied by the Space Freight Train manufacturer, is the Adtran UtiliTalk Z65. All the crew members, except Joi and John, use this Adtran model. Joi really hates this one, though. She much prefers the Apple PersonalStorm. Because Joi likes it, John uses the Apple model, as well. John trusts Joi's judgment on all things relating to technology. Adtran makes industrial grade electronic equipment. Apple makes more consumer grade electronic devices. The reason why Joi likes to use the Apple PDA is that she can more easily hack the operating system and add new features. Since Adtran is strictly industrial grade, their PDA operating system is a closely held secret. But, being more of a consumer grade device, the operating system of the Apple PersonalStorm has been hacked extensively and numerous add-ons are widely distributed among the hacker community, to which Joi enthusiastically subscribes. It really annoys Nate that Joi and John use a non-standard PDA. But, Nate learned early-on that trying to closely control his genius daughter is a losing battle!

Both the Adtran and the Apple models use an optical central processing unit with a touch-screen interface. The most common use of these PDAs is for remote, intra-ship communication between crew members and off-ship communication, as well. A tiny piezoelectric microphone and communication control device is implanted in the epidermis of the right cheek near the ear. A tiny, removable, wireless earphone is then placed in the right ear as the speaker. Simple one to three virtual key-stroke commands activate and deactivate the intra-ship communication between crew members. But, Joi enhanced her PDA to control all the vital functions of Engineering, as well. She really does not have to go to the main control console in Engineering to operate the systems. But, the main control console is easier to use with more displays and dedicated function controls. Thus, it makes sense to use it for the primary function interface for Engineering.

Joi easily convinced John to switch to using the Apple PersonalStorm when she enhanced it to amplify the electromagnetic signals that telepathy uses. Joi's telepathy is effective for complex thoughts to only about 10 meters from her body. She can communicate with John over much longer distances, however. But, when communicating over extremely long distances, only primitive thoughts and ideas (usually only emotions) can be conveyed. So, by using the PDA to enhance the telepathic signal, Joi and John can communicate complex thoughts anywhere in the ship! John and Joi find this method of communication extremely intimate and exciting. It is highly addictive!

Joi's Intense Telepathy And Telekinesis

2008-11-08T10:09:00.014-07:00

Nate hired Dr. Sky Pahungki from Schiaparelli General Hospital to care for Joi. Joi has a congenital irregular heart beat. When Joi uses her telekinetic power intensely, such as when she was saving the life of Carrie when Carrie was being attacked by a skip loader being driven by Marty Washington's brother, Joi's blood pressure soars. Many blood vessels in Joi's brain have been weakened, over the years, by this sudden and dramatic surge in blood pressure, as well. So, Joi often experiences skip heart beats and, sometimes, minor bleeding into the brain from leaking blood vessels. This only occurs when Joi uses her power to its full intensity, as when she is extremely angry or scared. Sky wants to medicate Joi to try to keep her emotions more tranquil and controlled. But, Joi rebels against this. Joi does not want to go through life doped-up!

Joi's power was manifested when she was eight years old. So, being able to move and control objects just by thought and being able to communicate (primitively) with other humans in close proximity is natural to her. She does not have to explicitly try to use her power. She naturally asserts her power in the normal course of daily events. For example: When Joi enters the Recreation Room during her free tine, if the entertainment system is turned-off, she usually turns-on the sound system telekinetically the moment she enters the room. She doesn't have to manually turn the knobs and press the buttons. She finds this action purely natural. These low-level, reflex, telekinetic actions are not of a concern to Sky, though. Joi's blood pressure remains normal and her heart is not stressed. It is when Joi gets severely emotional and/or scared is when Joi's blood pressure soars and her heart is prone to skipping many beats in succession.

John loves that Joi has this power. They often communicate telepathically with each other. John has only normal telepathic power and exhibits no telekinetic power, which is common for almost all humans. Common, normal telepathic power is exhibited more by sensing another person's emotions, vaguely. If one pays attention to this and recognizes this, one can hone the interpretation of these feelings to be more accurate. But, Joi has the strong ability that only one in 10 million humans have. So, her strong thought energy being transmitted to John and her ability to receive and sense John's normal thought energy extremely well enables them to communicate remarkable well with clear thoughts and messages. With the strong love between them, they telepathically communicate almost constantly, throughout the day. Also, when they dream, they can interact, at a much more primitive level, though. Because of this, they feel truly joined with their spirits. John and Joi find this connection between them highly erotic and stimulating.

Joi And John Communicate Without Speaking

2008-10-16T08:53:00.003-06:00

Joi Lewis first exhibited strong telekinetic power when she was still in Primary School. By the time she was in Junior High School, she had the ability to communicate telepathically, as well. John Smith never met anyone who exhibited this kind of power, before meeting Joi, aboard the Cormorant. As was described before, they fell in-love almost immediately. The telekinesis and the telepathy are distance dependent, though. The effective range for Joi is about 10 meters. Also, strong electromagnetic and electrostatic local fields, usually generated by man-made components, tend to scramble her signals. So, when she is in Engineering, the effective range for her powers is only about two meters from her.

John is a passionate person. When he was in the Merchant Marines, on-leave, he always got into trouble because many women sense this strong passion and are attracted to him. The trouble is, many women already have boyfriends and the boyfriends don't like that! But, often, John made many women friends because of his passionate nature. On-Board the Cormorant, John always loves to come-up to Joi from behind her, wrap his arms around her mid-section, and hug her tightly. With Joi's telepathic ability, she always senses John approaching her. John communicates with Joi telepathically, often. But, Joi usually loves to pretend that she is surprised when John hugs her from behind. Joi absorbs John's affections every chance she gets. The reason why Joi and John can communicate telepathically so well is because of Joi's strong ability. John's abilities are just average and common. But, Joi's strong affection for John enables them to communicate without speaking. Now, this type of communication is not as complex as would be expressed verbally or in writing. Telepathy takes the form of expressing emotions, more often. Now, specific conditions can be expressed telepathically. For example: Recently, when Joi was feeling dizzy and somewhat nauseous, John knew the exact symptoms of what was wrong with Joi. But, there again, those are strong feelings being expressed telepathically. Trying to express complex logic thoughts doesn't work well using telepathy.

Guest Accommodations At Romer Space-Dock

2008-09-20T09:26:00.001-06:00

Guest accommodations at Romer Space-Dock range from the best on Earth (i.e. 5 Stars) to Spartan bunk rooms, for contract crew members who are between jobs. Romer is laid-out in a star pattern. It rotates to produce artificial gravity. So, the star pattern is a natural arrangement for a rotating structure. The center hub is not habitable. There is no gravity at the center and this section houses all of the large equipment that services the structure as well as the propulsion engines. There are five ring sections out from the hub. These rings are far enough out so that the artificial gravity is almost the same in all the rings. Each ring is three commercial stories high (about 15 meters high). In this way, the space is tall enough to be used for warehouse and personnel occupied rooms.

There are three hotels at Romer, The Hilton, The Radisson, and The Hyatt. The Spartan bunk rooms are operated by the management of Romer itself as a service for the many transient, contract workers. Nate and the crew love to stay at the Hilton. The Hilton is the second most expensive of the three hotels. But, it has the best view of all three. One third of the rooms face out onto the Zocalo. Nate always tries to book rooms on the third, topmost floor, for the best dramatic view. The Zocalo is the main shopping hub at Romer. There are numerous different types of shopping areas. But, the Zocalo affords the largest selection of shops, the widest variety of goods, and is the largest in overall size. The Zocalo shops never close. Cargo and personnel ferrying ships come and go at all hours every day. The Zocalo has numerous gambling casinos, as well. The action never stops and, sometimes, gets rowdy. The many miners and cargo handlers like to play rough and spend most of their paychecks. So, the shopkeepers, the restaurateurs, and casino owners know how to please them and take their money.

Short-Range Shuttles And The Breathtaking View

2008-09-06T11:23:00.000-06:00

The Cormorant is equipped with two short-range shuttles. There are two shuttle bays, one on the port side and one on the starboard side of the Command Module, each housing one shuttle. These shuttles are mainly used to ferry persons and a small amount of cargo between the Cormorant, an orbiting space-station, or the planet (or moon) surface (when the Cormorant is in orbit). They are quite spacious, though, for a short-range vehicle. The interior personnel floor area is about 25 m² with an additional 729 m³ of cargo carrying space in the aft compartment. The shuttles are equipped with two distinct propulsion systems. The maneuvering and short duration propulsive thrusters are chemical based. That is, they use the chemical reaction of hydrazine (N₂H₄) and molecular oxygen (O₂) for propulsion. The hydrazine and molecular oxygen are manufactured aboard the Cormorant from stored urea, sodium hypochlorite, and water, using the massive power generated from the fusion reactors. The long duration, long distance propulsion is ion based, the same as the Cormorant uses for its main propulsion.

The ion propulsion is commonly used to propel the shuttle in the local neighborhood of the planet and its moons, once the shuttle has achieved high orbit. The Cormorant is way too huge and massive to be cost-effective for it to make these short distance trips between a planet and its moons. That's why each shuttle has a modestly large cargo hold. Also, the Cormorant cannot be moved when it is being loaded or unloaded. So, the shuttles are used to ferry passengers and a modest amount of cargo during these times.

The Cormorant has no windows on any module. Windows degrade the structural integrity of the hull (in general) and serve no useful purpose, for navigation, in-return. But, since, the shuttles are relatively small in size and must travel within the atmosphere of a planet or moon, in crowded air-space, windows are provided for the pilot and co-pilot. The windows are enormous. There is a 180 degree view angle in both the vertical and horizontal directions (i.e. one complete hemisphere) available to the pilot and co-pilot.

When Joi joined the crew of the Cormorant, John took her into the Port Shuttle, opened the bay doors, and extended the docking clamps. This pushes the shuttle out of the enclosed bay, outside of the hull of the Cormorant. With the complete hemispherical view of outer-space, with no obstructions, the view is breathtaking and somewhat scary, at first. So, Joi had an idea. She noticed that the pilot's and co-pilot's chairs are easily detached from the floor rails (for maintenance). So, now, routinely, after the work of the day is finished, Joi and John go into a shuttle, bring a futon, detach both pilot chairs, and lie-down, surrounded by outer-space. It's so exciting and romantic. They just love it. They often sleep there, instead of going back to their cabins.

Interplanetary Space Freight Train Skip Loaders

2008-08-26T08:09:00.025-06:00

The Cormorant is the first generation of Interplanetary Space Freight Trains, is nominally 618 meters long (with 5 cargo/passenger modules attached), and was commissioned in 2106. As the name connotes, these space freight trains haul modular, portable, habitable, cargo and passenger, linked containers (commonly referred to simply as modules). A space skip loader shuttles these modules and miscellaneous smaller containers for the purpose of loading and unloading them.

There are two major classes of space skip loaders. The largest and simplest kind is the Olympian class. The Olympian class is huge! The cross-sectional area it presents to the cargo module is about 30 m x 30 m (900 m²). The Olympian class needs to be of this size because its job is to haul the complete, intact cargo or passenger module, without disturbing the contents. Romer Space-Dock (around Io) and all the other gargantuan orbiting stations have numerous Olympian class skip loaders available. It is often preferable to completely remove a cargo module from the freight train and replace it with a preloaded one. In this way, the contents are loaded and unloaded in a cargo bay of an orbiting station instead of in the space around the docked freight train. But, completely removing one module and replacing it with another one is not always practical. This is the fastest way to transfer the cargo and get the freight train back working again. But, some freight train owners actually own many of their cargo and passenger modules and do not want to exchange them for another. There is a growing trend by the manufacturers to sell these modules to the freight train owners because many of the new models are vastly more efficient, in that, they can haul more volume of cargo for the same module outer hull dimensions than older models. Weight and volume of the cargo carrying capacity are both, independently important. Also, the Olympian class skip loader is often used to shuttle an entire passenger module to and from the passenger loading dock on an orbiting station and the space freight train. In this way, the passengers can comfortably embark and disembark the module without having to use a small transport shuttle from the station to the train.

The smallest kind of space skip loader, and often, the more complicated kind is the Achilles class. The Achilles class is small so that it can pass through the cargo bay doors of a cargo module and manipulate the individual cargo containers, to load and unload the entire module one container at a time. Most cargo modules have five levels. Each level (or floor) is slightly more than 6 meters high with its own cargo bay door. The Achilles class skip loader is only 2.8 meters high, so that, it can easily fit through these doors. When in orbit around a planet or moon, there is only micro-gravity. So, these skip loaders do not have to support any dead weight. They need only handle the inertia. So, no counter-weights are required, as are for terrestrial skip loaders.

Both classes of skip loaders employ grappling claws as one of their tools to manipulate and carry modules and smaller containers. These grappling claws look like giant human hands! They have three articulated fingers on one side with the opposing articulated thumb on the other. These grappling claws can attached to and carry any shape of a container. The small Achilles class skip loader, fitted with these grappling claws, are often used for maintenance support, as well. The maintenance crews use them to shuttle replacement parts and to hover nearby with these parts during external ship maintenance.

The Achilles class skip loader can also be fitted with a fork type tool. This fork tool is used to slip into carrying slots on most small cargo containers and it locks into place with perpendicular pins that extend, manipulated by the driver. These forks can slip into tight clearance places when the containers are stacked close together and are the most common type of tool used by the Achilles class loader, for common cargo manipulations. But, they are somewhat dangerous, as well. In that, these forks can easily penetrate the hull of the cargo module, if the skip loader driver is not extremely attentive and alert. But, there are strict labor laws governing the work shift of these skip loader drivers and catastrophic accidents are extremely rare.

Play Time Aboard The Cormorant

2008-08-15T19:58:00.013-06:00

The crew of the Cormorant usually works 10 hours or more per 24 hour wake/sleep cycle, that is, their artificial day, most days. But, there are many days when there are no required work tasks! And, then, there are some days when they have to work almost 24 hours straight! So, they take their recreation time seriously. Joi and John play this game that often draws-in all the crew members and the playing field includes most of the ship. The age-old games of Hide-N-Seek and Tag-Your-It have been combined and improved to become Hoe-Cue. The name and the game of Hoe-Cue was created 15 years ago in the tiny mining towns that surround Schiaparelli City on Mars.

The school systems in the these tiny mining towns are not that strict. It is assumed that these children will follow in the foot-steps of their parents and work in the mines. There is a strong cast system in-effect on Mars. So, many children just skip school days, often. These workers and their family members possess a strong work and religious ethic, though. So, serious crime is rare. Since the children have lots of free time, rarely get into trouble with the law, live in small dwellings, they play outside almost all the time. All the cities are constructed under a protective, transparent dome and most of these structures are built below grade, for protection against the frigid Mars atmospheric temperature and solar radiation storms.

Hoe-Cue is extremely popular among children. But, adults have a more sophisticated version of it and find it stimulating aboard ship during long voyages. The game is basically a combination of Hide-N-Seek and Tag-Your-It. But, the adults like to add two very stimulating enhancements. The first is: Instead of running to the opponent and tagging that person with one's hand, each player uses a pellet pistol that shoots tiny, gummy, soft resin pellets that burst open when they impact. They are filled with a tiny amount of highly concentrated, synthetic cinnamon oil. This oil remains highly localized, when the pellet impacts and bursts open. It is irritating to the skin and severely itches, though, which is the whole idea! The second is: Since the severe itching is the whole idea, when tagged by the pellet, it must come in-contact with the skin. So, to make sure that there is lots of exposed skin, the players are only allowed to wear their underwear! Aboard the Cormorant and other outer-space traveling ships, loose clothing is a safety hazard, since most or all of the time is spent weightless. Since the Cormorant is a space freight train, it cruises at One-G acceleration. But, it spends lots of time orbiting planets and moons, loading and unloading. So, there is still lots of time being spent weightless. So, the common clothing and under-clothing are snug to the body and the material is highly breathable, for comfort. But, the under-clothing is also highly revealing, when that is the only clothing worn! So, these two enhancements to Hoe-Cue make it truly an adult game. Joi and John love it! Nate thinks it's a silly game. But, Carrie and Joi convince him to join-in, often.

Optical Computers Run The Cormorant

2008-08-13T12:20:00.006-06:00

Each crew member of the Cormorant always carries his or her Optical PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) on their person at all times, when they're out of their cabin. The "Optical" refers to the laser (optical) based circuitry. Way back in the mid-twentieth century, silicon and germanium based semi-conductor circuitry was popular in all digital devices. The devices were relatively inexpensive to fabricate and the material was extremely abundant. But, they were inherently slow and produced a profuse amount of heat, which massively wasted energy! Such hot and slow devices could never be tolerated aboard the Cormorant. Those are antiques now, anyway. All the primary logic circuitry of all the computers, which includes the hand-held PDAs, are constructed out of light conducting fibers, diodes, gates, etc. Ultra-Low power laser light is used, at various frequencies, for the light sources. Using optics to transmit and gate the data enables the computers to run AI (Artificial Intelligence) logic that simulates, closely, pattern recognition logic of the human brain.

Two common uses of AI aboard the Cormorant are speech recognition and the mechanics of flying the ship. Speech recognition logic is prevalent on almost all the computers. But, it is still most efficient to manually type input and read output, for complex instructions and feedback. But, the hand-held PDAs exploit common speech input and output the most, since they are tiny in size and portable. The reason why Carrie was able to quickly learn the fundamentals of how to fly the Freight Train class of cargo ship (i.e. the Cormorant) at such an early age (when she accompanied her father when he was test driving these ships for his salvage business before buying) was because of the sophisticated AI logic that performs almost all of the difficult tasks. The commercial interplanetary shipping lanes are crowded, especially when in orbit around a popular planet or moon (e.g. Earth, Mars, and Io). Without the AI of the navigation computer, manually trying to read the output of all the sensors while simultaneously discriminating between other flying objects that could or could not be a hazard would be too overwhelming for the average human brain, especially when in the vicinity of a popular planet or moon. Therefore, the pilot is never distracted with pedestrian and detailed functions of the mechanics of flying the ship, only with the macro decisions, such as, course settings, engine power, etc.

Joi and John have lots of fun with their PDAs, just between them. Joi modified John's and her PDAs to transmit selected neurological electrical impulses from their bodies between their PDAs. She also created the logic code that interprets these signals that runs of their PDAs. In this way, they can communicate with each other, in a primitive way, without having to use voice communication, no matter where they are in the ship! With Joi's telepathic ability, John and she can communicate, without speaking, if they are within about ten meters from each other and with no strong electromagnetic emitting machinery between them. But, since Joi works in the Engine Room and John works in all parts of the ship, they are usually spaced far, far apart from each other, during the work period, and there are usually lots of electromagnetic emitting devices between them. Joi's natural ability is not nearly strong enough to overcome these two obstacles. So, using this enhancement of their PDAs solves this problem!

Routine Work Clothes Aboard The Cormorant

2008-08-06T12:56:00.010-06:00

Most of the time, during normal cruising, the Cormorant is constantly accelerating at One-G (i.e. normal Earth gravity at sea-level (9.81 m/s²)) using its seven Ion Drive Engines. Because of this, the crew can wear normal Earth clothes, if they choose. But, since they also spend a lot of time orbiting planets and moons (e.g. Earth, Mars, and Io), they usually wear dedicated Zero-G work clothes. The Zero-G work clothes design commonly consists of a one-piece outfit, or jumpsuit design. The fabric is usually a Spandex and Teflon blend, to keep the material close to the body, with a loose weave (i.e. low density weave) so that the skin can breathe easily. The Teflon blend fabric is highly water repellent which helps keep it clean, as well. The shoes are high-top boots, into which the legs of the jumpsuits are tucked, which are usually glossy in finish, to repel water and dirt, using hook-and-latch fabric fasteners to tighten them around the foot, instead of using laces.

Joi enjoys the comfort of these close-fitting, loose weave jumpsuits. The fabric is so light-weight, close-fitting, highly breathable, and highly stretchable it never constricts Joi's movements nor tugs at her body in any way. Being the Engineer, she has to service all sorts of complicated systems with elaborate piping and ducting. She has to fit into small, constricted spaces, often, to repair these systems. There is one problem, though. The close-fit and loose weave construction hugs every contour of the body and allows the skin the slightly show-through. But, this doesn't bother Joi at all. It bothers Nate, though. Nate wants Joi to wear standard work clothes that are worn on Earth. But, Joi finds these Zero-G jumpsuits way too light-weight and comfortable to not wear them. And, after all, John loves to look at Joi wearing them! But, this is a double-edge sword. John needs to wear them, as well. He has to crawl into tight, constricted spaces for his job, also. But, Joi finds that acceptable!

Carrie And Nate Were Destined To Be Together

2008-08-05T14:57:00.008-06:00

Carrie and Nate have been romantically involved for three years now. When Nate purchased the Cormorant, he met Carrie at Montebello's Salvage Warehouse in Houston, Texas, Earth. Joe Montebello, Carrie's father, owns and operates the largest salvage warehouse on Earth, for outer-space and ocean traveling cargo carrying vessels and related equipment. Joe Montebello is the third generation to own and operate that business and he is the one who added the outer-space traveling line of ships, over the strong objections by his father. But, so far, that decision has paid-off handsomely. Carrie was working as the Director of Sales for the Home Office in Houston. When Nate walked into the sales showroom and Carrie came out from the back office to help him, she was immediately attracted to his looks. But, Nate can be obnoxious, sometimes. Nate played cards with Joe the night before. They were both extremely drunk! The bet was: If Nate won that hand, Joe would sell to Nate an interplanetary, outer-space cargo vessel, at 80% of the market value, with no down payment required, for the standard loan term of 72 months. If Joe won the hand, Nate would forfeit his house to Joe. It's unbelievable that they wagered such a high stake bet, such as that. But, they were both extremely drunk, having a great time that night, and they both felt like they couldn't loose. Well, Nate won and Joe lost! Nate is usually not good at gambling. But, that wager paid-off tremendously for him and he was feeling cocky and highly pleased with himself.

Now, Nate had a viable chance to be successfully self-employed because he immediately had 20% equity in an interplanetary cargo vessel and, thus, can readily sell it for a profit, if the business would be unprofitable. He thought he couldn't loose no matter what happened! His attitude showed it, when he walked into the showroom and Carrie came-out to help him. So, Carrie called Joe on the interoffice phone to come-out and help Nate. This deal required Joe's special attention. Carrie didn't know what vessel to sell to Nate. So, Joe sold the Cormorant to Nate. Nate renamed it Cormorant when he took possession of it. Nate is impressed by those birds. So, Nate signed the purchase contract with Joe and left. Two weeks later, the Cormorant was ready for Nate to take possession of it, in orbit around Earth. Carrie contacted Nate on the phone. This is the first time that Nate would operate an outer-space freight train or any cargo vessel, for that matter. So, Carrie offered to go aboard the Cormorant with Nate and brief him on all the systems, for a few hours.

After spending four hours with Nate, briefing him aboard the Cormorant, that day he took possession, she saw the opportunity for her to make her move. She was working for her father for five years, before that. She thought working Sales was extremely boring! She negotiate with Nate to come aboard the Cormorant as the Pilot, for 20% of the profit, as compensation. Since she grew-up in the business, she learned how to pilot most of these vessels from an early age. She always came along with her father when Joe inspected and flew the vessels before purchasing them. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) logic of the optical super computers that operate these huge ships handles most of the details of flying them. So, Carrie learned the systems quickly and enjoyed flying these behemoths. And, since she was and is highly physically attracted to Nate, she saw this as a great living arrangement, as well! It only took six days of living and working aboard the Cormorant together before Carrie fell in-love with Nate. She had a strong feeling that this would happen, when she was negotiating her position as Pilot.

Time Is Only Counted In Seconds

2008-08-03T11:03:00.003-06:00

When traveling in outer-space, time is only relevant when counted in seconds, and direct multiples thereof (i.e. minutes and hours). Days, weeks, months, years, etc. have no relevance. Days, and the multiples thereof, are concepts of time created when living on a planet. The definition of a second is based upon a certain number of atomic vibrations of the Cesium¹³³ atom. Therefore, it is universal, no matter where one is. Aboard the Cormorant, the crew follows a 24 hour artificial day, though. The reason is that since the human body evolved on Earth, a 24 hour day is a natural sleep/wake cycle. Even for Sky, who was born and lived her childhood on Mars. The day on Mars is about 24 hours and 39 minutes long. So, a 24 hour sleep/wake cycle works well for Sky, also. The weekly cycle that we follow on Earth has no meaning for them on the Cormorant, as well. Every day is like the last. They work, after breakfast, for about 10 hours. It is proven that the human body is most proficient soon after one awakes from sleep. The actual work time varies, though. If something needs attention on the Cormorant, then the appropriate crew member works on that task, no matter what time it is. To that end, Nate and Joi have worked 30 hours straight, numerous times. Nate doesn't like to order his crew to work more than 12 hours in a 24 hour period, though. So, he does most of this extended hours work himself. But, Carrie and the rest of the crew know how hard he and Joi work. So, they don't let them work alone, most of the time.

The intensity of the lighting in the hallways and the public rooms varies during the 24 hour artificial day. Nate had Joi program the lighting system to vary in intensity, every so slightly, during the 24 hour period, to simulate how the light from the Sun would vary during a normal Earth day, near the equator. Also, the frequency spectrum of the overhead lights simulate Sun light. The lights in the hallways never go out completely, though, for safety. But, the lights in the public rooms do go out completely. Of course, any person can turn-on and turn-off the lights, fully, at any time, when they walk into a room. But, many crew members just let the automated system work as programmed. They like the fact that it gets dark, in the simulated evenings. There are permanently mounted table lamps available, as well. They much prefer to use those, instead of turning-on the overhead lights. This type of lighting is more psychologically pleasing, in the simulated evenings.

The concept of the work week being Monday through Friday and then the weekend being Saturday and Sunday also has no meaning aboard the Cormorant. Again, the week period is a concept based upon the day cycle. So, the crew works and rests every day. They do get tired of working every day, though. So, one day out of seven they decided to rest. That day varies, though, depending upon what tasks are needed and what got accomplished. Nate doesn't worry about artificially creating Sunday. He prays many times per day, every day! He knows that God exists, based upon his experiences. So, he doesn't worry about making one special day per seven days. He just communicates with God every day!

The Dangerous Plasma Current That Engulfs Io

2008-07-31T20:13:00.008-06:00

Io is engulfed in an intense moving plasma field (which generates an intense electrical current) caused by the spewing of particles and gases from its own volcanoes and ionized by the intense magnetosphere of Jupiter. Io has a mean orbital distance of 421,600 km from Jupiter. The enormous magentic field generated by Jupiter causes the particles and gases that are emitted by Io's volcanoes to become ionized into charged, high energy plasma that streams along the magnetic lines of force produced by Jupiter, which directly intersect Io's orbit. A man, wearing a normal EVA Space Environment Suit would receive a lethal dose of ionizing radiation in only a few minutes, if he were to go outside the ship. And this intense ionizing radiation would disintegrate the outer carbon/oxygen nano-tube hull of the Cormorant, as well. So, all the ships that travel in the vicinity of Jupiter and Romer Space-Dock create their own magnetic and electrostatic field around them, using the enormous power of their fusion reactors. This means that small passenger and cargo freighters cannot enter Jovian space. Only the huge space freight trains like the Cormorant have enough power available to generate the protection that's required. Nate really hates this part of the solar system! But, servicing Romer is way too lucrative for a cargo hauler to pass-up.

Normal Gravity Life Aboard The Cormorant

2008-07-29T06:16:00.006-06:00

The Cormorant is a 203,000 Tonne (metric ton), 618 meter long outer-space freight train. It was commissioned in February 2106 (Earth Standard Time). The Cormorant was the first generation of outer-space freight trains of this size. Previously, the largest model was only 87,000 Tonnes. Currently, the largest model is 295,000 Tonnes. So, even though the Cormorant is 12 years old, it is still extremely commercially viable. An outer-space freight train works in a similar fashion as a terrestrial freight train. It couples to and hauls numerous cargo and/or passenger modules (i.e. cars) to form a long train. In this way, the Cormorant can haul various amounts of cargo and/or passengers without having to lug around empty structure encompassing useless and, therefore, wasteful volume, which wastes fuel. There is a Propulsion Module attached to the rear (which pushes) and a Command Module attached to the front. A Permanent Passenger Module is attached at the rear of the Command Module and comprises the first carrying module in the chain. The Command Module has its own propulsion drives but are used for carrying module coupling/uncoupling operations, mainly, and not during normal cruising. Instead of rotating to produce simulated gravity, the Cormorant uses its seven Ion Drive Engines to push it along at one standard Earth gravity (i.e. One-G or 9.81 m/s²) when cruising. This achieves normal Earth gravity and produces an enormous average speed during each trip. Half way into the trip, the Ion Drives are shutdown, the Cormorant is turned around facing backwards, and the Ion Drives are then restarted to produce One-G thrust again. In this way, the Cormorant accelerates during the first half of the trip and then decelerates during the last half of the trip, always at One-G (during normal cruising).

Since the Cormorant is enormous in size and mass, many personnel amenities are available on the Cormorant that are normally only found terrestrially or on space stations. Some of which are a swimming pool, a racketball/handball court, pool tables, ping-pong tables, and a generally well-outfitted recreation room. The crew lives on the Cormorant for years at a time. So, having normal recreation activities are essential for psychiatric and physical health. Even though One-G is in-effect for the entire trip, there are still times when there is no artificial gravity. When the Cormorant is orbiting a planet, during the extremely brief mid-trip turn-around maneuver, during module coupling/uncoupling maneuvers, and when being loaded/unloaded there is no simulated gravity in-effect. So, there has to be provisions for containing water (and other liquids) and providing for normal personnel movement when the simulated gravity is off.

For personnel safety, all the walls, floors, and ceilings in all the compartments are covered with a firm, water-proof padding. This padding is firm enough on which to walk and, yet, soft enough so that no bones will be broken if a person falls on it from a height of 3 meters under One-G. To provide for normal personnel movement, the surfaces are coated with a special, slightly tacky paint that is used to slightly cling to the shoes and clothing of all the crew members. In this way, the crew can walk normally, although slowly, during times of Zero-G. Also, all the furniture is coated with a similar slightly tacky coating to cling to the clothing, so that the crew members can sit-down and lie-down normally during times of Zero-G, as well.

Containing water during times of Zero-G requires special handling and equipment. No bathroom or kitchen fixture has standing water in it. All the sinks, toilets, and showers use air suction to contain the running water and the time the water is running is kept to brief intervals. The swimming pool poses a greater challenge, though. Standing water in a swimming pool is mandatory. Otherwise, there would be no swimming pool! Therefore, the entire compartment that contains the pool is completely water-proof and the personnel access doors open and shut automatically so that people forgetting to shut the doors is never a problem. The Ion Drive Engines provide extremely reliable thrust and are powered by redundant fusion reactors. There are seven Ion Drives. The Cormorant can cruise at One-G, normally, using six such drives just fine, in-case one should fail. But, to contain the water in the pool during times of Zero-G, there is an automatic pool cover that retracts over the pool surface within one second! Joi finds this extremely fast action fun to watch! She sometimes sits by the pool and plays with the cover, actuating the closing and opening of the cover. She gets bored and is sometimes easily amused. If people are caught in the pool, unexpectedly, when Zero-G occurs, they simply float out of the pool and manually actuate the cover. Any water that floats out of the pool is contained in the compartment and is sucked down the drains on the deck. The cover will not close, under any circumstances, when there are one or more persons in the pool. There are sensors in the pool to to detect any foreign matter, above a certain size (such as a person), to prevent the cover from closing. So, using the pool is extremely safe and swimming in the pool is a highly prized and often used recreational activity.

Nate's Emotions Are Frazzled

2008-07-28T10:53:00.002-06:00

With all the current crises Nate has had to endure, his emotions are frazzled! He's getting trouble from Marty-The-Huckster (as usual), his profit margin is almost non-existent, and Joi is using her powers more intensely, lately, causing the severity of her brain hemorrhaging to increase. Carrie provides great comfort, though. Carrie knows that hauling cargo between the planets, with an old freight train (more than ten years old) is an extremely difficult life. The Cormorant is at that stage of life where expensive components are starting to fail. The fusion reactor inner walls need replacing, most of the electrical components of the ion drives need replacing (the ultra high voltage environment degrades the components rapidly), all the pump seals are failing, and the primary optical super computer operating system is as old as the ship! But, still, Nate and Carrie would never tolerate a desk job, working for someone else. So, Carrie is trying to think of ways to increase their profit. If Nate would make a good living at this, he would be able to tolerate all these troubles vastly better.

Nate and Carrie often spend their off hours together. They even exercise together. Nate loves to play handball. The Cormorant is gargantuan, being one of the largest outer-space freight trains constructed. So, it has lots of amenities that smaller cargo haulers could never have. Carrie hates to play handball, though. It hurts her hands. So, they often play racketball and swim. Nate finds a handball partner with Ringy, mostly. Nate and Carrie often go swimming together, in the nude. They use the pool when everyone else is sleeping, so that they won't be disturbed. Being immersed in water is so natural and comforting for the human body. Carrie loves to intertwine their bodies under water. They both find this so erotic. Nate emotionally requires these private times with Carrie to relieve stress.

Romer Space-Dock In Orbit Around Io

2008-07-27T09:39:00.003-06:00

Romer Space-Dock orbits Io at a high altitude. Since the volcanoes on Io can spew-out to an altitude of about 500 km, Romer Space-Dock is currently stationed at 1000 km above the surface. It never goes lower than 600 km, though, for safety. The reason why Romer is not located at a geosynchronous altitude is because it needs to keep relocating itself around the planet. Romer exists to service the mining operations on Io. Io is rich in many minerals, especially titanium. So, Romer needs to keep tracking the various mines on the surface. Romer has its own propulsion system so that it can change altitude and equatorial angle, and thus, change its orbit to relocate to different surface locations. It is powered by four 6000 MW fusion reactors. In comparison, the Cormorant is powered by four 3100 MW fusion reactors (portable). Romer is 6.1 times as massive (empty) as the Cormorant (empty with five cargo/passenger modules). The reason why Romer doesn't need 6.1 times as much power is because it is not capable of interplanetary space travel. Most of the power generated on Romer goes to servicing the mineral processing. It is way too costly to transport raw minerals between planets. So, the minerals and metals that are brought to Romer from the surface are processed into semi-finished goods (e.g. pure metal ingots), ready for consumer and industrial product manufacturing back on Mars, Earth's Moon, and Earth.

Nate hates to go to Romer Space-Dock. He knows it is a vital destination for the Cormorant, though, because a gargantuan amount of goods are required there to service the population and the mineral processing. So, the shipping runs back and forth from Mars to Io are numerous. But, the ionizing radiation field that exists near Jupiter and encompasses the Ionian orbit is tremendous! A man, wearing a normal EVA environment suit would receive a lethal dose of radiation in only a few minutes, if he were outside, in space! So, Romer Space-Dock and the Cormorant create their own magnetic fields which encompass them to deflect the ionizing radiation. The carbon/oxygen nano-tube outer hull skill of the Cormorant (and the maintenance spiders) would disintegrate within minutes if left exposed directly to this radiation. So, the enormous power of the fusion reactors are required to create this protective magnetic and electrostatic shield around them. Even so, Nate only keeps the Cormorant in orbit around Io for, at most, 100 hours. That's just long enough to unload and reload. He cannot afford to keep this protective shield running for long. It consumes a huge amount of power and, thus, consumes a huge amount of fuel for the reactors.

Sky And Pahungki Brothers Mining

2008-07-24T11:31:00.002-06:00

Sky Pahungki is the daughter of Seri Pahungki, the Co-Founder and CEO of Pahungki Brothers Mining and Minerals Consortium, with headquarters in Schiaparelli City, Mars, and offices on Earth, Mars, and on Romer Space-Dock in orbit around Io. The Pahungki family was originally from Malaysia. Seri married Barbara Parker, 30 years ago. They met at a mining industry conference in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Barbara was working as a saleswoman for an industrial explosives manufacturer and Seri was, then, a junior partner with the family company. Sky was born 26 years ago in Schiaparelli City, Mars. Sky is 165 cm tall, with straight black hair, light olive skin tone, and beautiful!

After college, Sky went to work for her father and worked into the VP of Procurement position. She was competent at her work, but never really enjoyed it. Six years ago she quit her job and enrolled in medical school at the University of California at Irvine, Earth. She wanted a job and a career helping people. She really doesn't have the personality for business, buying and selling products. She is extremely intelligent and her talent was recognized early in school and during her residency. She specialized in psychiatry during her residency and moved back to Schiaparelli City, to be close to her family, and is a highly competent, young Psychiatrist at Schiaparelli Hospital. As part of a research grant, she has been working on characterizing the behavioral traits and brain wave emissions of persons with strong telekinetic powers. Finding enough such persons for the study is an arduous task. Not many exist! So, when Nate contacted the hospital and requested a psychiatrist to help him with Joi, Sky jumped at this rare opportunity to observe and help Joi. After all, no other medical doctor at Schiaparelli Hospital has ever met a person with such real and strong powers as Joi has. Joi is an extremely rare find.

Why Joi Is So Alluring To John

2008-07-23T17:31:00.000-06:00

Joi's rare and strong telekinetic power manifests a slight telepathic ability, as well. Joi's extraordinary mental powers started to develop when she turned 10 years old. By the time she was 12, she could move small objects around easily, within about an 11 meter radius of her. It seems that the strength of the telekinesis diminishes with distance from the body, which makes perfect sense in physics. Joi also developed the ability to read strong thoughts in persons within that same 11 meter radius of her. When John first met Joi, when she came aboard the Cormorant, about seven months ago, he sensed this thought connection between them. Even though John does not exhibit any overt telepathic ability, he is highly receptive to the thoughts of Joi and he always knows when she is reading his thoughts. It is remarkable! The odds of two persons meeting, who are not biologically related, who can sense each others' thoughts are gargantuan! Joi's psychic abilities are manifested in only about two persons in one million! Now, John does not have anything close to Joi's psychic strength, but, he can sense when Joi is connecting with him telepathically. John finds this psychic connection highly stimulating and mildly erotic.

Joi and John immediately, upon meeting, knew that they were meant for each other. Even though they had vastly different life experiences and education, before they met, they knew that their souls, so to speak, where meant to be together. Nate and the rest of the crew thought that John was just infatuated with Joi's body. After all, Joi is a knock-out, in the looks department! This annoyed Nate, at first. But, when Joi and John kept finishing each others' sentences, whenever they talked together, and never, never misunderstood each other, the entire crew started to believe that they had something very special between them. They routinely talk in shorthand language with each other. There is no practical reason to talk in full, complete sentences between themselves, as they have to with other people (i.e. normal language). Nate is still astounded by this.

How Different And, Yet, How Compatible Joi And John Are

2008-07-17T15:59:00.011-06:00

Joi Lewis and John Smith had vastly different lives before John joined the crew of the Cormorant two years ago and Joi joined the crew seven months ago. Joi had a love-filled, and mostly, privileged childhood. John had a hate-filled childhood and was never wanted.

Joi is 21 years old, was admitted to the California Institute of Technology when she was 17, and graduated when she was 20. She then went on to graduate school at Cal Tech and was working on her Ph.D. when Nate, her father, pleaded with her to come work with him on the Cormorant. Joi and her father have a close and loving relationship, especially since her mother died. So, Joi was glad to help, quit school, and joined the crew of the Cormorant as the Chief Engineer, about seven months ago. Four years ago when Joi was tested, her IQ was calculated to be 163! By the time she was three years old, Nate knew that she was mentally exceptional.

John, conversely, never went to college. He is 28 years old. His parents were seriously cruel to him and never really wanted him. So, he was emotionally distraught for his entire childhood and never really achieved much in school. So, he joined the Merchant Marine Corp after he graduated from high school. The Merchant Marine Corp is a great place to learn commercially marketable skills. Trade and mining are booming industries on and between Earth, Mars, and Io. So, the Corp cannot find enough qualified applicants, and thus, pay extremely well, especially for one who has no college degree. After serving for eight years in the Corp, he signed-on with Nate to join the crew of the Cormorant. Nate considers himself extremely lucky to have found John. John was tired of the strict regiment in the Corp. John's pay is slightly less than it was in the Corp, though. But, he is much happier working on the Cormorant now.

When Joi came aboard seven months ago, John fell immediately in-love with Joi! Even though their education and life experiences are vastly different, their personalities mesh perfectly. John finds Joi's intellect alluring, and her strong sex appeal excites John to no end! Even though John does not have the advanced college degrees, his is still naturally intelligent. When he was in high school he tested to have an IQ of 125. So, he is quite naturally capable. Joi recognizes this. As part of John's physically intense work, his body is firm and well toned. Joi is infatuated by his physical prowess and they are together almost all the time, when they're not working.

Extra-Vehicular Activity Excursions

2008-07-10T10:09:00.007-06:00

Since the Cormorant is equiped with Bio-Mechanical Maintenance Spiders (BMMSs), and because of the gargantuan outer hull surface area, manually maintaining the nano-tube carbon/oxygen composite hull skin is highly impractical and, for the most part, not required. The BMMSs have a primitive form of artificial intelligence (AI). So, they seek, find, and repair damaged areas of the hull skin independently. But, when catastrophic and unusual damage occurs, human intervention is required. So, Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) excursions are occassionally required by the crew members. All crew members are trained for these external vehicle space excursions. But, as with all activities, if one does not practice often, one gets "rusty"! Also, since the Cormorant is immense, floating next to the outer hull produces temporary disorientation and most people are already slightly acrophobic. So, it can be tremendously scary! Nate is especially acrophobic. Carrie and Ringy are the two who have had the most training and time outside. So, John, Joi, and Nate try to avoid EVAs and pass this task on to Carrie and Ringy, when they can.