Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'gas station'.
-
I've been working on cobbling this together for a while using a Frisbee-style disc, some styrofoam and airdry clay, bits, bobs, and greebles, and most importantly the fueling station bits from Bombshell's Counterblast line. When you're out in the black, you can let Newton's first law of motion and a sliderule do a lot of the work for you. But not all! You want to have options, emergency maneuvering capabilities. You need some of that good old delta-V, and you don't want to be beholden to the tyranny of the rocket equation! And where there's a need you can count on good old Earth ingenuity (largely supported by Martian and other xenotech engineering) to fill it. The Asteroid Belt is scattered with local Gas Giant Fuel stations. These are, surprisingly, not the work of the Protectorate, but rather an enterprise run at a loss by an eccentric Earth family with fortunes in ramscoop vessels. Some say it's run out of humanitarian (or humanoiditarian) concern, others out of religious reasons. However it is, it charges IOUs rather than credits-in-hand. The stations are force-field protected and fissionable material is kept inert via proprietary nullifier technology. This shouldn't actually exist, either legally or in terms of physics, and its origin is the cause of much speculation among people who like to speculate on these things. There is also an information kiosk hooked up to the Hypernet. Most of the standard fuel types are available at the pump. Oxygen is not only a fuel component but a lifesaver if the ship's atmospheric scrubbers are struggling. Ammonia is, of course, free of charge. The station scans your ship and records your withdrawal, sending an automated bill to the main computer. It's a lot better to be in debt than dead in space (at least, if the debt is to Gas Giant Fuels, LLC--even in the optimistic spacefuture, your mileage may vary with other debts.) And serving time sweeping vapor with a ramscoop isn't a bad way to spend a few months; Jupiter has plenty of the stuff, as long as you can cope with the dreams. Guest-starring a Zombiesmith Yog and Reaper's ALF-24 bot (50138) If you need fuel for your organic body, you'll need a different asteroid--but that's coming up soon.