Welcome to the 42nd Century! Page 6
The OverFile
The Story of the Spherit
From: Chapter 9 CR

CR’s two-meter tall plastal body had an external topology that generally resembled a human being. His head, torso, limbs, hands and feet were interconnectively contained within a seamless plastal skin tinted to blend in with the light brownish cast of the general populace. His movements were generally quiet being based on artificial elemuscle systems set upon a sophisticated plastal skeletal structure. He was considerably more sophisticated than the more powerful, but bulky SR series droid with its noisy hydraulics and whirring gear systems. Unlike an SR, his facial elemuscles and lips were synchronized to move in the proper formations for the sounds passing out from his synthavoice speakers.
    The general facial shape and features contoured into CR’s head structure were not truly unique. Several thousand other CRs in the T2F3 series of which he was a model member would also share a striking resemblance, if not identical appearance. CR’s head protruded upward 30 cm from a 20-cm circoplanar base on his massive shoulder turrets. His humanlike face was capable of any number of facial changes, negative and positive, through the full spectrum of human emotional facial graphics. Even his hair, short and black, appeared to be a natural product of his artificial head.
    Deep within CR’s armored chest, 25 cm below the bottom of his head, Anen knew he would find CR’s carefully shielded CPU, his very elemind. CR’s primary external environs sensors, his videyes, audiears and nose were in this head, but he also had several supplementary sets of multispectral videyes and audiears. These were securely weather-protected within respective plastal lens covers and screengates within the 4-cm wide collar that connected his head to the top of his uniformed shoulders.
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From: Chapter 15  Sp-213 En Route

Anen and CR exited the monitor hall at 1518 hrs and walked hurriedly to the outermost ringway hall of Centradome. The outer moving rampway carried them too slowly to suit Anen’s haste to arrive at the elevator that would take them downlevel to Hangar Bay 7. Walking briskly along the moving curved path, he said to CR, “Would you please try and keep up with me?”
    They exited the ramp and walked on through the arched portals that led to the elevator doors. Anen summoned the elevator. He ignored other StarProbe staffers passing through the hallway for fear of being detained in idle conversation. As the elevator doors slid open, they entered and Anen depressed the button for the –13 level. As the door again opened, they stepped out into the outer ring hallway of the –13 level and began a swift walk toward the security access doorways to Hangar Bay 7, with CR’s booted floppy footpads scuffing along the concrel floor in his hurry to keep up with Anen’s rapid pace. As they arrived at the closed security door to Hangar Bay 7, the pair confronted an ominous sign which read, Restricted Area! Unauthorized Personnel Will Be Stunned!
    CR placed his right index finger into the identification aperture. His eleoptic ID code was confirmed in the same few seconds that the iris scanner confirmed Anen’s identity, and upon receiving clearance as announced by the swoosh of the opening door, they walked on into the anteroom to face a second security door.
    Once they repeated the identification process, as announced by the swoosh of the second door, they confronted an enclosed counter manned by a terse, silver-faced Sub-SR droid unit who politely said, “Greetings, lieutenant, CR, you are expected. I will be with you in a moment. I am going to check on your vehicle’s status.” The Sub-SR turned back to the FV console before him, studied it for a few seconds and said, “Your assigned craft is StarProbe aerospace vehicle SP-213. It is currently awaiting a tow to your assigned parking stall, 7-32.”
    Their assigned craft was as yet at some distance from them sitting stably on its ball-wheeled, equilaterally triangulated landing gear, with its magnen turbines in idler mode. A Sub-SR unit connected an elecart towing bar hook to its front underside recessed towing port, and began pulling the massive ten-meter round, circular airspace cruiser from its maintenance bay. The droid turned his elecart onto the luminescent yellow guide strip on the hangar floor and followed it around the curving annular hangar area in the underground facility for several hundred meters to parking stall 7-32. The droid backed the cruiser into the twenty-meter wide parking stall, separated the towing bar from the cruiser’s front towing port, and drove off in his elecart down another of the curving guidelines painted luminescent green onto the hangar floor. Several other Sub-SR droids approached the craft and began final flight checks with various servicing instruments and meters.
    The Sub-SR unit with Anen and CR said, “SP-213 is now docked in idler mode at the west Risertube 7, stall 32, just down the corridor.” He pointed to his left with an extended arm. “The stall mechanics are just now finishing her preps.”
    Anen looked briefly in the direction the droid was pointing, expressed a terse “Thank you,” and walked with CR to the access door for Risertube 7. After identifying themselves for the third time, the pair watched silently as the door swooshed open to reveal the immense curving hangar bay area annularly surrounding the much larger intracenter area where Centradome’s central magnen power generator was buried two stories down. From the access door, Unition DiskCraft 64213, renamed for StarProbe use as SP-213, was third down in a curving line of magnencraft, each in their respective parking stalls. They walked around the curving, luminescent blue, nonskid footpath for 60 meters toward the parking stall of the waiting craft, first passing a small triangular craft in one parking stall, and then a cylindrical one in the next, until they reached Stall 7-32.
    Anen stopped before the stall to take in the full frontal view of the gleaming circular hexiturbine diskcraft. He tried to estimate its dimensions as it sat stably on its triangulated, retractable landing gear a half-meter off the hangar floor. SP-213 appeared to Anen be about ten meters in diameter, and perhaps a little over three meters high from the floor to where the peak of its circular canopy would be when down. The canopy appeared to be three meters in diameter and was currently tilted upward 45o on its front hinge mount. The uplifted canopy was being held in place by two rear-mounted, opposing, hydraulic side struts.
    Anen listened intently to the nearly inaudible idler mode whine of the six magnen turbines hidden within the hull in a hexagon configuration about the perimeter of the craft. He stared briefly at the nearly half-meter tall SP-213 insignia glowing in iridescent blue on the smooth silvery-brushed metal backdrop of the upper hull. From the top of its upraised, photogray tinted, transparent canopy to the edges of its seamless outer surface, SP-213 was a sight to behold and make the heart race.
    Anen quickly visually inspected the front canopy hinge mount and noted the extended tail of the canopy which fit into the rear rampway slot of the circular cabin area as a canopy lock-down means. He then moved his glance to the upper surface of the hull and what he could see of the six 30-cm round descension pulsedrive lens, each just radially beyond the meter-round, external magnetic turbine top panel seals. He noted the panels’ flush virtually seamless fit into the smooth upper hull surface. He then quickly scanned the various sensor probe tubes, naviantenna, and comantennae jutting out at various points from the front and sides of the craft. Then he bent down to view the six 30-cm round ascension pulsedrive lens, each just radially beyond the meter-round, external magnetic turbine bottom hull panel seals. He could not see the underneath of the meter-round, primary ascension lenspanel centered within the three-meter round bottom of the cabin housing, but he clearly understood that within a few short minutes the lenspanel would be assisting the peripheral ascension pulsedrive lenspanels to lift the craft into the sky.