CD81 es importante para el ciclo infectivo del virus VIH-1

(BUMBLEBEE CLASS) Dimensions (LxBxH): 140 x 80 x 80 feet Tonnage: 1,000 tons.

Speed Class: 1 cruise/3 hard-burn Crew: Pilot, co-pilot, mechanic.

Crew and Passenger Quarters: Four double cabins.

Fuel Capacity: 20 tons (1,200 hours).

Cargo Capacity: 400 tons of external modules and loose cargo.

Armament: Armor 1W.

Price: ₡ 850.

Agi d4, Str d4, Vit d6, Ale d2, Int d4, Wil d6;

Init d4+d2, Life 12. Aerial Transport Operations/

Transport d4; Space Transport Operations/

Transport d4. Complexity: very low. No maintenance costs.

Not all settlers of the frontier come via commercial transport. Historically, settlers and homesteaders came West in their own wagons. A classic example is the Conestoga wagon of the nineteenth century—the “prairie schooner” of the North American West on Earth-That-Was. The

wagon was used for a one-way trip, then served as the basis for the new homestead. This was the theory behind the Bumblebee Class homesteading ship from Munroe Heavy Industries.

A minimalist vessel, a Bumblebee has a small pulse engine and weak reaction thrusters on a long spire, set at a right angle to the circular descent shield. The crew and passenger accommodations cluster behind the heat shield. In traveling configuration, the top and bottom decks contain two double cabins each. The mid-deck includes the drives, common areas, and access through a long boom to the flight deck, which is located in front of the shield.

“Cargo modules” are attached externally to the spire. These are not standardized; shipping crates, freight boxes, feed silos, water tanks, tractor-mules, and tools are held in place with straps and occasionally cable netting, making the whole overburdened and haphazard and the oversized heat shield a necessity.

A unique feature of these ships is their ability to

“circle the wagons” when traveling in groups of six or more. Fore and aft universal structural clamps allow them to dock together to form stable geodesic

“balls” so as to allow free movement among them during the trip, providing a measure of security and redundancy. The clusters then split apart for landing.

A Bumblebee is designed for one trip and one planet fall, using an ablative heat shield to unload most of her descent energy. She lands “head down”

and then unfolds the basic homesteading structures and equipment from around her central access core.

The Bumblebee essentially cannibalizes herself to establish the homesteader’s farm. Structural panels and framework are also modular and designed to be disassembled into standardized components with hand tools and then reassembled as needed.

FIREFLY

Dimensions (LxBxH): 191 x 128 x 53 feet.

Tonnage: 2,400 tons.

Speed Class: 4 cruise/6 hard-burn

Crew Quarters: Two double, three single cabins.

Fuel Capacity: 60 tons (600 hours).

Cargo Capacity/Maximum Deck Load:

400/460 tons in hold #1; 100/220 tons in hold #2.

Passenger Capacity: Four double cabins aft of

#2 hold.

Gear: Two 20-ton shuttles.

Price: ₡ 48,960.

Agi d8, Str d6, Vit d8, Ale d2, Int d2, Wil d2;

Init d8+d2, Life 8. Healthy as a Horse; Everybody Has One. Aerial Transport Operations/Transport d2; Space Transport Operations/Transport d2.

Complexity: very low. Maintenance costs ₡ 1,920 a year.

Caravel, outrigger, Douglas DC-3, Liberty Ship, UH-1 “Huey”—every great era of exploration and commerce has a signature vehicle, common as dirt and used for everything and anything. For the last great wave of colonization, the Firefly Class mid-bulk transport is that symbol.

The Firefly design was the brainchild of celestine architect, Jennifer Yamadera, of Beaumonde. She wanted to build a simple, cheap Everyman freighter for folk to use on the newly opened frontier worlds.

By combining all the major power-using systems—

gravitics, pulse drive, life support—into one big, elegant package, she cut down on production costs and developed the signature spinners-and-bulb engine layout that gives the class its name.

This design makes a Firefly Class one of the easiest ships of its size to maintain, and accounts for its popularity to this day. The only drawback is that all the main systems run together—if one goes, they all go (although there is auxiliary life support, and

the g-field may take some hours to relax completely).

Yamadera licensed her design to at least half-a-dozen different shipyards over the 34 years the Firefly stayed in production, and there were several copycats, as well.

The original Firefly was designated 01-K64, for model 01 and the year she first flew (2464). The “K”

in the type class is a pun: “kei” is a Japanese word for “firefly.” More than 20,000 of the 01 model were constructed between 2464 and 2473. The design tended to shake badly in atmosphere, however, due to turbulent air from the forward fuselage being sucked into the engine pods.

A second model (02-K64) in 2468 tried to fix the problem by having the engine pods swing up instead of down, but that just caused her to be unstable on the ground, and the model was dropped after only a handful were launched. The solution—to extend the wings to move the engine pods about 2 feet outboard—was incorporated in the 03 model in 2469, and production continued until 2498. In all, more than 93,000 Firefly-class transports were constructed; maybe 40,000 are still in the air.

The ship’s layout is complicated by the systems package design. The bridge sits high and well forward on a gooseneck. The bridge includes stations for pilot, copilot, and flight mechanic on the main level, and for sensor/comms operator on tandem step-down in the nose. Aft of the bridge, in the gooseneck connecting to the main body, the crew quarters are located beneath the corridor leading to the common room. The common area itself dominates the top third of the ship’s midsection and includes a full galley, storage, and shower facilities. Further aft, behind the constriction caused by the external portion of the grav spinner, are the engine room and the internal portions of the combined drive—pulse, power, and life support.

The main (#1) cargo hold is located directly beneath the common room in the midsection.

Catwalks lead to the port and starboard over-wing bays and down into the hold. In the most common version, the over-wing bays hold two 20-ton shuttles; in other designs these bays are plated over

and converted to additional passenger or cargo space. The rest of the engine section surrounding the drive room was originally devoted to fuel tanks, but later modifications (made standard on the 03-K64) included a second cargo hold on the lowest level. This sometimes causes weight and balance problems with loading heavy cargo in the after hold.

The main hold opens through the forward airlock onto a cargo ramp, with a built-in postern hatch for personnel access while the ramp remains up. An additional hatch in the underbelly allows cargo to be slung into the hold at a hover. When the ship is on the ground, drive-protective skids and landing stabilizers make that hatch unusable.

VARIANTS

Because of its simplicity and low cost, the basic Firefly transport has been modified and adapted to a number of roles over the years. The specifications at the top of this entry are for the most common design: two cargo holds, some passenger space, and two shuttles for moving personnel or freight.

All-cargo: Carries 640 tons of freight, but has no shuttles or passenger space. Original price: ₡ 48,000.

Blockade Runner: Not seen since the war, this variant added 2 points of armor and 80,000 pounds of missiles (in the over-wing bays) at the expense of shuttles, passengers, and cargo space. Carried 360 tons of high-value cargo per trip through Alliance lines. Original price: ₡ 51,600, plus ammunition.

Bulk: Reconfigures the cargo holds to carry bulk products such as ore, grain, or liquids. The fore and aft access ladders are converted to feed chutes to receive the cargo, and the forward airlock and cargo ramp adapted to pump out the holds. Original price:

₡ 50,000.

Container: The 02-K64 model’s up-swung engines allow this version to carry 16 standard 40-foot containers (total 400 tons) in place of the #1 hold. This design retains the original fuel tanks for 100 tons (1,000 hours) total, and uses the over-wing bays for 40 tons of supplies. Fewer than 30 of this variant remain. Original price: ₡ 48,000.

Medship: This variant places a modular infirmary in the #2 hold (making it useless for cargo), and uses the passenger dorm to house a forward support medical team (trauma surgeon, nurse, and two medtechs). The shuttles are fitted out for aeromedical evacuation, with the ship’s crew doubling as ambulance drivers. Original price: ₡ 52,000.

Personnel Carrier: Used for passenger service or for transporting troops during the war, the personnel carrier variant holds 50 persons in relative comfort or up to double that many in cramped conditions (“hot-bunking,” and so on). ₡ 54,000.

Dimensions (LxBxH): 191 x 128 x 53