Don't Leave Home Without It
A baker's dozen items you wouldn't want to get caught without on Averiguas
Personal Gear
Multi-Purpose Field Survival Kit (Multi-Kit, All-In-One, Surviv-All)
This sturdy metal cylinder has been the salvation of many a stranded traveler, explorer and colonist. Resembling a bulky flashlight, 38cm in length by 5cm diameter, the Surviv-All's metal casing is sturdy and heavy enough to be used as a weapon if necessary.
In one end is an electric light, which can be adjusted from a tight beam to a broad flood, and set to blink as a distress signal. The light is powered by micro-cells just behind the halogen lamp; these cells have a 3-hour life, but can be fully recharged either by exposing the solar cells ringing the end in full Earth sunlight for 30 minutes, or by vigorously twisting the generator in the lamp end for 5 minutes. The same batteries power a radio distress beacon that broadcasts a 150-km-range burst signal every 3 minutes, to conserve battery power. The beacon, activated by a recessed waterproof switch, can broadcast for about 5 days without recharging, if the light is not used.
The other end of the tube is a reversible, watertight screw-on cap. One end of the cap is a short metal spike, allowing it to be driven upright into the ground; if the cap is inverted, on the other side is a combination chronometer and inertial/magnetic position sensor. The double-ended cap itself screws apart; inside the cone end is coiled two meters of strong, flexible insulated wire, useful for jury-rigged electrical or mechanical repairs, snaring game, or as an impromptu tourniquet.
Inside the case, not a cubic millimeter is wasted. A tab pulls out a compartmented plastic tube that keeps the contents organized. Coiled around a spool at one end of the tube is a 40-cm cable saw, strong enough to cut through wood, plastic and (eventually) most metals. In the largest compartment is a miniature medikit, containing four doses each of Threshold, CureAlls, Tranquilizers and Antitoxins (color- and shape-coded to avoid confusion between the four in any circumstances); two Ant-Pads; a Banji Laser Scalpel; four pre-threaded suture kits; and a small can of Trauma Foam, enough to immobilize a single limb.
In the next compartment, half the size of the first, is a water purification kit consiting of 10 bleach pills, sufficient to decontaminate 5 gallons each, and a two-compartment plastic bag divided by a reverse-osmotic membrane -- fill one side, seal, and squeeze into the other side to filter. In the final compartment is an emergency respirator, consisting of a plastic film that can be adhesively sealed over the face, attached to which is a finger-sized tank of compressed oxygen. A valve allows out some exhaled air, retaining enough to maintain a breathable mix of approximately 20 percent oxygen for about 5 minutes of normal breathing time. Physical exertion beyond normal walking or swimming will shorten this time by up to half. (Though it's not recommended, puncturing the compressed-oxygen canister with the laser scalpel makes a handy emergency explosive, doing 3d10L damage.)
Tech: W, Mass: 1, Cost: lll
Non-terrestrial Atmosphere Breathing Apparatus
This self-contained respirator face mask, when worn with a durable set of coveralls, is a just as functional but far more comfortable substitute for a full Vacuum Environment Suit in environments where breathable air is an issue, but atmospheric pressure and temperature are not. The mask seals over the face; an alternate version covers the entire head, sealing at the neck. It has two modes: one which electrocatalytically converts the CO2 in the wearer's breath back to oxygen, and two finger-sized compressed oxygen tanks (like the one on the emergency mask packed in the Surviv-All kit) that provide 10 minutes of fresh oxygen on their own. Unlike the similar-appearing Alve-Air Rebreather, the NABA is meant to operate in a non-oxygen atmosphere. The "rebreathing" mode can function for 10 hours of strenuous use before the carbon-precipitating mechanisms and the batteries need to be recharged. The fact that it's hardtech makes it popular among Martian colonists, firefighters and other emergency response teams.
Tech: W, Mass: 1.5, Cost: ll
Scanalyzer
The scanalyzer is the planetologist's best friend: a rugged biocomputer in a vacuum-proof case, equipped with an Archimedes agent and a sophisticated set of Clairsentient sensory equipment. It can analyze an unknown atmosphere, plant, creature, water supply or the like for chemical makeup and make determinations as to its usefulness or potential risk to colonists in a matter of moments. Though its sensors are quite sophisticated as to the information they can gather on an object, substance or area, their range is limited to an 8-meter radius, and cannot penetrate more than a meter into dense surfaces, like soil or water.
Tech: Y, Mass: 2, Cost: llll
Solar Still
Designed for the desert, the solar still has proved useful in other, nonterrestrial settings, as well. Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight to electricity, which cools a series of ceramic vanes on the underside of the platform. Water condenses from air blowing through the vanes, and drips into a collapsible funnel below; this funnel can be used to fill any sort of container placed underneath, or sealed for use as a makeshift catchbasin. The amount of water precipitated depends on the water vapor content of the air, but even in the driest Earth deserts, this briefcase-sized unit can produce approximately a pint of potable water an hour. It can function indefinitely as long as it has sunlight to power it; in darkness, a standard power cell yields 3 hours of operation. Larger models exist for supplying entire villages, or for terraforming purposes.
Tech: W, Mass: 3, Cost: lll
Mini Geothermal Heat Energy BioConverter (Geo Tap)
This low-cost biotech device is an inexpensive alternative to an MHFG (see next entry) for smaller, isolated settlements with low power requirements, such as a farm or a single, isolated homestead. The Geo Tap is a hemispherical device, approximately 80 cm in diameter, with handles spaced around the curved top surface and an attachment for a biocable at the apex. When activated by attaching the biocable, the bioapp extends a probe into the soil beneath it. The probe will begin burrowing into the ground, pulling its own biocable coiled inside the device behind it. When the cable's limit is reached (at approximately 1,500 meters depth, which takes about 4 hours, depending on the rockiness of soil being dug through), the probe stops digging, and begins converting geothermal energy into electricity, which is fed up the biocable to the main unit, where it is stored and moderated for transmission through the cable attached at the top.
If a planet has at least a terrestrial level of geothermal activity, a single Geo Tap can produce enough power for four average homes or a small industrial operation. It draws its own energy from the earth and nutrients from the air and surrounding soil, operating indefinitely under terrestrial conditions; if used in an environment lacking these elements, the Geo Tap requires a standard biotech nutrient pack every week or so to continue operating, or else it will go dormant. It cannot be used in vacuum.
If a Geo Tap must be moved, it requires 24 hours to withdraw and store its cable and probe and go dormant; if forcibly removed from the ground before then (requiring a Might roll at +3 difficulty), the probe is lost, and the Geo Tap becomes useless until repaired.
Tech: Y, Mass: 20, Cost: lll
Man-portable Hyper Fusion Generator (MHFG, "Mother F***ing Heavy Gizmo")
This compact, economical hyper fusion generator is "man-portable" only in the most stretched definition of the term. Weighing in at nearly half a metric ton, this refrigerator-sized device takes a half- dozen strong men grasping the handles around its circumfrence to lift it into a truck for transport. It provides enough power for approximately 100 "drophouses," two HabDomes or one AgDome (see entries below), and runs for approximately 90 days before needing refueling. It includes a compact processor that allows it to extract its own hydrogen fuel from a source of water, with oxygen as a byproduct -- a popular feature among ice asteroid miners and settlers on low-atmosphere worlds.
Tech: W, Mass: 475, Cost: lllll
Habitat and Environmental Equipment
Porta-Pod
This emergency shelter is standard equipment on lunar hoppers, fighter craft and other vehicles used in hostile environments. When packed, it is approximately the size of a suitcase, and has straps for carrying like a backpack. It is activated by placing it on the ground and pulling a tab that releases its coiled, cartilage-like supports, opening into a veined greenish dome three meters across at the base and a little more than half as tall. A hardtech blinker on top of the dome and a radio beacon activate instantly; both will run for 7 days, indefinitely if it is exposed to sunlight for at least two hours of every 24. The seals on the pod's entry is vacuum-proof, but it is not an airlock, so all people must be inside the pod before sealing the entry and pulling a second tab inside to activate a chemical reaction that produces gas to inflate it. The reaction provides 60 person-hours of breathable air. As long as the pod's exterior is exposed to sunlight, it can photosynthetically refresh the air inside, as well as providing water and basic food (as a GLUP pack), until its store of nutrients is depleted in 30 person-days. When that happens, the pod's walls dry up, turn brittle and crumble within a day. A Porta-Pod can be used only once, though it can remain viable in its dormant state for years if regularly supplied with nutrient packs.
Tech: Y, Mass: 18, Cost: lllll
Self-Enclosed Modular Inhabitation (SEMI, "drophouse")
These small, self-sustaining habitats are designed to exactly the same dimensions as an L-B NEL's standard cargo pod. Packed with supplies, they can be lifted down to the surface of a new planet and dropped in position twelve at a time, allowing settlements to be set up quickly and easily. Repositionable partitions allow the interior to be configured as a cozy home for four, cramped but comfortable dormitory-style dwellings for eight, or barracks-style accomodations for 16. The standard SEMI comes with basic environmental and waste treatment equipment. A package that seals the module airtight and adds an airlock, atmosphere- and water-recycling equipment makes the drophouse usable in exotic atmospheres or even vacuum, though it increases the unit's cost by one dot and reduces its habitable capacity by one-quarter. The basic drophouse can also be transported broken-down; three disassembled units will pack inside a fourth. It takes four people about six hours to reassemble a unit. Atmosphere-tight units cannot be shipped disassembled, or with disassembled units inside them. Customized interior packages are available as well, allowing them to be configured as laboratories, clinics, kitchens, light manufacturing facilities, or for other specialized uses.
Tech: W, Mass: 2.5T, Cost: lllll
Habitation And Berthing Domed Outpost Module ("Habdome")
The Habdome is designed to be the core of a new settlement on a distant world. Containing everything it needs to be self-sufficient, a 70-meter-diameter Habdome contains 492 four-person apartments arranged radially in nine levels surrounding a central power and fuel core, and a seventh level of supply storage that converts to common gathering and commercial areas and vehicle berths when emptied. Habdomes are commonly carried by the dozens on the exterior of colony ships; as each habdome has its own hyperfusion plant, the tanks carrying the passengers in cryonic suspension are usually distributed among them. Therefore, if one dome fails for some reason, the colonists in the other domes will be safe. After arrival in orbit around the target planet and the scouting of a suitable location, the habdomes are detatched from the colony ship and shuttled down to the surface by three NELs working in tandem. Once positioned on the surface, the domes can be linked by airtight tubes, forming an instant city.
Tech: W, Mass: 128T, Cost: lllll ll (though usually included in the cost of the colony ship)
Agricultural Domed Outpost Module ("Agdome")
The one function not covered by the habdomes is food production. That is the job of the agdome. Unlike the habdomes, which are warrens of hallways and chambers throughout, the Agdome is a large clear mylex dome enclosing nearly six hectares of open-air agricultural land, with three levels of enclosed hydroponic gardens and a fourth of waste processing and power equiment below. While in transit, the hyperfusion plant provides enough power to keep the hydroponic gardens growing to supply the ship's crew with food; the upper surface is usually not planted until the dome is lifted down to the planet's surface, since there are no grav plates on that level. Lifting an agdome down to the surface of a planet requires a typical colony ship's entire contingent of eight NELs working together. Most colony ships carry one agdome for every 15-20 habdomes.
Tech: W, Mass: 5,220T, Cost: lllll lll (though usually included in the cost of the colony ship)
Semi-Autonomous Atmosphere Precipitator Unit ("Sapper")
These school bus-sized, tracked devices are terraforming tools. Though a planet may have enough gravity to retain an atmosphere, a breathable one may never have developed. The Solar Atmosphere Precipitator takes the place of millenia of geological and biological activity it takes to form an atmosphere. A hyperfusion power plant provides the current to power the precipitator across the landscape, where it chews up the surface dirt and rock and carries it into the unit. Inside, powerful lasers reduce the crushed dirt to its component atoms. The organic components -- carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen -- are electrocatalytically reconstituted into appopriate proportions of N2, O2, CO2 and H2O, which are expelled out a vent on the top of the unit. After further extracting H2 for the fusion generator, excess organic matter is expelled from the back of the unit along with the inorganic wastes. Optional units can be attached to the back of the sapper to sift this slag for other useful elements, such as silicon, metals and heavy elements. Another side benefit is that the soil behind the sapper is smoothed out, readying it for placement of housing modules or other construction.
The devices are controlled by an onboard SI agent, which guides the unit around the landscape, keeps it from tumbling down ravines and craters, prevents it from taking up and processing living matter or other valuable material, and brings it back to the colony when service or refueling is necessary. Though hyperfusion power makes it an energy-efficient process, it still would take thousands of sappers working continually for hundreds of years to create a breathable atmosphere; Qin biotech techniques have proved far more efficacious, so sappers are used mainly on smaller, distant or poorer colonies. Many have been adapted to collect their product in pressurized tanks, rather than expelling it into the atmosphere, for use inside enclosed habitats.
In extreme situations, notably the rebellion on Averiguas, these rugged vehicles with their powerful laser arrays have been modified to serve as battle tanks.
Tech: W, Mass: 12 T, Cost: lllll l
Vehicles
Mashindano MiniRover
This collapsible two-passenger vehicle was created specifically for the colonist market. The electrically-driven wheels, extendable chassis and fuel cells fit completely into a 1/2-cubic-meter case enclosed by plasteel and mylex panels that, when unfolded and bolted in place, make up a two-person cab and open two-square-meter cargo bed. The oversized, tough-treaded tires, inflated by a chemical reaction after assembly, are designed for gripping rough or loose terrain on foreign worlds. The golf-cart-sized truck will operate at top speed for 160km before its cells need recharging, making it best suited for short-distance hauling around a colony. It has lights, a computer hookup and a magnetic/inertial positioning sensor, but no communications equipment or any other amenities. Though it will operate in vacuum, the cab enclosure is not airtight, requiring use of a VAS in those circumstances.
VT: Wheeled, Tech: W, CS: 40kph, TS: 80kph, Handling: 0, Mass: 0.5T, Cost: llll
Magellan-Class Colony Ship
This slow, massive ship, its basic design little changed since its conception during China's Great Leap Upward of the '70s, is the epitome of colony gear design: At least two uses for everything. The basic frame of the ship is a dumbbell design, massive engines, fuel and smallcraft bays at the back end, and control, crew, life support and weapons at the front, connected by a narrow spine supporting an array of hyperfusion reactors, habdomes and agdomes. Most passengers are carried throughout the many-years journey in suspended animation in their habdomes, though a crew of 250 rotates in and out of cold sleep, two groups of 25 typically spending a year at a time on duty before going back under. Once in orbit around the new world, the fore and aft sections detach from the central spar and link up with each other, becoming a formidable armed freighter to protect and supply the ensuing colonization process. Habdomes, agdomes and hyperfusion plants are detatched from the central spar and shuttled to the surface by the ship's complement of eight NELs. Finally, only the central beam is left in orbit, but even that contains its own manufacturing and habitation areas for 40 people, control center, communications equipment, air and waste processing, solar panels and hyperfusion plant -- an instant orbital station to watch over the new colony.
VT: Colony ship, Tech: W, VS: 2, Handling: 0, Mass: 220,000T, Cost: lllll lllll
(Front and rear sections together, after removing central spar and domes:) VT: Freighter, Tech: W, VS: 4, Handling: 1, Mass: 90,000T, Cost: not sold separately
(Both configurations:) Weapons: Two retractable, turret-mounted, heavy laser cannons (Accuracy +2, damage 8d10[5] L); two retractable, turret-mounted, heavy coilguns (Accuracy +3, damage 8d10[10]L).
Back
Click here if you've lost the nav frame or title bar.
Trinity, Æon, the Æon Trinity, and other terms, characters, settings
and situations used on this site are © 1998, 1999 by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
Original material on this site remains the property of the creator(s)
and may not be reproduced without permission of the author and the webmaster.