Exterior view of Ringbolt Station

Stopping at Ringbolt Station

So, everywhere I have travelled (and I have travelled alot) I have enjoyed looking at space stations, all different sorts of them. From agristations to orbital foundaries and solar farms, to the megahabitats packed with  millions of people, they are fascinate me by their endless varying layouts and uses. However, here in the Collapse Zone as the technology levels have crashed across many sectors, space stations suddenly became few and far between. Their advanced technology requires constant maintenance, and there are very few orbital technicians now; the Collapse has killed or driven off most space-specialists in the Kobra Worlds region.

Ringbolt itself is located in the Calafat Sector, which we have just crossed into. This entire area is chaotic, filled with raiders and pirates, and all sorts of nefarious characters. However, it seems that crime at Ringbolt Station is severely punished and so those rough-and-ready type criminals avoid the place. You can also buy alot of advanced technology here, and we are also dropping off several passengers, unloading some cargo, and reloading additional supplies for our long journey.

I spent nearly ten hours on the station, shopping and taking in the view, which is stunning. Ringbolt is in excellent condition, its people sturdy and competent, and its leaders have great wisdom and skill to keep away pirate raiders and other such riff-raff. (Stats for Ringbolt Station are A072616-C  Space Station).

Travelling Through Jumpspace

As we move through Jumpspace I am reminded how boring it can be. Interstellar travel can be so very slow. Luckily, not many travellers on the Uncanny are hibernating in low-berth but have their own cabins. I believe the captain said their were twenty-four suites and extended-stay cabins aboard this ship. My own hideyhole is equipped with whatever I need, but it can be lonely; especially for someone that had been living on a city-wide planet with billions upon billions of "neighbors". I appreciate my cabin and am grateful to not be travelling as a frozen corpsicle, unaware of my surroundings and unable to do any work at all.

My robots need some maintenance that I have been putting off for sometime now. Instead, I've just been relaxing, catching up on my vid-romances, and enjoying the quite of a ship in space.

The next portion of our journey takes us to Ringbolt Station, where I hope to buy some fresh-grown fruit. Foodies can make all sorts of foods, but they just don't have that newly picked taste that organic grown veggies and fruits do.

On a planet inhabited by a trillion people "real food" can also be hard to come by, I've actually seen a jar of strawberry preserves sold at auction for thousands of credits! Most people on Kobra World eat from the standard "foodies" that the government provides to each household. Can you imagine the effort it takes to run and manage a planet with hundreds of billions of people on it?! The waste disposal alone was a major problem for Kobra citizens until the annihilation pits were opened about 20 years ago. Also, every person on the planet must grow at least one "oxygen plant" to help sustain the breathability of the atmosphere.

What impressed me most about Kobra World wasn't its stupendous population, but the amount of anti-gravity technology that is heavily used by such an advanced planet. Whole buildings and palaces are constructed in the air, never to touch the ground, and of course if you are rich you just have to have a floating palace, right? The entire civilization on this planet revolves around its anti-gravity (AG) technology; all cars, buses, and public transport are AG, and so are all military and defense craft within the atmosphere of the planet. In this region, very few planets use this advanced technology but I always found it fascinating to watch the hundreds of thousands of aircars and buses flit about in the air like so many interesting-looking bugs.