On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:51 AM, Onno Meyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> There are two separate questions, really:
>
> 1) Which services are required in this collection of habitats?
> 2) How are they organized in this corporate state?
>
> On the first question, I suggest Falling Free and especially
> Diplomatic Immunity by Bujold, plus GURPS THS High Frontier
> and the Alliance/Union books by C.J. Cherryh. Some remarks
> in no particular order:
>
> * If you have scores of free-floating habitats, there will be
> shuttles, shuttle accidents, and debris. Both space traffic
> control and accident cleanup will be high priorities, not
> just rescue, it wouldn't do to have a forgotten piece of
> some accident hole the Zoo a century later on its return
> orbit.
>
>
Okay, so we need a debris tracking team, which you would anyway. I expect
that's the coast guard's job, as they're generally responsible for the
safety of shipping, and run the traffic control systems.
> * Stationkeeping for the habitats is another issue. And who
> does maintenance on the thrusters of every little tin can?
>
> * Can rotating habitats be spun down? Does that ever happen
> for real? Can they get a 'wobble'? Who balances moving
> large masses?
>
Well, to spin up or down a structure requires a fair amount of power. You
can do it with gyros wired as motors on the axis about which you want to
spin. Spinning stuff is a real pain to deal with, as you note, and very
little that doesn't need to does. (That's true in orbital habitats across
the setting, which features a space-native population that exceeds the
planet-bound one.)
>
> * Safeguarding life support will be a high priority. Life
> support inspectors might have stronger legal enforcement
> powers re search and seizure than ordinary cops ...
>
> * Each habitat will have some life support, but do people
> live and work in the same places, and what does that mean
> for closed cycles? Will there be regular transfers of
> clean and dirty water, food and biological waste between
> habitats, and who balances everything?
>
In general, people live and work on the same habitat. There's a fair amount
of inter-habitat travel, as people travel for meetings, vacation, to attend
schools, and so on, but no much in the way of commuting. There are probably
some industrial facilities that don't have resident populations for safety
reasons.
In the setting, humans have been permanently living in space for something
like 4000 years. They've got life support figured out. Each habitat takes
care of its own requirements, with substantial reserves built in. it's not
possible to run a perfectly closed system, of course, so oxygen and other
things will get lost (one big loss of oxygen in space habitats is bound to
be oxidation of materials), but that's what the reserves are for, and
resupply of the elements that aren't well accounted for in orbit takes care
of replenishment.
> * Are residents allowed to own pets? What if one escapes,
> or if a dog makes a mess?
>
>
Animal control picks it up, scans its embeded id, returns it to its owner.
No ID, send it to be recycled. animal messes are no worse that the ones
caused by humans. Technology, and physics take care of most it. floating
debris will eventually end up in an air vent, which are equipped to separate
organic matter from non, and direct the organic stuff into the sewage
system.
> * Large habitats might have the population of a city, but
> they are ONE structure. What happens if a part needs to
> be refitted/modernized? Do people own their apartments,
> do they rent them, or could they perhaps own rights to
> a certain type of apartment, but without the right to
> stay in the same place for their lifetime?
>
>
I'm thinking condo style is the way to go. Someone (usually the Junction
Corporation, but some habitats aren't owned by them.) owns the habitat.
Companies, individuals, and other organizations acquire the right to occupy
space and pay the cost of maintenance, based on how much space they have.
Individuals might rent an apartment, or they might own a particular one, or
the right to occupy one (and the particular unit they occupy changes from
time to time, based on where they work, etc)
> Either way, janitorial services and their administration
> will be a big issue, and the office which has to shift
> 10,000 flats and their occupants from sector A to sector
> B will have great political power. ("No way you're going
> to move me next to John Doe. I want to talk to your
> supervisor.")
>
> Regarding organization, just two points:
>
> * Eight years from every citizen could be enough to staff
> the entire public sector, from military and police to
> the tax offices. But there will be a need for some to
> 'go career', it wouldn't do to have a senior admiral
> with just 8 or 12 years experience.
>
Oh, sure, there's a corps of professional administrators and officers.
Considering the working career of most people is 80 or 90 years, 8 years
experience is nothing. (And the time of service that's spent performing a
particular duty is less than that, more like only six. Testing and a
military boot-camp like experience take the first six months, most people
then get a year of training in classroom and simulators and lab before being
put out for actual duty. People in a technical track will spend another
year in a class room (not all at once, but spread out, in a series of short
intense courses on some specific subject related to what they're doing or
going to do). there are probably areas (those that require skill and
training) where the bulk of the workforce is paid post-service employees.
(Don't forget the economy has to absorb these people somehow.)
* Some types of public service will be more popular than
> others. For an eight-year term, is it OK to say 'tough
> luck' or do you need compensations? Do people in
> childcare get more or less than organic waste disposal
> specialists?
>
People doing service are paid a very minimal stipend. It's not related to
what they do (though I supposed actual combat troops would get combat
pay.). What you're assigned to is a function of your aptitude, interest and
what the need of the corporation is. If there's a shortage organic waste
disposal technicians when you enter, and the testing shows they think you'll
be good at it, you might get assigned even if you had no interest on it, and
really wanted to do propulsion engineering. (One of the goals of PC-type
going through this would be to get into some field that gives them a leg up
in getting a starship crew license.
--
David Scheidt
[email protected]
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