Hybrid Technologies Part 1

Here's a bit more on the Hybrid's ships, I should have one more large post and then I might have enough of a general idea on what I'm writing about to start the first part of the actual story. That large post should come sometime during Thanksgiving break.

The Nautilus was created as the Hybrid Flagship used to attack the Alteran base on Earth in 2669. It took serious damage late in the battle as the Alterans began to pull a fighting force together. A large energy cannon sent a bolt through the nerve center of the ship’s brain, limiting the motor control the Hybrids had over it. Not wanting the Alterans to gain the upper hand, a devoted crew stayed on board the ship as non-essential personnel evacuated. The remaining crew guided the Nautilus as it fell, using what little control they still had to aim the wreckage into the Alteran city. The massive ship, nearly the size of New York, decimated the area, leaving a massive crater not because of its size or how far it fell (only half a mile up) but because of the large fusion generator failing when it collided with the ground. Portions of the ship were later recovered and it was cloned, containing the genetic memories of the first Nautilus. Just before the events that take place in the story, the Nautilus is one of three remaining warships the Hybrids have at their disposal. Being the flagship of the entire Hybrid fleet it is significantly larger than the other warships and carries more firepower. It is the only ship to escape Europa, later arriving in Dordonia in 2781.

The Hybrids developed smaller attack ships to be housed within the main body of the Nautilus and other large class ships like it. The smallest of these are the Barnacles, that look similar to larger ship itself however are much smaller, and are able to fit only one or two people. They are named barnacles because of how they form along the inside cavities of the Octopoda Ship. The normal animal would reproduce by making thousands of them, dying and allowing its body to be consumed by its offspring reproducing asexually if no zygote formed. After extensive genetic modification, this would consume a large amount of power and would of course be impractical to those living inside the ship. Instead of using all male ships to avoid this, the offspring were modified to become smaller, single piloted versions of the mother. These Barnacles are outfitted individually with the implants to become viable ships. Because their overall size is only about the size of a large motorcycle, the Barnacles are extensively modified so that they are immune to the harsh environment in space. They have very few organs and what little they do have are removed to make room for mechanical parts, making them much more synthetic than organic. The Barnacles are easily replaced, if a ship is destroyed or damaged, another dormant pod within the lining of cavity is forced to mature into a new body into which the old parts are placed to create a new ship.

To transport larger numbers of people the Hybrids rely on older technologies. Within the Atlantis base itself and the geothermal plant on Io monorails are used to transport passengers quickly. Similar to Dordonia, there are no flying cars or personal vehicles. To transport large numbers of people to and from ships like the Nautilus older shuttles that could carry a fairly large group of one hundred people or so were used. They were old technology from the Union and had for the most part become broken down relics. Medium sized ships called Whales were created in a similar manner to the Barnacles, from the reproduction sites within the Octopoda vessels. These Whales were created from the designs of the older Union transport ships that originally brought people scientists to Atlantis. Their frames were organically made like the Barnacles were however their interiors were largely manufactured. They were essentially large flying rooms that could hold up to one hundred fifty people safely. Several were kept as escape pods but it was impractical to have enough for a city wide evacuation, so only the higher up officers, CEO’s, and their families would have known about their existence, the general public believing that there were escape pods available for everyone and would be told where they were in an actual emergency.