Evacuation Transport

From OPU Wiki

Properties

• Common Metals Cost: 650
• Rare Metals Cost: 0
• Build Time: Long
• Hit Points: Low
• Armor: Medium
• Track Type: Wheeled
• Speed: Fast

Commands (not always available): Move, Stop, Self-Destruct.

Description

When the Evacuation Transports were designed, nobody ever anticipated they would ever be used. Circumstances have forced them into common use. Intended as lifeboats in case of fire or other major colony disaster, the Evac Transports, or "E.T.s" as they're sometimes known, are now intimately familiar to all Colonists. When disaster strikes, be it volcanic eruption or microbial incursion, Colonists assemble at the nearest Command Center and board E.T.s in order to move to a new home.

More than a vehicle, each E.T. is a fully self-contained habitat, providing survival-class housing for 25 Colonists. E.T.s provide survival, yes, but not comfort. Conditions are incredibly crowded, water and food are rationed, recreation non-existent, and survivors must sleep in shifts in lightweight hammocks. While the sight of a docking E.T. may be the most welcome sight a Colonist may see in time of disaster, leaving it behind is the next-most-welcome. E.T.s have also found other applications, as long distance personnel transports, rescue vehicles, and housing for survey and scientific expeditions. An impressive record for a vehicle never intended to be used.

Operational Notes: Evacuation Transports are used to carry up to 25 Colonists from one colony location to another. These vehicles are available only in selected missions during Campaign Games. You will never have to load or unload Colonists from Evacuation Transports; you will either be required to move pre-loaded Evacuation Transports to a rendezvous point, or to have a certain number of them on hand to complete a mission.

Tales from New Terra

"I'm sorry to bother you, Elder Moon, but I thought you might be able to calm her. None of us have done much good." Axen Moon followed the little man named Paris through the narrow corridor that connected the transport's five tiny living compartments. The walls were so close that Axen's wide shoulders barely cleared. Somewhere a baby was crying. It seemed to him it had been crying for about a week now. He studied the back of Paris' round, balding head with contempt. Despite being chosen from the 99th percentile of human genetic potential in some critical area, he was a toady. The top 1 percent of toadies, Axen supposed.

Still, the last thing he wanted was to be trapped in an E.T. with someone who'd been driven insane by the conditions, and even toadies had their uses. As they approached the front compartment, he could hear the woman's voice, repeating over and over, "38, 38, 38 ..." He carefully snaked his way through occupied sleeping hammocks and stacks of supplies. The woman huddled in a corner near a small view point. She was barely out of her teens, her long, blond hair hanging around her face in tangles. On the bulkhead next to her, hash-marks had been scratched into the structure with some sharp object.

He knelt at her side and smiled. He didn't feel like smiling at her, or anyone, after their long confinement, but he was a politician first and foremost. She turned as he touched her shoulder, and her eyes widened as she recognized him. "Is there a problem?" He forced his tone to remain pleasant. "Elder! Did I do something to disturb you?" "People were concerned for you. You were talking ..." "Was I talking? It’s hard to tell." There was a slightly wild look in her eyes that worried Axen.

"You kept saying '38.'" "38. Of course." She looked out the window and seemed to forget that he was there. "What does it mean - 38?" "Days." She sighed. "Days since any of us has had a bath." There were 25 people on the Evac Transport, and none of them escaped the sound of Axen Moon's laughter.