hovercycle
A six-seater hovering vehicle on this unnamed planet, long and thin with an open central fuselage, no outer wall or door, and seats straddled with a leg-opening on the inner side. The driver sits front left and controls the craft from there; jets beneath the chassis lift it a few feet off the ground. The condemnation officers use a row of them to flee the dawn while leaving their prisoners chained to die. STD:TSM:Ch 1
Known facts
- quadcycle-splits-into-fourThe four-seater quadcycle is in truth a carrier of four single-seaters. With a switch on each seat, the side splits open and the panels fold out into an independent one-seat hovercycle. The detachable craft run on batteries good for about an hour before they need to dock and recharge from the main fuselage's sunheart.STD:TSM:Ch 13
- jet-propellantNomad's best inference is that the local engines use sunhearts as a heat source to superheat intaken air and force it out downward-pointing nozzles — jet engines pointed at the ground, in effect. They rely on the atmosphere as propellant and so cut out when the air thins.STD:TSM:Ch 19
Events
- STD:TSM:Ch 27 Volunteered by Nomad as the stress-test platform — the engineers install the modified engine on it so he can run it solo up the mountainside. He rides it out into the dark at the chapter's close.
- STD:TSM:Ch 28 Carries Nomad up the high country as the stress-test platform for the new steam engine — floodlights up, melting a thin trail in the icy crust, then losing altitude as the air thins, then climbing again when Nomad engages the modified jet. He cuts the engine at the summit and lands silently in the vacuum.
Backreferences
- facthovercycle