This entry into the YC 119 Pod and Planet Fiction Contest. It is submitted formally under the category - “A day in the life” but also as an entry in the Very Short Fiction subcategory.
“Docking request accepted”
“Docking request denied”
The phrases burnt into my mind and the mind of every docking manager across all of Universe. The Guidebook “There a back again, a Docking Tale” was written by a man known only as ‘Scotty’. The origins of the man are raveled in as much mystery as for how the book became so universally accepted as standard doctrine across New Eden.
The book, now over 100 years old, and has been revised as many times as it is years old, is held in such high regard that, as a sign of respect for the past and as almost part of a greater ‘formula’, that every station’s docking manager, has adopted the writer’s name as an alias when dealing with any capsuleer traffic in and out of stations. Even in places like Jita IV - IV, that deal with dozens of docks per second (abbreviated in the book as dps), all go without a hitch thanks to the procedures outlined in this book.
So what do we really know about Scotty and his writing?
There have been several investigations over the years into both Scotty’s history as well as the seemingly impossible workings out in the book.
The calculations, first of all, still to this day, while used in practice aren’t fully understood. Some of the greatest scientific minds from research arms in the 4 main empire factions have come together to offer a variety of perspectives. Most believe that for the calculations to be so advanced in a book so old that their original basis may have come from a more advanced, older ancient civilization, such as the Talocan or Yan Jung, maybe even Jovian in nature.
The calculations, used in tandem with the Scotty’s skills, when applied, hold the capability of compressing any ship, that can physically pass the docking port window to fit into space not much larger than a walnut while retaining all contents, fixtures, fittings, and cargo. Its thanks to this technology that stations throughout the universe can store nearly an infinite amount of ships and contents without the need of increasing their storage size.
(An addendum was added to the scientific journal that this was outlined in, suspecting that this may have been one of the reasons as to why the Amarrians had outlawed such an item)
But, to me, here I sit and study, here I sit and read, here I sit and learn what I need to do to be the Scotty this universe needs. One day I hope to understand and become a docking manager. For now, I’ll stick with the low level’s non-capsuleer traffic control. The menial stuff… Like this guy…
“This is Hek VIII docking control, hailing Tempest class vessel ‘Clear Skies’ please cease and desist clogging up the undock port. If you insist on strapping on an armor repper instead of the station repair shop, please move a safe distance away first”
John frequents this station from time to time. bit of a cheap pilot if you ask me. I often notice his ships looking a bit worse for wear, often never fully repaired, short of crew and always taking on the most suspect of contract jobs. I hear Steve down in requisitions even helped move a sofa out of deep storage the other day onto his bridge. I mean… come on… who has a sofa on the bridge of a Tempest?
Oh well. One day I hope to have a story to tell… even if it is just that of a docking manager.
- Low level Docking Control operator, Hek VIII, Cathrine Deveroux, Personal log