Serpents Among The Ruins: USS Universe NX-2999?

[Dale]

I'm reading SATR for the first time right now (been on a John Harriman kick lately) and am curious if there's been any artwork created depicting the USS Universe, NX-2999, the hyperwarp prototype ship from the novel. It sounded to me like the author was describing something akin to a Galaxy-class ship.

As an aside, there was a bit of the novel that spent some time describing Harriman's face and on a whim I Googled as many pics of Ruck as Harriman as I could find... and a couple of curiosity click-throughs later, I had accidentally spoiled the end of the book for myself!

 

[David R. George III]

Dale, I know of no art depicting the Universe, though I certainly have a vision in my own mind of what it looks like (which I of course hope translated to the printed page).

 

[DEWLine]

Looking forward to seeing that vision realized in art to your satisfaction someday, then...

 

[nx1701g]

^ Me too.

 

[David R. George III]

Me too!

 

[Dale]

Dude. The "Tomed Incident." WOW.

I sat up straight, went back, and read it again.

Never saw it coming, even though the clues were there. Freaked me right out.

Nicely done.

 

[David R. George III]

Dale, I'm delighted to hear that the tale satisfied you!

 

[Ríu ríu chíu]

I thought this bit was hilarious:

Spoiler: novel

Vokar has just woken up inside a torpedo casing (having been traded back to Romulus as a POW) and Hiren is there. Hiren just keeps beating the shit out of Vokar and repeating "Get up, Sublieutenant!" over and over.

 

[JarodRussell]

Dale, I know of no art depicting the Universe, though I certainly have a vision in my own mind of what it looks like (which I of course hope translated to the printed page).

What does it look like?

 

[David R. George III]

Well, I described it in Serpents...I don't have the description handy off the top of my head, but I believe it's pretty detailed.

 

[JD]

I have a feeling the description in the book might be more detailed, but I did find the description on Memory Beta

The Universe had a slightly unorthodox design, though many of the structures were similar to existing starships. The saucer section was a long narrow ellipse, with no raise at the middle, that connected directly to the secondary hull, another long narrow ellipse. Two wide thin nacelles extended from the secondary hull. The ship as a whole had a very wide beam and shallow depth.

 

[JarodRussell]

Somehow I have huge problems understanding that quote.

 

[Scout101]

sounds like the Ent-D, but with no 'neck' section, and longer engines...

 

[David R. George III]

All right, all right, make me do all the work (though I appreciate your efforts, JD). Here's the relevant passage.

On the computer screen, the Enterprise vanished, replaced an instant later by split screen images of Universe; a view from in front of the vessel sat on top, and a view from the side on the bottom. With a particularly wide beam and shallow depth, the starship looked as though it had been compacted top to bottom, and spread port and starboard. The primary hull, a narrow ellipse with its major axis running fore and aft, had no rise to it at its center. The secondary hull, another level, narrow ellipse, but smaller, connected to the primary hull directly, the forward section of the former lying directly below the aft section of the latter. A pair of thin struts, angling backward, connected each of the two warp nacelles to the secondary hull. The nacelles themselves were flat and wide, flaring out broadly from their midpoints aft. The two-hull, two-nacelle alignment suggested a resemblance to other Starfleet vessels, but departed dramatically from those other designs in execution.

 

[Christopher]

Aside from the references to the "wide beam" and "spread port and starboard," it sounds kind of like the Sovereign class. I'm confused by those references, since the saucer is described as "narrow" with its longer axis running front-to-back. How is the ship both narrow and wide at the same time?

 

[Timo]

The "thin struts" are probably rather long, and the engine nacelles themselves are broad, too... If the hulls aren't large in comparison with the length of the struts, we get the "narrow and wide" effect, then. Doodling a bit, it becomes clear that the struts must be really long in relation, though, to create that effect... Unless the nacelles are as large as the primary hull. Which they may well be, considering that this was supposedly just a propulsion testbed.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JarodRussell]

Aside from the references to the "wide beam" and "spread port and starboard," it sounds kind of like the Sovereign class. I'm confused by those references, since the saucer is described as "narrow" with its longer axis running front-to-back. How is the ship both narrow and wide at the same time?

Yeah, I don't get it either. And what do you mean by shallow depth? Is that referring to the length or the height of the ship?

 

[Christopher]

^Well, "shallow depth" usually suggests a vertical measure, unless you're talking about something sticking out from a wall, and he does say "compressed top to bottom."

 

[David R. George III]

The "thin struts" are probably rather long, and the engine nacelles themselves are broad, too... If the hulls aren't large in comparison with the length of the struts, we get the "narrow and wide" effect, then. Doodling a bit, it becomes clear that the struts must be really long in relation, though, to create that effect... Unless the nacelles are as large as the primary hull. Which they may well be, considering that this was supposedly just a propulsion testbed.

I envisioned the struts and nacelles as fairly sizable, yes. As for the "narrow and wide effect," as you put it, the ellipses making up the two hulls are narrow--that is to say, their major axes are much longer than their minor axes. The hulls are also flat, with no connecting neck between them. The aft portions of the nacelles also flair significantly.

 

[JD]

All right, all right, make me do all the work (though I appreciate your efforts, JD).

I thought about pulling out the book myself, but I figured MB was quicker, and that it's description was probably good enough to get the basic look across.