NCS Data Courier ship [Micro MOC - with a twist]

[Tereglith]

In the grand tradition of pre-cyberpunk science fiction failing to predict just how quickly computer tech would advance, I like to imagine the Neo-Classic Space universe as one still filled with enormous, clacking mainframes, gigantic reels of magnetic tape, and endless stacks of binary punch cards, the relics of a fiction forever frozen at the data storage levels of the late 1970s when the original Classic Space sets came out. This is why the explorers of the future must rely on intrepid crews of humans embarking on journeys to the far reaches of the cosmos, and not simply probes like ours.

Still, even in a fleet not dependent on Big Data, there does end up being some considerable digitization in the more developed regions of space. When one massive sector-managing station needs to exchange billions of binary digits with another, they rely on the sturdy, speedy, but often vulnerable fleet of data courier ships. The earliest, Babbage-class ships, capable of transporting 2 billion bytes at a time, have nearly been phased out. Now the Core Worlds Courier fleet is almost entirely composed of Lovelace-class (4 gigabytes) and Turing-class (8 gigabytes) courier ships, the latter of which is pictured below.

The Turing-class Data Courier takes a crew of three spacers, who ride high in the cockpit, as well as two Data engineers, one of the most arcane jobs the Fleet has to offer. A sleek design disguises a large rectangular cargo bay which is carefully protected from external forces, to better preserve the data within its eight refrigerator-sized hard drives, each of which can store a billion bytes of data. In addition to these, each Turing-class contains a single mainframe which administrates the data within it and can perform basic analytic tasks while en route to the destination.

And now... I promised a twist, didn't I?

The major advance of the Turing-class Data Couriers is their external Serial Bus prongs. Emerging from the Turing-class' blunt nose, these twenty-foot conductive prongs can interface with external data-reception ports built into all modern space stations. Thus, the ship can transfer its information contents into the mainframes of stations without the need for the back-breaking physical punch-card transfers that were a hallmark of the Babbage- and Lovelace-classes. This advancement has made the Turing-class Couriers a prized assignment among new pilots in the Core sectors, since being able to dock the prongs successfully on the first try without having to adjust the ship's attitude by 180 degrees is considered a major sign of prowess.

And now I'll drop the NCS act - it's a Lego flash drive! Since it came in blue, I had no choice but to doll it up as a Classic Space-colored microbuild. Here it is plugged into the laptop I'm writing this post on:

[LittleJohn]

Excellent ship! Great use for it too

[bacem]

a data courier ship that literally carries your data. nice one!

[SERVATOR]

Great idea! I have to copy it. :)