Classic Boats might be my new favorite Instagram page. Not because I own a boat or even particularly want to own one. But because I spend a lot of time thinking about starships.

Starships, in science fiction, especially on the big and small screens, tend to come in two flavors: military or working class. You’ve got all your big, beautiful warships, everything from the Super Star Destroyer Executor to the Battlestar Galactica to the venerable NCC-1701 Enterprise. On the other side of that, there’s Serenity, Red Dwarf, Moya, and a whole host of others. What you don’t have nearly enough of, in my opinion, is the Eagle 5 (the Winnebago Chieftain from Spaceballs).

Let’s suppose that we’ve set up a world where people routinely commute between Earth, Mars, and Venus with small outposts in the asteroid belt or at varying Lagrange points. Even if we give everyone cold fusion drives that fit inside a Mr. Coffee, space is big. (Cue the Douglas Adams bit.) A simple roundabout is going to take the better part of two years if everything lines up perfectly.

Which brings me back to classic boats. If I’ve got a job or lifestyle that requires me to make the roundabout, I’m not doing it in some fishing trawler. No, I’m getting the funding, one way or another, and getting myself the space-faring equivalent of a Zeelander 5. And then I’m putting a Riva Aquarama Special alongside as a shuttle and tender.

Give me decent berths, a proper head with a proper shower, a galley big enough to actually cook in, and space to throw a few extra suitcases into should I need it. Frame everything in beautiful hardwoods and set state-of-the-art navigation equipment into the spacious and comfortable helm. And then, and only then, will we figure out what kind of job needs us to travel the roundabout.

File under: worldbuilding