“Sparrowgear, the police won’t even tell me who’s been tipping them off to the engine handoffs.”
“The police don’t know. No one does. But thank the Suns someone is looking out for the Fleet.”
“Indeed.”

***

The Ursae model I talked about in my last post is coming along swimmingly.  I’ve finished the envelopes, complete with lantern masts and crimping, as well as all of the major support arches:

I tried a lot of different designs for these support arches - criss-cross beams, trianglur struts, and several variations of arches-within-arches.  The final design was inspired by the 1911 Monroe Street Bridge in Spokane, Washington.

I also finished modeling steps on all of the ramps between levels:

But who’s that tiny figure standing on the sidewalk?

I know I’ve seen that girl somewhere before…

In other news, I’ve tweaked the Book I title page, the Part I title page, the Part I end title, and the Part II title to bring them in line with the site’s design.  It was difficult to keep the new graphics from drowning out the original art on the Book title page, but I think it came off okay.  At some point in the distant future, I’ll make a new Book I title page to tie the whole thing together.  But not anytime soon.

Speaking of the distant future, I cannot believe I have yet to mention Wall-E on the blog.  Oh my goodness.  What a fantastic film.  It’s a touching love story wrapped in delicious, satirical sci-fi, with a smattering of silent film.  The artistic direction is beautiful.  The animation is subtle, hilarious, and evocative.  And the characters - mainly robots - are full of heart.

I - I may have seen it three times already.

Hello, hello!  Here’s a quick update on the new models I’m working on in SketchUp.  I did a few renders of the in-progress Ursae model:

On the to-do list for this model:

• Envelope masts
• Pipes and water resevoirs
• Railings
• Lamp posts
• Stairs
• Supports

Here’s the original (completed) Ursae model, from my old 3D program, DOGA:

It’s difficult to convey just how much better SketchUp is than this older program, and thus how much better the new Ursae model is from the old one.  If I start going into detailed features I’ll end up sounding like an advertisement - let’s just say that it is phenomenally easier to use.

Plus, SketchUp models in real-world units - feet, meters, etc - which means this version of the Ursae is modeled to scale.  Fun fact: the Ursae is over 1.5 miles long and 2000 feet wide (to be fair, though, these dimensions aren’t finalized).

Want to show your love and devotion to The Aethereal Adventures of Emma Verne?  True aethernauts become fans of the Emma Verne page on Facebook.  I put up a basic page that you can add to your Facebook profile and spread the word.  The Aethernauts - an Emma Verne Facebook group, is also out there for you to join.

I also tweaked the first Encylocpædia Aetheria entry - “Aetherships”. It is now much more readable.