It was around 3pm now, Ella Sizk was still working on her Tulham XV, it was an older version of the Hule I both ship designs that Ella enjoyed working on. She had the pleasure of meeting Jonas El Rotoa the creator of the Tulham earlier in the year. She still can remember every part of that conversation between the two.
"Designing a starship is not merely about engineering; it's about dreaming on a cosmic scale. Each rivet and panel speaks of humanity's boundless desire to touch the stars, to voyage beyond the known and embrace the infinite mysteries of the universe. In the silence of space, our ships whisper tales of courage, curiosity, and the relentless pursuit of the extraordinary."
Ella was on a chase of that pursuit of the extraordinary. But she didn't know how. The classroom was louder than ever. Every girl in there was talking to each other about how their ship design was gonna come out. Ella sat on a table with four other girls, she wasn't particularly friends with them but general conversation did show up now and then. Everyone had their own tablet for design and engineering that was provided by the university.
There were a few apps that were downloaded on the tablets that the students could use: Caree - food and drinks delivery system, most of the school uses this instead of going to the canteen so that they could eat from their classroom and not be late for the next lesson.
Gilbert - the schools newsboard
The Red Glass Frogs - esports team
Integral - the mech design app
Internal - the ship design app
There were 25 other apps installed but Ella didn't care much about those so she only focused on those five apps, but kept a closer focus on Internal. Her average time spent on Internal was nearly 10 hours each day. Usually university work would be the reason, sometimes it would be her personal projects that she's working on, and rare times that it's for commissions for other people that she was working for. She hadnt had a commission in over 30 days now and the money that came from it wasn't enough to pay for her own living. Lianos was an expensive city so it was expected, coming from Kerte into here was a transition that she never knew would be so challenging day to day.
Anna Sizk, her sister, lived in the city but decided not to help her out since it would be hard and also needed her little sister to learn the ways of the world without help from her older sister. Anna worked as a mechanic for the meanwhile so she could pay her bills and anything else for her survival. Ella worked in a doughnut and coffee shop called 'Dips N Drinks' She didn't love her job, it was something that kept her somewhat stable in life. The smell of triple mint and chocolate crushed doughnut stayed with her in and out of work. Whenever she smelt the other girls bring it into the classroom it always reminded her of being in the store.
Whenever she was designing ships, she was at peace. Something that couldn't be disturbed at all. She was in the zone. After winning so many awards at a young age and eventually moving into Lianos when she was 19 she knew her worth.
But when she was in this classroom of girls she felt smaller than ever. Illya who won the 2118 starship legends award at age 17 went on to be accepted into MAU automatically, Charlie who helped with the blueprints of the seventeen knights won a lot of awards for innovation and creativity then accepted into MAU, Cassie who wasn't really creative somehow figured out a way to train units of ships for longevity with a software she created over the summer before entering MAU. Whenever Ella thought about how she could be so special there was always someone better than her. And she didn't like this.
She always tried hard to get the approval of Mrs Welles, she used to be one of the seventeen knights who served Lianos as being the protectors of the city. They were of the strongest, smartest, and vigilant people who were appointed by King Eric II to protect him from all over the globe. They bathed in luxury and fame while also protecting this city from any threat. And there were alot of threats who would love to see King Eric II dead on their doorstep.
Eric wasn't respected by most people. Doing shady trades with Lillyos, the city of agriculture and growth. The blueprint war put the monarch in hot water with the Blueprint war that happened six decades ago with Eric I causing distrust for Lianos then passing it over to his also dangerous son. It was said that King Eric II had plans to wipe out Phoran for good and use up all their material for technology.
This was later covered up by the media very very quickly, but Ella remembered the articles about it on Threddit and other social media that were not hidden by the Lianos Government. Ella had some anxiety that Lianos could wipe out her hometown Kerte someday if it tread wrongly on Lianos soil. That anxiety wasn't useful at all so she ignored her thoughts quickly and continued with her ship designing
She looked up designs by Jonas El Rotoa, Isaac Helvasky, Andrew Turner, three legendary ship and mech designers of the century. Jonas loved curvature in his designs, so much so he challenged the IFR (interstellar flight regulation) and SID (star Intelligence Defence) to allow him to create a ship only with curves and circles. At first they said "what the fuck, no." But he did it anyway and somehow after a lot of conversations they allowed him to do it and it was eventually called the Seco, it wasn't renewed for a second version due to aerospace regulations and disruptions. And then the singularity war happened.
Ella looked at all his other designs. The Hule I was such a success that King Eric II approved of the design himself when IFR rejected Jonas multiple times. The Hule was a Tier 3 stage vehicle meaning it wasn't perfect for interstellar travelling but for a better use for travelling across the globe. This ship was 2 of 2. One for Jonas and one for King Eric II. Although King Eric II does have anxiety about leaving Lianos in case of assassins. There have been attempts on his life many, many times but somehow he's got lucky and not died.
Ella began remixing the Hule I on a separate page to her inspirations board. She changed the shape of the ship from just an extruded Y into a prism allowing for more room for luxury. The Hule had little space for any comfort; it was rather there for simple transportation of a couple passengers but never a large crew. She then changed the panels from dug in curves into triangular pointing spikes all around. The cockpit windows would be removed also and no pilot would be there either. She integrated artificial intelligence for pilots instead.
She then changed the colour of the ship into matte black with a golden underglow. The wings would be replaced from v wings into w-wings… she continued to work on this ship project for the next two hours replacing what she started with into something completely different.
She named the file: Tensurigalia_v1_104724
Known for its Y shape, Ella kept the characteristic it once held but now a prism shape allowed for it to be used for a different space than just private flying. Along with this she added multiple round windows for viewing. Yellow coloured glass tinted from the outside. Ella also changed the colour from matte black to a mint green to give it a more softer look. She also created a space for mechs to attach to on the bottom of the ship which would be a lot more useful.
Mrs Wells walked over to her table. Mrs Wells was always the best dressed person in the entire university, she would've won many fashion competitions if they existed. Today she wore a long faded dress with a long sleeve beige jacket on top of a cream white t-shirt. She also had grey hair. A Yovi with grey hair was very attractive to the eye, even Ella couldn't deny she was really beautiful. Her light pale blue skin colour was very unique especially in Lianos, except if you only wanted to study at MAU. Many Yovians and other races came to study at this school. Ella never took the time to research where they were from so she always assumed that they always existed here.
"Hi girls, what's up with the talking?" Ella didn't notice how loud their table was, she was so focused on making this ship look right.
"Sorry…" a girl murmured to the teacher. They all settled down. Mrs Wells walked back to the front of the classroom with crossed arms. She turned back to the whole class and began announcing that it was the end of class and that everyone could go home now. It was around 5pm now Ella had to start her shift at around 6:30pm. It only took 15 minutes to get to her dorm.
As she packed her bags and placed her Tablet inside, Mrs Wells began to approach her when all the girls were all gone.
"Hey" she looked at Ella with a soft smile waiting for a response. Ella quickly looked up at her then back down to her bag pushing more stuff into her bag. "I was thinking lately about your ship designs. I really like them."
'You do?' Ella wished she said that but remained quiet.
"How bout this," Ella finished preparing to leave and looked up at Mrs Wells nervously "i know that you're super into ship designs, from looking at your portfolio, and you've spent some time working real hard on creating something real would you be down to come with me to meet Sr Canskix."
Sr Canskix was the oldest mech designer currently, his work was painfully outdated so much so that if you ever thought about bringing his name in a conversation people thought of you as a fossil. He was also one of the seventeen knights, Mrs Wells' mentor which was inspiring. But what knowledge could he even have at such an old age. He was 132 years old, he spent 40 years in a tube with wires connected to him. He used Artificial intelligence as part of his communication. He was still conscious, just a human shell and immobile.
"What for?"
"I just want you to get into the right mindset for when you get into second year in MAU, your first year is almost over. I want to treat you with something that you'd probably get inspired by."
"Inspired by a struggling old man in an extract chamber? Totally".
"Really? Cmon, it'll be good for you and maybe we could ask to see if he has any space experiences that he could share with us?" The teacher had a big smile on her face that Ella couldn't ignore holding her shoulders waiting for a response.
"Alright…Maybe. When are we doing this?" Ella asked.
"Next week, Tuesday? Is that fine with you?"
"I'll have to ask about my shift at DipsNDrinks but it should be fine." Ella smiled.
"Excellent." Mrs Welles rushed off to prepare to leave herself. Ella began walking out the classroom and into the main hallway.
'Space experiences?...hmm.'