Y'know, we could *almost* do a GP hull now with hardtech.
Carbon nanotubes, with trapped silicon molecules, assembled with a scanning tunneling electron microscope. The silicon molecules would form covalent bonds across the fibers, shaping the carbon nanotubes into hull structure. All that is needed is the 'Wave to speed up the process, and some kind of CAD/CAM unit to work on this scale.
Call it "knitting" your own custom molecules. No 'Wave in the hull at all to start with, just in the assembler.
{has mental image of tiny nanobot CAD/CAM unit muttering "knit one, purl two" over and over...}
Carbon nanotubes, with trapped silicon molecules, assembled with a scanning tunneling electron microscope. The silicon molecules would form covalent bonds across the fibers, shaping the carbon nanotubes into hull structure. All that is needed is the 'Wave to speed up the process, and some kind of CAD/CAM unit to work on this scale.
Call it "knitting" your own custom molecules. No 'Wave in the hull at all to start with, just in the assembler.
{has mental image of tiny nanobot CAD/CAM unit muttering "knit one, purl two" over and over...}