[meta?] [infinities?] This means something, but I don't know what.

[M Fnord]

Maybe you guys can figure it out. I was kicking around some ideas on Operation Have Cake And Eat It, and this popped into my head:

The OV-200 in 2064

The venerable OV-200 series space shuttle remains in service in and around the Sol system and the nearer interstellar colonies. While the ships built before 2025 have largely been retired and largely donated to museums across known space[1], the newer generation of shuttles continue operating much as they always have done. Overshadowed by the newer OV-400 and -500 series explorers and utility spacecraft[2] in recent years, the 200 series remains one of the top performers in Fenspace and a shining reminder of the early pioneer years.

While the original 200 series ships were largely scientific research vessels, most of the shuttle's modern work is related to support and supply missions for stations and colonies on the fringe. Out of the 55 OV-200s still in operation today, only one (OV-276 AFSC Ibn Battuta) continues to work as a first-in explorer. All the rest have been moved off the front lines to a support role. A few shuttles operate as high-end VIP transports: the oldest 200 series still flying (OV-206 SC Daedalus) started life as a personal yacht for a Lagrange millionaire and eventually became an exclusive charter tour ship.

Experts believe that the 200 series will continue to fly through 2100, if only as living museums, show displays and private bush spacecraft.

[1] To name a few: OV-201 USS Enterprise is on display at the Starfleet Museum; the Ackermanian Institution has multiple OV-200s both on display and in storage; the Museum of Martian History proudly displays OV-213-A PKGS Melchizedek; OV-215 AFSC Duyfken was donated to the NEMO Science Center in Amsterdam upon retirement.

[2] The OV-300 was a strictly notational vehicle, built in server farms in Utopia Planitia, Hephaestus and Black Mesa as a way to work out improvements in the shuttle design and test revolutionary new concepts that would eventually go into the physical 400 and 500 series. The OV-400 series is the practical heir to the shuttle legacy, a large (100m) utility vehicle, while the OV-500 series is the spiritual heir, a larger (~200m) deep space exploration craft. Both vehicles take design inspiration from Matt Jeffries' http://www.projectrho.com/SSC/index.html]Lief Ericson

Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

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