3-037: At the Large Hunting Lodge XXVII

Chris says, “apparently there’s a message terminal here that can reach anywhere on the planet – it’s how they take bookings.”

Oliver knows:  Most air vehicles you see are aerostats, and occupy the majority of middle ground of commercial air travel.  Aerostats come in a range of sizes from single-seaters about the size of a Toyota Corolla (and perhaps smaller) to the Overlord’s Magnificent Yacht, which is larger than a modern-day-Earth ocean liner [Oliver would, of course, have no concept of that comparison.]  Aerostats are generally slower than modern-day-Earth aircraft, although some are built to travel at comparable speeds to jet aircraft and supersonic models do exist.  Helicopters are essentially unknown because aerostats are generally more effective in that role.  However, at the extreme ends of the scale, conventional wing-lift aircraft (sometimes combined with vectored-thrust technology) have a place.  This is generally small aircraft and ultra-lights because they are cheaper than aerostats, some high-performance military aircraft, and a niche category of transport aircraft used when passengers or cargo cannot be transported in zero-G for any part of the journey.  Limited use is also made of dirigibles and vacuum airships, although their effectiveness is highly dependent on local planetary environmental conditions and as such their use tends to be specialised (an aerostat will work anywhere, but an airship has to be calibrated to the local atmospheric pressure and gas mix; there are perhaps a dozen planets in the Dominion where they will work.)  An airship would work on Pristine, if anyone has one in their back pocket.