Core

Not to be confused with Chord or Cord.

The Core is the central, pressurized trunk within the Orbstack of the starship Daban Urnud. It runs the length of the rotating habitat column and provides service and transit access between the Orbstack’s inhabited spheres and the non‑spinning frame. Its wall rotates at a gentle, “second‑hand” pace; travelers who catch the grid of handholds feel a small but useful sense of “down,” making movement easier than in zero‑gravity.

Layout and features

• Long axial shaft—about a hundred feet in diameter—connecting the forward and aft bearing chambers to the Orbstack interior.
• A grid of handholds on the inner wall; matching the Core’s rotation provides light pseudogravity for rest and movement.
• A moving conveyor‑ladder runs up one side and down the other; its elastic rungs soften the initial jolt when grabbing on.
• Four major Nexi are spaced along the Core where stacks of four orbs each connect. From each Nexus, a tubular shaft leads “down” toward an orb and ends in a huge ball valve.
• Ball valves here are captive spheres with a bored tunnel that can align for passage or rotate shut to seal the path; some valve bores include ladder rungs to aid descent as pseudogravity increases.
• Around at least one Nexus, offices and ring‑corridors—the Command Torus—wrap the Core wall. Accounts note this area has been partially partitioned amid tension between the Pedestal and the Fulcrum, with some hatches locked and routes severed.

Access and controls

• The Core links to the ship’s bearing chambers via very large ball valves; nearby single‑person airlocks allow passage when the main valve is closed.
• Entry from exterior vertices is possible by passing through a vertex facility (e.g., an observatory dome used as a giant airlock) into a bearing chamber and then through the main ball valve when open.
• During alarms, valves may be shut to restrict movement between the Core and connected regions; some access points are secured by keypad controls.

Noted activity

• Amid emergency response around the World Burner installation, the forward bearing chamber filled with firefighters, soldiers, and technicians moving through a Tendon toward the affected vertex. In the confusion, travelers in firefighting gear slipped through a closing ball valve into the Core, used the rotating wall to move along the axis, and reached the Nexus serving Orbs One, Five, Nine, and Thirteen before descending toward Orb One.

Status

Active and heavily used as an internal artery of the Orbstack, with access governed by large ball valves and smaller airlocks. Recent observations describe elevated traffic and intermittent closures during shipboard emergencies.