Wanderlust: The In-Flight Magazine of OSC

[Jonathan Seabourne]

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Wanderlust Magazine


"Tales From Where Angels Fear to Tread"
A White Spa Lines Publication, A Division of Orbital Spa and Cruise
4 March 827 A.S.

The Beauty of Sirius

When legendary ship designer Peter Englund first designed Orbital Spa and Cruise's signature Enterprise class of liners, he set out to create a machine that was as much a work of art as it was a means of transport. Little did he know that his venerable ships would one day transition from being a masterpiece of design to a brush with which to paint on an infinitely larger canvas.

Captain Thomas Reardon of the OS&C liner Axiom commissioned famed artist Michael Andreas to create several magnificent paintings in an attempt to capture the beauty of the stars that can never be fully put into words. Forgoing realism, the artist channeled the vast stellar backdrop through myriad styles and mediums until the final result couldn't help but inspire some friendly competition. "I've heard rumors, that our little project will not be the only one around," said the captain and it wasn't long before Captain Cross of the Red Velvet Club, Captain Madlyn O Rouke of the long range research charter vessel Hawking, and Director Jonathan Seabourne of the Breezewood joined in on the fun. We are pleased to share the results of their passion with the rest of the starbound of Sirius who may reconize these vistas from our most popular routes.

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In "A Home in the Sky," the artist invoked the style of street graffiti to infuse life, color, and a lived-in hominess to the edge of human civilization. The empty void has been replaced with an orgy of color and astute viewers can spot the distinctive tail fin of the Red Velvet Club, guiding passengers to the distant station. But we are left asking which is the home in the sky? Is it the station, perpetually perched in nothingness or the spaceship, fated to wander the cosmos in search of ever more interesting sights? Humanity's once solid notions of "home" were shattered the moment we took to the stars and realized even our home planet of Earth was a cosmic wanderer of a sorts. "A Home in the Sky" asks us to consider the notion that, perhaps, home is where the heart is, be it planet, station, or starship.

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"Second Star to the Right," sees the liner Breezwood streaking off towards a ringed star. The signature ridged fins and smooth curves of the liner are rendered in sharply edged panels, obliterating the cold functionality of the ship and leaving only its pure, elemental style. The rays of the sun exhibit a feel of dynamic change, but is this a sunrise or a sunset? So many of the interesting sights in Sirius center on the birth, death, and rebirth of the celestial bodies, going through eons long lifespans compared to which the timeline of our entire species is but a blink of the eye. In this way, Orbital cruises are as much a trip through time as they are in space, with think hulls protecting passengers from the ravages of the universe as they experience the beauty of the birth, life, and death of stars in a human timescale. This humbling call of the void is a familiar friend to all space-faring pilots, with even the most humble crater-pocked asteroid a reminder that this rock was floating in space long before life emerged from Earth's primordial seas, and the rays of the "Second Star to the Right" will continue to shine long after Breezewood has been put to pasture.

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In "Neutron Night," the liner Axiom sees herself invited to one of the most awe-inspiring places in the sector: the orbit of a neutron star. These incredibly rare stellar formations are the result of stellar bodies that refuse to go quietly into that good night. Unimaginably dense and spinning at ludicrous speeds, these stars are the giant disco balls of the sector, spewing a strobe-light effect powerful enough to turn an entire system into a dancefloor. Ancient Earth texts invited mankind to eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die, but "Neutron Night" invites us to consider the possibility that even in death there is a party to be found.

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In "Hawking at Nagano," we see the outline of the long term science charter vessel Hawking agains the background of two brilliant stars. Often we look at space as a vast emptiness interrupted by small beacons of survivable atmosphere, but the composition of the painting turns that motif on its head to see the universe through the eyes of the scientists who make the Hawking their home. Their life's work is spent revealing the mysteries of the cosmos by perusing that same void with sensors that see what our petty human eyes miss while the amenities of the ship are already well known and thus of no interest. Here, it is space that appears warm and inviting while the vessel is reduced to a featureless black smear. Through brilliant inversion of color, the artist invites us to see the universe through the wonder-filled eyes of the patrons of the Hawking, and all who see "Hawking at Nagano" will never look at the "emptiness" of space the same way again.

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OS&C|Breezewood

Captain Jonathan Seabourne, Editor-in-Chief, Wanderlust Magazine

"Where Angels Fear to Tread"

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Orbital Spa and Cruise

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