Causeway
The ESCI Revelation's Ring Section is connected to its Spere Section by four tangential structures known as the 'Causeways.'
Purpose / Function
Aside from acting as structural members, the Causeways provide cargo, vehicle, and personnel transfers between the Sphere Section and various portions of the Ring Section. The Sphere side of the Causeways open into the habitable section at the level of Fore Main Street. The Ring side connects to the Ring tree farms and pressurized sections of the Docking Array. Modular infrastructure, such as power conduits, plumbing, and auxiliary tanks for various substances are also located in the non-pressurized outer layers of the causeways, accessible only by drones and crew members in pressure suits.
Architecture
The coremost portion of each Causeway is a large, empty space bounded to the fore and aft by various sizes of airlocks. This intermediate space is around 100' high and 200' wide (center partition notwithstanding) and is typically kept at low atmospheric pressure. Racks and shelves along the sides of the space allow for boxes and tanks to be stowed, so long as these pieces of cargo are capable of surviving vacuum in the event of an emergency. A separately pressurized booth at the forward end of the intermediate space allows for the loadmaster or one of his staff to take note of large loads being moved around and adjust ballast tankage accordingly. Access to this main space through the large cargo/vehicle doors is restricted, as each cycle of the airlock means that a tiny (but nontrivial over an extended journey) amount of breathing mix may be lost to the unpressurized Docking Array.
The lower right edge of the space is bounded by a separate sealed pedestrian corridor leading all the way from the Sphere Section to the Ring Section agricultural region. Those traversing this path can look out through picture windows to observe goings-on in the intermediate space and Docking Array without having to pass through an unnecessary third or fourth set of airlock doors as they cross bulkheads.
The passable inner space is surrounded on all sides by 50' tall utility spaces which, like the utility spaces around the rest of the vessel, are typically kept at vacuum. Load-bearing struts crisscross this space, as the causeways must be quite ridgid to support the Ring Section against acceleration or decelleration forces. Composite armor studded with sensors both protects against damage and reports any such damage to officers in the Command Information Center.
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