Now we come to the heart of the book: the Red Fox.
On the outside, she looks like a regular luxury cruiser designed to transport VIPs and small cargo. Inside, she’s a sophisticated lady, filled to the brim with luxury upgrades to impress our extraterrestrial guests, as well as a finely tuned system designed to resonate with the energy of the CIL, the portals, and their guardians.
She’s not just a machine—she’s part of the crew. And boy, does her crew get upset when she’s in jeopardy!
To begin writing, I had to set the stage. The Red Fox needed to come to life, so I spent several hours using the Paint app on my computer to design what I thought the ship would look like, both inside and out. I mapped all four main levels. After all, my crew needed living quarters, private rooms complete with lounges, small kitchenettes, and bath areas. The guests needed their own accommodations too. Basically, it turned into a mini cruise ship.
I spent a long time thinking about what everyone would need to survive out in space. It had to feel a little like home. So I included entertainment areas, personal care facilities, a garden, a full kitchen, an observation deck, and a café-style dining and seating area.
Of course, I also had to make room for the workspaces. That included the bridge, medical bay, engineering room, laboratories, conference rooms, communication centers, private study areas, viewing halls, a hangar, and all-terrain vehicles.
Against my better judgment, I let the crew pick nicknames for the all-terrain vehicles. That’s how we ended up with names like Firefox, Kits, Seafox, and Foxtail.
And finally, I had to give Foxy her own space.
Her essence resides within a large quartz-like crystal that protects her energetically. Her location needed to be in a restricted area where she could access the ship’s systems and a reliable power source to support the necessary equipment. Engineering seemed like the best fit. Naturally, the crew named it “Foxy’s Den.”
Once I had a collection of cute little amateur line drawings to work from, I sent the rough drafts to my sister, Rose, in Australia. She has a talent for sci-fi ship design and created several versions of the Red Fox, including the one featured on the book cover. She also designed the logos—the fox face on the front and the SEARI logo on the back.
I think it turned out perfectly, and I love that I was able to share this dream with my sister. That makes the ship even more special to me.
Below are a few of my initial level-layout sketches to help illustrate my thought process. I’m certainly not an expert with Paint, but it gets the job done. I even added a few tiny stick figures to give a sense of scale—just imagine they’re little Daves wandering around, looking for something to tinker with. He he…
Until next time!
