Analysis
Author's Note: This chapter has absolutely nothing to do with continuity of the storyline; it is there solely for the purpose of finally taking the opportunity to give one final, long, detailed description of the Death Ray and other apparatuses and details. If you want to skip this chapter, then you won't miss anything.
Paris, France; Sunday, December 9, 2007, 3:10 P.M...
Bentley studied the blueprints for hours on end. The Death Ray truly was of a grand design. If it weren't a tool for evil, it would actually be a shame to destroy it.
The entire Death Ray itself was exactly 3,000 feet tall; already the tallest man-made structure in the world. It was 900 feet wide. Its length from the front to back was approximately 500 feet. The entire Death Ray was made of a specially designed, extra-strong, three-foot thick steel hull that not even torpedoes could blast through. Similar to the previous Death Ray, instead of sideways, the parts that would be wings shot straight downward. These "legs" were 2,500 feet tall. Each was perfectly circular, with a diameter of 100 feet. The interior of the legs were divided into levels. Each level was only 10 feet tall, and there were 247 per leg, and 494 in total. And each level, since lengthwise it would be extremely large, was divided into three sections, almost like pie slices: The front half was divided into two smaller sections; the front right and front left. Both of these two smaller sections had their own gunner station. Both legs had these gunner stations lining them, and were for external protection in case of failure with the blimp army. The stations were eight feet tall and five feet wide, and were set up in a kind of orb shape. The orb, made of thick Plexiglass, could rotate up, down, sideways, slanted, and most general directions in place, allowing for more maneuverability. The station itself consisted of the chair that the gunner would sit in and the gun itself: A massive minigun with the barrel protruding from the glass in a secure socket, similar to the type of suction used to press an airport walkway to a jet's door, thus allowing it to rotate freely as fired. There were two joysticks placed on each side of the chair. The left one was in an apparatus that allowed it to rotate and move in all directions, just like the orb itself. This one controlled the movement of the orb: Forward for moving the orb down, backward for moving it up, left for left, right for right, and so on. The right joystick could not be moved, but had a red button on the top: the trigger for the gun. Other than the gunner stations in each section, there were also weapon and ammunition racks, and a few break tables.
The rear half of each leg was undivided, and was mainly just a roundabout hallway surrounding the central shaft of the leg. Each leg had a central shaft running up and down the full length of the leg. The shafts consisted of four stairwells and three elevators, all aligned side-by-side in a pattern of stairwell, elevator, stairwell, elevator, stairwell, elevator, and stairwell. The stairwells were completely enclosed circular stairwells barely wide enough for a little over-average sized person to go through, and they stopped at each and every level. The elevators, the faster and more efficient way of travel, could hold up to exactly nine average-sized people, and also went to each level.
Taking up the bottom 30 feet of the legs were the massive engine rooms. These engines were the most secure areas on the entire Death Ray, as they were what kept it alive. In addition to powering the massive anti-gravity boosters on the bottom of the leg, these engines had massive shafts and turbines running all the way up the back of the legs, feeding into each and every propeller on the leg, positioned at the back of each level. The propellers were the source of forward locomotion, and the areas between the propellers and the sections on the level it was on was only accessible from the engine room on the bottom. A small shaft provided enough room for two technicians to access any propeller shaft in the leg in case of a malfunction.
The shoulders of the Death Ray were 500 feet tall and 200 feet long. The shoulders were not like the shoulders of the previous Death Ray. The shoulders on the previous Death Ray were sharp and pointed at the top, and the point stretched higher than the top of the head. The tops of these shoulders were flat, and lined up directly with the top of the head. These shoulders served as the hangars for a vast majority of the blimps in the army, although the two different kinds of blimps in the army, normal and armored, did not share a hangar. The left shoulder only housed the normal blimps, and the right shoulder housed the armored blimps. On the shoulders, the hangars were divided into levels, just like the legs. Each level was 50 feet tall, and was virtually as wide as the entire shoulder. Since the shoulders were 500 feet tall, and the levels 50 feet, there were 10 levels in both shoulders. Each level was categorized with the first letter of which side shoulder it was on, followed by its level number (going from bottom to top, like a hotel). For example, the hangar that the Cooper Gang's blimp had been taken into upon capture was at the top of the Left Shoulder, and thus officially named L Hangar no. 10. Each level was just one giant room, and all the blimps were lined up. In order to get into each level from outside, there was one giant, metal door on the outside. The massive doorframes were rectangular, and 50 feet long and 40 feet tall. All the doors were located on the front of the shoulders. The door split in half when it opened, opening sideways, and once fully opened, several blimps could go in at once, but it was a basic wait-your-turn routine for most of them. On each level in the shoulders, located in the center of the wall that was against the head of the Death Ray, was the control room for the hangar and the massive door on that level. The control room itself was like a large box that stuck out from the wall about 20 feet above the ground, and to get up to it, one would have to climb up a ladder leading to a hatch underneath it. The control room was 10 feet tall and 20 feet long. Also underneath each control room, along that wall, was the one door that led from the hangar to the head of the Death Ray.
As mentioned, there were two different types of blimps in the blimp army. The normal kind, similar to the Contessa's blimp, or Arpeggio's blimps, was the conventional kind with the canvas covering. These sacrificed armor and defense for speed, which was considered far more necessary. These were all stationed in the Left Shoulder. The difference was that, due to the high altitudes the Death Ray was commonly at, the blimps had a Plexiglass covering surrounding the deck, so that one could move about freely on the deck of the blimp during flight without dealing with the lack of oxygen. In addition, there were five guns on each of these blimps. All were miniguns, very similar to the gunner stations on the Death Ray. Two were placed on the left side, two on the right, and one on the front. However, these could not be rotated at all, and were stationery. Thus, the only way to get a decent shot was for the blimp itself to be positioned at a point where it was at a broadside with the target, like a pirate ship.
The other type of blimps was the armored kind. These were much slower, but better-protected. They were similar in shape to Sir Raleigh's Storm-Machine Blimp, with the thick metal covering and yellow glass dome in the front. The differences were that these were toned down to the same size as the normal blimps, had a wider bottom to stay upright when in the hangar, and had five guns: Two on the right, two on the left, and one in front.
Since the Command Blimp was much too large for the hangars, they had designed a special way to connect the blimp firmly to the Death Ray. On the right side of the Command Blimp, there were massive steel couplings, similar to how trains connected. There were three on the blimp: One directly above the door, another 30 feet away from the central one, and one 30 feet away from the central one in the other direction. There were also three couplings lined up in the exact same position on the back of the Death Ray's head. Each coupling was perfectly square, 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide. But they had different purposes. The ones on the blimp were basically just like large, steel rings, except square. They were horizontal. In the center of the couplings, there were ten-foot long and wide square holes. On the couplings on the Death Ray, they were like pinchers that closed down on the holes. They had a similar square hole, except they were vertical, and the back of it opened up. The pilot of the blimp would do some careful maneuvers – and the right wing, since the right side was what always lined up with the Death Ray, could fold down for this moment – and move the blimp right alongside the Death Ray, then hover in place. He would place the blimp so that the couplings could move right into the rings of the Death Ray, when the backs were open. The backs of the Death Ray's couplings would close, then lock into position. Each coupling barely had enough space between them once secured, and that was so that the blimp wouldn't sag once locked, but they could still pull the maneuver off. Also, there was a special boarding ramp that extended from the Death Ray, like the ones in airports, and connected to the door just above the wing, so that they could pass safely from the blimp to the massive head of the Death Ray.
The head of the Death Ray was 500 feet tall and 300 feet long. The entire head was the massive generator for the most important part of the Death Ray: The Superlaser. The two large, yellow eyes of the Death Ray (each was 300 feet tall, and 150 feet wide) were where the lasers would pass through. At first, two separate white beams were generated, and each one shot out of the eyes. They would then form a triangle and join at the top of the triangle. There it would form a large ball of energy, which lasted for about three seconds as the energy of both beams joined together into one. Then, shooting out of the ball, one single laser would shoot forward and destroy whatever the target was.
There were two major differences between this and the last Death Ray.
Attached between the legs of the Death Ray, from just beneath the head, all the way down to just before the final 30 feet where the engines were, were numerous chambers. The chambers were connected to both legs by large hallways on either side, leading from the rear section of each leg. The hallways were 10 feet long before they hit the chamber, and 8 feet tall and wide. The hallways were made of Plexiglass as well. The chamber itself was, like the levels on the legs, 10 feet tall. But they were 280 feet long, and 100 feet wide. There were 246 in all. These chambers were the quarters of the Death Ray's crewmembers. And they were tight quarters at that, as they could each house 240 men. There were no windows. The chamber in the dead center of the legs' chambers, connected to levels 123 of both legs, was much, much smaller, but served for a much bigger purpose. Its hallways were 125 feet long each, and the chamber was only 50 feet long, and 20 feet wide. This was the meeting chamber, where all the commanding officers of the Death Ray met and discussed certain issues or problems. For the doors leading to the hallways for this chamber, only the commanding officers could get through. Also, just before the chamber, there was another door, similar to all the other doors, that one had to get in through, just for extra security. The chamber underneath the meeting room, on level 122, was the same size as the others, but it wasn't the quarters of just any crewmember; it was the quarters of all the commanding officers on the Death Ray besides the commander himself; Colonel Carr, Major Slovaki, General Yates, Captain Moriarity, and the lead technician, Arnold Johansen. The chamber directly above the meeting room, on level 124, was the same size as all the others, but also served another purpose: this was the surveillance room. Lining the walls were monitors for the thousands of cameras on board. For this reason, each monitor had to be small, but, if commanded to do so from the control board in the room, all of the monitors could show the feed from any particular camera.
The other major difference was the massive spire at the top and center of the head of the Death Ray. This spire was not considered part of the main Death Ray, which is why its height was not included in the overall height of the entire Death Ray. There was a single elevator leading to it from inside the head. The door at the bottom of the shaft was also very secure, like the door to the meeting room, as only the commanding officers, along with three other technicians (including the lead technician of the Death Ray), were allowed inside. The huge shaft, the spire itself, was 200 feet tall. At the very top, there was only a large ball, 75 feet in diameter, and 50 feet tall. This served for two purposes: As the control room for the entire Death Ray, from the hangars, to the propellers, to the surveillance, and to the Superlaser. The lead technician, Arnold Jones, was responsible for the control room, thus, every technical problem that happened on the Death Ray. The control room took up about 30 feet of the ball in length, and in height, was only 15 feet tall. The rest of the ball was the quarters of the commanding officer of the Death Ray.
The Command Blimp was also of a grand design. It was approximately 200 feet long, 70 feet tall, and 110 feet wide (50 feet of it was the body itself, and the remaining 60 were the wings). In terms of design, it was very much like Arpeggio's HQ blimp from his fleet many years back. It had a covering of majestic red and dark tan canvas, but underneath the red-and-tan-colored cloth was three inches of steel. The two enormous wings were 30 feet long and 20 feet wide. At the back were two smaller wings, each were 10 feet long and 5 feet wide. There were also two more vertical fins on the back, one on top, one on the bottom, and both were the same proportions as the smaller wings. The front 50 feet of the blimp was a massive dome made of 5-inch-thick Plexiglass. Extending from the dome was a very unique gunner's station, unlike the others on the Death Ray or the Command Blimp itself; this station was larger, approximately 25 feet in diameter, and rather than a conventional machine gun or missile launcher, instead housed a very unique laser cannon that essentially operated like a significantly smaller-scale version of the Death Ray's main laser, with the capability of nearly 100 pounds of dynamite. This laser was also protected by 3-inch thick Plexiglass. In the dome, there was a terminal and a wheel that allowed one to pilot the massive blimp. There were four long rows of smaller blimps underneath the massive blimp, six per row. There were 24 blimps underneath it in total. The two left rows were normal blimps, the other two were armored. In between the rows of blimps were several large propellers.
There were eight gunner stations on the command blimp, one for each corner, four per side. The main power generator was at the very back of the blimp, taking up 50 feet in length and width, and was 20 feet tall. The remaining 100 feet in the middle of the blimp was mainly computer consoles that allowed there to be communication with every single blimp in the army, as well as the main control room of the Death Ray.
The ranks of personnel on the blimp were very organized. Although the dark color of the uniforms remained the same, the design for the various workers' uniforms varied greatly.
For the guards (whose outfit's design was the one that most other Death Ray personnel outfit designs centered on), there were the tall, black, shiny, leather, steel-toed boots. They also wore long black pants; black, leather belts with a square silver buckle; a black, long-sleeve shirt; and black leather gloves.
For the gunners, their suits were the exact same, except that they also wore a helmet; a black, featureless helmet like that of a motorcyclist, with a black visor that was tinted so much, the only way to see through it was by the inside.
The blimp pilots' outfits were almost just like the guards', except they wore a black, old-fashioned aviator's helmet with goggles and traditional scarves, and they lacked the gloves.
The Death Ray engineers wore black overalls, along with a black, short-sleeved shirt, black pants, the same black boots and gloves, and a black engineer's cap.
Technicians' outfits were, once again, almost like the guards' uniforms, except they wore a simple black cap, and lacked gloves.
The uniforms of the various blimp captains were similar to the guards' outfits, except they too, had a technician's cap instead of a helmet, and on their shirt, they each had a single, silver star.
All commanding officers on the Death Ray (from Captain Moriarty to Commander Belyeau) wore outfits like that of a technician, except that their shirts were button-ups, with breast pockets, and they didn't wear a hat. Also, the commanding officers (in this case ranging from mere blimp captain to Commander Belyeau) had a certain number of silver stars on their shirt, directly above the left breast pocket, to show their rank. For example, a blimp captain would have one star. Captain Moriarty (who was much more than a simple captain), being the lowest-ranking of the five officers, had one gold star. From there on out, the officers had one more gold star than the previous ranking one. Those with multiple stars had them all lined up in a neat, horizontal row. General George Yates had two stars. Major Molotov Slovaki had three stars. Colonel Peter Carr had four stars. And Commander Belyeau had five stars.
There were eleven different blueprints in total: one of the entire Death Ray from the front; one of the entire Death Ray from behind; one of the entire left shoulder; one of the entire right shoulder; one of the entire head; one of the entire left leg from the front; one of the entire left leg from behind; one of the entire right leg from the front; one of the entire right leg from behind; one of a typical example of the many chambers in between the legs; and one of the spire and the ball on top. And for the command blimp, there were three; each one had a thick, vertical line running down the middle, diving the two images. One was of the blimp from the front and behind; one of it from right and left; and the third was from above and below. All three of the blueprints depicting the left features, as well as the Death Ray from behind and the head of the Death Ray, were taken from the left leg's engine room, and the remaining six from the right leg's engine room. The three depicting the Command Blimp were the ones hastily taken from the hangar control room at the last moment.
At the bottom right-hand corner of the blueprint of the entire Death Ray from the front, there was a large box with information on it regarding the numbers of certain things about the Death Ray. It read as follows:
DEATH RAY II: The Omega Project
Dimensions:
Height: 3,000 feet
Width: 900 feet
Length: 500 feet
Commanding officers and other high-ranking personnel:
Commander Robert Belyeau: Supreme commander of the Death Ray, all onboard, all in the blimp army, and all other commanding officers.
Colonel Peter Carr: Second-in-command of all on the Death Ray, and all in the blimp army.
Major Molotov Slovaki: Acting commander of all armed personnel onboard the Death Ray.
General George Yates: Military advisor.
Captain William Moriarty: Acting commander of the blimp fleet and blimp crews.
Arnold Johansen: Lead technician, pilot of Death Ray, acting commander of all technicians and engineers.
Personnel:
Officers: 5
Engineers: 6,088
Blimp pilots: 8,043
Blimp crewmen: 16,080
Total amount of Blimp personnel: 24, 123
Technicians: 66
Gunner stations/Gunners: 988
Guards: 20,000
Overall Amount of Personnel: 51,270
Other:
Surveillance Devices: 8,107
Overall Maximum Capacity of Crew Quarters: 60,000
If Sly thought that Bentley had looked, or felt, bad and exhausted when he had studied the blueprints to Dr. M's fortress, or did deep database crunching to find the location of Sly and Murray after the Contessa arrested them, then he was in for quite a sight after he had had studied the Death Ray's blueprints. But at least he finally got something out of it.