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Fog Ships were a type of Void Ship used by members of the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids to travel the Multiverse.
Nature
Like most Void Ships, Fog Ships worked by phasing out of the universe they started from, traversing the Void, and then phasing through the dimensional divide into the universe of their destination. This stood in contrast to travel through a Rift, which broke directly from one world into the next without passing through the Void or any other “buffer” dimension. (COMIC: The Beginner's Guide to Multiversal Theory)
The modern Fog Ships were “widely acknowledged in the community of interdimensional travellers as some of the best, most comfortable Void Ships in existence”. This was considered a mixed blessing by the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids, as attempts by other parties to steal Fog Ships for their own end became a concern for them. (PROSE: The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids)
Essential components of a Fog Ship included the engine, dematerialisation circuit, (PROSE: The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids, The Labors of Juliet) dimensional warp drive, (PROSE: The Toymaker's Labyrinth) and steering wheel. At least some Fog Ships had isomorphic controls. Juliet was once able to extract “a jumble of positronic components and dented wheels” that she could repurpose into a makeshift Clockwork Cherub from a Fog Ship. She notably used the brakes, without which the Ship rumbled and shook as it took off. (PROSE: The Labors of Juliet)
History
Origins
The Fog Ships were developed by the Clockwork Cherub scientists of the Celestial Foam Network based on designs for dematerialisation circuits and conceptual engines left to them by the Creator herself. (PROSE: The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids)
The sentient Ship project
- See main article: Pessimist's Fog Ship
At some point, an experimental sentient Fog Ship was constructed by Sigma-063 of the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids (PROSE: The Time of the Toymaker) for the Department of Technological Advancement (PROSE: The Case Against Conspiracy) working on conjunction with the Department of Transportation. The intent was that it would be the first of a whole range of intelligent Fog Ships, able to “assist Cupids with their missions” and recommend destinations themselves.
However, the prototype was disappointing insofar as it displayed a tendency to wander off to see the sights with little care for its pilot; (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries) it was genuinely better at navigating the Void than any normal Fog Ship, but it was temperamental, and could only be coaxed into taking its passengers needed to with much persuading and the occasional bribe. (PROSE: The Time of the Toymaker) In the end, the prototype Ship was assigned to Pessimist-242 as his personal Void Ship because it was assumed that any Cupid who received it would be unhappy with it, but as Pessimist could be relied upon to be unhappy anyway, this made no difference in his case. (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries)
After being briefly stolen by Darius of the Drove of the Database-Compiling Dromedaries, (PROSE: Pessimist and the Dromedaries, The Toymaker's Labyrinth) this Fog Ship would later be further modified by being fitted with a small laser gun it could activate at will to defend itself. (PROSE: The Toymaker's Labyrinth)
Later history
A “few years” before 2019, after Discovery-664, Amity-965, and a small Scarlet Wings team became stranded in the Drove of the Demesmaekerite-Dyed Discordias and called for help through Amity's two-way communicator, the Parliament sent a “battalion of Fog Ships” led by Amadeo-378 to rescue them. (PROSE: The Drove of the Demesmaekerite-Dyed Discordias)
When Juliet-178 sent her 1079 duplicates to complete parts of her punitive assignment for her, each of them had a Fog Ship, wired not to return to the Cupid Homeworld until “Juliet” had completed her assignment. Half of the Juliets, including Juliet the 945th, disassembled their Fog Ships to create additional duplicates of themselves. When she learned of this, Juliet-178 reflected that she would have to ask Peter-707 of the Department of Vehicles for a big favour in covering it up. (PROSE: The Labors of Juliet)
When Dandy-432 and Larrikin-1029 set out to try and bring a lost old man back to his home universe, they borrowed Pessimist's Fog Ship on the grounds that it “ran better” than Larrikin's own Ship, which was in poor condition due to Larrikin crashing it all the time. (PROSE: The Mad Cupid of the Euclidean Plane)
Doctor Sigma mentioned Fog Ships as an example of Void Ship during his impromptu lecture on Multiversal theory. (COMIC: The Beginner's Guide to Multiversal Theory)
After they escaped from Morningstar 1, (PROSE: The Grand Multiverse Hotel) the Five Surviving Wellsians stole a Fog Ship from the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids, which they later modified to adapt it to their own use. Only Skollops ag-Warka, considered an “ace pilot”, fully mastered the flying of it. (PROSE: The Time of the Toymaker)
During the Rifts Crisis, one version of Jenny Everywhere accidentally shifted into the back seat of Pythagoras-858's Fog Ship as it was traversing the Void. After accidentally causing it to land in an unidentified universe, Jenny talked things out with Pythagoras and the two ended up departing aboard the Ship in search of the Consistency Imperium. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere Meets The Crew Of The Copper-Colored Cupids)
Behind the scenes
Fog Ships are a recurring element of The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids.