I agree with Tyrnis; a bulk carrier would have to be gutted and refitted to get rid of unnecessary things like a command deck, crew quarters, life support, etc. Far more efficient is a cheap little hab out in, say, the asteroid belt, which can power itself off local resources. No life support needed, just a power generator or three, some shielding, and storage bays for robots. If you're going to go live out in the void with no particular need for a large vehicle, a fast courier ship is your best bet. With an anti-matter courier ship, you might even have the advantage of a "Get Out Now" plan to fly to another star system in the event the TITANs return at sub-luminal speeds. With no squishy organic bodies to deal with, one solar system is really as good as any other.

I would go for a bulk carrier. It has working, reliable power and cooling systems enough for even extravagant needs if you don't need to accelerate hard. It is mobile, which is useful to avoid regions of the system where politics is going badly. It doesn't need expensive antimatter. I would be that many models have standardized spare parts you can get as opensource these days. Retrofitting it is easy: the old crew and command modules can be left in and control routed to whatever living spaces you add. If there are no biomorphs onboard life support can be scuttled, but I would bet that there are some mercurials that like gardening, keeping pets or running biolabs. The biggest worry might be outside attacks if it looks like a mobile server farm. Better stock up on some good skyscanners, a few point defenses and a few deterrent missiles. And, of course, good software security (fortunately many AGIs tend to regard updating security like humans regard knitting).

Make sure you have laser link communication, so an EMP doesn't disperse the cloud. Also, note that if the ship needs to change course the cloud will drift onwards.

I think a Space Safety Convention might exist in "civilized" space, that promts onboard life support. SOLAS but in Space. depending on size of ship & jurisdiction it would require what some would see as redundant systems, or sparse. ranging from a required emergency bubble to lifesupport systems for flats. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Convention_for_the_Safety_of_...

"Duty to rescue" probably doesn't *require* you to have suitable habitats onboard (what about saving suryas?) and modern enforcement is likely spotty - only the Jovians might insist on non-stack based rescue. But it is still a practical touch: compared to the rest of the ship the habitable area is small and light, it can be used for other things and it would look very nice if the mercurials *could* rescue someone properly or take biomorph passengers.

Yerameyahu wrote:

I dunno if I understanding the point there. You don't really interact with people you don't choose to, and that goes triply for (non-slave) infomorphs. They fit in tiny little computers (single credit cards) and live literally in their own little world(s ). It does seem odd to have a whole ship/hab/colony for noncorporeals. Not impossible at all, nor illogical, but inefficient if we're literally talking about a standard ship or hab.

Well you do need some physical manifestation for the server. The ideal size for acceleration, fuel use and price would be very small with a large shield against impacts, and a shield to protect from radiation from the engine. That ship isn't listed though. But then, the question is, what are your actual requirements? It must be safe and independent. You don't need it to be fuel efficient or accelerate well unless you plan on doing a lot of travel. But infomorphs don't need to travel; they can egocast for less. So then we have the remaining necessity of price. If we're looking at ships large enough to travel across the solar system (maximizing independence), the most bang for your buck is probably an old frieghter, smaller the better. The freighter has other advantages. Its mass already acts as shielding from collisions. It's large enough to store redundant servers spaced apart, and to shield the engines. Its mass also confers more efficient heat dissipation than a smaller ship, permitting more calculations per second. Finally, you can actually do something with a ship like that. The small ship above is only a money sink. A freighter can actually ship freight, so it can pay for itself, while still minimizing physical contact with other people.

Great point, nezumi. I forgot about the option of making a living (forgot, in fact, that making a living is even necessary in EP, esp. for infomorphs). :)