Interplate Transit

From Flight From Darkness

Access between the plates and the Tower is provided by motonic lifts. A certain other world would view them as a cross between elevators and a subway system.

The cars ride tubes connecting the Titan's six main components, move at about double to triple running speed, and take about five minutes to travel to or from the Tower or between adjacent plates, or fifteen minutes to travel via express routes between non-adjacent plates. In the event of power failure, the cars are designed to open at either end so as not to block these tubes and let people walk between locations; this also lets the cars scoop up anyone still in the tubes in case of sudden power restoration. A small group can fit in each car - the standing record is 11 people, though there was some space left over (mainly overhead) - but the system is smart enough to route cars where they are needed.

The central terminus, so far as there is one, is on deck 5 of the Tower. Each plate is connected to on its inner deck. Should the ship ever transform into siege mode, for instance to fire the Eye Of Judgement, the tubes would disconnect from the plates during the transformation, then reconnect to the mid decks, and vice versa upon transforming back. The lift system spreads into the Tower and the plates from there: it is possible to enter a car on the outer deck of one plate and ride it all the way to the outer deck of another plate. The only locations not linked in this way are the decks above Tower Deck 3, for security reasons.

Since gravity is local to the Tower and each of the plates, the tubes are constructed to slowly change gravity from one end to the other, maintaining a gradation of "down" so that passengers (or, if the power is out, walkers) will be at the correct orientation when they arrive. This effect is difficult to notice unless one is actively trying to feel it. While gravity could be slowly adjusted by the Captain, this is mostly a geomantic effect, and would persist even if power were cut.