Airlock

An airlock consists of a short rectangular chamber set between two heavy circular doors: one opening onto a corridor, the other opening onto space or a docking interface beyond. Both doors are a darker grey than the surrounding bulkhead, ringed with a raised metal lip and a narrow band of alternating amber and black hazard markings around the frame. The chamber itself is narrow, just wide enough for two people to stand side by side, its walls plain grey composite broken only by a recessed status panel beside the inner door. The panel displays the chamber's pressure state as a simple color-coded strip: steady green when the chamber matches the corridor beyond, shifting through amber to a pulsing red as it depressurizes. A row of recessed hooks along one wall holds EVA suits, folded in their smooth silver-grey outer layer, with helmets racked in cutouts above them. The floor is a heavier, non-slip grey plating than elsewhere on the deck, and a pale strip of lighting runs along the base of both walls at ankle height, supplementing the even white light overhead. When the outer door cycles, a deep mechanical clunk sounds through the deck plating as its seals release, followed by a rush of equalizing air audible even through the closed inner door. Once both doors are sealed, the chamber falls silent apart from a faint hiss from the environmental regulator as it repressurizes or vents on command. Notable Variants Executive Airlock (Deck 1): At the aft end of the command deck, past the Intelligence Operations Suite and Secure Weapons Locker, this VIP and command docking port scales up the standard layout considerably. The chamber is deep enough for several people to stand comfortably, its walls a paler grey composite ringed with fine perforated intake grilles for an independent atmospheric scrubbing system, and a second inner archway partway down marks a bio-decontamination field -- visible as a faint shimmer in the air, accompanied by a soft steady tone, when active. The status display carries a secondary decon readout alongside the usual pressure indicator, and the outer door's clunk echoes faintly in the larger space. Aft Airlock (Deck 3): A reinforced Marine EVA egress point at the aft end of Deck 3, built for operations onto the upper hull rather than routine docking. The outer door is thicker and more heavily braced, set into a raised stepped threshold, and the chamber is wide enough to hold several fully equipped marines at once, with chest-height hooks and clip points for securing gear in transit. Lighting is brighter than standard, backed by a secondary amber emergency ring in the ceiling, and cycling the outer door produces a deeper, louder clunk with a correspondingly stronger rush of equalizing air. Aft EV Access Airlock (Deck 10): A compact double-hatch chamber near the shuttlebay maintenance corridors, used for hull-maintenance spacewalks rather than personnel transfer. Four EVA suits hang in a recessed alcove beside the inner hatch, each tracked by seal-integrity telltales; the outer hatch carries a small reinforced viewport that frames open starfield when the chamber cycles to vacuum. Status is displayed in large block text -- PRESSURIZED, EQUALIZING, VACUUM -- with ambient lighting shifting to dim amber during depressurization, and a faint smell of suit-seal lubricant lingers in the enclosed space even with both hatches open.