"Necessity is the mother of invention... Boredom is the father." -- SilverRey
So many inventions happen because their inventor thinks that they are vital. Others occur because they will create a tactical advantage against an enemy. Some rare and interesting inventions happen because the creator had nothing better to do.
Case in point - weird vehicles.
People don't need a bicycle that walks on feet, nor do they need a chariot drawn by crab-like legs. They don't need a powered boat with oars that operate like turtle flippers. That said, once they are built, everyone seems to want one. Well... Everyone who's a Human.
When Humans and boredom mix... Humans get creative. When they get creative, life in the general gets... interesting.
Welcome to Transit Station 420. The closest planetary body is too far away from the parent star to be useful, too small to put a functional base from, and too boring to mine for useful materials. Therefore, the residents argued, their station was the highest in the known universe.
Unlike the residents of Transit Station 86, these staffers are competent, intelligent, and great at their jobs. They also have a degree of restlessness that can only be attributed to Humans at their best. Some would argue that it could also qualify for Humans at their worst.
The in-station transit comes in two varieties, fast and efficient, or slow and entertaining. One is the direct result of a station staffer purchasing every mechanical toy in existence and then creating a machine capable of carrying a Human around with it[1].
One such machine was made out of a surfeit of plastic piping and sails, and can only proceed around the residential bay clockwise. When burdened with two Humans, it's barely faster than one walking. When burdened with three, it stops entirely.
Then there is the vehicle that station staffers refer to as "The Thing". It is brightly coloured and, when in motion, seems to have a mind of its own. It makes a zipping sound when it moves, and stops with a semi-musical 'bop'. When stationary, it whirrs. Nobody can name it as any other kind of vehicle but a 'thing', and so 'thing' it remains.
There is, of course, a waiting list to ride it. With reservations on various staffers' birthdays.
It's not as though the residents of Transit Station 420 are starved for entertainment. It's just that people who have careers on transit stations are a special kind of weirdo who thrives in environments where making one's own entertainment is the raison d'etre.
Transit Stations tend to be a magnet for people with creative, yet non-profitable hobbies and the sort of knowledge base that gets banned from Pub Trivia Nights.
[1] Though, it must be noted, not very fast.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / 3quarks]
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