Skypad

Cobalt's Skypad, in its original location on Iopa

The Futuro Skypad is Cobalt's home on Earth. Originally manufactured by the FUTURO company, then salvaged from a junkyard and restored to tip-top condition, it is a three-story, retro-futuristic dwelling placed atop a tall pole.

Location And History

Cobalt first discovered the building resting peacefully in a junkyard on the planet Iopa. As it was missing many core components, and slated for the crushers, he was able to negotiate a relatively low price for it, as well as scavenge up the necessary parts to make it functional enough to move to a residential plot on the outskirts of the planet's capital city.

After a few years there, during which time the repairs to make it fully functional were completed, it would be moved to the planet Earth where it currently serves as Boink's official embassy, with a staff of two: Cobalt as Ambassador, and Twinkle as the only embassy employee.

Construction and Design

Skypad Featured On The Cover of Popular Atomics

Unbeknownst to Cobalt at the time that he found it, The Skypad had been designed along Delosian architecture styles by another one of the Orphaned Five which may be why he was so taken with it upon first seeing it. Skypad houses of this design were manufactured by the FUTURO company for nearly a decade before they went out of style. At the height of their manufacture and sales, they were considered quite trendy, and even managed to earn cover stories in periodicals such as Popular Atomics.

The structure consists of three parts - the base, which is designed to slot directly into a standard housing socket on a residential support pad at ground level, the post, which contains both an elevator as well as an emergency spiral staircase, and the cabin, which forms the main portion of the house, on top. A series of built-in pumps and baffles in an accessway along the length of the support post allow for electrical and plumping to run between the home on top and the housing socket on the ground in a field of greatly reduced gravity.

Accessories and Extra Rooms

The Skypad was designed to be fully customizable, consisting of a stock central module which housed basic plumbing and electrics, that rooms could be slotted into. There were a variety of different modules available both from FUTURO itself, as well from aftermarket manufacturers. This means that no two Skypad houses would be exactly the same. Each could be tailor-fit to the owner's wants and needs.

The windows of the Skypad can have their opacity reduced or increased depending on whether the owner desires privacy or a lovely view, and be tinted in a variety of colors, via a control panel.

Modules Known To Exist

• Floorplates of various sizes
• Bedrooms of various sizes
• Two different kitchens
• Three different living rooms
• TV Room
• Swimming Pool
• Sundeck
• Greenhouse
• Lounge with fireplace and conversation pit
• Home office
• Sauna
• Shower and bathing room
• Library

Cobalt's Skypad currently features two bedrooms on the top floor (for himself and Twinkle) and two bedrooms on the bottom floor. One of these lower two is treated as a guest room, while the other has become Twinkle's Sexual Playroom. The central level features a Living room with attached Dining room, Kitchen, Cobalt's office, a music room, a storage room, and the building's server and engineering room. Apart from the two bedrooms, the bottom floor also features a TV room, a second living room for the benefit of guests, a lounge with a fireplace and conversation pit, a shower and bathing room with communal showers, and a jacuzzi tub.

When Cobalt first acquired the building, it had been outfitted with an interior pool on the lowest level, but this unit would later be removed to make space for the guest quarters, second living room, communal bathing area, and Twinkle's sexual playroom, all considered absolutely necessary for an official Boink embassy building.

Cobalt has also outfitted the sundeck with an aftermarket hot tub, though this is just sitting on the sundeck with a wooden platform around it, rather than being a built-in-FUTURO module.

Cobalt has commented once or twice that he'd like to find a library room unit for the place, but he'd also need to find and add a fourth floor for the house to accommodate it. For the time being he makes do with just having as many bookshelves scattered around the house as possible.

Spaceflight System

Created primarily for the purpose of easy delivery, Skypad houses could also be fitted with a system that would essentially turn them into spaceships, capable of interstellar travel. These units include antigravity and jump drive units, an oxygen generator and atmosphere scrubber, as well as deflector shields that also provide a self-contained atmosphere. For awhile this gave rise to the skypad being a popular vacation home, that could be fitted with landing legs and entry ramps, and essentially driven around the galaxy like a space-going winnebago. However this practice tended to put extra strain on the spaceflight systems, and was not recommended by the manufacturer.