Story:

In the later 050s of the Colony Century, however, profits for Cashin family company were starting to take a turn for the worse. The third generation of family owners had neither their parents' work ethic nor the inclination to succeed. After many disastrous executive decisions, family infighting, lawsuits, and no less than three attempted hostile takeovers, the last sensible shareholders in the family decided to bail out, and handed their stock over to the monolithic Cygnus Corporation. Later, the company bought out the rest of the family, taking full control of their corporate assets and gaining complete rights to their top-selling product.

In the years since, Cygnus, which later merged with a company named Gemini Innovations, has produced its own line of mobile pods that have evolved from the Cashin design. The Type-19 is the latest in this line, having had well over a decade of excellent service and a shelf-life that is predicted to last for at least another generation. These pods are equipped with multi-task manipulator arms, possess a durable hull, and can seat two people comfortably, three in a pinch, and four if they're very friendly. Though not meant for combat, it can be fitted with a light, defensive vulcan to scare off unwanted attention, or clear debris. Ink pellets can also be loaded into the mechanism, allowing pilots to "mark" any passing salvage, a routine followed by many junk collectors.

On Ark Orion, the mobile pod is used mainly by the maintenance personnel of the colony administration and by members of the local salvaging guild. The former use the machine to repair and clean the colony's inner and outer hull, to fix or tow visiting space craft, and to clear parts of the belt barrier. The latter tend to stick to junk collecting, scavenging through the debris fields for buried treasures to repair and resell. Ships of all kinds, meanwhile, typically carry a few of these units, for emergency work.