Station Maintenance

Hey, we met you before!  I'm Mack.  Bo and me, we're on our break.  Any moment now I expect a call to come through to go and fix something else.  So long as everything keeps working, that's all anybody cares. But, y'know, we don't mind really.  It's a good life, fixing this place.  We just repaired that BabCom terminal over there.  It was on the fritz before, but now you can find out wherever any of the sections and levels of the station can be found.  Don't thank us, it's just our job!

Locating the Levels on Babylon 5

Here on Grey 3, we describe where the different Levels of the station are located.  On Babylon 5, different locations are referred to by a colour and a number, such as "Blue 2" or "Brown 95".  The colour refers to one of the six major sectors of the station (see Grey 1), colour-coded according to their primary function.  The number refers either to a zone or level within the given sector.  This article attempts to uncover the real meaning of the numbering scheme.  Does "Blue 2" really refer to a deck level in Blue Sector, like a storey in an apartment block?  Alternatively, could it refer to a radial segment of the Blue Sector zone?  If the former interpretation is correct, then in which direction does the numbering proceed - from the inside out, or from the outside inward?  Are all decks with the same level number at the same height?  These and other questions are answered here.

Deck Levels or Segments?

According to "The Babylon 5 Security Manual" [SM], the colour-coded sectors of Babylon 5 are each partitioned into 36 radial segments, each describing a 10° region around the axis of the station (see p12).  After this first sub-division, the individual decks are given a level number.  In the TV episodes, nothing is ever said about any radial classification of the zones within a sector, so this idea may be an original creation by the licensed authors (Jim Mortimore with others).

However, it is worth considering if terms like "Red 5" or "Blue 2" might refer to zones of some kind, rather than deck levels, even if only to rule this idea out altogether.  The only circumstantial evidence for different numbering denoting contiguous zones on the same deck level comes from TV camera angles that accidentally catch on film two contiguous sets that were constructed side-by-side.  Earlier, we assumed that this was simply a continuity glitch.  However, the argument could possibly be made that "Blue 1" and "Blue 2" are neighbouring zones, from the Medlab scenes in [tWP, aSitW], where the deck number viewed from the interior is "Blue 2"; and in [aSitW, tCoS], where the deck number viewed from the exterior is "Blue 1".

Nonetheless, there is more convincing evidence that terms like "Red 5" and "Grey 17" refer to deck levels, rather than radial segments.  In the TV episode [GiM],  Michael Garibaldi travels up and down the full thirty levels of Grey Sector in a transport tube, which leaves no room for doubt that the numbers denote deck levels.  In the episode [tLD] a Security team is sent out to help the Lurker Amis.  The dialogue reports tracking Amis to Brown 90.  When Sheridan and his team first appear, they are on Brown 91, but the camera pans up to a second team on a gantry, one level above, on Brown 90.  All travel between levels happens when characters use the transport tubes, which are only ever shown to travel in a vertical (radial) direction between the hull and the core of the station.  Other railcar services travel the circumferential or longitudinal routes.

Decks, Gates, Suites or Hulls?

The deck numbering system on Babylon 5 is possibly made more difficult to follow by the fact that a secondary numbering system was introduced for the rooms or suites on certain levels (from season two), the docking bays have numbered gates, and the term "level" was also used in connection with an alphabetical system, used in relation to the multi-skinned hull of Babylon 5.  Eventually, it is possible to disambiguate all of these different classification systems.

In season one, the only numbered areas are the docking bays and the deck levels.  Docking bay gate numbers appear on a grey-ish background in the Customs area (where there is the green strip lighting, possibly some kind of microbe sterilization system).  It is possible to confuse these with deck-numbers in Grey Sector.  Deck levels always appear on coloured circular panels, where the colour varies according to the sector.  From season two, numbers were also introduced for personal suites.  It is clear from tracking shots in the corridors that these numbers appear in ascending or descending sequence.  Suite numbers always appear on coloured irregular pentagons, pointing like an arrow towards the designated suite.  In some scenes, both the suite numbers and the deck level are visible.  This is confirmed in [aSitW], when Amanda Carter hires suite 15 on Red 7, which is both seen and appears in dialogue.

The most difficult problem to resolve is the numbering of different parts of Brown Sector.  In a season one episode, the Ikarran war machine is reported as being on "Brown 2, level C" [Inf].  This is one of the few places where an alphabetic character is used to denote a level (and could be used to bolster the argument that numbers denote radial segments).  The zone indicated by the flashing marker on the C&C terminal schematic shows the hull area in the north garden.  So, this must be a part of Brown Sector in between the hulls of Babylon 5.  It is possible to think of levels A, B and C as denoting the different sections of the Carousel, where level A is the widest diameter, level B is the intermediate diameter and level C the narrowest, in the open garden areas.  However, this interpretation seems unlikely, since Lieutenant Corwin describes a hull breach in the conclusion to "A Voice in the Wilderness" as being in "Blue Sector, hulls A through C" [aVitW2].  From this, we conclude that the alphabetic designation refers to different airtight hulls; and that Babylon 5 has a triple-skinned hull.  This would make sense, for safety reasons.

The Direction of the Numbering

Since the main numbering system denotes deck levels, how many levels are there in each sector?  And in which direction does the numbering system run?  The usual expectation from present-day apartment block numbering is that the floor number increases as you ascend up from ground level.  However, most of the evidence from the TV episodes is that Babylon 5 has a reverse numbering system, with the low-numbered decks being towards the core of the station and the high-numbered decks being towards the hull.  Primary evidence for this comes from C&C being clearly on "Blue 1" in all episodes; and Corwin announcing another "hull breach, in Blue 70" in a season two episode [aNfaW].  C&C is clearly the highest habitable level you can reach, situated just below the docking bay along the central axis of the station.  This is seen from external shots of the Observation Dome.

The fact that the high-numbered decks refer to "Downbelow" areas is fairly consistent.  The Lurker Amis hangs out in Brown 90-91 and peers out through a hull viewport [tLD].  When President Clarke's forces try to stop Babylon 5 seceding from Earth in [SD], Corwin reports an enemy attack on the "hull area, Brown 95", which puts a useful estimate on the maximum number of decks in the widest part of the station.  Elsewhere, levels Brown 90-92 are mentioned.  While the main part of Brown Sector has a large number of decks, the "Downbelow" part of the hull envelope may be numbered separately, as in "Brown 2, level C" in the episode [Inf], which refers to the hull below the garden.  This could be an inconsistency, like Agent Cranston's reference to "levels 50 and 51 between the Blue and Grey Sectors" in [HP], Or, it could mean that the level-numbers do not always denote a consistent distance outwards from the core.

Counting the Deck Levels

Levels in Blue Sector

Blue Sector has up to 70 levels.  Blue 1-3 are seen to house the command functions (C&C, Observation Dome, Medlab, station crew quarters). Because of the space taken up by the docking bay and the shuttle parking bays in the Command Sphere, it is likely that there are not so many decks here.  You seem to reach Babylon 5 Customs from Blue 10:   Mollari goes there to board Lord Kiro and Lady Ladira's shuttle in [SaP] which leaves from the Docking Bay, gate 12.  The Customs zone is probably not situated right at the hull level, but somewhat higher, at the level of the connecting Core, with the different gates leading down into the actual parking bays.  Talia Winters travels down as far as Blue 14 in [MotFL].  But the Cobra Bays appear to be reached from Blue 9 in [Sur] where Garibaldi fights the corrupt Cutter.  Blue 70 must refer to the hull of the widest part of Blue Sector, which we presume is in the Torus.

Levels in Brown Sector

This would be consistent with the earlier reference to Brown 95, the highest-numbered level of Brown Sector, mentioned in [SD].  We presume this refers to the widest part of the Carousel.  The lowest-numbered level mentioned in Brown Sector (apart from the hull envelope) is Brown 2, the home of the Drazi in Babylon 5's Alien Sector in [tGoS].  Elsewhere, we hear of the level Brown 6, the home of Gera Akshi, the dancer-friend of Adira Tyree, in [BttP].  N'Grath lives on Brown 9 [SH, Sur] and the Pak'ma'ra live on Brown 8 in the Alien Sector [Leg].  Laura Rosen hides out in Brown 27 [tQoM].  The Lurkers hang out in Brown 90-95.  So, Brown Sector must have a full zone devoted to it, in the widest part of the station, since more levels are mentioned than for any other sector of Babylon 5.

Levels in Red Sector

Red Sector is also in the widest part of the station at the opposite end of the Carousel.  However, many fewer habitable levels are mentioned in the TV episodes than you might expect.  The central corridor connecting all radial parts of Red Sector is on Red 5, where the Zocalo open market is found (seen in many episodes).  From the low deck number, this corridor should be situated fairly close to the core, with a noticeable curvature, which is apparent in some episodes.  However, the "Babylon 5 Security Manual" [SM] places Red 5 much further out towards the hull.  This is more consistent with the view seen from Amanda Carter's suite 15 on Red 7 (only two floor below) [aSitW], which offers a low perspective over the open garden.  On the whole, it would be preferable to site Red 5 at the higher level, and assume that Red Sector has up to 95 levels like Brown Sector.  But it is possible that all the decks of Red Sector are displaced towards the hull, reserving the space at the core for additional service machinery and raw materials.  Apart from Red 5, we only ever seem to visit Red 4 (a corridor in [SaP] shortly after a visit to the Casino) and Red 7.

Levels in Green Sector

Green Sector does not have so many levels, and provides the best evidence that floor numbering is not absolute, with respect to distance from the core. Mollari's view from Green 2 is only a moderately high perspective onto the open garden, no more than 10-20 floors above ground level.  This means that level 1 starts much further out from the core than the same level in other sectors.  This is borne out by views from the Core Shuttle, which shows the car high above the built-up diplomatic quarter in Green Sector, with open garden on either side.  It is clear that this sector is not built very high, from the fact that views to the north and south ends of the Carousel cylinder are unobstructed for the length of the station.  All of the four major alien powers have their Ambassadors residing on level Green 2.  It is possible that the outer hull envelope below the garden restarts the Brown Sector numbering from level 1 again.  This would make "Brown 2, level C" be the innermost pressure skin of the station (with hulls B and A further out).

Levels in Grey Sector

Grey Sector only has 30 levels [GiM].  This is entirely consistent with Grey Sector occupying the tapering part of the station that fits inside the maglev rotation gear in the non-rotating part of the station, as described in [SM].  The wider parts of Grey Sector no doubt house heavy engineering machinery, which could occupy factories that take up several standard deck-levels.  Nothing is ever stated about the deck structure of Yellow Sector.  We see various views of the zero-g dock entrance; and the internal superstructure supporting the fusion reactor in the episode [Con].