Of course, it could be that most space faring vessels of in science fiction are
able to spend some time "on the dirt", so they might have the same problem as my
car: too much salt and not enough detergent!

	Anyway, my original comment was meant as a bit of good natured fun.  Why  put
oil tanker crud (rust) on a "space tug", when it really needs "space tug" crud? 
I mean, who knows what these ships are made out of?  They might be impervious to
chemical attack.  The discoloration might come from an EXOTIC source like high
energy particles from its "reactor", solar wind, or ion storms.  Or maybe its
something more interesting like accumulated re-entry crud or (God help us) space
barnacles!

	But it's cool to realize how powerful a touch of the ordinary can make
something exotic seem so much more REAL.  Why else did Mr. Lucas ask his prop
guys to make the props for the new Star Wars movie from everyday stuff?  And if
you look back even further, most ancient depictions of monsters, demons, and
other scary creatures have familiar animal or human features.  (I'm talking
about creatures that look like a demented surgeon cut two things apart and sewed
them back together again: a man's head on a lion, a hawk's head on a man, a
woman with a fish tail, people extra mouth on their stomach.)  That might not
sound too real to us, but in their day people believed that the sphinx, Ra,
mermaids, or some demon really existed, and really looked like that!

	Until that Day,
	Ben

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