the major governments of Known Space all operate their own multiversal exploration programs, often fielding fleets of mid-small surveyor ships with small tight-knit crews whose range may be further extended by fuel tankers and support carriers. End of the Spring is an exemplar, a versatile all terrain ship crewed by a scrappy bunch of recruits who themselves hail from diverse corners of reality, having stumbled into humanity's corner of the multiverse by accident and lost the way home.