Labs (Laboratories) in UT & HT vs. Labs in Spaceships. What gives?

[vicky_molokh]

Greetings, all!

So I decided to equip the base of operations given to the PCs with several labs. I went on to construct the base as a building with a basement, yadda yadda. Then I realised that my Habitat modules cost $3M. That's rather a lot given that the whole installation costs $25M before modifiers.

Checking Spaceships:

• a regular lab (Good, +1) for 2 people costs $1M (or $10M for Physics, $30M for Science!).
• a Large Lab (Fine, +2) costs $10M, though it is good enough for 20 people.
• a Major Lab (best, +TL/2) costs $100M, good for 200 people.

However, checking both Ultra-Tech and* High-Tech, I see:

• Suitcase Lab (Basic, +0) costs a mere $3k. Okay, Spaceships shouldn't bother itself with such petty labs, but then
• Field Lab (Good, +1) still costs a mere $15k. So I might as well equip my base/ship/etc. with field labs housed in unused crew quarters or the like, and save a whopping $985k. But wait.
• Semi-Portable Lab (Fine, +2) costs $75k. 20 SPLs cost $1½M, as opposed to $10M that would be spent on a Large Lab (which supports 20 people).
• There is no official number for a Cutting-Edge Lab (+TL/2), but the ×5, ×5 progression implies that it would cost around $375k. But 200 of those would cost $75M, finally comes close to the $100M required for a Major Lab for 200 people. I suppose rounding it up to $½M for a Cutting-Edge Lab makes the top-of-the-line lab costs between UT/HT and SS compatible.

So, what makes the SS numbers so brutal? Is this an erratum?

Thanks in advance!

* == While UT gets some flack as a hastily published book with large errata, High-Tech is generally considered very solidly researched, and thus the fact that numbers between the two match means that the HT/UT numbers are to be treated seriously.