single Earther.
Caroline found the place distinctly unpleasant.
What had been the first permanent settlement on Earth's moon (before mass migration kicked in) and originally called Lunar City, was now a lingering afterthought, decaying and limp.
Ell-C continued to exist on the "modern moon" to attract off-duty, non-Earth Bureau personnel with the promise of cheap drinks, thrills and merchandise (what Earthers joked was "home cooking" for the half-spetchers).
Small wonder that the place hadn't been razed and replaced – or even just depopulated and left to rot. Its fate had been sealed centuries earlier when, instead of expanding its capacity from 12,000, Earth simply constructed a new city, several hundred kilometers away. Ell-C had languished ever since.
The grand total of thirty-six separate cities peppering the Lunar landscape from light end to dark side all had one thing in common: each had been christened, upon dedication, as the new and exciting thing on the heavenly body closest to Mother Earth. They grew increasingly sophisticated, these cities. Better designs, healthier light, more pleasant aromatics and nurturing air. Eventually, clay and wood and glass and granite were brought in to dress up later settlements, make them feel almost Earth-like. Almost.
Around the time the jewel city of Velsch was built, new communities were increasingly providing homes for a "higher class" of citizen. Growing mass migration had started to sweep up those who, only a few years before, had been completely safe from removal. Unlike the earliest men, women and children to be relocated from Earth, those targeted by the time of Velsch's unveiling had the means to resist. Many could brag connections within the corridors of power. They simply would not go easily into the night.
Assignation to Luna – still close enough to see Earth – was something of a compromise. Perhaps being in such close proximity meant they'd be able to return home someday. Or so the delusion went.
Some of the older cities received clearance to remake themselves as their fortunes fell and they lagged behind newer, shinier metropolises such as Velsch. Ell-C, however, got no such permission and lost its steam completely within one hundred years of its founding. The better technology and pleasing aesthetics used on later Lunar settlements were almost never added to Ell-C (and only then as sheer necessities, always as retrofits). What was the point, after all?
Ell-C may just as well have been in U-Space, for all it had to show for itself.
4.
Lockdown
A party of five (Stovall and Caroline, joined by three agents Stovall had known since Academy days) arrived in Ell-C, emerging from the tunnel that connected the landing bay to the community itself. Thirty-five meters below Luna's surface at its highest point, Ell-C still used the harsh, outdated lighting it was fitted with during initial construction. Improvements wouldn't have been all that difficult to install, but again, it was Ell-C.
The fauxgrass -lined walkway (replete with splitting seams in what purported to be an organic surface) leading out of the tunnel may have been the single best representation of Ell-C's lack of charm, in Caroline's mind. Was everyone content to pretend that the illusion of life was real enough to pass? Synthetic, leafy plants, whose colors had faded even further from lush green since Caroline's last visit might as well be pulled up and discarded, she thought. Empty space would be preferable to the sickly looking decor.
The very first structure that the five encountered, poorly patched and listing slightly to one
Caroline found the place distinctly unpleasant.
What had been the first permanent settlement on Earth's moon (before mass migration kicked in) and originally called Lunar City, was now a lingering afterthought, decaying and limp.
Ell-C continued to exist on the "modern moon" to attract off-duty, non-Earth Bureau personnel with the promise of cheap drinks, thrills and merchandise (what Earthers joked was "home cooking" for the half-spetchers).
Small wonder that the place hadn't been razed and replaced – or even just depopulated and left to rot. Its fate had been sealed centuries earlier when, instead of expanding its capacity from 12,000, Earth simply constructed a new city, several hundred kilometers away. Ell-C had languished ever since.
The grand total of thirty-six separate cities peppering the Lunar landscape from light end to dark side all had one thing in common: each had been christened, upon dedication, as the new and exciting thing on the heavenly body closest to Mother Earth. They grew increasingly sophisticated, these cities. Better designs, healthier light, more pleasant aromatics and nurturing air. Eventually, clay and wood and glass and granite were brought in to dress up later settlements, make them feel almost Earth-like. Almost.
Around the time the jewel city of Velsch was built, new communities were increasingly providing homes for a "higher class" of citizen. Growing mass migration had started to sweep up those who, only a few years before, had been completely safe from removal. Unlike the earliest men, women and children to be relocated from Earth, those targeted by the time of Velsch's unveiling had the means to resist. Many could brag connections within the corridors of power. They simply would not go easily into the night.
Assignation to Luna – still close enough to see Earth – was something of a compromise. Perhaps being in such close proximity meant they'd be able to return home someday. Or so the delusion went.
Some of the older cities received clearance to remake themselves as their fortunes fell and they lagged behind newer, shinier metropolises such as Velsch. Ell-C, however, got no such permission and lost its steam completely within one hundred years of its founding. The better technology and pleasing aesthetics used on later Lunar settlements were almost never added to Ell-C (and only then as sheer necessities, always as retrofits). What was the point, after all?
Ell-C may just as well have been in U-Space, for all it had to show for itself.
4.
Lockdown
A party of five (Stovall and Caroline, joined by three agents Stovall had known since Academy days) arrived in Ell-C, emerging from the tunnel that connected the landing bay to the community itself. Thirty-five meters below Luna's surface at its highest point, Ell-C still used the harsh, outdated lighting it was fitted with during initial construction. Improvements wouldn't have been all that difficult to install, but again, it was Ell-C.
The fauxgrass -lined walkway (replete with splitting seams in what purported to be an organic surface) leading out of the tunnel may have been the single best representation of Ell-C's lack of charm, in Caroline's mind. Was everyone content to pretend that the illusion of life was real enough to pass? Synthetic, leafy plants, whose colors had faded even further from lush green since Caroline's last visit might as well be pulled up and discarded, she thought. Empty space would be preferable to the sickly looking decor.
The very first structure that the five encountered, poorly patched and listing slightly to one
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