Clarke Station is located just slightly on the Jupiter side of the L1 lagrange point between Jupiter and Europa, causing a slight but noticible amount of tension on the Tether.
The station was built as a set of modules, which have become something like neighborhoods.
Modules listed from the surface of Europa up.
-Surface Station (aka "The Crawler")
This building moves along the surface of Europa's ice sheet, and pierces through it, maintaining the connection between the station and the planet, pumping liquid water up from the planet to be converted into fuel and air, and providing a place for mining crews to head for the core to mine for mineral resources.
-The Tether
The tether connects the Surface Station with the rest of Clarke Station. Has a pipeline at the center, and an elevator around the outside that ferries material and people between the two stations.
-The Tether Anchor
The place that the Tether connects to Clarke Station. The elevator boarding platform is somewhat analogous to a train station, and is the hub of the transit network that serves the lower part of the station.
-Worker Residential Facilities A, B, and C
These large, semi-building-like structures are located around the Tether Anchor and the Leonov District. Rotation produces gravity in the Residential Facilities; the upper floors have something less than 1g, the lowest floors something slightly more. Coloquial names for the facilities are Smyslov(A), Halvorsen(B), and Micheals(C).
-Industrial Module (AKA the Leonov District)
This drum-shaped module houses the mass processing, refining, and electrolysis facilities of the station. Here, water from the planet is made into breathable oxygen and hydrogen fuel for ships, and minerals from the core are refined into material resources. Also home for what passes for an underground on the station, together with the markets in Smyslov.
-Floyd Tower
Floyd Tower runs up the middle of the station, connecting the Leonov District and Chandra Heights, and is home to the offices of the Daedalus Aerospace Corporation, the organization that owns Clarke Station. The Tower is the only place on the station where gravity is provided exclusively by gravity plating; 'down' in the tower is actually down toward Europa. The DAC technically runs the entirety of Clarke Station, but since misrule might result in outright rebellion, it would be more accurate to say that the Company governs the station.
-The Solar Conduit
The Conduit runs along one side of Floyd Tower, and transfers energy from the solar array at the top of the station to the industrial section below. Also, the surface of the conduit converts some of that energy into bright enough light to maintain the plants of the green modules.
-The Green Modules (AKA Bowman Gardens and Poole Wood)
Bowman Gardens and Poole Wood form two halves of a ring that rotates around the Solar Conduit. Within these sections, trees and other plants grow and produce oxygen for the whole station. Poole Wood contains mostly trees, a small forest in the station. Bowman gardens bares more resemblence to a green city or suburb. The University of Europa is located in Bowman Gardens, as is the Caduceus Center, the largest off-Earth hospital.
-Chandra Heights
The Heights is the rich district of the station. A solid disk extending out from the hub of the station, the interior of Chandra Heights resembles a high-rise downtown, with large towers extending up toward the hub of the section. Most of the gravity in Chandra Heights is centrifugal, but gravity plating is in use to equalize gravity to 1g throughout the module. The highest rents are along the outsides of the disc, where windows out give views on the rest of the station, Europa, and Jupiter.
-The Port District
At the top of the station, this is where ships come to dock with the station. The Port has a variety of docking areas, and can accomidate just about any size ship currently built, from little 12-jump courier ships all the way up to 1-jump superships like the Empress of the Stars. This section of the station is also where the station's solar array connects, branching off in three arms to collect solar energy to power the station.
The station operates on a 24-hour day, unlike Jupiter or Europa, and the lights in the "outdoor" areas of the station are dimmed and brightened in accordance with this. In addition, the Green Modules rotate around the station once every 24 hours, so they're lit by the Solar Conduit in a way that simulates the day/night cycle of Earth.
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I want blueprints! Maps and diagrams and PIE CHARTS!!! You can't expect me to suspend my belief and go simply off of imagination based on description??
ReplyDeleteI'm of course just jerking your tether.
When can we post stories?