There's an odd story I heard about Dyrendore. I mean, the place is little more than a big habitat cylinder in orbit around the moon of a massive gas-giant planet. There's nothing else publically known about the star system, apparently no one else living there apart from the three million inhabitants of Dyrendore Hab. I imagine living crammed into a big tin can would produce a certain number of wierd people and strange stories. This is one of them.
First I must confess that I found this story in a webzine while I was sitting around in Elmara City, waiting for my cousin to arrive. But I checked out what background details I could and it must be based on some fact. To me, it's a story that's too odd to have been completely invented.
So it turns out that most of Dyrendore Hab is actually designed as a wide-open area where people live almost like we do, here in Fargale. The Hab cylinder rotates along its major axis to make for some gravity, and there are many levels within it, like thinner cylinders within the main, outer one. Of course, the further 'up' you go, towards the centre, the lower the artificial gravity is. The levels are all connected with wide ramps and lift-shafts. But most of the area is free-form, without many walls or buildings, and the Dyrens (it's what the locals call themselves) have planted parks and farms there. People camp where they like, according to what work they're doing or who they want to visit. Not many build houses.
No one owns the whole Hab; the nearest they have to government is a loose agreement to have regular get-togethers in each zone when everyone can contribute their opinion and choose a temporary leader. Sounds a little like our ways. I wonder if the Dyrens are related to us!
Anyway, so one day a woman was sitting outside her tent, feeding her baby boy, when she saw a figure stumbling towards her from a grove of tall fruit trees. It appeared to be an old man with hair like a mass of frayed rope. She hugged her child closer. The man collapsed within arm's reach of her, stretching out one hand towards her and wheezing hard. His eyes flickered open and closed, as if he were dying, but she said later that he appeared to be either mad or very happy about something. "It's true!" is all he could gasp. Then he closed his eyes and lay still.
(to be continued...)
BACK TO STAR CATALOG
First I must confess that I found this story in a webzine while I was sitting around in Elmara City, waiting for my cousin to arrive. But I checked out what background details I could and it must be based on some fact. To me, it's a story that's too odd to have been completely invented.
So it turns out that most of Dyrendore Hab is actually designed as a wide-open area where people live almost like we do, here in Fargale. The Hab cylinder rotates along its major axis to make for some gravity, and there are many levels within it, like thinner cylinders within the main, outer one. Of course, the further 'up' you go, towards the centre, the lower the artificial gravity is. The levels are all connected with wide ramps and lift-shafts. But most of the area is free-form, without many walls or buildings, and the Dyrens (it's what the locals call themselves) have planted parks and farms there. People camp where they like, according to what work they're doing or who they want to visit. Not many build houses.
No one owns the whole Hab; the nearest they have to government is a loose agreement to have regular get-togethers in each zone when everyone can contribute their opinion and choose a temporary leader. Sounds a little like our ways. I wonder if the Dyrens are related to us!
Anyway, so one day a woman was sitting outside her tent, feeding her baby boy, when she saw a figure stumbling towards her from a grove of tall fruit trees. It appeared to be an old man with hair like a mass of frayed rope. She hugged her child closer. The man collapsed within arm's reach of her, stretching out one hand towards her and wheezing hard. His eyes flickered open and closed, as if he were dying, but she said later that he appeared to be either mad or very happy about something. "It's true!" is all he could gasp. Then he closed his eyes and lay still.
(to be continued...)
BACK TO STAR CATALOG
No comments:
Post a Comment