The double tubes were actually shaped more like an elongated figure-eight and were not solid; but rather a powerful force field that kept the hundred miles-wide interior of those massive tubes in vacuum and kept atmosphere, birds, and orbital space junk from entering. They allowed planet based spacecraft to enter at the ground level of one of the tubes and accelerate at incredible speeds up into orbit without atmospheric friction or fear of collision. The other tube was reserved for traffic travelling down from orbit to the planet.
The Coridians occupied most of the ring while the Largans were for the most part planet-bound. Larga was an official protectorate of the Coridian Dynasty and one of the oldest. Even though we’d made it clear to Semi that we were seeking a solution that would leave Earth independent I was sure she still harbored hopes that we would want to accept a protectorship—like Larga.
In many respects the last number of months had been like the NCAA’s window for college coaches to get the best high school prospects to sign Letters of Intent with their respective schools—and with Earth being the nation’s #1 prospect. Everyone wanted to harness Earth’s (apparently) amazing potential and were (apparently) willing to do just about anything to get us—but how can you trust the words of a college coach during recruiting season? The funny thing is that Larga was so impressive that if we would have been recruited by the Coridians first we might have been seduced.
Of course the ‘recruiting styles’ of the two dynasties were at opposite extremes; Noridia had tried to scare us into accepting their protection and Coridia was trying to woo us into wanting it. It was probably a good thing that we were exposed to the Noridian’s ruthlessness first—it made it impossible to forget that independence trumps slavery every time.
After we docked with the habitat and exited the pressurized bay we were greeted by a small group that consisted of six Coridians and two Largans. The Coridians were smiling and friendly while the Largans were somewhat more ceremonial. When we were introduced to them the Largans spread their arms, palms up, and bowed deeply from the waist. We all more or less followed Hiromi and Kamiko’s lead in returning a perfectly equal bow. The Largans seemed deeply honored by this while the Coridians acted somewhat amused.
The lobby or reception area we were in was very large and comfortable yet had the empty feeling I was coming to associate with everything off-world. Three of the walls were entirely seamless windows, angling out at the top and permitting breath-taking views of the world below. As we watched we could see the terminator slowly sliding towards us across the face of the planet. This was a sight I realized that few Earthers had ever seen. Imagine looking down at Earth from orbit. As the planet rotated you could look down at cities and watch them rotate ever closer to the sun’s shadow that demarks night-time for everyone living below. This moving shadow line is called the terminator and if your orbit was geostationary like ours (when you’re orbiting at the same speed the Earth is rotating) it would look as if the terminator line is marching towards you. As we approached it I could clearly see the lights of several large cities that had just passed into darkness. As indescribably beautiful as it was I was still somewhat surprised that the cities were clearly separated geographically by large areas of darkness—unlike the east coast of the United States for example that I knew from photos was almost entirely lit up.
More Coridians had entered the reception area and were mingling, introducing themselves and offering friendly conversation. There were also a number of servers with finger food and refreshments that of course turned out to be happy Largans.
I couldn’t say the room was filling up but there were definitely a lot of people here and they were all beautiful. I think there were probably more women than men, although that could just be a matter of my focus, but they all looked young and seemed in perfect health. I didn’t notice a blemish, scratch, bruise, or scar and I couldn’t tell the Coridians and Largans apart (except perhaps by the duties they were performing).
As pleasing as the women were to look at the men left me with a non-feeling. They were not what I would think of as masculine and if I weren’t so dedicatedly heterosexual I might have felt different, but as it was I neither admired nor was repelled by them—they were just there. It didn’t help that their personalities, with some noted exceptions, were also bland. Somewhere during a conversation I addressed one of them as ‘Spock’ and I swear he raised an eyebrow at me in innocent query.
“Dr. Spencer, I hope you are enjoying this respite after what sounds like a harrowing journey.”
I turned from the window to discover I was being addressed by a stunning auburn haired woman that was exactly my height. Standing next to her was Semi with a twinkle in her eye.
“Mark, let me introduce you to my friend Ashima,” she said. “Ashima studies galactic history and the interaction of Planet-bound Cultures, Dynasties, and Houses—what I think you would call political science. I thought you two might enjoy knowing each other.”
“Ashima, please call me Mark,” I said as I glanced at Semi. Her smile seemed innocent but it was important to remember that this was a recruiting junket after all. I quickly returned my attention to Ashima and realized that she was the first auburn haired alien I’d met. As a matter of fact I didn’t remember seeing any shade or tint of red in anyone’s hair color outside those of us from Earth. I made a mental note to follow-up on that.
“Thank you Mark,” she replied. “I would love to know more about your planet’s history and how you have managed to survive and thrive with so many nation states that have competing interests. It seems to me it would be a formula for disaster yet your world has managed to excel.”
“I’d enjoy that conversation Ashima and I have some questions of my own about how your cultures interact and how differing social stratas determine their hierarchical relationship with one another.”
Her smile if it were possible became even bigger and after a slight pause she said, “I understand you need to settle in from your journey but when you are ready just let anyone know you would like to speak with me and I will come find you.”
Ashima really was very pretty and I couldn’t help realizing this at the same moment that I noticed Major Reagan, Major Reynolds and Silva hurriedly leaving the room.
“Wait a minute,” I said. “Do you mean that there are only about 50 million Largans on the whole planet?”
“That is correct,” said Ashima. “If you count the Largans on all three continents it slightly exceeds 51 million.”
I thought she’d been talking about cities when apparently she’d been talking about continents.
“And is this the only Largan world?”
“Yes of course,” she responded.
Anzio, Semi, Ashima and I were still on the ring in the quarters I’d been assigned. We were sharing a quite good meal of fruits, cheese and what was probably some type of fish in a tangy white sauce.
“What happened to all the people,” asked Anzio?
“Nothing happened to them,” Ashima explained. “You probably need to know that Earth carries the highest population density in the known galaxy. Larga is a very developed planet by our terms and the population here is quite large by our standards.”
It was all starting to make sense to me. The longer lifespans didn’t lead to over-crowding; just the reverse. In an era of perpetual youth why rush into having children? Come to think of it I hadn’t seen any children…