In the original Undead Thread, we were running out of space. Not physical space, but mathematical space.
We were limited to a thread length of 65,535 posts. We started worrying about it.
The only option seemed to be that we would have to pick up everything and relocate.
But how do you move a castle?
We moved the “Flying Castle” to Loch Ness, and sent a “beer truck” over to Scotland for a large quantity of Guiness.
Then we flew to the Norwegian Sea, where we picked up the Thrust Ring as part of our new ambitions. We carried it across the North Pole, and on to Kauai, Hawaii for a bit of rest stop and refitting procedure.
It was there that we began the process of replacing our jet engines and hot air balloons with Gas-Cooled Nuclear Reactor/Rocket Engines. You see, we were preparing to go into space.
Why? I’m not sure I can even answer that question. It was suggested, and apparently voted on by acclamation, so here we are.
Anyway, we began gleaning Uranium from the ocean currents to fuel our reactors, modifying and improving the process as we went. I won’t describe it in too much detail except to say that it combined aqueous ionic separation using electrical attraction and laser impulsion, with the physical separation processes of mass spectrographs and Hilsch tubes. Essentially, it functioned like a horn of plenty operating in reverse. A lot of ocean water went in the big end, and separated isotopes came out the small end.
We used the process to gather useful materials such as Uranium, Irridium, Gold, Silver, Platinum, and other exotic substances for our engineering projects and processes.
Actually, the gold we didn’t really need in large quantity, but it was easy to pull out of the ocean, and we could exchange it for other useful materials such as the basic structure for the additional habitats, and the steel used to complete their construction.
You see, we needed three structures of equal mass in order to maintain our balance and induce artificial gravity once in space. We also needed the additional room and surface area to supplement our growth of foodstocks and oxygen-producing organisms.
Habitats A and B are designed like large cruise ships, with multiple decks and large open spaces where livestock, grain fields, fishponds, rice paddies, and hydroponics production facilities are spread around, interspersed with synthetic villages, towns, and market places.
Habitat A follows a more or less southern European plan, with meandering narrow streets and stairs linking different levels, while Habitat B is distinctly Oriental in flavor, with crowded markets, and open cafés in glad profusion.
It becomes easy to forget that we have established a world within a world. Essentially, we had to, to make sure that we could provide for ourselves out in the vast loneliness of interplanetary space.
To help with the illusion, each Habitat has its own time zone, separated by eight hours from its neighbors. The Flying Castle Habitat follows West Coast American time. Habitat A is on Greenwich, and Habitat B is set to Hong Kong Time.
Daylight Savings? Forget about it.
But this world within a world has advantages to its smallness. For one thing, one can easily travel from one habitat to the next by means of the spherical elevator cars.
Woo hoo! After “promising” all day, it finally started to rain.