BY LETTER
Aam Taam City
 Image from Bernd Helfert |
Aam Taam is typical for Wega - a curious mix of tradition and ultramodern, prim and godtech, practicality and extravagance. Wega was originally settled by a crew of superbright Pygmy colonists who traced their ancestry back to the half-mythical polity of Zaire, Old Earth. They built megastructures for controlling the climate of their paraterraformed moon, but aesthetic details were adopted from the region of the Old Earth which seemed - to them - most amusing. Nowadays, Wega is a cosmopolitan colony, but the general landscape is still pursued.
Aam Taam is a spindle-shaped structure about ten kilometers high, a lattice composed of mostly narrow beams surrounded with mirrors. When seen with the sun, mirrors make the city glow enchantedly, against the sun, it appears stately and dark. Approaching the Aam Taam, the beams which looked thin at a distance reveal themselves to be tens of meters thick, round or rectangle-shaped. On them you will see, surprised, rows of small houses straight from the pre-space flight Earth past, with roofs of red tiles, thatch or green turf. Houses stand kilometers above the ground, surrounded by hedges, trees and small gardens. Doors lead to the ultratech interior of the Aam Taam, its houses, factories and transport systems. Sometimes the smooth hitech skeleton breaks up, especially on the overhanging beams and near the spaceport hidden in the Aam Taam centre. Water condensates on the megastructure, forming ponds, narrow rivers, waterfalls and cascades flowing all the way to the ground.
Look at the undersurfaces, and you will also see trees and grass, growing upside down in the soil held by nanonets. Birds fly and perch on the wrong side of the branches. Upside-down houses stand, their open windows lead to the lowest floors of flats and company buildings. You will also see an odd pool, or perhaps a small herd of antelope grazing. Some wild animals live and migrate up and down the gigantic structure. Sometimes they wander to the downsides, defying the gravity in this heavily angelnetted world. Revolwing mirrors do their best to bring light everywhere, as the shadows move across the megastructure. And occassionally you will see a section of sea surface or mountain landscape - but these are just 3D simulations covering ugly technological area.
Naturally, the gardenlike exterior fades compared to what is inside Aam Taam city. "There is nothing unusual about Wega." - they say - "Everything is simply mundane or simply mad."
From Galaxy On a Holiday, Wega Press, 10448 (35634 LT).
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Development Notes
Text by Jorge Ditchkenberg
Initially published on 22 October 2008.
Initially published on 22 October 2008.
