The Confederation Handbook Read Online Free PDF Page B

parkland
unspoiled. The main exceptions to this rule are the habitats in orbit
around Saturn, which have no starscrapers because of the higher
particle density that makes them susceptible to damage (Saturn
habitats have much thicker external shell layers).
    All starscraper apartments are provided with food-synthesis organs,
providing a steady if monotonous diet of fruit juice and paste-like
protein-rich hydrocarbons of various flavors. Secretion teats are
provided in every apartment wall. Human excrement is carried away
through a digestive tract, and reprocessed in organ clusters at the
base of the tower, while harmful toxins are vented through porous
sections of the shell. The food organs are not widely used, since
Edenists favor cooking food (there is no butchery—meat is grown
in clone vats), and import a great many delicacies from across the
Confederation. This waste matter finds its way directly into the
ecosystem via the digestive tracts.

Power
    Most of the biological
processes within the habitat’s major organs utilize variants of
electrolysis and ion-exchange mechanisms, rather than straightforward
biochemical reactions. This reduces the dependence on fresh chemicals
to a considerable degree, cutting down on the amount of minerals
which have to be ingested. Though its chemical consumption is still
prodigious, a habitat’s main power source is electricity. This
energy is generated by simple induction from Jupiter’s (and
other gas giants’) colossal magnetosphere.
    Hundreds of specialist
extrusion glands are situated around the rim at each end of the
cylinder, producing 50m, lengths of organic conductor cabling.
Because of the habitat’s rotation the cables extend straight
outward and slice through the magnetosphere’s flux lines. (This
means that spacecraft have to approach every habitat along the
rotation axis.) Cables are grown on a more or less constant basis, as
dust impacts continually weaken them and breakage is frequent. As
well as indigenous organ functions and maintaining the environment
temperature, the cables provide electricity for domestic use and the
light-industry plants situated in the endcaps.
    Habitats have a large
reserve of electricity stored in electroplaque cells to cope with the
fluctuations caused by cable breaks, and in emergencies fusion
generators can be plugged directly into the power circuits. Without
this pick-up system it is difficult to see how an organism like a
habitat could survive, given the amount of energy it requires to
heat, light and feed its inhabitants. Photosynthetic membranes, as
well as being extremely inefficient, would be impossibly cumbersome
on the scale required to provide an equivalent amount of energy.

Light
    Electrophorescent cell
clusters are used throughout the skyscrapers, although inhabitants
are free to redecorate by using electric lighting (chandeliers and
lasersolids are popular). The central cavern is illuminated by a
column of fluorescent gas contained inside a webbed tube of organic
conductors extending down the length of the axis. The web’s
magnetic field confines the ionized gas, which is constantly
fluoresced by a high-voltage discharge. During the night-time period,
the luminosity is reduced to the light level of a full (Earth) moon.
Repairs to the web are conducted during this period by bitek
servitors specially designed to be resistant to the high magnetic
flux level and energized gas; these creatures resemble giant spiders
with a hard dermal layer.

Climates
    Most types of climate exist
in the habitats orbiting Jupiter, although Alaskan or Siberian
winters are not easily simulated because of the thermal-flow problems
this would create inside the shell. A Mediterranean-style climate is
the most popular, followed by temperate or tropical. Several
temperature habitats grown in the last 150 years have included an
atmospheric vapor dispersion system supposed to create occasional
snowfalls, though this