Earth date: 07:34 a.m. Wednesday, January 17, 2142
Venusian date: 5:17 p.m. Croday 45 advanae 61
Location: atmosphere of Venus, 55km above the surface, Babakine, Atmospheric coordinate: 0 ° N, 18 ° E
Aerodrome (6E)
As you exit the operations module, a small two-seater plane brushes past your metro. It comes from the following module, officially called the outdoor leisure module but more commonly an aerodrome or marina. Indeed, even if there is a large usable volume inside the colony, the first Venusians quickly appropriated the immense clouds that surround it. Among the facilities for outdoor sports you have already visited the jumping platform and the Quidditch stadium. As the name suggests, the aerodrome is more aeronautical oriented. It serves as a base for electric planes similar to what you caught at the airport, but reduced to 1 to 10 seats. In order not to have to deal with the rotation of a mooring arm like the one in the airport during each take off and landing, they are designed to dock to one of the six parallel cables at the airfield. The touchdown is the opposite of a land landing, the plane goes under the cable and goes up to grab it with a Y placed on the back of the plane and on the tail.
It is used for private transport between two nearby colonies, for parachute jumping, aerobatics, scientific research or quite simply for walks in the clouds. Since the majority of Venusians know how to fly these planes, they quickly invented sports such as holographic ring racing, or aerial combat simulations. He plays team sports like aeropolo, which involves scoring points with a hydrogen balloon floating in the air by hitting it with the plane. Obviously the devices intended for this sport are reinforced and slow in order not to be damaged by regular collisions.
Like parachutist and commercial airplane passengers, all airplane pilots must have an ejection system based on helium-filled balloons to await rescue at a stable altitude. Rescue workers left from elsewhere from the airfield with convertible planes capable of moving quickly horizontally and then hovering to retrieve the castaway. In extreme cases, such as evacuating a starship, there would be too many castaways to fit into the rescue craft cabin. In this situation, rescuers simply harpoon the balloons and drag the shipwrecks behind them to the nearest settlement.
The upper part of the airfield is made up of what locals call the marina. It consists of a pressurized tunnel which acts as a quay for airships. There are many motorized airships that are about twenty meters long that allow small cruises between or away from two colonies. It is also possible to deploy kites at the end of a cable of several hundred meters in order to play on the variation of the winds while operating the altitude to move forward without a motor. This technique has made it possible to develop races ranging from small regattas near the colonies to round-the-world tours passing through various latitudes. On a much smaller scale, there are small airship with pedal which allows the athlete to make a small exit in the clouds to vary the training inside the colonies. On the same principle, rowing airships with 1 to 8 seats can recreate rowing races over several kilometers.
Park (6F)
You will now arrive at the terminus of line 6, this is the lowest accessible point and the most EAST of Babakine station. The only way to go further is to have access to the wind turbine module, which is hooked up by a cable longer than a kilometer. Anna suggests that you get off the metro and take the elevator for a quick tour of the module. It forms a bubble 320 meters in diameter and inhabits a huge park intended for leisure. The first floor is centered around a lake of 100m in diameter and 20m in depth maximum in which algae and fish were implanted. We practice swimming, wakeboarding and surfing on a wave generator. You can also practice scuba diving, with at the bottom of a lake, a clear view of the clouds below through the transparent floor. Placed at the bottom of the colony, in the warm layers, the lake enjoys a constant temperature of 28 ° C. However, it is mainly the weight of the lake that explains the position of the park at the bottom of the colony to take advantage of denser air and therefore better lift. In addition to the air inside the bubble, a compartment filled with hydrogen a was added above the module.
Above about every 50 meters is a floor simulating plains, forests, small lakes or rivers. To go from one floor to another there is first the elevator you are in, but also hills pierce the floor of the upper level. This allows you to walk throughout the park while remaining in a “natural” setting. With a total area of more than 350 hectares, it is the relaxation area of the colony. You can go cycling, climbing, running, canyoning, canoeing or tobogganing on torrents and waterfalls.
Arena (4F)
After returning to the park station and ascending two modules on line F you arrive at the foot of the Arena. On several levels there are various sports and entertainment facilities. There are therefore many swimming pools, opera houses, gymnasiums, exhibition halls, stadiums and even a racing circuit. Even if outside of competitions everything is open to the public, there are “training” facilities without bleachers and “competition” facilities that do. Moreover, to save space, the majority of installations are convertible. For example the Olympic swimming pool can be covered with a floor to become a gymnasium, the bottom of stadium bleachers can be dismantled to reveal a cycling track, gymnasiums can be split into two cinemas or theaters, and stadiums can be converted into a concert hall. This is one of the last modules to arrive, Anna doesn’t know much about it because it wasn’t finished two years ago when she left for earth. A holographic projection system has since been installed in the main stadium which allows you to watch a Quidditch match live.
