A Fascinating Artefact

The Crystal Moon, a large, transparent artificial satellite constructed a hundred years previously for Lord Tsung-Tse, then sold by his son for gambling debts, was bought by the then Merseian ambassador who moved it into the Jovian system which belongs to the Dispersal of Ymir, not to the Terran Empire. Massive artificial rubies, emeralds, diamonds and topazes are held in orbit around the Moon by planar gravity fields. Spaceship passengers enter the Moon through transparent tubes.

On the Moon's surface, a domed zero gee conservatory holds a single large sphere of water surrounded by a jungle of mutant ferns and orchids. Tropical fish and visitors to the Moon swim in the water. (In an Arthur C Clarke story, a satellite hotel has a similar zero gee spherical swimming pool but Clarke's version additionally encloses a bubble of air large enough to contain a bar serving drinks to swimmers.) Aycharaych of Chereion, descended from birds, glides gracefully through the zero gee air.

When Dominic Flandry walks through the central part of the Moon with its artificial gravity field, Orion is beneath him.

The current Merseian ambassador buys human slaves to serve in the Moon. The Terran Empire is so decadent that it has not only revived slavery but also allows the sale of human slaves to a Merseian. Would such a slave retain any loyalty to the Empire if her owner involved her in his race's plans to overthrow that Empire?