Copied from Poul Anderson's Cosmic Environments, 26 Dec 2014:
Ayisha,
a Luna-sized Baburite moon, has a dimly lit, airless, cratered, stone
surface and a black sky showing unwinking stars and the amber planet
with its bands of white, ocher and cinnabar clouds.
On Ayisha's surface, the domes of a secret project hold:
heat;
Terrestrial gravity;
breathable air;
grass;
bushes;
flowers;
a ball court;
fountains;
a swimming pool;
good food and wine;
a handicraft shop;
an amateur theater;
a vice section.
Staff
spend a significant part of their lives in the system, have no leaves
and receive no visitors and their mail is censored although good pay
accumulates at home. Anyone who resigns has their memory wiped. What
this shows is that people with technology can master hostile
environments while retaining discreditable motives. The motto of
Lancaster University is patet veritas omnibus, "truth lies open
to all." However, in the future of the Technic History, scientific
accomplishment is still accompanied by commercial and political secrecy.
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