We saw how the Merseian city of Ardaig both resembled and differed from human cities. (See also Great Cities.)
Terran Traders, Inc. leases the shimmering, bronze-roofed spire of aro-Kito, One Who Awaits, in a city on the planet, Zatlokopa. Some of the women live in that building but Sigrid Holmen and Alexandra Vukovic have an apartment in the tower called i-Cula, the Clouded. The corkscrew ramps and twisted buttresses of aro-Kito are "...typical Eyzka architecture." (p. 81)
There are grassy lanes and "...sunset-yellow canals..." (p. 82) between the buildings but no pedestrians or boats, also no ground-cars or fliers. Transportation is by subways, by vine-like elevated tunnel-streets between the towers and by halls and shaftways within buildings.
Above, a winged snake cruises and a spaceship lifts silently on paragravity.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
NO pedestrians walking between buildings or boats using the canals? That seems strange to me, esp. the latter! And I would have thought it reasonable to think some of these non-humans would find it convenient to walk to and from the nearer buildings at least.
Sean
Sean,
The canals must be used somehow but rarely, apparently.
Grass (or its equivalent) between buildings!
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And humans would have used the canals for transporting goods of all kinds and quantities. And people would have used the canals for transport as well. So these apparently unused canals looks rather odd.
And grass would not be practical if there were many pedestrians. Again, humans would have used paved pathways.
Sean
They might swim underwater in the canals.
Cities on Edgar Rice Burroughs "Barsoom" had streets paved in moss; their riding and freight-animals have padded rather than hooved feet, and their ground transport has large soft wheels and partial antigravity.
Somewhere on the blog, I compare ERB's moss-paved streets with something similar on one of PA's fictional planets.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And THAT is a Barsoomian touch, using that greeting!
I dunno, I would have thought FREQUENT of those Barsoomian draft animals and any kind of wheeled vehicles would have eventually worn paths thru that tough moss.
Sean
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