9-087: Pristine Downport
Everyone files along to the Bus, Alan secures the shuttle and the bus takes the five team members to the main building.
The bus seems to be operated by the Legion, despite bearing Administration Bureau livery. As well as a black-uniformed driver there’s a pair of Legion Customs officers who check their tags and ship doco then sit back down in their ‘reserved’ seats.
While Oliver has been here before, it’s never been described so…
The port-side bus depot is a draughty, cavernous area that opens onto the main building concourse. A long, low structure for which the main building materials seems to be rough-hewn local granite and bricks. Many of the walls don’t have internal finish and the inside looks the same as the outside, though judging by the thickness of the wall as Oliver passes through the door, there’s an insulating layer to the outside.
Pristine Down starport concourse is a surprisingly busy place for a small B-Colony world. At the same the facilities are a bit basic, perhaps because of the comparatively habitable environment which is forgiving of things like a lack of pressure sealing, the whole complex has a rough, partially finished and rustic feel. Heating in the building seems irregular as Oliver moves about some areas are toasty warm and others quite chilly. In the building there are many people milling about, both travellers and service workers, Legion members and the occasional low-level Bureaucracy member.
Having passed through a lightly supervised security checkpoint, ahead is a large, long space that looks more like a huge warehouse than a starport concourse. Functional-looking lights hang down from the high ceiling on cables and the heating ductwork is exposed. There are skylights in the roof though there’s nothing to be seen through them at the moment. A collection of shops runs along the wall to Oliver’s left and individual shops appear to have been constructed from non-structural materials inside the existing open space. To the right are various facilities associated with travel – fresher facilities, baggage collection, public terminals, vehicle rental, a secured section for port staff only, etc. Ahead, at the far end of the building is the ground-side travel terminal. Unlike most ports with travel pods or trains on Pristine the usual method of travel from the Downport to the city is a bus or cab ride (it’s possible aerostats are available.)
Dicard says, “the Wardenate offices are in town. Does anyone need to do anything here before we go?”
Oliver will keep an eye out for a clothing/mountaineering store and if he notices one he will respond to Dicard with “I just need a new snow suit, mine burned up.” Then run off and grab a functional one with the Vizierate card.