B-190: Spanial (Zarg’s World Highport)
It’s the middle of Lia’s usual sleep period, RG09 on Lia Day 99, when Spanial arrives at Zarg’s World highport.
A refresher: Zarg’s World is an A-class Colony world situated in the Goldilocks zone of a yellow main-sequence star. Tidally locked to its star, the stellar point (closest to the star) is a blisteringly hot mountain range surrounded by a boiling sea, while the antistellar point (farthest from the star) is a solid block of ice almost a kilometer thick. Between them in the twilight zone is deep sea covering most of the globe with strong currents and huge waves. The main Downport is sited on a thick block of pack ice toward the anti-stellar point. The 85,000 inhabitants of Zarg’s World – small by A colony standards, are scattered in small communities across the planet in varied locations from the hot mountain mines to the frozen starport to the undersea arcologies to the floating village of Gravport.
The atmosphere is unbreathable, and mildly toxic as well as being devoid of oxygen. Gravity away from the settlements is just under half standard.
Lia and Kwint visited Gravport to obtain the Hopper manual.
The Highport itself is constructed out of the moonlet that naturally orbits Zarg’s World, and no large, artificial station has been put in orbit, so instead of being stuck to the side of a large space station, Spanial is nestled in a docking frame on the side of a giant space rock.
Karmen says, “we’re here! Secure the ship for Park, prepare for Customs inspection then we’ll talk Dock Liberty.”
I assume Lia would have had to alter her sleep pattern slightly in order to prepare for this; meaning she will be ready to greet Customs.
Remind me – is there anything important currently in Spanial’s hold? And is there a reason she’s supposed to give for them docking here?