Plaisance
C5539007
Outdated tourist guide tapes recommend scheduling an approach toward Plaisance that flies over the terminator of night to obtain the best scenic vista. On that course the fading sunlight flares off the faceted arcology domes and the glazed surfaces of the many small ice lakes that dot the multi hued pastel deserts, and all the colors shift as the planet rolls into night and gleam of distant stars.
The day-side seen from space looks less impressive: a flat, mottled landscape dotted with harshly glinting bits of glass and dust-smeared ice.
The pleasure-world once hosted endless parties and welcomed everyone from the Navy starmen on liberty to criminals on the lam, the only rule being have a good time and don’t seriously harm anyone. But few travellers visit Plaisance today.
The change came forty years ago, after the Orgiastic Eudaimonia Party came to power. The new government, which had only just edged out its rivals in a tense election year, installed euphoria-inducing spore dispensers in the atmospheric compressor units of the arcologies for use during public celebrations and for riot suppression. A homegrown radical movement engineered a simultaneous mass release of the biological drugs in a coup attempt, and pre-treated themselves with illegal depressants. Something went terribly wrong. The planet-wide orgy, once commenced, would not cease even after the spore flow stopped. The spores worked too well, altering brain chemistry permanently. If not for the automated safety systems and service robots, almost everyone in the arcologies would have died within a month.
The revelry has mellowed enough to allow human survival. Utterly mad natives cavort down the arcology corridors and sport amid the lush blooms of the greenhouses, insisting that any strangers they meet join the fun. These madmen usually become violent if refused.
A minority of sane natives, children of the rebels, hoard the failing technology of the world and control part of the starport. They send welcome signals out into space, hoping to lure starships. Fresh blood, resources...
------------
C5539007
Outdated tourist guide tapes recommend scheduling an approach toward Plaisance that flies over the terminator of night to obtain the best scenic vista. On that course the fading sunlight flares off the faceted arcology domes and the glazed surfaces of the many small ice lakes that dot the multi hued pastel deserts, and all the colors shift as the planet rolls into night and gleam of distant stars.
The day-side seen from space looks less impressive: a flat, mottled landscape dotted with harshly glinting bits of glass and dust-smeared ice.
The pleasure-world once hosted endless parties and welcomed everyone from the Navy starmen on liberty to criminals on the lam, the only rule being have a good time and don’t seriously harm anyone. But few travellers visit Plaisance today.
The change came forty years ago, after the Orgiastic Eudaimonia Party came to power. The new government, which had only just edged out its rivals in a tense election year, installed euphoria-inducing spore dispensers in the atmospheric compressor units of the arcologies for use during public celebrations and for riot suppression. A homegrown radical movement engineered a simultaneous mass release of the biological drugs in a coup attempt, and pre-treated themselves with illegal depressants. Something went terribly wrong. The planet-wide orgy, once commenced, would not cease even after the spore flow stopped. The spores worked too well, altering brain chemistry permanently. If not for the automated safety systems and service robots, almost everyone in the arcologies would have died within a month.
The revelry has mellowed enough to allow human survival. Utterly mad natives cavort down the arcology corridors and sport amid the lush blooms of the greenhouses, insisting that any strangers they meet join the fun. These madmen usually become violent if refused.
A minority of sane natives, children of the rebels, hoard the failing technology of the world and control part of the starport. They send welcome signals out into space, hoping to lure starships. Fresh blood, resources...
------------
