Jewels of Earth

I want to visit the Singapore airport some day. It blew my mind when I first saw it on television, in Somebody Feed Phil, a documentary show where the eponymous Phil visits cities all over the world to try their food. It was lush with trees and plants and a waterfall and a place for people all in one place. This, I thought to myself, this is what my spaceships are built around.

I’d written my first draft of The Dementia by then, and was starting on the first major edits, which included needing to flesh out the character of my generation colony ships. I knew I wanted to have the central Promenade have parks and public spaces, and seeing the images of the Changji airport (its actual name) breathed new inspiration in to me. Hidden amongst all the greenery are shops and restaurants, on multiple levels. The tall trees and ceiling make the interior expansive, like you could be outside when you are instead completely indoors. That’s the feeling I wanted inside my asteroids in the deep emptiness of space. A little bit of Earth going with us.

When we send people to the stars, I really believe we’re going to need to take nature with us. It’s so inimical to mental health; we humans crave it when we don’t have it. We evolved with nature, we shape it ourselves. True wilderness doesn’t have to go with us, but the essence of nature, plants and flowers, the bugs and dirt and everything that goes along with it, that’s what we need.

So when I envision the interior of my ships, it’s something like Changji. Instead of a waterfall, you have the central pillar, and then parks in the center with plenty of trees and bushes and sculptures in and around the walking paths. The terraces of the Promenade have potted plants and stall in front of the built in shops and cafes that line the walls. There’s color and greenery and screens rotating through advertisements and people enjoying the natural light from the large lamps that mimic sunlight.