(urth) As the Whorl Turns

[Jeff Wilson]

Jordon Flato wrote:
> "looked across a benighted plain of naked rock."
> 
> "The somber plain was pitted like the cheeks of a child who had survived 
> the pox, and far more parren tha tne sheer clifss of the Pilgrims' Way; 
> no tree, no flower, no least wed or dot of moss sprouted from its rock."
> 
> "The plain of rock had blanched unwatfched, and was streaked with sable...."
> 
> 
> 
> So, we have a plain of benighted rock which is pitted like a pox 
> survivor.  Sounds like an asteroid to me.

This indicates the original asteroid was massive enough to flatten gross 
irregularities into a plainlike smoothness, and of a sufficient scale 
for its spheroidal curvature to look like a plain at Silk's distance 
from it.

This also means that the outer surface is probably the original, ruling 
out the Cole process (melt the asteroid with solar mirrors, then expand 
it into a bubble with steam)

The "sheer cliffs of the Pilgrims' Way" is also informative about the 
interior geography.


Oh, and I found some classic illustrations of asteroid habitats, 
complete with axial light sources and unshadowed interiors.

http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/cole1small.jpg

http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/coleanalog.jpg


-- 
Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com
< http://www.io.com/~jwilson >