Page:Amazing Stories v35n11 (1961-11).djvu/139

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

and bathed in diffused sunlight. Sleek beef cattle are grazing or lying contentedly in shady patches. An artistically contrived stream meanders through the meadow, providing naturalistic watering facilities. The cows are certainly in clover!

"The stables are back yonder," says the manager, pointing to an arrangement of open air stalls and equipment. "They have milking merry-go-rounds and every possible labor saving device." He then tells us that the sheep, swine and fowl have their own separate sectors, each convenient to the particular fodder they consume. A train is due and it is time for us to get on to the city. With a parting handshake, our guide suggests that we drop in at his home during the evening. "Now that you've had a look at our animal kingdom, you might like to see how we human Lunatics live."

At the hub transit station we go up to the street level in the city's central plaza. It is a circular park, laid out in a pattern of walks, flower beds and tree-shaded lawns. From its center, a soaring shaft of glass and metal rises to the apex of the enclosing dome where air-conditioning chambers are almost hidden by a fog of condensing atmosphere. At street level the air is clear and peppy—much like a bracing fall day on Earth. We also notice that we are not bounding along as we had anticipated. Evidently the shoes prescribed for Moon travelers have some sort of equalizing effect on the lower Lunar gravity. We decide that it is probably due to a magnetic grid in the floors and pavements as the shoes do not feel perceptibly heavier than those we are accustomed to. This is confirmed by the fact that our strides seem freer, our clothes lighter and our bodies more exhilaratingly buoyant. We make our way toward the park perimeter where we can see an encircling promenade faced with shops, restaurants and hotels. After checking in at the city hostel for a bit of freshening we return to a sidewalk café for a drink and dinner.

Over cocktails we enjoy sunset, admiring the skill with which the dome's polarized control panels are manipulated. The gathering darkness has a luminescent quality, somewhat like a brightly moonlit night on Earth, and with only the sounds of passing footsteps and voices audible the city is soothingly quiet. Not until then do we realize the blessed absence of vehicular stink and noise. Later we learn that, as in most Lunar communities, free public transit is provided by a network of moving sidewalks, fitted with comfortable seats. This system is smooth,

COLONY ON THE MOON
141