“Yes, of course!” Derek turned away from the window and looked seriously at the transparent tablet computer on Lora’s palm.
“Display the panoramic hologram of Titanium,” said Lora and a basketball-sized 3D model appeared above the tablet. “This is the view from space. The planet is a sphere with a blue nucleus at its core. The inhabited part of Titanium with all its buildings is not on its surface. The city expanse cuts the planet just above the equator into two hemispheres, while a part of the core stays visible and the city, sort of encircles it. The Upper hemisphere is the energetic dome rising over the megalopolis, which keeps the air and protects the inhabitants from the deadly radiation. The floating clouds are only a perfect illusion of the sky: a holographic projection. The Lower hemisphere housing all the city buildings is built from titanium and is shaped like a layered pie. It includes a layer of city communications system, an equatorial transport terminal and several thousand more layers going deep down.”
“And this?” the young man pointed at the shining, rainbow-like cover enveloping Titanium.
“It’s the outer energy field generated by the nucleus and functions as passive protection from a possible attack from the outside.”
“How could people have created such a thing and launched it into space afterwards?”
“The planet was built in space. At the base of the building process is a constantly perfected nanotechnology. The tiny nanites process raw materials and recreate the necessary construction elements according to the project.”
“Did nanites build all this?”
“Yes, nanites and the robotic devices. The raw material was the debris of a gigantic asteroid field. Our scientists have found a way to convert the basic chemical materials from the asteroids into the chemical combinations necessary for the construction. Titanium prevailed among other solids that were used; hence the name of the city: Titanium. Travelling in the megapolis is possible by means of a teleport. I think it’s time you had a real feel of the transport system at work. There are also stairs, but they’re not as popular. The teleport system is the fastest transport means in the spaceship.”
“The fastest after the stairs?” smiled the young man.
“No, after the micro-transport on the electromagnetic pillows,” Grinning, Lora pointed at the guest’s chair. Suddenly her tension that had been so strong back in the ward was melting away fast.
“Do many people use them?” asked Derek, feeling genuinely curious.
“Not these ones in particular, however, there are many devices for carrying different loads. By the way, the central teleport is a public transport, but there are also freight units.”
“I get it, like buses and lorries.”
“Buses?”
“Well, it’s like some old-fashioned transport means with tyres. They used to travel by land burning tonnes of petrol. However, they were improved later when the electric engines were introduced.”
“They̓re described in encyclopaedias,” Lora tried to remember.
“They must be.”
“So, you remember the transport means on Earth. Anything else?” asked the girl as they were slowly heading towards the closest teleport.
“I remembered when you started talking… This information sounded like something I take for granted…”
“The doctor said that you would remember things which were associatively connected to your memories.” remembered Lora.
