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vast compound, which covered nearly 7% of the continent and employed tens of thousands. At one time Mip7 thought he wanted to work here, but every young native who visits this place for the first time leaves with that same thought.
    “Director,” Mip7 said as they neared the ground level, “what department do you work in, if you don’t mind me asking?”
    “Space flight, now. I’m in charge of particle recycling in propulsion systems, although I have full military clearance to intervene in all matters of propulsion design. I basically have a license to interrupt others’ work and tell them they have been doing it all wrong, maybe for months, and need to start over—which isn’t too popular, as you might imagine. I don’t abuse the power often, though, and mostly stay in my little corner of particle boost research. It’ll be a nice break to have a fun little reverse-engineering project.” He raised the game in his hand slightly.
    They arrived on the ground, walked a short distance to a hovertram and boarded it. They both chose to stand and hold a handrail. After a short wait, during which several other scientists and visitors boarded, the whirring sound of hovercraft ignition preceded the gentle elevation of the tram car, and it began to move. The unmistakable odor of hover fuel filled the air around them. It reminded Mip7 of the smell from starting a campfire by laser-heating cortzye stones.
    “Why can’t you guys design a cleaner burning hover fuel?” Mip7 asked. Lan2 didn’t laugh. He probably heard that comment every day.
    “Making it smell better isn’t my job. I just recycle it so it lasts a lot longer. I actually did work in ground transportation for several years, and this tram now gets over 300% improved fuel economy from the work we did there. Unfortunately, it will still be years before it is integrated into the public systems.”
    The tram ride made two more stops before arriving at a small half-dome shaped building where the green tube connected. Mip7 thanked the director for his hospitality before leaving him on the hovertram. Several of the other passengers got off with Mip7 and accompanied him into the tube station to wait.
    The tube trains were not like the lightrail Mip7 took from the spaceport, as they didn’t use hover technology. The cars did hover in the center of the tube, but there was no cortzye stone smell because these trains didn’t burn any fuel. They operated purely on electromagnetic power, which was becoming a popular alternative energy source on Amulen. The tube train was still something of a novelty, however, and was currently only in use outside the Science Complex in several of the largest cities and amusement parks.
    The tube car arrived. It had the appearance of a giant can, a short section of tube within a tube. Mip7 boarded with the others who were waiting. It accelerated so smoothly you wouldn’t know you were moving if you couldn’t see outside. It gathered speed quickly, however, and left most of the conglomerated buildings near the Science Complex entrance behind. Now the buildings were spread out more with scenic countryside separating them. The tube was running along a support structure of bridges which were becoming elevated higher and higher above the treetops. The tube stopped at RL-40 first, then RL-50, RL-60, and finally RL-70. These facilities were all located in disc-shaped structures atop of towers.
    Mip7 got off at the RL-70 station and took the lift down to the ground level. He could see the RL-71 compound from inside the glass elevator. It was huge, made of eight large octagon-shaped buildings connected together, which all had center courtyards. There was also one massive courtyard in the middle of the entire compound.
    When he reached the ground, Mip7 walked over to the entrance doorway that led to the reception lobby for RL-71 and passed through. There was no one else in the lobby. Two administrators were behind the front desk. He approached