One Voice In The Cosmic Fugue

I have decided to temporarily move away from large complex structures and try my hand at something a lot more mundane: A maintenance shed. One of these small, cheap structures is featured in Act 3 of the script for the first Oort Cloud, and I figured now was as good a time as any to try to design it.

I met with an old artist friend of mine for the first time in months, and he mentioned being interested in working with me to develop the second story for Oort Cloud which takes place on Earth's Moon. (henceforth referred to as the Moon). In the middle of the 21st century, the United Nations agreed that the Moon would be divided up in a way similar to Antarctica, 47 countries signed the treaty, and the moon was divided up in a series of meetings taking place over several years.

It was decided that territorial boundaries on the Moon should mirror those on Earth, so that nations would have the same neighbors on both celestial bodies. "Oceans" have also been established as unowned territories on the Moon, to separate nations that don't border on Earth. Since the most realistic way of locomotion on the Moon is ground based vehicles, (unlike Mars on which zeppelins and awkward airplanes are at least feasible) these Lunar seas would also serve as a neutral route through which nations could trade.

Due to the vacuum, and stillness of the Moon, bright colors can be seen from a significant distance. I have designed all of these maintenance sheds with radically different color signatures that can be readily identified. Through this method, structures owned by different nations and corporations can be easily ascertained. Countries would obviously use their own national colors and designs, and I have decided to use some unusual designs that might be used by corporations.

A far cry from the elegant society of Cydonia, the Moon is little more than the mirror of the Earth. Due to drastically decreased costs of transporting goods between the Earth and the Moon, facilities are relatively inexpensive to construct, and Lunar tourism has become a popular luxury. Non spacefaring nations are free to lease their territory out to other nations or corporations. These corp-held territories are mostly lawless, and what few international treaties limit armed conflict on the Moon are largely unenforced. Military squabbles on the Earth tend to overflow to the Lunar colonies and life in these frontier regions is difficult at best.