SENDIIndex | HomePage | Settings | TheEmpire | SENDI The great Mining Bunker Station - a place where anything can be bought ... at a price ... At the centre of SENDI is the commercial district ... arranged on four levels. We'll start at the top. LEVEL 4: The Arcade: A place of unbelievable wealth, luxury and elegance. The carpets are ankle deep and the music is soft and discreetly classical. It is hard to describe the places you find here as "shops". There are no price tags to be seen anywhere - the entire level operates on the principle that if you have to ask, you cannot afford. There is no bar on this level ... just a restaurant ... all damask tableclothes and gleaming cutlery ... the delicacies of one hundred worlds will be rushed to your lips (or whatever you aliens eat with) here ... at a price. Please note ... some people live on SENDI all their lives, and never make it to the Commercial District on Level 4 - except perhaps to clean it. LEVEL 3: The Mall: Clean and modern, light and airy, practising the latest in shopping psychology ... bright cheerful music plays and people are encouraged to bring their families ... Everything is price-marked and you pay the price asked. All the famous chainstores in the galaxy have outlets here; the restaurants are all franchise operations ... the latest in healthy eating for Mims and Dads ... the thirty sixth century version of hamburgers and fries for the children ... LEVEL 2: The Bazaar: It is possible, they say, to spend a lifetime in the Bazaar, and many do. Myriad small shops, the air rich with the scent of speces from every planet in the galaxy, all brightly lit and alluring. In the heart of the Bazaar is the Bar ... a place where once again you can get almost anything to eat and drink ... but this time at a price (not necessarily cash) that most people can afford ... Everything is priced in the Bazaar ... but no-one pays the stated price. The air is thick and loud with the noise of bargains ... even buying a bag of sweetmeats takes half an hour (people in a hurry use the Mall instead). They say you can buy anything in the Bazaar ... for a price. Let's find out. LEVEL 1: The Spaceport: The general arrival and departure lounge. As grim as most arrival and departure lounges at any time and any place in the entire galaxy at any given point in time. There are a few desperate gift shops and coffee shops here ... But the real lure of LEVEL 1 is the Spacers' Bar. It is here that all the SENDI crew come to drink ... and the crews of all the transient ships. Information is traded here, and gossip ... as well as the illegal goods that even the Bazaar thinks are too hot to handle ... And passengers find themselves here too ... although most leave again rather quickly ... Imagine Rick's Bar in Casablanca ... and cast it in white steel .... add a circular bar carved in solid agate - a ring that cover 100 metres, with twenty people working behind it. Imagine alcoves and crannies ... where people can drink ... imagine a gaming room to one side, where people play for even more money than those on Level 4 dream of or ... at the table next to them ... gamble their last few coins ... |
