Earth

Story so far

Earth appears through the glass floor of the Security Checkpoint, the first time Carl has laid eyes on his own planet since the crawl began. It fills the view and is already starting to pull away: the Indian Ocean spread out below, the edge of Madagascar sliding in from the top, skies mostly clear of cloud, the whole world turned ninety degrees from the orientation he is used to. The suddenness of it brings tears to his eyes.

What the sight drags up with it is Coolie, who wrote the nineteenth edition of the Cookbook and whose last view was of his own home planet after a failed assassination attempt on a pair of admins — the same vantage, a different world. The station's rotation makes the transparent side wall serve as the floor, and the gravity it produces is very slight, close enough to zero that Princess Donut's vomit hangs and spreads before angling down.

Appearance

A blue-white world filling a glass floor, the Indian Ocean broad below and Madagascar edging into view at the top, skies largely cloudless, canted ninety degrees and receding.

Role

The crawlers' lost homeworld, glimpsed from orbit as a private shock rather than a plot beat.

Relationships