The space elevator vehicle was approaching the Earth, covering the last hundreds of kilometers of its long two-day journey from the geostationary orbit. The elevator was gradually lowering its speed of almost a thousand kilometers per hour, so that the additional acceleration was barely noticeable, considering that the gravity was still slightly lower compared to that at the Earth's surface. The sun was already shining over the East Africa where the terrestrial elevator station was located, just on the equator, close to the shores of Lake Victoria. The elevator's passengers have awoken and were gathering for breakfast in a small, but cozy restaurant. The inner Van Allen Belt had already been passed at night, the protective shutters on the windows were up, offering a magnificent view of the Indian Ocean from the restaurant at the east side of the vehicle. Two passengers – a young man with just a hint of suntan, in white shirt and beige trousers, and a slender young woman with shoulder-length dark blond hair, also clad in white clothing – were sitting at one of the tables.

"On the one hand, it is good to arrive early. On the other, I don't like getting up so early," the girl said, washing down a toast with jam with aromatic coffee.

"Yes, waking up early in the morning is not fun," the man agreed, his voice somewhat sleepy. He tried to deal with his sleepiness in the same manner – by drinking coffee. Of course, modern pharmaceutics offered more potent (and completely safe) remedies, but they were not quite as tasty.

"On the upside, we'll be able to see the city. I haven't seen the lakeside, myself. Unlike you, of course – you've lived here for almost two months!"

"The lake promenade is lovely. I went for a walk there a couple of times. But, as I told you, Alice, I was kind of overwhelmed during those two months."

"Well, Robert, it was a pleasant kind of shock, after all!" Alice smiled.

"One pleasant kind of shock after another – and, as it turned out, it didn't stop with me arriving at the university..."

"Nor will it stop," Alice answered with a smile, finishing her coffee.

"By the way, I wonder how often we students are allowed to travel by the elevator?" Robert asked. "I mean, it's clear that if I try to order another ticket, say, in a week, I will be denied. But after six months?"

"Do you want to go to space again during the summer vacation? If you submit a request in advance, you'll be able to get a ticket after six months, and so will I," Alice said. "Only those for whom it's absolutely necessary are allowed to travel by the space elevator more often – spaceship crew members, for example. This particular elevator, I mean – the second, the one in Brazil, is now used almost exclusively for cargo transport. Any student may get up to the station or fly to the Moon once in six months, though – one should see the world where one is expected to live, work and create, after all!"

"I totally agree. It seems I start to get a taste for traveling. But I haven't thought about the summer vacation yet," Robert answered. "It won't be time enough to fly to Mars, unfortunately..."

"Yes, the only choice is to transfer to the Schiaparelli University," Alice agreed. "And it's certainly exciting there, and all, but the university is… small. I've seen all of the place during just a school tour. On the other hand, if you get an internship there, say, in the fourth year..."

"The fourth year is still a long way off. Meanwhile, interplanetary transport gets faster and faster. Soon a trip to Mars will take us less than a month," Robert said. "If they take students on board."

"Once a year, they will," Alice answered.

"Have you thought about expeditions?"

"It's too early to think about them. And it's not easy to get into an expedition, even for the best students like us. They take few people."

"They take only the best, as always," Robert agreed.

"Yes, it was almost always so, and it will be. Before the Battle, though, there was a strange time when non-professionals would pay money – a lot of money – and go to space. Not to the Moon or to Mars, of course – to a low Earth orbit."

"Tourism for the super-rich? I didn't even know about it."

"I've read about it once. It was just an insignificant episode, like all the efforts to commercialize the space travel were. There is no capitalism in space."

"They did build the elevator, though," Robert argued. "Although it was just a fad, created artificially to direct their capital and their workforce somewhere."

"Exactly. I have seen the estimations. It could never pay back, and we had to upgrade it right after the Battle. The final bubble before the final crisis."

Meanwhile, outside the window, below, in the east, the summit of Mount Kenya and the Aberdare Range could already be seen. A large display panel on the wall of the restaurant showed two altitudes: one was the height above the sea level and another – above the top of the lightweight cone crowning the pyramid that was the terrestrial station. The latter already counted the last kilometers of the long journey: the vehicle was approaching its destination. Here, at the altitude of fifty kilometers over the Earth's surface, was the start of carbon ribbons that spanned more than thirty five thousand kilometers.

"Time to go!" Alice said, looking at the panel. She started to get up from the table.

"Yes," Robert agreed. It seemed that the coffee he had drunk finally took its effect.

Stopping smoothly, the vehicle docked to two airtight passages, which led to high-speed elevators of a more traditional style, designed to cover more than forty kilometers and, traveling along the axis of the lightweight cone, deliver the passengers and cargo to the top of the pyramidal terrestrial station. The gravity here was almost normal.

Alice and Robert headed to the exit and, together with the other passengers, proceeded to the large cab of the high-speed elevator. It was equipped with chairs.

"I think we'd better hold tightly to the rails," Robert said, sitting down into a chair with massive armrests one could take a good hold on and buckling his safety belt. "It's a good thing I've already experienced the weightlessness. I've only traveled up by this elevator, not down."

"Yes, when we start descending, there'll be almost zero gravity, but it's not much different from when one stops ascending," Alice said, sitting down into a chair next to her. "And I've seen you take it very well. I personally prefer when gravity's lower than on the Earth, of course..."

The elevator started and indeed began to gather speed, rushing down with acceleration that almost reached freefall. Traveling within a very thin atmosphere, it moved almost fifty kilometers and reached the top of the pyramid in less than half a hour. Deceleration took longer than acceleration and seemed a bit less comfortable for some passengers.

The elevator stopped and docked to an airlock leading to the upper level of the pyramid. They still were six kilometers above the sea level, however, normal atmospheric pressure was maintained at all levels of this huge structure with its broad hallways. The doors opened.

"Ugh!" Alice sighed and rose. "One and a quarter "g". Yes, I may be a cyborg, but I'm a Martian cyborg..."

Alice was a cyborg to a very small degree and one could never tell that by looking. Nevertheless, this technology allowed Alice to adapt to a life on the planet where gravity exceeded that on the Mars by more than two and a half times. Although, if the pull surpassed the standard one "g" for a slightly prolonged time, Alice often began to complain, even though she did it mostly for attention.

"I'm still surprised at how fast you got used to gravity on Earth, Alice," Robert said. "Cyborgization, adaptogens, medical nanobots – I get it all. But when one sees, how well you play the "ball"... I'll need a great deal of training before I could jump like you," Robert spoke while they were walking along the passage.

Robert and Alice came out of the gateway with the other passengers and into the main hall at the upper level of the pyramid. Moving walkways spread out from here to all directions, leading to the observation galleries at the outer walls of the pyramid and to Stargate Hotel. The entrances to the elevators going to the lower levels of the pyramid were also located here. Obviously, there was no checking of newcomers exiting to the station, and those who were going to ascend by the elevator only needed to present their tickets to the monitoring machines. Even though the borders still existed at some parts of the Earth, none were and none could be between celestial bodies. Indeed all the extraterrestrial settlements were parts of the Core. The word 'Core' was a backronym, initially stemming from English. It used to have more than one meaning in the past, with only one word in it being immutable, but now the acronym was made of just two words and had a most simple meaning: the Communist Republic.

"Great!" Alice said. "Now we have almost the whole day ahead of us, until the evening express departs."

"Yes," Robert agreed, "the train departs late."

"Shall we have a walk around the observation platform?" she suggested.

"All right. Let's go to the west side, it has an excellent view of the lake."

The moving walkways consisted of several sections – each was a different color and moved with different speed. Passing from the slower ones to the faster, Alice and Robert reached the fastest one, of a steely gray color with a blue tint. It moved with the velocity of a good runner and was equipped with lightweight folding railings and seats.

"I like your attitude," Alice continued the conversation when they sat down. "I mean the training."

"Yes, Alice, I got it – you are trying to pull me along," Robert smiled. "Or push. Not that I don't like it..."

"Robert, it's a right thing to strive for the new heights. Your heart has been changed to a new one not for nothing, wasn't it? And I will pull you along, don't doubt. Or push," Alice smiled. "Not in the realm of study, of course – you don't need any extra incentives there."

"Well, your average is some tenths of a percent higher than mine," Robert remarked jokingly.

"Don't forget that my school was objectively better than any of the Green Union schools," Alice answered. "I feel like during the second semester this proportion may become the exact opposite," she added, smiling. "But it doesn't matter. What matters is that we are doing well at studies."

"Yes, it's great to learn new things. I've never enjoyed studying so much like I do at the university."

"I liked my school, personally, but of course your syllabus was different."

"Whatever, we're going to have a different one soon," Robert said happily. "It's so great that the Green Union is going to become an Associated Territory!"

"And soon. Indeed, the best thing about the Green Union is that actual capitalists had no time to arise there."

"Yes, there are only tiny family enterprises on the island," Robert said. "It's almost a commune. The radical Green that founded the Green Union had no time to amass any capital. And all the land on the island is public property."

"Which means that the Green Union is now able to translate a completely unique possibility into action – peaceful accession, without armed struggle of the classes. This option would be impossible for any other state with actual bourgeoisie. Your people basically had no time to divide into classes again."

"Right," Robert said. "Though, if one looks back to the life before the Battle, most newcomers were of proletarian background."

"And if one looks back to your grandfather and grand-grandfather..."

"Yes, in a way, by coming to the Soviet Supersector for studying, I've returned to the homeland of my ancestors. And, although I've never seen them, they would be very happy, judging by the stories my parents told me."

A moving walkway brought Alice and Robert to the west side of the gallery. It was a wonderful sunny day. They were five kilometers above the surface. From here, a magnificent perspective of the city that had grown next to the space elevator station opened up. No skyscrapers were towering here – the land was not for sale, and nobody tried to squeeze as much buildings as possible into a small lot in a rich district. Large complexes combining living space with places for leisure and recreation filled huge areas and were designed to provide maximum of sunlight and fresh air to their inhabitants. Built in a warm climate, they also had a lot of open terraces, suitable for strolling, and gardens on flat roofs.

The city was overflowing with greenery. Since it had been designed and built after the Battle, there were no roadways. Instead, there were wide alleys with pedestrian walkways and monorails that were propped above the ground by elegant orange and yellow pillars. Electric-powered personal rapid transit pods scurried along the overpasses almost silently. Here, like in many new cities and districts, this sort of automatic transportation was most common, unlike in old cities with their ancient infrastructure where electric cars, also completely automatic, traveled along paved streets. The brightly colored passenger pods were fitted for a maximum of four persons and were available 24 hours a day, like in every point of the Core. One simply had to come to the parking lot or to call a pod from a universal portable terminal, which every citizen had. Sometimes one saw green pods without windows – they were cargo pods. In several places rapid monorail lines stretched through the city. Their trains were able to quickly haul around large masses of passengers – also without making noise and causing discomfort to the citizens.

Further, in the southeast, stretched the bluish-gray surface of the Lake Victoria. It was the largest lake in the world by area, framed by hills covered with lush green and mountains disappearing in azure haze. Even from this height one was not able to observe all of its expanse. The sky was clear and amazingly blue, only a few little white clouds floated above the water. There were some pillar-fixed binoculars in the gallery, and Alice and Robert looked through them. Through the binoculars one could see two fast passenger hydrofoils surfing over the lake water, a small fishing boat and a lot of recreational crafts, some carrying sails, looking tiny at such distance.

"To think that before the Battle one could not even approach the lake for fear of infection!" Robert said.

"I've read something about it. An illness caused by a parasite?" Alice said.

"Yes. Only ten years after the Battle did they get rid of it for good. It was when all the countries that once existed around the lake became Dependent Territories, and large-scale, planned campaigns of improving the healthcare system became possible there. Various fevers as well as malaria had been rooted out then. But before the Battle the situation here was terrible in every way."

"Just like in all – almost all – of Africa," Alice agreed. "But now the residents of the city, like all who live on the lake shores, it seems, can sail over the lake and bathe in it without the slightest danger to their lives and health. I wonder what they did to the crocodiles? Or did they remain?"

"There are crocodiles in the lake," Robert nodded, "but not near the city. And besides, there are special net barriers in a few places, and early warning systems in case the crocodiles appear in an inhabited area, and robotic underwater vehicles for shooting overly dangerous specimen."

"It seems, you have studied the local conditions well while you lived here."

"I have. By the way, sometimes there are storms on the lake."

"Well, the forecasts warn about them well in advance," Alice countered, "and there will be no storm today. There is a station of robotic recreation crafts," Alice continued, looking through the binoculars, "exactly as I expected."

"Would you like to have a ride over the lake?"

"I think I would. Let's go to the shore!" Alice said.

"Let's go," Robert agreed, "I know a couple of places where the view is very beautiful."

A moving walkway brought Alice and Robert to an elevator which descended to the ground level of the pyramid. The lake promenade was connected to the space elevator station by a monorail line, where small trains shuttled back and forth every five minutes. A snow-white train with a red stripe on its side, moving almost silently, quickly brought Alice and Robert to a stop almost at the very lake shore.

A gentle breeze was blowing. In the sky above the lake a couple of drones could be seen, their snow-white wings gleaming in the sunlight.

"The perimeter border service?" Alice suggested.

"Yes, the border is guarded well. The city itself is very safe, even the militia patrols can rarely be seen," Robert said, "but outside, there are Dependent Territories."

"Of course, it's a necessity. They've made huge progress, but universal literacy, alas, does not mean a complete victory over wild ancient superstitions, and certainly doesn't mean the absence of crime."

"The perimeter must not be left unguarded," Robert agreed.

"Dependent territories are often too dangerous. We cannot allow the entrance to the Core to just anyone from those parts," Alice continued. "Even now, I wouldn't advise going without armor to some of its corners."

With the formation of the Core, poverty and hunger on the Dependent Territories forever became a thing of the past. Illnesses were almost eliminated and millions learned to read and write for the first time. But not everyone was pleased with the economic system in which it became impossible to live at the expense of the others' labor.

"There are also those who don't like the new order," Alice continued.

"Yes! Remember the news about attempts of terrorist attacks in the Congo sector, before the New Year? They wanted to blow up a parking lot with agricultural machinery and a monorail station."

"I remember," Alice said. "Someone doesn't like the possibility of high-tech farming – or the possibility for the citizens to move freely around the sector. It does remind me of something... It's a good thing the Department found out about their plans, while the attack was still in the works."

"It seems there'll be a long time before the Department goes out of business."

"On the other hand, they admit talented young men and women from the Dependent Territories to the universities. Patrice from our group is from the Territories, isn't he?" Alice recalled.

"That's right, he is from Kisangani," Robert nodded. "The school isn't easy for him, but he manages."

"And there is going to be more and more people like him."

"Yes – and, as I understand, the older ones may learn too. No one is in their way," Robert added.

"Right," Alice agreed. "The promenade is indeed very beautiful," she said, looking at the pedestrian street, paved with reddish stone and stretching along the shore. "Shall we take a walk?"

"Alright," Robert said.

They started walking leisurely along the promenade. On one side palms and large, wide-branching African tulip trees grew, with dark green leaves, strewn with scarlet flowers. On the other side small waves were lapping a sandy beach not far away. The wet season had ended a short time ago and the weather was sunny. While the city was on the equator, it was not too hot – the altitude was more than one kilometer above the sea level and it showed itself. Of course, the sun was almost overhead and its rays were scorching, but the shade from the trees screened the strollers.

"By the way, the lake has a peculiar name," Alice said, "in honor of a queen."

"The legacy of searching the source of the Nile by Burton and Speke in the middle of XIX century," Robert acknowledged. "As I've read, in the 1960s, after the three countries around the lake gained their independence, all of them had their own names for the lake and they discussed the question of giving it a common name in Swahili – but did not come to an agreement. And it has not been renamed after the Battle yet."

"On the other hand, a lot of scientific discoveries and inventions were made in Britain in the time of queen Victoria's reign and, lastly, Karl Marx, exiled from the continental Europe, found asylum in London. And Friedrich Engels lived and worked there for a long time. But those times were dismal."

"A dark age," Robert agreed, "so it's quite possible that the lake will be renamed after all."

"By the way," Alice remarked, "such a walk has a positive influence on my appetite. I mean, it's time for lunch!"

"I totally agree. There is a cafe nearby," Robert said, who also had nothing against the idea of having a lunch.

Alice and Robert reached the open-air cafe and sat down at a table under a light roof, with a view of the lake. They made their orders by the terminal embedded into the center of the table, and continued to talk.

"I also have been here, on one of the first days after I was discharged from the hospital," Robert recalled. "Now it looks funny, but then I almost had a cold sweet because of the thought that I have not paid for dinner! Moreover, in the Green Union I never visited a restaurant without my parents, and even that was only a few times."

"Yes, I've heard that leaving off commodity-money relations takes time," Alice said, "but one gets used to good things fast."

"Exactly," Robert agreed. "To me it occurred only once. Of course, afterwards I sometimes recalled it, but I never become frightened again."

"I've read that those working in the Non-aligned countries have the opposite problem. Sometimes they forget that it's still necessary to pay for a lunch there, although they have training in virtual reality."

"The money are still used at the some Associated Territories, not mentioning the Dependent Territories."

"Yes, but one should not pay for food, should he? Indeed, it was more than enough of it for everyone starting from the second half of the XX century. I understand that at the Associated Territories the production of really complex goods is not developed enough. But food, as far as I remember, is not sold for money in any of them. And even at the Dependent Territories a necessary minimum is guaranteed for everyone. Of course, there is no such variety as in this cafe, but this minimum guarantees a healthy, proper diet."

"Yes, it cannot be compared to one that a lot of Africans had before the Battle. There, as I've read, hunger was not uncommon, even in this century."

"Before the Battle there was a terrible poverty here," Alice agreed. "In the tropical African sectors they're still not rich now and, of course, they have a long way before abolishing money, but they've made a huge progress."

"It's amazing that there is not a single illiterate within at least hundreds of kilometers now. Before the Battle there were tens of percents."

"It is, but the task was simpler than after the First revolution, and we have more resources by far than the Soviet Russia had."

"Yes, those were the times of incredible deeds, Robert agreed."

"An age of heroes," Alice said thoughtfully.

"By the way, the professor that taught us the preparatory course, Tatiana Ivanova, who has a title of 'The Enlightener of East Africa', told us that before she had started to prepare university applicants, she had coordinated school construction and curricula in the Sector of Great Lakes. I wonder, is she a Guardian?"

"Yes," Alice answered, "she is a Guardian and the vice head of the Contact Committee in the sector. You know, the Guardians are always involved in the educational work on new territories. It's not enough to prepare a successful revolution, it's necessary to teach how to use the benefits."

A signal of the built-in terminal informed that the main course is ready. A robotized system served plates with grilled tilapia fillet, and the talk paused for some time.

After the lunch Robert and Alice headed by the promenade to a station of pleasure boats.

"Let's have a short cruise," Alice suggested.

"Do you know how to drive a motorboat?" Robert asked. "There are none on Mars... yet."

"I've never done this before, but the boats are semiautomatic. I suppose they have just one joystick, and are much easier to control than a heavy atomic rover. It's not some dreadful vehicle of the beginning of the century..."

They approached the pier and Alice made a few manipulations with her portable terminal.

"Let's take that one, to the right," she said, pointing to the boat.

"I wonder is there a paid transportation on Dependent Territories?" Robert reasoned while they came to the boat. It actually happened to be very simple to control, no license required.

"Maybe only private ones, on those underdeveloped territories where they still did not get rid of small businesses," Alice answered. "The whole transportation infrastructure of the Core, like monorails, railroads and personal rapid transit is free anywhere it exists. And the water transport too."

The boat was well suitable for leisurely cruising. It had a sunshade on top, and a large transparent blister in the bow for watching the underwater life.

"It took a lot of work to restore the biodiversity of the lake after the Battle," Robert began to tell. "In the middle of twentieth century they put the Nile perch to the lake for fishing. It lead to one of the greatest ecological disasters – the predator exterminated almost all local species. The major part of the catch was exported to Europe while the fishermen were often starving."

"Capitalism is essentially the same everywhere," Alice said. "Different countries, different people, but it's so similar: starve but export. Another crime of the old world," she sighed. "I's so good it will not come back."

"You have read about it a lot. And heard the stories."

"Yes. I've gazed into the dark abyss of the past," Alice said sadly and moodily, "and... it's better not to do it for long."

"Alice," Robert said quietly, "please come back."

"I'm back already," Alice answered in a more cheerful voice. "And it looks like the restoration is almost over," she remarked, looking at colorful cichlids swimming under the bottom of the boat.

"Great. Why we had no such boats in the Green union?"

"There will be soon. And some fishes are very similar to those living in the great aquarium in Cydonia."

"An aquarium on Mars?"

"Sure, it's not complicated, is it? It's all made of local materials, only fish roe and plant seeds and spores were brought from the Earth. And we have plenty of energy."

Meanwhile a patrol drone, making a wide circle above the lake, whispered overhead. It contacted the boat's computer and the portable terminals of Robert and Alice and, made sure that there are no infractions, went along.

"Looks like we have been inspected," Alice mentioned, "and that's good."

"Yep," Robert agreed. "But some in the Green Union don't like such routines."

"Prejudices remaining from the time before the Battle. It's well known that it matters not that the data about you is gathered."

"But not all understand and trust that what actually matters is in the interest of which class it is done," Robert continued.

"And they could read the code if they don't trust, couldn't they?" Alice added.

All the algorithms of the drones, as well as all the software used in the Core were open, so the residents knew very well which data were gathered and for what purpose.

Moved by an electric motor, the boat glided on the surface of the lake at a slow speed, and Alice and Robert just watched the water and the picturesque coast with the sandy beach at the edge and the green promenade for a few minutes.

"I couldn't imagine all of it just half a year ago," Robert said at last. "Of course, I knew that they would heal my heart and that I would get into a communist society with planned economy of planetary proportions, where money does not exist at all. But I had no idea that I would be able to talk to a couple of intelligent machines, ascend to an orbital station by the space elevator and, finally, meet a Martian and a wonderful girl – and two in one at that!"

"You have mixed up the timeline a bit," Alice remarked, laughing.

"It was not the timeline, but the descending order of possibilities," Robert answered. "At least, so it appeared to me then."

When they got an eyeful of the scenery and the dwellers of the lake, Alice and Robert headed to the shore.

"We can also go to the Great park," Robert suggested. "There are cute antelopes living there. Impalas, I think."

The park, city's largest, was not far away, and Robert and Alice got there in just five minutes, using a rapid transit capsule.

"Sometime antelopes will live on Mars too, when it's warm enough there," Alice said musingly, looking at the animals. "But we'll need more cold-resistant species first. Geneticists made great progress in restoring the DNA of the species who lived during the last ice age. Sure, first they should be restored on the Earth, but after that we can try it on Mars."

"Tundra steppe fauna of the Pleistocene?" Robert asked. "Why, it's a good idea to bring mammoths to Mars. They will move to the north when it will warm. I mean, to the south," he corrected himself, "there will be the sea on the north."

"Yes, to the far south," Alice agreed. "In the Northern hemisphere we will have not just seas, but a whole ocean, as it was long ago, four billion years in the past."

"Right, I almost forgot about the Northern polar basin."

"We still have a long way to seas and oceans... but mosses and lichens grow at the lowlands with all their might."

"I remember that Mars terraforming projects were discussed as early as at the turn of the century."

"They were discussed," Alice argued, "but that was all. And so many projects of overhauling the Earth were suggested as early as the first half of the twentieth century! But all went silent at the time of the Fall. Capitalism needed neither flourishing Sahara, nor banishing the cold from the northern regions, nor the apple trees on Mars."

Before the Battle the events of the end of the twentieth century had many names, but in the Core the catastrophe which befell the world that time was considered the most terrible in all the history of humanity, and was named by a single word: the Fall.

"You've told me that there are apple trees in Cydonia already," Robert remarked.

"They are and they bloom under dome, as cherries and quinces do, which got there because of their Latin name. But I want them to bloom under the open sky. And so it will be," Alice added confidently.

"It will," Robert agreed. "And the ambitious plans of overhauling the Earth's lands actually look simple when compared to terraforming Mars..."

"Simple in terms of the scope, not in terms of complexity. We should evaluate even the slightest consequences much more carefully."

"There is another problem with space projects, two existing elevators barely manage," Robert remarked. "We have to ship so much to the Moon and Mars, not mentioning the faraway bases!"

"Exactly! But building of the launch loop will start soon."

"You know, sometimes it seems strange to me that at the same time we build bases on Ganymede and Titan and eradicate poverty and illiteracy on the Dependent Territories. Maybe we should expand to the whole Earth in the first place, shouldn't we?"

"This question arises in the High Councils year after year and each time they decide that the settlement of the Solar system should not be delayed. We have enough resources for concurrent projects and we've already lost too much time because of the Fall."

The twelve-hour equatorial day was reaching its end. Already the sun was low and the short tropical twilight was to arrive in a moment.

"Let's have a dinner at the cafe and go to the station," Alice suggested.

"Yes, it's time for dinner," Robert agreed, "but we still have a lot of time."

A personal rapid transit pod brought Alice and Robert back to the lake front.

"I have an idea about the summer internship," Alice resumed the talk after they sat at a table.

"You think of the summer internship already, don't you?" Robert was surprised a little. "But we'll have the winter one first, and it'll be a lot of work."

"Well, you know, I have a habit of planning everything not just one, but two steps ahead. The Green Union is not the last place on the planet that needs change, and the situation there is not the most complicated by far. Soon there'll be a lot of work in one of those places."

"I'll try to guess. The construction of the launch loop in the Pacific."

"Exactly," Alice acknowledged.

"And you're interested not only in the colossal engineering tasks," Robert guessed right. "There are some of the most backward places on the planet there."

"Yes. Alas, some supporters of the Old order still remain on the planet. They are few in numbers, but they lurk in the most remote corners until now. The enemies may still hide there."

"The enemies? Those who remained after the Battle?"

"Or their followers. We won the Battle of Battles, but while the injustice remains on the Earth, the battle for the future is not finished."

"But their resistance is meaningless," Robert said. "They cannot return to the past."

"It's meaningless while they're repulsed, so it's everyone's duty to do so until they disappear. Forever."

"Yes, Alice," Robert agreed, "it's out duty too. To protect our world."

"A great, wonderful world," Robert continued. "And you know, perhaps I can tell what I do like the most. I have no fear for the future here. I feared for my ailing heart before, feared that someday they could not help me, but not only that. I did not know where the Green Union, which rejected the progress and tried as though to freeze the time, was heading. Of course, I didn't fear poverty and unemployment, we did not have them."

"Perhaps you're right," Alice said. "And it was just impossible not to fear for the future under capitalism. Tomorrow you may face the loss of job, an illness with no money for treatment, poverty, and after all a war, which is inevitable under capitalism. Or not so terrible but still severe events, like currency devaluation, bank wrecks, lowering of wages. A society of global terror."

"Only those who had the greatest wealth had no fear for the future, since they never lose. Probably no fear," Robert corrected himself. "They suspected the return of the Spectre, didn't they?"

"Only the stupidest of them did not fear the future, because they did not think. But the wise quivered with fear. They remembered the history of the beginning of the twentieth century and they expected the return knowing that it can only be delayed, but that it's inevitable. That the flame that has been kindled cannot be quenched and that in the end the two classes will clash in the final battle."

"The Battle of Battles was inevitable," Robert agreed, "the only question was 'when?'."

"There is only one way," Alice said the phrase known to every citizen of the Core.

A dark tropical night descended to the lake and the city. The pyramidal station of the space elevator, houses and streets were flooded with artificial lighting, but its shining did not bar the dawn of bright stars in the sky. The Orion appeared in all its glory, Sirius glowed with white flame, and in the zenith the Unmoving Star blazed – the Prime Space Station, the main spaceport of the Earth.

"Well, it's time to go to the station, isn't it?" Alice got away from the stargazing.

"Probably. Let's stay for a couple of days in Cairo, then in Rome for five days, as we've planned."

"Certainly," Alice agreed. "As far as I remember, you haven't been in the Cairo museum, and I'll be pleased to have another look at it. Rome, of course, cannot be seen properly even in a month, but... the vacation is finite."

"There are so many interesting places on the Earth," Robert said. "Wen I lived on the island, I couldn't imagine one can see so much!"

"You know, it may be surprising, but we have a lot in common," Alice answered. "You grew up on a small island and didn't leave it until you've went to study in the Core. I grew up on Mars – a marvelous planet, but the planet which is mostly dead. It has only seven small domed cities amid the lifeless deserts and is still waiting to be transformed by us. Both of us have barely seen the Earth."

"And in the old days people were born, lived and died without seeing anything besides their village and, maybe, from time to time, a nearest town," Robert said thoughtfully.

"Yes, it was so for ages, and till the Battle of Battles most of the planet dwellers couldn't even dream of traveling. But soon it'll be within everyone's reach. We'll see and the Earth's continents, and, I think, sometime, after many years, will sail through Valles Marineris."

"It... won't be soon."

"Even with the life expectancy achieved now it's possible," Alice answered.

Like an almost silent shadow, the monorail train rode in the night, carrying Alice and Robert away from the shore.

"It's snowing now in Leningrad," Robert remarked, looking at weather forecast at the screen of his terminal. "Well, I've missed a snowy New Year again."

"Most of the Earth dwellers don't see snow on New Year's Eve," Alice remarked, "but we can celebrate the next New Year in Leningrad or travel to some of Siberian sectors – there'll be a lot of snow there! And I think you don't regret the celebration of this New Year!"

"Sure I don't," Robert agreed. "The snow can wait. I'll surely like to celebrate the next New Year on the Moon, for example. More so because flying there takes less time than taking the elevator to the spaceport."

Alice and Robert arrived to the central station inside the pyramid, already well-known to them. A magnificent maglev express train just arrived when they came up to the platform.

"By the way, on the verge of the twentieth century a British imperialist dreamed of building such a railroad from Capetown to Cairo. Even though after the First World War British colonies spanned the whole African continent from north to south, the dream never came true," Alice remarked when she and Robert sat in a spacious carriage cabin.

"The road has been built only after the Battle, hasn't it?" Robert asked.

"Yes, and it serves not the export of riches from colonies, but the development of the Dependent Territories. And, of course, the link to the space elevator station, although there's also a maglev line to the Mombasa harbor."

"It seems that Lady History is not without the sense of irony," Robert recalled the saying of one of the Core's founders.

"And have a habit of curling into a spiral," Alice completed the phrase.

The maglev started, gathered speed and rushed to the north, swishing through the air and lighting the way ahead with headlights on its fairing. A ruby-red, five-pointed star shone brightly in the center.