Or is that Big Lights, Bright City? To be honest, New Sumer, the place that was once considered the galaxy's Megalopolis, is not all that big. In the last census, they counted just shy of two hundred million souls. Timurville, by contrast, weighs in at fifteen billion. When New Sumer was being built, two of the central stargrazers collapsed (miraculously, they were empty at the time). StarGrazers were banned in New Sumer and remained so, long after improvements in engineering had eradicated the flaws. The result is "Doughnut City", where the old, central zone never rises above a pretty unambitious eight hundred storeys and is ringed by a zone of stargrazers, which shot up after the government finally lifted the ban. Even now, New Sumer's architects are hardly pushing the boundaries, so you won't find any stargrazers exceeding six thousand storeys and most hover around the four thousand mark. As a result, the central zone looks rather quaint to many visiting off-worlders. Astarte Hillman's sister, Astrid, liked it enough to settle here. Astarte is visiting and has agreed to meet her sister in an easy-to-find eaterie, but there is no sign of Astrid, so she goes outside again. At that moment, a monoflyer hurtles past, making Astarte thankful for the forceshield that protects pedestrians on the highwalks from the traffic (and stops the incautious pedestrian from going into freefall). Less than a minute later, the same 'flyer is back, moving marginally more slowly, and Astarte is able to recognise the pilot. It's Astrid, gesturing towards the roof. The next time she comes around, Astrid has time to shout, "I'll park this thing on the roof. Meet me there!" Astarte bobs back into the restaurant and uses the lift to reach the roof-plaza, where her sister is clambering out of her vehicle. "I really must get someone to fix the brakes on this thing." TY2 x 2