The metropolis of Olympia spread out like an ocean of skyscrapers into the horizon as the space elevator ascended into space against the backdrop of the setting sun. As the curvature of Mars could start to be seen on the horizon, the Amazonis Ocean became visible to the north and over the peak of Olympus Mons to the west. As the air thinned and the pinkish blue sky color blackened, the peak of the great shield volcano could finally be seen jutting just outside of the atmosphere.
Above, a small dot that appeared to be a star began to show its true features as the elevator got closer to it. An enormous array of torus structures rotated above with many levels extending away from Mars, every other torus module rotating opposite to the adjacent. In the center was a non rotating station where zero gravity facilities offered a large number of services. Melbourne knew this was the Martian Gateway Station, arguably the most important space station in Low Martian Orbit.
The elevator ascended into the zero G hub of the Gateway and decelerated to a stop. For the first time in his life, Melbourne found himself floating in midair without gravity to keep him anchored to any floor.
"Welcome to the Martian Gateway." said the kindly voice of the security guard who had been watching over the fifty or so passengers of the space elevator to make sure no fighting broke out. "Please file out of the elevator in an orderly fashion. Those of you who have never been to space before should know that the station is filled with a 3 dimensional lattice of bars for navigation purposes. Use these to propel yourself around the ZG Hub and navigate to your docking platform or hotel elevator. There is a free maglev train that runs along the central strut of the Gateway that you may use to arrive at your destination level. The docking bay levels are located above Torus 100. That is where you will catch any spaceflights away from Mars. You may think of the Martian Gateway as a small city above the city of Olympia. Each torus acts as an artificial gravity environment the size of a typical office building in an average city. Fifty of these act as hotels owned by some of the most successful chains in Sol who were able to afford the lease while the other fifty are not accessible to the public and are owned by various industries and organizations to be used as office space and living quarters for the employees assigned there."
Melbourne nodded curtly to himself as he listened to the security officer's words. The man had probably already repeated them 8 times today and Melbourne already knew this standard knowledge about the Gateway Station.
He floated out into the breathtaking sight of the lattice of struts filling a large and busy cylindrical space that extended as far as the eye could see. Not far away was a glass sphere encasing a Z-Ball court. The game was an adaptation of Soccer designed for zero gravity environments. It was invented in the 2030s when space tourism became available to working class people and had since remained the most popular sport in all of Sol. Plenty of other zero gravity sports had been developed, of course, but this was the simplest and served well as the poster child for all tourists entering the station. The players did not have the strut lattice that tourists had to move through while playing, but had to make use of ankle rockets that gave out short bursts of fuel while attempting to steal the ball and toss it into the opponent's goal past the goalie. It was pretty much based on soccer with the exceptions that you would use your hands to carry the ball instead of being required to kick it with your feet. Also, it was considered a foul if you activated your ankle rockets for more than one second within a ten second window, resulting in referee interference.
Melbourne quickly adjusted himself to the basics of zero gravity navigation within the lattice after hitting his head a few times against the bars. Luckily, they were heavily padded to prevent severe injuries and absorbed most of the blow.
Melbourne navigated around the Z Ball arena where two teams were playing a practice match and arrived at the magrail station. A train came speeding down the strut within two minutes and opened its doors. Melbourne boarded and strapped into a wall harness based on what everyone else was doing before the train accelerated away from the lower level.
"Now approaching Level 2." said an automated voice over the train intercom.
Melbourne looked at his watch's holographic display to remind himself where he was going. Avian had given his smartwatch directions to report to level 40, the hotel owned by the branch-off hotel company of Arian Horizons called Arian Comforts.
"Now approaching Level 3." said the automated voice shortly after nobody wanted off at the second torus. This continued until Level 6 when someone pulled a string, causing the automated voice to smoothly say "Stop Requested".
The train briefly stopped and a few people pushed themselves along guide rails outside of the train before the doors promptly closed again.
Melbourne arrived at level 40 fairly quickly and got out, navigating to an elevator station at the periphery of the ZG Hub. As he passed a suspended geodesic structure, he noticed factory workers within a window running an assembly line. The building was one of many such factories Melbourne knew to litter the ZG Hub and was likely rented by a space manufacturing company that was not yet successful enough to own its own space station. Zero gravity manufacturing was one of the many lucrative business opportunities afforded by commercial spaceflight. The environment allowed for the production of many materials that had a specifically higher quality than those produced on the surface of Mars, Luna, or the many populated moons of Jupiter and Saturn. This was a big deal in the 20th Century and the early 23rd Century when the fragmented colonies began to rebuild and extend the spacefaring industry that faltered when the Earth was destroyed.
Melbourne entered a small glass elevator guarded by a security officer that wore the uniform of those employed directly by Arian Horizons. A slowly rotating wall could be seen through a hole above or below the elevator, depending on one's relative perspective. As Melbourne pressed the button indicating the direction of the hole, a timer appeared to indicate that he had one minute before he could "descend" into the artificial gravity well. The timer was made to sync with the rotation of the struts holding the torus to the ZG Hub.
The elevator smoothly guided along magnetic railing through the hole as it appeared, entering a glass tube that allowed Melbourne to see the sight of the ZG hub from the outside. As the elevator approached the Arian Comforts torus, the artificial centripetally induced gravity within the cabin smoothly transitioned from non-existent to the level felt on the Martian surface at the periphery of rotation.
Finally, the elevator stopped and opened into a lavish office with a gigantic chandelier. Melbourne walked out of the elevator, taking a second to reorient himself to walking normally again before walking up to the receptionist.
"Hello, sir, welcome to Arian Comforts. Do you have a reservation tonight or would you like to make one?"
"My name is Melbourne Acliate and I do have a reservation." said Melbourne. "I'm under sponsorship from Arian Horizons."
"Credentials, please?" said the woman pleasantly, pointing to an ID scanner.
Melbourne tapped his smartwatch against the scanner and the receptionist nodded as a file came up on her holographic screen.
"Very well, Mr. Acliate. Your room number is 304 on the 3rd level. Here is your keycard. I have instructions to tell you an Arian Horizons agent will be with you at 8 AM in the morning to begin your mandatory 'pre-mission training'. Anyway, I hope you enjoy your stay. Thank you for choosing Arian Comforts."
Melbourne received the old fashioned magnetic card and walked to another elevator that more closely resembled a normal one found in office buildings back on Mars without glass for the view. The torus had 5 levels and Melbourne hit 3. The elevator went down rather than up as the floor numbers ascended towards the periphery of the torus.
Arriving in his room, he found a clean, white room filled with sleek white furniture including a chair, reading desk, bed and dresser. A rounded window at the wall of the room showed a brilliant view of the planet Mars from space. A small white, circular dining table was placed by the window with two bar stools on either side with a fine leather finish. The window had a panel that allowed the guest to darken the smart glass to get the view of space out of their face. They could alter the color or even change the view to a virtual one from a selection of various environments from a moon's surface to a tropical forest under a beautiful sun. Melbourne played with it for a few minutes before reverting it to its default state of showing the real scenery outside his room. This was his first time in a space hotel, after all.
He sat down and sipped a cup of hot tea as he looked out the window towards the west over the Amazonis Ocean. Out there in that vast ocean past the horizon was the island of Elysium Mons, marking the boundary between the Amazonis Ocean and the Utopian Ocean. Somewhere along the coast of the Utopian Ocean was a channel into a smaller sea called the Isidis Sea. Melbourne took the moment to wonder how his family was doing.
Melbourne turned now to the sickly bluish-yellow glow of the planet Earth visible on the horizon. He meditated on the mission he was about to be sent upon and felt an emotion he hadn't expected to feel. It wasn't excitement, but foreboding. Something told him this would be the last night he would be able to enjoy such luxury for a very, very long time.