Champa Interstellar Starport is located on the planet of Champa, Muong system,Harlequin subsector, on the fringes of the Imperium. Champa (A-6629B9-8) is anA type starport at a conjunction of routes leading into the Solomani rim and theHive Federation. Its construction is fairly typical of starports throughout theempire, and a specific examination of it will serve to illustrate starports in general.

Champa Interstellar Starport is divided into two portions, the orbital facilitiesand the ground facilities. The orbital facilities are located in a geosynchronousorbit directly above the ground facilities, which are located on the planet's equator.The orbital facilities contain temporary warehousing space for cargoes which arenot to be taken to the surface (goods awaiting transfer to another vessel for tran-shipment elsewhere, for example, refueling and repair areas for ships too large toland on the planet, and a large vehicle assembly plant of Ling-Standard Products,LIC, which produce most of the starships built in this sector. A hotel/resort ismaintained for passengers who are between ships and do not wish to travel dirtside.

continued on page 10-7-

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continued from page 7The major facilities of the port are

located on an island off the coast of thelargest continent of Champa. Thesefacilities include the starport itself, (withits ancillary administrative buildings), theground station of Champa Scout Base, aresidential community for the starportemployees, a resort/hotel/shoppingcenter/office complex, and the dirtsidefacilities of LSP.

Outside the limits of the starportproper lies startown and further away,the seaport city of Hapuong.

The starport itself consists of anumber of landing pads, a monorailtransportation system linking the padsand the rest of the port, a blast protec-tion berm to localize the effects of acatastrophic crash or other accident,and a number of buildings housing theadministration and operational facilitiesof the starport.

The landing pads are 250 metersin diameter, and are constructed ofreinforced concrete in the case ofChampa, although other materials areused elsewhere. Surrounding the pads,(but not shown on the diagram on pages8-9) are a number of underground dis-persal bays or hangers for maintenance,minor refitting, and storage of ships.Some of these bays can accomodateships as large as 400 tons, but most aredesigned to hold free traders, scouts,shuttles, and other small craft. Largervessels can be accomodated by theconstruction of a temporary shelterover the ship after it has been towedoff the pad. (Vessels larger than 400tons seldom land on the planet's surface;their needs can be met far better inorbit. Cargo is usually transferreddirtside in shuttles or other small craft).

The monorail transportation linetravels along the blast protectionberm, connecting the landing pads with

each other and with the rest of thestarport. It is a double track line,one carrying freight, one passengers.The trains are computer controlled,and powered by batteries which requireperiodic recharging but eliminate theneed for power in the rails themselves.

Small feeder rails connect the padswith the main line, and unloading/loading equipment (forklifts, cranes,etc.) is available at each pad.

The starport has gone through anumber of expansions, and this isreflected in the number and locationof the various buildings of the port. Theold passenger and freight terminals havebeen converted into offices and storagespace for the many firms (transport-ation related and non-transportationrelated) which find it convenient tomaintain offices in the starport. In1054, when the starport was upgradedfrom B type to A type, a new buildingcomplex was added, containing thecombined passenger/freight/administra-tion facilities of the starport. Sincethen, two new warehouse buildings havebeen added to keep up with the trans-port and storage requirements of thebooming economy of the sector.

The passenger wing of the newbuilding complex contains ticket salesareas, lounges, baggage handling facili-ties, cafeterias, a small library, andoffices of travel agencies, tourist aidgroups, and customer service representa-tives for the passenger lines using thestarport.

The freight wing contains the offices,cargo handling facilities, and warehousespace of the hundreds of interplanetaryand interstellar freight transport firmswhich do business in the sector.

Keeping a starport functioning re-quires thousands of people — skilledmechanics and engineers to keep themyriad pieces of equipment in working

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order, communications operators whooperate the myriad links with theoutside world, cargo handlers, space-craft traffic controllers, security forcesand, above it all, the administrators,clerks, janitors, and supervisors of thecity that is Champa Interstellar Star-port. The administration buildinghouses all these operations and more —it is a constant beehive of activity, 24hours a day, throughout the year.

Champa Scout base consists ofa small orbital refueling facility inhigh orbit, and a ground facility, con-taining the local headquarters of themegacorporation. The scout base pro-vides fuel, repair parts and technicians,food and lodging for scout shops inthe system, and certain limited benefitsfor retired scouts, such as free fuel andrepair services.

The scout base buildings consist ofan administration and operations build-ing, hanger and repair buildings, and asmall barracks for active duty scouts.The scout base has its own monorail andground car connections with the planet-ary transportation network.

The Ling/Standard facilities onplanet consist of a warehouse, a smallcraft assembly plant, and the company'sadministrative offices, as well as a smallnumber of luxury accomodations for

visiting LSP executives and other vips.A small number of retail businesses

and housing units have been allowed toexist inside the starport's extrality fencein order to provide housing and enter-tainment for employees of the starportand their dependents. This area ismostly residential, and visits to it byspacefarers are not encouraged by theport authorities.

The entertainment complex is locat-ed just inside the extrality fence nextto the residential community mentionedabove, this complex contains luxuryhotels, restaurants, and entertainmentfacilities of all sorts (usually at two tothree times the going rate), as wellas shops, stores, and the local Travellers'Aid Society facility. Almost any pro-duct or service can be had here, dutyfree and (usually) at exorbitant prices.

The area immediately outside theImperial extrality fence is called star-town on most planets because it isdevoted almost entirely to satisfying thebaser urges of starship crewmembers.Like the waterfronts of seaport towns inearlier years, startown is a wretched hiveof scum and villiany, considered to bethe worst area of the starport district.Startown is dealt with in more detailelsewhere in this issue (see R&R by T.R. Mclnnes, page 34). Casual visitorsand the faint of heart are urged to stayout of startown.

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The major portion of the starport issurrounded by a 3 meter high looseweave wire cyclone fence, demarkingthe limit of Imperial extraterritoriality(often shortened to extrality). Theregion inside this fence is under directImperial authority, and local planetarylaws do not apply. Goods may bepurchased here without duty, and taxesare limited to a small Imperial incometax. Violators of local laws may findasylum and sanctuary from restrictivelocal regimes, but if the fugitive hascommitted an act which is in violationof a local law that is also a violation ofImperial law (murder, most felonies,and so on) and is not being sought forpolitical reasons, Imperial officials willhold and extradite the fugitive.

Depending upon the nature of theplanetary government, the extralitylimit may be marked by a simple wirefence or more complex barriers, resem-bling the Berlin wall of old Terra. This is

usually done to prevent citizens of theplanet from leaving without author-ization and to enforce rigorous customslaws. On Champa, the customs laws arenot particularly restrictive, and condi-tions are not such that large numbers ofthe populace wish to leave. For thisreason, the extrality boundry fence ismerely a formality, and the customschecks are not too rigorous.

Although, strictly speaking, the lawlevel of the starport permits any weaponto be carried openly, the laws againstproperty damage, murder, and extortionare rigidly enforced, by the battalionof Imperial Marines (tech level 15)barracked at the scout base, if necessary.The owners of most businesses frown onopen display of weaponry, and willusually refuse to serve walking arsenals(bear in mind that they can also haveany weaponry, and are legally permittedto defend their property if attacked).

Loren K. Wiseman

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