whoa whoa whoa... SPACEPORT? Does this mean... there might be an intact moon colony of humans that is untouched by this ruined world, that might descend from on high in their spaceships and try to secure their own resources in radiation-proofed spacesuits?
“Isn’t it too small to live on? Elder, I don’t mean to be difficult, but how can people live on something so small? I can cover the whole moon with my thumb!”
Elder Ricet laughed and clapped his apprentice on the back just a touch harder than was strictly necessary. “Young one, your ignorance is astounding.” He chuckled and pointed towards the distant tree line. “You see how those trees look small? You know them to be large, yes?”
The lad nodded and raised a thumb towards a tree in the distance. “Of course, things farther away look small. Everyone knows this! But even then,” he countered with a smug edge, “that would mean the moon is merely the size of a tree; far too small to live on.”
“Wrong. The Setting Sun Mountains look little larger than my shack, yes? Yet you know they are huge. The Moon is like that; very large and far away.”
“But how can it float then? Mountains do not fly.”
Ricet sighed and leaned back to regard the starry sky. “It is more complicated, but things that move fast enough can fly above the sky.”
“... How can it be above the sky?”
“Our world is limited, child. The sky ends and the void starts from there; that’s where the Moon flies.”
“I still do not believe you, Elder,” the youth stated with all the courage he could muster at the moment.
“I know you do not. But it is the truth. Children of the ancients came down from the Moon in a wagon that rode a column of flame when I conquered the ruin to the south. They spoke wi-”
“Yes, yes. I know the story! You adventured with the men from the void and helped them recover artifacts to fight in their war with the people of the Red Sands.” He looked off and away from the older man. “It is an insane tale. People living on the Moon is crazy enough, but to be at war with another Moon that looks no different from any other star?”
“You will learn, child. Some day, the Red Sand people will come here from their world... And you or your children will fight them. The children of the ancients are fair, but the Red Sand people are nothing but marauders. They want our blood to steal our gifts and our land for their homes.”