Murderbot Diaries; Platform Decay Spoilers, kinda
The reveal of the appearance of the planet beneath the torus is such a cutting and excellent bit of world building.
This immense space station, which is full of technical marvels and something like artistic vision, required the near total consumption of a planet to produce. The materials used to build the thing were pulled from the planet itself.
And what is it, anyway? What is the point?
The imitation of nature is palpably false. Navigating the station is inconvenient. It's still unsafe. It's still awash with dead space and poverty.
But it does provide control. You need to pay for everything. Your every movement is tracked. You're bombarded by advertisement. You are only guaranteed an amount of safety when you stay where your employer wants you to be.
Had the corps set up shop on the planet's surface, one could always try to run away and make a living in the wild. But on these stations, even those who try must still rely on some part of corporate infrastructure. The people living in the maintenance tunnels or in abandoned sections likely aren't able to sustain themselves without buying or stealing the machines used to produce food, clothes, power.
I don't think it's an accident that living space in Corporation Space is largely limited to either these space stations or shitty little asteroids.
The torus is the ultimate example of this. It deprives its victims of even the opportunity to abandon comfort.
The torus is wasteful, opulent, inconvenient, and violent. It's a perfect setting for a capitalist dystopia.
