Primary Pumping Station

From Flight From Darkness

Weather and a hydrological cycle as known in Creation are difficult to maintain in something as small as the Dream of Sweet Rain's several cubic miles. Instead, air and water are artificially circulated, to prevent or at least mitigate buildup of contaminants in any one sector. While there are subnodes all around the ship, the heart of that system is on deck 6 of the Tower.

In many ways, it resembles a metal heart or lung that just happens to be miles across. While filters and treatment plants inside screen out many toxins that build up - ultimately dispersing them as a yellow fog across the rest of the deck, harmless according to the crew (and claims to the contrary never seem to have solid evidence, just anecdotes) - the entire thing flexes at regular intervals to force the gigantic volumes of material it must process, through at a reasonable rate. Those who work here know the timing, and either avoid or have measures to protect against gale-force winds laden with water vapor. The deep "thrum" sound can be heard all over deck 6, though it is quiet enough - and muted by the deliberately chaotic (acoustically and geomantically dampening) jungle of pipes and ducts surrounding the station - that people can sleep in the living quarters elsewhere on the deck.