The Orbit

The Orbit is an incredibly complex electromagnetic public transportation system. It is made up of thousands of smaller trams inside and larger trains outside the city-domes. Inside of the domes, there are millions of people living in mostly high rises and condominium buildings. There are very few free-standing homes anywhere, so it is easy to connect almost every Project Citizen via the Orbit. Personal vehicles went out of fashion after the Revolution, when the economy and the environment fell apart almost completely (wealthy and important Citizens use them for privacy and efficiency - these vehicles are all electromagnetic, as well). Under the domes, the population is concentrated, and land is carefully structured into districts. The Orbit’s smaller pathways connect the residential districts to each professional district within every city. Sometimes (almost exclusively for political or very specialized work reasons), Citizens need to travel between cities or to an outer territory. There are Orbit lines connecting every city in the United America Project to allow people to move from place to place as needed. Project Citizens rarely leave their domes, especially younger Citizens who were born in them, but most have a fear of the environment and the dangers of Outside. The Orbit ends in Lonetree, at the furthest rare earth magnet mine in the west. They have no domes there, and only politicians, Beta enforcers, and assigned Guild Members ride out that far. They only go west to see the mines, deal with any outbreaks of violence over minerals, and to smooth over trade. Rare earth magnets aren’t just the most important thing transported by the Orbit, they power it. A system of opposite polarity magnets in the tracks and in their wheels propel the Orbit trains forward when activated, and force them to stop at the right times. The Orbit is completely automated, there are no engineers. The depot and the centralized computer system is in Three Fires (formerly the metropolitan area encompassing Chicago to approximately Cincinnati), and the Orbit is controlled from there.