Argos was a city designed to adapt and grow. It was a circular in design with a large

area at its center where everyone gathered to meet and talk. Around it, like spokes

on a wheel, four roads extended outward. Around the center was the market where

all the goods were distributed. Raw materials for 3-D printers were the most common

items and were exchanged with EAs, electronic approval tokens, which were given to

those whose projects were approved by Architecture and Engineering. Once a citizen

wanted to create something, the material estimates and energy demands would be

calculated and handed to A&E, which was Steve’s department, and from there they

would wait for approval. With the approval, they would receive an EA with which they

could get the materials from the market. Around the market was a ring with more

spokes of roads that contained the research areas, public facilities, water-storage

tanks, and other industrial buildings. After that came another ring with the housing

area. Finally, it was surrounded by the large wall and then the final ring of agricultural

production. Between all the rings, there was a road circulating around. Every ring had

small parks and recreation areas that seem like they were made for young children

but were mainly used by the adults.

The current city design was meant to hold up to five thousand people. The

plan was that the materials for all the structures could be recycled and reused when

the circles needed growing, so that the city could expand. The maximum number of

people it could reach before another circle began to be made was fifty thousand.

Once the population grew to about a million, the main city design would begin to be

built. The designs for the cities were made back on Earth, and many of them were

loaded into the database so that depending on the environment and material

availability, the right one would be chosen. All the designs had lots of recreation

areas, since it was deemed necessary for the mental stability and creativity of the

inhabitants. Each individual could request space to make a project, and if it was

deemed useful, then the materials and labor for it would be supplied. A few small

nuclear reactors were used as the main energy source, which had been dipped into

the nearby river. As long as they remained underwater, they could provide enough

energy for a few years. When the population grew, they would need a new source of

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energy. Solar and wind were the main alternatives unless nuclear material could be

found. Nearly every structure of Argos was made from the materials that were found

around the area, harvested from the soil, and mixed with machines brought from

Earth. Their small size meant that it took long periods of time for the 3-D printer to be

fed the composites, so for the time being, most structures were made with simpler

materials, not meant to withstand time or very harsh conditions.

Argos was under continuous construction. One side of the city was under the

constant work of the 3-D printer, while the other was used by the civilians. The

number of people was also steadily growing, so the city was continuously adapting.

The plan was to keep it simple and small until they could fully recreate Alpha

concrete, as the new material came to be called, so that it would be used afterward

everywhere. The idea was that if this material absorbed infrared light to heal and

could transport the energy through its body, then it could probably also be converted

to produce energy from the star and perhaps meet the energy demands of the

building itself. It would truly bring a revolution in building design that the Earth and

Mars would have found profoundly useful.

The political hierarchy of Argos revolved around the creator of the entire

project, Alex, who, with a team of experts, crafted a system which could help the

community advance. As the population rose, the system would slowly change. Once

the population required a second city to be built, the system would again change.

Finally, once they reached one million people and began constructing Argos as a

megalopolis, the political system was to take a final change that would be able to

govern an entire planet of people despite their numbers. These systems were made

back on Earth and had failsafe mechanisms only shared to Jain and Juuda in case of

something happening to Alex. Their system required no currency or goods exchange.

The small amount of people paired with advanced technology that they had at their

disposal made it so that everything other than energy was plentiful. Energy would be

the only resource that would soon be worthy of attention.

For the time being, Argos was a utopia for the citizens, but its rate of

expansion was very, very slow. As humans had no worries and no time pressure,

everything seemed to be working at the absolute minimum. There were very few who

worked hard for their goals, and these were mostly made as a subject of ridicule.

Alex was beginning to feel that this slow progress needed to be changed.