— Roberta Golding
The Grange is currently the largest community of Next in existence. It is situated in a remote, hidden Earth that the Next originally travelled to after the existence of their species was threatened by the US military.[1][2] It is a single habitable world sandwiched in the middle of many inhospitable ones, so that the only way in or out is through the use of soft places, which many Next are skilled at utilising.[3][4] The community itself consists of several hunter-gatherer, yet high-tech, townships, where Next live, learn, and raise the next generation.[5][3]
World[]
The Earth where the Grange is situated is habitable and lush, temperate and seasonless, but it is surrounded by a large band of inhospitable worlds. This means that the only way in or out of the Grange is with the use of soft places.[3] This Earth appears to have been originally uninhabitable like the rest of the worlds in its band, but was then terraformed through the introduction of familiar plant species.[6][7]
The Grange itself is within a temperate but warm patchwork of forests and grassy plains, said to be at the latitude of Datum Chicago.[5][7] One of the townships runs alongside a clean river, and has a hot spring about a mile north.[8][9] The trees are oak-like, and there are wildflowers and fruiting plants.[8][6][7]There is also coffee at the Grange, though it’s unknown whether it is grown there or imported.[8] There are trolls living at the Grange as well, though it’s never said what other animal species live on this world.[10]
Society[]
2057[]
The Grange township that Stan Berg and Rocky Lewis were brought to in 2057 was situated on a plain, next to a clean river. The buildings, including huts, workshops, and barns- but no churches or town halls- were made of wood, mud brick, and prefabricated ceramic panels. The huts were cramped and functional with no decoration, and were lit and heated by fireplaces. These buildings were shared communally, and had no formal owners.[11] Necessities like drainage ditches were dug by whoever was best suited for creating them.[12] Bearing children in the Grange was also done with practicality in mind; since there were still very few Next, relations were done with the intention of maximising the diversity of the genepool.[13]
The school seen at the Grange was very informal. It consisted of a small building surrounded by a large roped-off yard, where most of the teaching was done in the open air. Children aged toddlers to teenagers were taught all together, playing games, learning to count, write, solving puzzles, and working with electronic tablets. The supervisors were usually family members of the children. Since the Next had very little culture or knowledge of their own at this point, the adults in fact learned from the children in their own discovery of the world.[14]
At this time the Next living in the Grange wore only as much as they needed to; shoes, to protect their feet, and belts and pocketed jackets to store tools. They did however keep human-style cover-up clothing, to wear when they left the Grange and to lend to visiting outsiders. They wore no jewellery or other decorative clothing.[11]
2070[]
The Grange township that Dev Bilaniuk and Lee Malone were brought to in 2070 was situated in a lush forest, buildings in clearings with paths cut between them. The houses were conical, made of plaited thatch over a frame of straight tree trunks. Each one had a perimeter wall of heaped-up stone, and a central hearth. The houses’ interiors were completely open, but could be divided into several rooms with partition panels. They were filled with furniture including low bunks, couches, a high-tech kitchen area, and a separate bathroom.[15]
The Next here usually ate fresh produce from the forest, but in the kitchens were a new invention: a food printer. These look like nondescript ceramic boxes, but are voice-activated, and can produce everything from eggs benedict to coffee.[16][17] Despite the hunter-gatherer Iron Age look of the Grange, other high-tech devices like electronic tablets were also commonly used.[17]
One larger roundhouse was sometimes used as a conference centre. The speaker would use a high-tech conference screen, one that would change its visuals in response to simple grasping motions performed by the speaker. The listeners would sit on piles of cushions on the floor.[18]
At this time, Grange clothing was still entirely practical. However, adults had begun to cover up their breasts and crotches with shorts, kilts and jackets regardless of the need.[17]
The Long Mars[]
It was claimed around summer 2045 by the Next after they escaped from the USLONGCOM holding facility on Datum Earth (with the help of Joshua Valienté and Sally Linsay) and ran away from Happy Landings when the US Navy threated to nuke the town.[19][20]
The Long Utopia[]
A dozen years after the events of 2045, the Next were still in small numbers but lived happily between themselves at the Grange.[21] While some of them decided to go back to the Low Earths to watch over humanity like the Arbiters or to try to find potential Next like Marvin Lovelace, they all still lived at the Grange.
The Next not being aroused easily like humans, it wasn't unusual to find groups of people walking by with a lot of flesh showing.
References[]
- ↑ The Long Mars- page 427
- ↑ The Long Mars- page 434
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Long Cosmos- page 114
- ↑ The Long Cosmos- page 288
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Long Utopia- page 264
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Long Utopia- page 269
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 The Long Cosmos- page 113
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The Long Utopia- page 266
- ↑ The Long Utopia- page 276
- ↑ The Long Utopia- page 273
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Long Utopia- pages 264-266
- ↑ The Long Utopia- pages 269-270
- ↑ The Long Utopia- page 272
- ↑ The Long Utopia- pages 271-273
- ↑ The Long Cosmos- pages 113-115
- ↑ The Long Cosmos- page 116
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 The Long Cosmos- page 119
- ↑ The Long Cosmos- pages 119-120
- ↑ The Long Mars - Chapter 42
- ↑ The Long Mars - Chapter 45
- ↑ The Long Utopia - Chapter 31