Had a detailed experience dream last night, in which a group of people who had the settler vibe were organizing and building up a settlement on a world that definitely felt alien: it supported our life, but the landscapes I remember were different (low-lying hills and mostly vegetation that was thin grass stalks). Most telling was that our attitudes were different about it. Like, the humans were making every move cautiously and with careful planning, and in the knowledge that bad things could happen at any time.
We lived and worked (for the most part) in one huge structure made of prefab concrete and angled like a stunted pyramid to be both low to the ground as possible and deflecting of the winds. Because for all its habitability, this planet had some very frequent and *nasty* wind storms, and this all felt so realistic and planned for! I could feel that some planets, despite being in the right zone with the right tilt and a beneficial spin would stir their atmosphere with much more ferocity than anything we experience on Earth. The main part of this dream was living through one such episode.
We had begun a new garden area that would eventually become an extension of the main settlement because we had predicted we had enough time before the next storms. But we were wrong (or had delays, I can't remember which) and had to scramble back into the cover under our massive concrete shelter. Even then, we could hear the winds coming like a living and furious thing, without mercy, and despite the material and the angular shape, I could hear the shifting groans (concrete, despite common belief, *does* flex under enough force) and almost feel the movement of the winds' mighty force against our now seemingly stifling home. I remember hearing lamentations, and thought we will have lost *all* that work to the winds, and would have to start over with that new section once the winds had faded (because we hadn't gotten everything sealed off in time). But it was more than that, because I remember mothers weeping and searching, and then I knew more of the nature, the horror, of their loss...and of things like gentle breezes that we so casually take for granted.
I woke up very grateful for our mostly gentle atmosphere.
We lived and worked (for the most part) in one huge structure made of prefab concrete and angled like a stunted pyramid to be both low to the ground as possible and deflecting of the winds. Because for all its habitability, this planet had some very frequent and *nasty* wind storms, and this all felt so realistic and planned for! I could feel that some planets, despite being in the right zone with the right tilt and a beneficial spin would stir their atmosphere with much more ferocity than anything we experience on Earth. The main part of this dream was living through one such episode.
We had begun a new garden area that would eventually become an extension of the main settlement because we had predicted we had enough time before the next storms. But we were wrong (or had delays, I can't remember which) and had to scramble back into the cover under our massive concrete shelter. Even then, we could hear the winds coming like a living and furious thing, without mercy, and despite the material and the angular shape, I could hear the shifting groans (concrete, despite common belief, *does* flex under enough force) and almost feel the movement of the winds' mighty force against our now seemingly stifling home. I remember hearing lamentations, and thought we will have lost *all* that work to the winds, and would have to start over with that new section once the winds had faded (because we hadn't gotten everything sealed off in time). But it was more than that, because I remember mothers weeping and searching, and then I knew more of the nature, the horror, of their loss...and of things like gentle breezes that we so casually take for granted.
I woke up very grateful for our mostly gentle atmosphere.