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The Columbia Post

The landing capsule's cargo: Scavengers would dismantle any valuable parts from the landing capsule itself to trade or repair their own old equipment. Most of the time, the Cosmodrome Tactical Unit didn't interfere with the scavengers who recycled scrap equipment. However, the battle for the junk and cargo intensified; in Julius's words, "one piece of junk had three groups eyeing it." The Cosmodrome Tactical Unit, with only a hundred or so personnel, had to mobilize its entire force on every landing recovery day. Even so, a considerable amount of important cargo launched from Earth was still stolen and ended up on the black market.

(1) The garbage dumps on the outskirts of Unity City were also a place where impoverished Noxian people "panned for gold."

(2) involuntary time capsule
-Editor Clutterbuck

Every morning in Unity City, hurried crowds fill the streets shrouded in a bluish mist. This mist comes from pollutants emitted by the United Central Petrochemical Complex and the "Spark" Joint Nitrogenation Plant, both employing nearly ten thousand workers. Standing among the commuters and observing the street scene, anyone would feel that the Union still seems to exist in this small corner of civilization: the dull streets are devoid of neon lights and commercial advertisements, the roadside is covered with mimeographed posters, and people place their lunchboxes in the steam cabinets of the factory canteens, carrying hemp rope net bags to queue for food. In the kindergartens and schools attached to the factories and government agencies, mixed-race children chase and play wildly, making "cannonballs" in mud puddles to bombard the windows of teachers they dislike. It is a time capsule.

Forty-nine years after Sputnik 1 ignited a space frenzy, 1.2 million Earthlings a significant decrease from the 1990 figure—and 700,000 Noxian holding "Union Territory Internal Passports" resided in the United Territory. All of them were either forced or voluntarily dependent on the United Territory Under a bureaucratic system, they lived off the salaries of "public enterprises".

(3) The time capsule launched into space by the Allied Powers in 1950 is now sealed in the center of Unity City
- just like this city, the Time capsule is far removed from civilized society and gradually getting forgotten by the earth.

According to the concept of "Interstellar Phalanstism," this kind of life would be a "bright future" for all humanity and the Noxian people. However, even in the queues at state-run grocery stores, we could see customers automatically forming two lines, one of which consisted only of Nox people—many of whom could only buy negotiated goods, that is, goods that required cash but not ration coupons. This reminded me of my years living in the Bronx.

(4)The Joint Leadership Management Committee prepared a grand press conference to launch the new policy, but the content was lackluster.

Blue-collar workers on fixed wages would purchase a fixed amount of food and consumer goods with vouchers at public stores (including joint grain stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, and department stores). Outside Unity City, numerous collective farms and ranches supplied the city with grain, livestock, and a limited variety of fruit in exchange for fuel, consumer goods, and crude, cumbersome tools manufactured by the city.
The Allied powers, in their struggle for influence over Nox, actively participated in establishing this planned system that left little room for independent operators. Meanwhile, the Allied leaders paid farmers in Unity Rubles according to the official prices outlined in the "procurement plan."

But with the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the grand ambition of conquering the universe has become a hangover-induced dream, forced to give way to the credit card bills in the mailbox, the United Territory has undertaken a series of economic liberalization reforms, jeans, game consoles, and music tapes rain down from the sky. Of course, these things couldn't be bought with the Unity Rubles which was commonly known as "great unity (Veliedi-n)." They required foreign exchange, namely the Vespuccian Pounds or even the Unity Rubles. This currency, which had lost its country, miraculously maintained its past credit on the planet Nox, and even maintained a fixed exchange rate against the Vespuccian pounds.

(5) "What's the difference between a person without dreams and Kirby?"

Only when pursuing the fruits of consumerism do Earthlings and Noxian truly achieve equality, regardless of the means employed. This is precisely the case with Miss Ishtar's video store. She doesn't always wear pink dresses, but rather changes into the latest Akitsu anime character costumes from time to time to show her rebellion against Ruvilian's traditions. She uses the Akitsu-derived neologism "cosplay" to describe her attire—and swears that all her merchandise is compliant with regulations. By any standard, buying hobby items symbolizing "dreams" here is not cheap. "What's the difference between a person without dreams and Snorlax!" Miss Ishtar says, sorting through obviously pirated comic books. "But maintaining dreams requires more than just a 'soul,' there are many other things..."

(6) Miss Ishtar, the bookstore manager
—The author was ultimately unable to confirm whether this was her real name.